Ballybay Pearse Brothers 2-11

Crossmaglen Rangers 1-9

Dan Bannon reports from the Athletic Grounds

BALLYBAY PEARSE BROTHERS are into the Ulster club senior quarter-finals at Crossmaglen Rangers’ expense thanks to a showing of control and extreme composure.

Walking into the lion’s den against one of Ulster’s elite sides, Veteran Paul Finlay was on hand to top off a sterling display from the Monaghan champions.

The win now pits their manager Jerome Johnston against his home club Kilcoo in the next round. Johnston is the father of All-Ireland winners Ryan, namesake Jerome, and Shealan.

That Johnston quandary came about in a devastating third quarter where the Monaghan side forced their hand with a punishing use of a numerical advantage.

Crossmaglen wing-forward Dara O’Callaghan picked up a black card just before the interval. Trailing by a point at half-time, Ballybay suddenly led by six by the time O’Callaghan re-entered the fray.

Interval substitute Aaron Toner palmed home at the back stick and Shane McGuinness added a brace to his controversial first-half penalty to outscore Cross 1-5 to 0-1 in a pulsating showing of superiority.

Finlay popped up with two points also to add to his two in the first half that kept his side in the game after Rian O’Neill added to his 2022 highlight reel.

It was Finlay’s experience in stitching everything together for Ballybay on the night that saw them over the line.

At the other end, Ryan Wylie’s man-marking job on Cian McConville was crucial and Mickey Hannon came into the side to do an excellent job on Jamie Clarke.

Ballybay could absolve three late Crossmaglen points and still ease themselves over the line.

Scorers for Ballybay Pearses: Shane McGuinness 1-2 (1-0pen), Paul Finlay 0-4 (0-3f), Aaron Toner 1-0, Dessie Ward 0-2, Drew Wylie 0-1, Christopher McGuinness 0-1 (0-1m), Thomas Kerr 0-1

Scorers for Crossmaglen Rangers: Rian O’Neill 1-1, Cian McConville 0-3 (0-2f), Caolan Finnegan 0-2, Ronan Fitzpatrick 0-2, Jamie Clarke 0-1

Ballybay Pearses

1. Julius Sniauksta;

3. Tiernan McSkean, 24. Micheal Hannon 15. Ryan Wylie;

7. Eoin McKearney, 5. Shane Monaghan, 19. Colm Lennon;

6. Drew Wylie, 8. Dessie Ward;

17. Ciaran Galligan, 11. Shane McGuinness, 18. Daniel Caraher;

13. Paul Finlay, 14. Christopher McGuinness, 12. Thomas Kerr.

Subs: Aaron Toner for Galligan (ht), Thomas Keenan for Caraher (55), Conor McArdle for S McGuinness (62), Brent Wylie for Monaghan (63), Shane McQuillan for C McGuinness (63).

Crossmaglen Rangers

1. Conor Deery;

2. Tony O’Callaghan, 4. Thomas Duffy, 3. Alan Farrelly;

5. Aaron Kernan, 6. James Morgan, 7. Paul Hughes;

8. Stephen Morris, 9. Rian O’Neill;

12. Dara O’Callaghan, 11. Callum Cumiskey, 10. Caolan Finnegan;

13. Cian McConville, 14. Jamie Clarke, 15. Ronan Fitzpatrick

Subs: Chris Crowley for Farrelly (37), Daniel Cumiskey for D O’Callaghan (48), Orin McKeown for Hughes (52)

Referee: Noel Mooney (Cavan Gaels)