TWO goals from All-Ireland winner Rian O’Neill helped Crossmaglen pick up a 2-14 to 0-11 win over Granemore in round three of Armagh SFC Group B, seeing them finish in second place.
The result means the Rangers will play Silverbridge in next weekend’s play-off round while Granemore, who ended up in third position in the group, will take on Killeavy.
O’Neill’s first major came on the 20-minute mark and it gave the home side a comfortable five-point lead at the halfway point as they went in 1-7 to 0-5 to the good.
Daniel Cumiskey stretched the gap straight after the turnaround while Jason O’Neill and Odhran Kieran swapped scores before Aaron Haughey, on his championship debut, split the posts after entering the fray.
A second goal from O’Neill, who finished with a tally of 2-3 on the day, pushed Cross further ahead and they weren’t ever likely to be caught.
Eoghan O’Neill top-scored for Granemore with 0-4 while Jason O’Neill chipped in with 0-2.
Meanwhile, Clan na Gael continued their winning streak in the group stages as they saw off Sarsfields 0-13 to 0-10 to make sure of top spot in Group B with a perfect record from three games.
Clans had already qualified for the quarters, while Sarsfields had exited the competition before the ball was thrown in.
Three first half points from youngster Brendan O’Hagan helped last year’s beaten finalists into a three-point lead at the half-time break.
Sarsfields did battle back in the second half and Eamon McGeown – who scored 0-5 – tied things up on the 54th minute, but Clan na Gael finished strongly.
Shane McPartlan fired over two points from the dead ball while O’Hagan added another, the pair sharing 0-12 between them, to see the Clans finish three ahead and on top of the pile.
