The St Peter’s club man officiated in what turned out to be a memorable encounter which saw the Armagh City side almost catch the Ulster champions at the finishing line.

The Freecrow whistler, who awarded both teams penalties during the semi-final, ran the gauntlet of several Armagh Harps players following the final whistle who maintained that a last gasp effort from Joe Quigley had crossed the Rangers goal-line.

The official scoreline showed that Cross had got home by three points but despite all the controversy Mickey Leonard as it turned out was ‘spot on’.

He told the Mail: “I said two things to the Harps player who was stepping up to take a fourteen yard free. I told him not to cross the line and I also informed him that time was up and he had to score direct.”.

Joe Quigley, the Harps man allocated the task of trying to squeeze the ball past seven Crossmaglen players who lined their goalmouth, saw his effort ping pong between several Crossmaglen players legs before it would appear being picked up off the line by a Rangers defender.

All of that was irrelevant however according to Mickey Leonard who said: “One of my umpires said that the ball had been picked up off the ground on the goal-line but that didn’t matter under the circumstances and the scenario surrounding the idea that the ball had crossed the line was also a non starter considering that there were a number of deflections on the way.”

Meanwhile the Armagh County Board will no doubt be looking at the role of their stewards following an incident at the end of last Sunday’s semi-final where a number of supporters were given access to the playing area when Armagh Harps were continuing a warm down routine.

No serious problems arose and the situation was defused very quickly. In fairness a fell good factor surrounding the reopening of the ground may have led to protocol being relaxed slightly.

When both teams were on the pitch the early stages suggested a facile victory for Cross, but in retrospect it was the Harps who finished the stronger.

Their missed penalty during the first half came back to haunt them with a goal separating the sides at the finish.

Harps who were relegated recently certainly didn’t look like a division three side. They were physically up for he game and could have forced a replay.

Ranger’s midfielders Tony McEntee and Johnny Hanratty struggled throughout against Charlie Vernon and Gareth Richards and both John Donaldson and John McEntee were well below their performances against Clan na Gael.

Harps would be fancied to beat Cross in the minor final on Sunday week and the senior tie between Pearse Ogs and Rangers should be a cracker.

Will Mickey Leonard who was spot on last Sunday be asked to referee the final? Tir na nOg ref Gary Smith, who took charge of the Ogs v Killeavey match, may be another option.