The meeting of Maghery and Crossmaglen is nothing new in Armagh as they’ve built up an intense rivalry over the last decade or so.
For two teams that have been dining at the top table for so long, they only met in one senior championship final.
That was two years ago when Maghery claimed the Gerry Fegan Cup for the second time. That’s also the last championship meeting between the pair.
2020: Maghery 4-9 Crossmaglen 0-17 (SFC Final)
Crossmaglen were the reigning champions heading into this one and were hoping to secure their third title in a row.
Stephen Kernan’s men led by two-point at the half time interval, with the score at 0-11 to 2-3. Brendan Haveron and Brian Fox raising the green flags.
Maghery dominated the 3rd quarter and turned the game on its head with another two goals from Aidan Forker and Ronan Lappin.
Forker gave a man of the match performance, scoring 1-3 at full forward. The win saw the Loughshore men claim their second ever championship title.
2019: Crossmaglen 2-9 Maghery 0-8 (SFC Semi-Final)
A dominant first half display from Crossmaglen sent them through to the decider for the second year running.
League champions Maghery failed to reach the tempo of the game and trailed 1-4 to 0-1 at half time.
Oisin O’Neill claimed the first goal before the break and hit a second three pointer near the end of the game.
Maghery made a better impression after the turnaround, but the gap was too big for Finnan Moriarty’s men to close.
2017: Maghery 2-13 Crossmaglen 0-15 (SFC Semi-Final)
Due to the backdoor system in Armagh at the time, this turned out to be the second meeting of these two.
Shane McConville’s men won the first one and proved their worth with a second win over the old rivals to reach the final.
The reigning champions once again relied on goals to see off the Rangers and deserved their four-point win.
Stefan Cusack and Ronan Lappin both hit the net as Shane McConville’s men reached their second final in a row.
2017: Maghery 3-7 Crossmaglen 1-8 (SFC Round Two)
Maghery were the reigning champions at the time but had won the Gerry Fegan cup in 2016 without defeating Cross.
It was a tense, low scoring first half with Maghery just nipping ahead at the interval with one to spare. 0-4 to 0-3.
Jamie Clarke rattled the net early in the second period and put the Rangers four in front, 1-5 to 0-4.
James Lavery netted from range, while Ronan Lappin and Aidan Forker also netted to hand Maghery victory.
