Armagh 2-12
Kerry 2-9
By Daire Walsh
ARMAGH manager Greg McGonigle hopes they can now take their historic Lidl NFL Division 1 title success into the TG4 All-Ireland Championship and make even more progress.
Aimee Mackin and Kelly Mallon combined for 1-9 as Armagh followed up their Division 2 success last season by dethroning the reigning Lidl Division 1 champions Kerry at Croke Park.
“From a defensive point of view, we’d be happy with where we are at, but again we could have been possibly a little bit more clinical up front. We maybe left a couple of chances behind us, but it’s a great place to be on the 7th of April. Looking forward with stuff to prepare for coming into the Ulster championship and then the All-Ireland series,” said McGonigle.
“We talked about teams are probably going to have purple patches or you’re going to make mistakes and we say it’s always about reaction. It’s responding, it’s not about reacting and not going into ourselves. In regards of trying to get back up and get a score as soon as we can, we reacted very well to conceding an early second half.”
Having lost out by three points to the Kingdom in a NFL Division 2 decider at the same venue two years ago, this is a sweet victory for an Armagh side that were also appearing in their maiden top tier league showpiece.
Kerry joint manager Declan Quill said they did not make the most of a fortunate goal after the restart and they squandered too many chances to retain their crown.
“A fortunate goal really, but one that put us on a good path in the second half. We weren’t really able to take advantage of it. The bit of good luck you get, you’ve to build on it. It’s not something we did,” said Quill.
“We missed way too many chances to win a game. A national final, you’ve got to be very clinical. I thought Armagh were way more clinical than we were. The chances they got, they stuck away. We’ve to look back over the tape, but the amount of chances we missed was absolutely criminal really.
“We did come up here to win today. It wasn’t maybe an aim of ours to get to the final in a way, but that’s the way we ended up. When we were here, we were coming all guns blazing to win it. It just didn’t happen for us today. We’ve Munster championship to focus on now in two weeks’ time. We’ll give the girls a few nights off and we’ll reconvene next Friday night. Hopefully the bodies will be fresh and the minds will be fresh, and they’ll be ready to give the Munster championship a good go.”
A fine point by Aoife McCoy edged Armagh in front for a second time after free-takers Mallon and Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh had exchanged early frees, but the Kingdom received a massive boost when Lorraine Scanlon fired to the net on 10 minutes after a dead-ball strike from Ní Mhuircheartaigh had dropped short. This was only a minor set-back for Armagh, however, as midfielder Niamh Coleman palmed a goal of her own after Kerry netminder Mary Ellen Bolger had knocked down Mackin’s attempt at a point.
An earlier Mallon score meant Armagh led 1-3 to 1-1 on the first-quarter mark and this cushion was extended when Mallon superbly split the uprights from an acute left-hand angle.
Yet Kerry never allowed panic to creep into their play and three points on the bounce from Ní Mhuircheartaigh had the sides level at 1-4 apiece during the break.
After Mary O’Connell pounced on a defensive mishap by Armagh three minutes into the second half, Niamh Ní Chonchuir comfortably fired home a second Kingdom goal.
While this looked like being a major blow for the Orchard County, but they were instead galvanised in the minutes that followed Ní Chonchuir’s major. After unanswered points from Mallon, Mackin (two) and Niamh Henderson moved Armagh in front once again, the increasingly-dangerous Mackin rifled an unstoppable shot to the roof of the Kerry net on 39 minutes.
Further points from the Shane O’Neills ace either side of the third-quarter mark suddenly left Armagh six ahead, but much-needed contributions from Ní Mhuircheartaigh (two) and Hannah O’Donoghue offered fresh life to the Kingdom challenge.
Their deficit remained at three points when centre half-back Ciara Murphy cancelled out a Mallon free with a well-worked score, but even though Ní Mhuircheartaigh added her seventh point for a battling Kerry, substitute Corrina Doyle also found the range to ensure Armagh sealed a breakthrough success.
Scorers – Armagh: A Mackin 1-4 (0-2f), K Mallon 0-5 (3f), N Coleman 1-0, A McCoy, N Henderson, C Doyle 0-1 each. Kerry: L Ní Mhuircheartaigh 0-7 (6f), N Ní Chonchuir, L Scanlon 1-0 each, C Murphy, H O’Donoghue 0-1 each.
ARMAGH: A Carr; G Ferguson, C McCambridge, R Mulligan; C Towe, L McConville, D Coleman; N Coleman, C O’Hanlon; E Druse, A McCoy, L Kenny; A Mackin, N Henderson, K Mallon. Subs: S Quigley for N Coleman (24),C Doyle for Druse (49),M McCambridge for Kenny (57), S Grey for McCoy (58), E Lavery for Mallon (59).
KERRY: ME Bolger; C Lynch, D Kearney, E Lynch; A O’Connell, C Murphy, K Cronin; M O’Connell, A Galvin; N Carmody, N Ní Chonchuir, L Scanlon; H O’Donoghue, E Dineen, L Ní Mhuircheartaigh. Subs: D O’Leary for NíChonchuir, C O’Brien for Kearney (both 39), A Harrington for Scanlon (44), K Brosnan for O’Donoghue (57).
Referee: Gus Chapman (Sligo).
