McKinney primed for the big day

By Shaun Casey

ARMAGH legend Steven McDonnell hadn’t even started his football career when Killeavy last reached the Armagh SFC final, and on Sunday, he will lead his club to their first appearance in the decider since 1988.

Standing in their way of winning the whole thing for the third time since 1948 is Crossmaglen Rangers, who have reigned supreme on 47 occasions, and unsurprisingly are well ahead at the top of the roll of honour.

Killeavy have been knocking at the door for the last few years and won their first ever Division 1A league title last year. Full back Cathair McKinney is now one of the experienced heads in their changing room.

They were impressive in their semi-final victory over Dromintee two weeks ago, and have gone through the entire championship without tasting defeat while Cross lost twice in the group stages.

“These days, semi-finals and finals, they don’t come around all that often,” said McKinney, who will likely go toe-to-toe with Cross dangerman Oisin O’Neill on Sunday, who has kicked 2-20 in his last two outings.

“That was our third semi-final in seven years, and we lost against Cross’ (in 2020) and we lost to Granemore (2022) as well, so we knew against Dromintee that we just had to get over the line.”

Making their way through to the showpiece is a huge achievement for Killeavy, and given the quality they have in their side, they’ll feel they are where they deserve to be.

Shea Magill, Ciaron O’Hanlon and Conor O’Neill have all played championship football for Armagh in the past five seasons.

The likes of Conor Magennis and Lee Rice have been in the squad while youngsters Fergal Boylan and Aron Magennis continue to impress.

Massive

“Getting to the final is massive and I’m sure a lot of our supporters were starting to think that we were running out of time,” McKinney added.

“I know a lot of us came through and won the Intermediate Championship back in 2017 and we were on a crest of a wave back then, but we’ve had to wait nine years to get to a senior final.

“There’s been a lot of hard work done in between and it’s great to get there but obviously now that we have got to the final, we want to put our best foot forward.”

Crossmaglen are back in the final themselves having crashed out of the championship at the semi-final stage in the past two seasons and will want to regain the title they last held in 2023.

The two sides clashed twice in the league earlier in the season, with Killeavy coming out on top on both occasions, but championship is a different ball game, and McKinney recognises the huge test the
Rangers will pose on Sunday afternoon.

“Cross’ are absolutely littered with quality players, and you sort of assume that if you’re going to win a county championship then you’re going to have to beat them, so we know they are a class, class team.”