Armagh SFC: Pearse Og end 17-year wait
October 19, 2009

Pearse Og's Ciaran McKinney and Decky McCauley raise the Armagh SFC Cup
Pearse Og 0-8
Armagh Harps 0-4
Pearse Og captured their first Armagh senior football championship crown in 17 years yesterday afternoon at the Athletic Grounds, where they put Armagh Harps to the sword in a low-scoring final.
After breaking the stronghold of long time champions Crossmaglen in their respective semi-final, Og were always going to be the favourites against Harps here, and proved their superiority by keeping their opponents scoreless throughout the second-half of this decider.
It was Harps though that had been on top in the centre of the field for the majority of the first-half, but failed to translate their possession into scores and, in fact, failed to score from play during the opening half-hour, with Ultan Lennon (3) and Kevin Kelly (1) kicking the frees.
Marc Cullen's frees and a single from Sean Clarke meant that the sides were level at the interval, but Ogs - adamant to avoid another county final defeat - upped the ante after the restart and through Cullen they moved clear.
In the wet conditions, Harps struggled to create many clear-cut chances from play and badly rued some poorly taken frees on occasions, which made it all the easier for Ogs to claim their first Gerry Fagan Cup success since 1992.
Pearse Og - C McKinney; G McCoy, D Parkinson, A Mallon; P Duffy, C Rafferty, D Davidson; A Duffy (0-2) , G Barton; K Hughes, R Clarke, D McManus; M Cullen (0-4, three frees), S Clarke (0-1), C Clarke (0-1 free). Subs: S Moore for C Clarke (36), JP Donnelly for Davidson (44), R Clarke for McManus (51).
Armagh Harps - C Lennon; K Morris, C Holmes, M McConville; D Coulter, M McCoy, S Lennon; C Vernon, P McKinney; U Lennon (0-3, all frees) , P McKenna, P Toal; E Toal, G Swift, K Kelly (0-1 free). Subs : S Morrison for U Lennon (43), J Quigley for Kelly (55), C McKee for McKinney (55), S McAneaney for McKenna (57), C Coulter for E Toal (57).
Ref: P Hughes (Crossmaglen)
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