The top of Division 2B couldn’t have been any closer than the 2020/21 season. Carrickcruppen just pipped Wolfe Tones for the top spot.
The winning of the league came at the start of the summer. While there were plenty of games left to play, in hindsight, this was when Cruppen secured the title.
They hosted Wolfe Tones on the 13th of June and ran out five-point winners to continue their unbeaten streak.
League meetings
Eleven months earlier the sides met in the first round of the league and finished level after 60 minutes.
Before their defeat in the final game of the campaign to Clonmore, Carrickcruppen’s only dropped points came on the opening day of the season.
That was a tight game in Derrymacash. A John McCullough goal earning the Camlough side a share of the spoils.
On league form and final positioning, it’s impossible to predict a winner between these two with any degree of certainty.
The league champions edged past Collegeland two weeks ago, with three-points the difference in the end.
While Cruppen didn’t set the world alight, they did enough to quietly book their place in the next round.
Wolfe Tones lay in wait as they had qualified by defeating Keady by two-points, 1-10 to 1-8.
Paudie Judge nabbed the all-important goal to nail the win and will be the focus of the Cruppen defence this weekend.
Blaine Hughes played in a ‘sweeper keeper’ role the last day out and his job on Saturday will be an interesting one.
Richard Keenan was the difference against Collegeland and will line up against the experience of James Lavery and Jonathan McCarron.
Jamie Haughey remains a massive miss for the Tones, who possibly head into the game as slight underdogs.
Winning the league brings momentum with it and Carrickcruppen may just have enough to get over the line.
