Crossmaglen Rangers pay touching tribute to Caolan Finnegan ahead of Championship clash
Caolan, who passed away late last month at the age of 20 following a long battle with cancer, was named in the starting XV on the matchday program for Crossmaglen's Championship clash.
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Crossmaglen Rangers paid a touching tribute to deceased former player Caolan Finnegan in their first game since the young star passed away.
Caloan, a star at underage and senior level for Crossmaglen, passed away at the age of 20 late last month just over a year on from being diagnosed with brain cancer.
Just two weeks on from his passing, Crossmaglen were back in action in the group stage of the Armagh Senior Football Championship when they took on Sarsfields on Sunday afternoon.
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In a fitting tribute to Caolan, he was given the number 15 jersey in the matchday program. Crossmaglen came out on top on a scoreline of 0-14 to 0-11 as they got off the mark in the Championship following their opening day loss to Clan Na Gael on the 18th of August.
After the game, Sarsfields showed their class as they gave Crossmaglen a guard of honour after what was undoubtedly a difficult occasion for all involved wearing black and amber.
"Thank you @SarsfieldsPRO for your support yesterday. Much appreciated. #gaaisfamily" tweeted Crossmaglen after the game.
After the game, Crossmaglen manager Anthony Cunningham paid tribute to his players for being able to turn in such an excellent performance in the most difficult of circumstances.
“It was a difficult game for us.
"It was unsure what way it was going to go for us in terms of the players’ heads.
"But we came out on the right side of a tight game and we move on.
“It was extremely difficult for all of us to get our heads in football, there’s no getting away from that.
"We weren’t sure what we would get in terms of performance.
"All we were asking for from the lads was a result and we got that."
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