Carrickcruppen take second spot and send Dromintee crashing out of the Championship

Carrickcruppen secured second spot in Group D and knocked Dromintee out of the Championship, with a resounding 10-point win over their south Armagh neighbours on Friday evening.

The Camlough men have been in fine form over the past two weeks, responding to a disappointing 23-point loss against Clann Eireann by defeating Armagh Harps last week before they put on an excellent display at home in Round Three.

For Dromintee, the 2025 Championship campaign was ultimately a disappointing one, as they make their exit with three losses from as many games.

However, just 90 seconds into the game, that may have been a hard outcome to predict as the away side were awarded a penalty, and Adam Matthews was shown a black card. Jack McArdle stepped up to the mark and made no mistake to put Dromintee into an early lead.

Cruppen responded well to the setback with Shea Loughran and Ben Matthews scoring either side of a Dromintee point by Cathal O'Neill, but they looked to be in trouble when the visitors found the net for the second time in the opening half.

Darren McKenna was causing major bother on the edge of the square and he blasted over for a point, but when presented with a second opportunity he made no mistake and rifled a shot into the roof of the net.

Another point from McArdle had Dromintee 2-3 to 0-2 ahead with just over 20 minutes played, but Carrickcruppen were the better side in the closing stages of the first half.

A free from Eoin Woods stemmed the tide, and after Shea Loughran overturned the resulting kick-out, he fed Ben Matthews who almost took the roof off the net with a fantastic finish off his left foot and it was game on.

A two-point free from Blaine Hughes just before the interval left the hosts just one behind at half-time.

Whilst the first half was evenly contested, the second half was dominated by the hosts. Eoin Kane got them back on level terms with a point just seconds after the restart.

Dromintee didn't want to give up their lead too easily, and goalkeeper Dylan McGahon Malone responded from a free. However, the tide was turning and Cruppen went into the lead for the first time in the game when their own Number One found the target from a free – and his was of the two-point variety.

Barry Flynn's side came inches away from finding the net for the second time when Tiarnan O'Hare's shot beat McGahon Malone, but defender Eoghan McKeever read the danger and cleared the ball off his own goal-line.

Conor Sloan grabbed the next score of the game from a free, and moments later Blaine Hughes saw an orange flag raised for the third time.

Oran Loughran and Brian Watters traded the next two scores, but inside the last 10 minutes Cruppen began to pull away when scores from Woods and Shea Loughran put them six ahead.

Oran Loughran then had another point answered by a Watters brother, with Sean getting his name on the scoresheet. The hosts then won the kick-out and every shot they were taking was finding the mark, as Shea Loughran added to his personal tally. When Blaine Hughes split the posts from two-point range for the fourth time in the game, it was all over as Cruppen led by nine with less than five minutes to play.

A McArdle free gave Dromintee momentary respite, but Carrickcruppen added another point for Shea Loughran before Woods put the icing on the cake, scoring his side's second goal with a dinked half-volley over the goalkepeer, much to the delight of the home crowd.

Dromintee added late scores via Ryan Hughes Snr and Oran Loughran (two) but it was too little, too late and their fate was sealed.

MATCH STATS

Carrickcruppen Scorers: Blaine Hughes (0-8, 4tpf), Ben Matthews (1-2), Eoin Woods (1-2, 1f), Shea Loughran (0-3), Brian Watters (0-1), Eoin Kane (0-1), Sean Watters (0-1), Conor Sloan (0-1, 1f), Ross Magee (0-1).

Dromintee Scorers: Jack McArdle (1-2, 1pen, 1f), Oran Loughran (0-4, 1f), Darren McKenna (1-1), Ryan Hughes Snr (0-2), Cathal O’Neill (0-1), Dylan McGahon Malone (0-1, 1f).