Crossmolina to set standard against Knockmore
News Item added:30-09-2009
Crossmolina to set standard up north
Mike Finnerty
THE latest chapter in the history of famous Crossmolina and Knockmore matches will be written next Sunday when the two behemoths meet in the first of the Mayo senior football championship semi-finals.
McHale Park in Castlebar has been chosen as the venue for this winner-takes-all clash although neither side would have been disappointed if the Mayo GAA fixture-makers had pencilled in James Stephens Park in Ballina. Still, a crowd would probably travel to a field in Shrule to watch these two championship heavyweights square off again.
Both teams have less than a week to sort themselves out and assess the damage from last Sunday’s quarter-finals. Knockmore look set to be without Andrew Keane (neck) while Kevin O’Neill (hip) will also be receiving some treatment this week.
Crossmolina must plan again without Henry McLoughlin (work commitments with the Army in Chad) and Stephen Duffy (recovering from an appendix operation) while James Cafferty’s brittle hamstring will be monitored too.
Speaking after last Sunday’s narrow win over Ballagh’, Crossmolina manager John Maughan couldn’t hide his relief and satisfaction.
“We’re delighted,” he told The Mayo News. “Ballaghaderreen were great champions. At one stage in the second half, when they got level, it looked like they had the momentum. But we battened down the hatches and there were a couple of great individual performances, and collectively, as a team, we worked extremely hard.”
Knockmore manager, Nigel Reape, was also pleased to get a result against Ballintubber. The winners started well but, despite their two point victory, there is plenty of room for improvement.
“I was delighted with the way we started, but Andrew Keane’s injury affected our balance,” Reape explained yesterday. “We were never going to keep up the tempo we started with.
“Plus, we lost our entire half-forward line which was a huge blow. Andrew had to go off injured, we had to move Kevin O’Neill inside after he got a knock, and Trevor Howley went back to mark Alan Dillon after Declan Sweeney was booked. We turned over far too much ball in the last ten minutes too. That won’t be good enough against Crossmolina.”
Recent history suggests that there will be very little between these teams next weekend. With that in mind, the presence of the injured Aidan Kilcoyne in his tracksuit, warming up, during last Sunday’s game suggested that he may be in line for a return to action against the ‘auld enemy’. Not so, according to his manager.
“Aidan won’t play for us unless we get to the county final,” said Nigel Reape. “He saw a specialist last week and he isn’t ready to play football yet. He did a great job for me last Sunday though, warming up the subs and working with them.”
However, even with their county forward recovering from a broken collar-bone, Knockmore won’t fear their neighbours. And John Maughan has only good things to say about the opposition.
“I have the greatest respect for Knockmore,” he said. “They’re a wonderful club and it’ll be a great battle. We’ve already played once in the championship this year, that was a draw, and there’ll be very little between us again I’m sure. I saw the first half of their game today and they were very impressive.”
That may be stretching it a little but they did get the job done. However, Crossmolina (and their shrewd management team) may have just too much for them this time round.
VERDICT CROSSMOLINA
SFC SEMI-FINAL
Crossmolina v
Knockmore
Sunday, October 4 at 2pm
McHale Park, Castlebar
Referee: J Hughes
Linesmen: C Collins and M Kenny
