Cross II 0-9 Wolfe Tones 2-7
Wolfe Tones earned a four-point win over Crossmaglen IIs to open their championship account with a victory.
Goals in either half from Jamie Haughey and Caolan Skelton were the crucial scores for the visiting side.
The Tones, who suffered relegation to Division 2B in the league, got the game up and running with a point.
Wing half forward Haughey slotted over the first score of the day, firing over a 45 in the second minute.
That first score was followed by a purple patch from the home side who, with the breeze at their backs, rattled off three points in a row.
The Tones soon got back on level terms however, with Haughey nailing the games first goal to make it 1-1 to 0-4.
Connell O’Hagan push Peter Nugent’s side into the lead once again with his first score of the afternoon.
Another free from Haughey, bringing his personal haul to 1-2, pushed the Derrymacash men further in front.
Niall Crilly also got in on the scoring act, swapping points with the hosts just before half time. That left the Tones two in front at the short whistle, leading 1-4 to 0-5.
The second half started with the home side in the ascendancy and the Rangers drew level inside three minutes.
Crossmaglen IIs were awarded a penalty in the 41st minute and Johnny Murtagh’s effort was superbly saved by Tones netminder Conor McCorry.
That proved to be a massive momentum swing in the game as Wolfe Tones rattled off a quickfire 1-2.
Caolan Farrell and Haughey split the posts, while Skelton rattled the net on the 50-minute mark to go five up.
Cross IIs grabbed the final score of the day in added time to reduce the gap to four. That was as close as they got, as the Tones saw out a 2-7 to 0-9 win.
