SCORELINES are like book covers; at times they're deceptive, giving you no idea of the story behind it. When Maurice Deegan's final whistle sounded, the battered board in the corner said that this All Ireland club semi-final was just a point shy of being double scores. It wasn't remotely like that. When the Moorefield players finally got up off their knees and shook the hand of Gooch, Pat O'Shea and the boys, they turned to applaud the main stand. That gesture was reciprocated by a standing ovation. The stand might have been mostly green and white, but black and yellow paid their respects too.

With 12 minutes to go in this gripping contest, the sides were level. Moorefield had just scored a point which had started with their moustached Gooch Stopper, Kevin O'Neill, claiming a wonderful ball in the air and on the way out, bumping Cooper to the ground for good measure.

It was a play that encapsulated Moorefield's defiance, but it wasn't enough.

In the next three minutes, Crokes reeled off as many points, the last a point on the run from 40 yards out by their midfielder Ambrose O'Donovan (Yes, son of himself).

Moorefield huffed and puffed but couldn't blow Crokes' house down, and as the game entered injury time, Eoin Brosnan tore through the heart of the Kildare side's defence to drill the ball to the net in trademark fashion.

Finally, after two hours of football, Crokes had put some breathing space between themselves and Moorefield.

Ultimately that score told the difference between the sides.

Moorefield had no one who could have scored a goal like that.

There was another telling factor. Moorefield had players who could score . . . seven of their eight players from midfield up scored a point . . . but they had no legitimate scorer.

They went down the field not having a clue where one of their next two points would come from, while Crokes knew one would come from their full-forward line. David Maloney, who started with number 24 on his back, finished with 1-2 to his name.

Kevin O'Leary scored three lovely points from play. Then in the other corner there was Cooper. Only one of his three points were from play, but the game's two goals went through him. While the Moorefield full-forward line scored only 0-2 between them, Crokes' finished with 18.

Possession-wise, Moorefield dominated the first half and while the delivery of ball into their inside line could have been better, they led 0-3 to 0-2. In the 17th minute though, Crokes scored a goal which again their opponents could hardly have engineered.

After patiently keeping possession, Kieran O'Leary played a wonderful incisive pass to Cooper who in turn set up Moloney to rifle to the roof of the net. Cooper then returned O'Leary the favour by setting him up for a point.

By the 26th minute though Moorefield were level, rattling off three points in a row, the last a fine score by their athletic full-forward, Jason Phillips. A Moloney 45 gave Crokes a 1-4 to 0-6 interval lead, and even when Moorefield couldn't feed Phillips with enough ball and went 15 minutes in the second half without a score, they kept coming, and through two quick points from county men Patrick Murray and Ross Glavin were level, 1-5 to 0-8.

But then Gooch moved out the field and Crokes moved up a gear. Moorefield didn't just have that kind of horsepower.

Crossmaglen, however, do.

DR CROKES K Cremin; K McMahon, L Quinn, M Moloney; B Moriarty, B McMahon, S Doolan; A O'Donovan (0-1), E Brosnan (1-0); B Looney, E Kavanagh, J Fleming; C Cooper (03, 0-2 frees), D Moloney (1-2), K O'Leary (0-3) Subs A Kennelly for Kavanagh, 40 mins; V Cooper for Fleming, 47 mins; J Cahalane for Doolan, 56 mins MOOREFIELD T Corely; I Lonergan, G Naughton, K O'Neill; P O'Flynn, K Duane, L O'Callaghan; R Glavin (0-1), D Flynn (0-1); P Murray (0-2), R Sweeney (0-1, free), M Tracey (0-1); F Hannify, J Philips (0-1), P Wolfe (0-1) Subs D Whyte for Hannify, 19 mins; P Behan for Wolfe, 40 mins; R Delaney for Tracey, 47 mins Referee M Deegan (Laois)