Crossmaglen Rangers boss Shane Lennon says his side’s seven-point victory over Tullysaran in the opening round of the Armagh SFC was the best way to honour the memory of the late Margaret McConville.

Crossmaglen’s honorary president and mother of Armagh All-Ireland winner and current Wicklow manager Oisin passed away two weeks ago at the age of 90.

Before Sunday’s first round clash in Tullysaran, a minute’s silence was observed in her honour and the 47-time champions would go on to defeat the competition’s newcomers by 2-18 to 1-14, with Margaret's grandsons Aaron O’Neill and Cian McConville combining for 0-10 of the winning tally.

“There are a lot of family members involved that that’s exactly the way Margaret would have wanted,” Lennon told BelfastLive.co.uk after the game.

“She was a proud Crossmaglen woman and she’d have loved nothing better than seeing her grandsons out there getting a championship win under their belt.

“It was a dirty day for football, not what we expected. We haven’t played football in wet weather in the last two or three months. There were a lot of unforced errors and sometimes that gives the other team energy, especially on their home patch.

“We knew we were coming up the road today to a proud club, it is a massive achievement for Tullysaran. They were playing their first ever senior championship game against Crossmaglen.

“I know they’re back down next year, but they’ve two more games and they’ll be looking two performances in those games. They’d young (Mark) McKeever coming in today too and it was a good battle from start to finish. We’ve loads to work on and we’ve more bodies to come back in.”

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