All Star nominees boosted Clann Éireann says Ruairi Laverty as Lurgan club target unique Championship double
When their need was greatest, Clann Éireann knew they could call upon their county stars to pull them out of a hole.
Armagh Harps are a dogged Championship outfit and took eventual winners Crossmaglen to extra-time at the semi-final stage last season.
An early James McCoy penalty had Pascal Canavan’s men on the front foot early on, but Conor Turbitt’s spotkick helped the 2021 champions regain some measure of control on proceedings.
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Yet, it took a late Ruairi McDonald goal to finally put the game beyond doubt. One of the highlights of an entertaining game was a sublime point from 55 metres from Barry McCambridge in the first half.
McCambridge was shortlisted for the Footballer of the Year award in the days leading up to the Armagh SFC quarter-final clash at the Box-It Athletic Grounds while his Orchard colleague Conor Turbitt was also nominated for an All Star.
Tiernan Kelly also returned to the Armagh team towards the end of the campaign while Daniel Magee and Sean McCarthy were part of the extended panel.
“Absolutely, it gives everyone in the club a lift,” said manager Ruairi Lavery.
“Barry (McCambridge) and ‘Turbo’ (Conor Turbitt) might well be our first ever All Star nominees and deservedly so.
“I think it is a great recognition for the club as well as the lads. Not just for the lads getting All Star nominations but we’d three lads who played for Armagh and five players in the overall squad that won the All-Ireland.
“There is a strong north Armagh presence in the county squad at the moment and they all play together as a team and that’s a credit to all the clubs in north Armagh.”
Clann Éireann had to come through the play-off after finishing second in their group behind Madden and there is a sense that Lavery’s men are beginning to find their form at just the right time of the season.
They face defending champions Crossmaglen in a blockbuster semi-final showdown on Sunday, October 6 and Lavery knows that more will be needed after a sluggish start against the Harps.
“We knew that’s the kind of game it was going to be and thankfully, we have come out on the right end of it,” said Lavery.
“We’ll look back on the performance and we probably wouldn’t be too happy with the first half of the first half.
“I thought, once we came into the game, it was end-to-end. Credit to the Harps, they played well and they are a really good team.
“At this stage of the season results are more important than performances and we are just delighted to be in the semi-finals.
“There is always a lot of talk in the build up to these games and that’s par for the course. You have to take these Championship games one at a time. We knew the Harps would be a hard game.
“We’ll prepare for the semi-final - there’s no easy games at this stage.”
The club have a busy fortnight to prepare, not for one Championship semi-final, but for two after their Intermediate team pulled off a massive upset to defeat Division 2A champions Pearse Óg earlier on Saturday.
“It was a really good day for the club as our Intermediate team our also into the semi-final of the Championship after beating Pearse Óg,” added the Clann Éireann boss.
“It was a brilliant performance. I think that is down to the culture in the club, we train as one group. We had nearly 60 players at training during the club. To have two teams in the semi-final is quite an achievement for the club.”
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