BY RICHARD BULLICK
LOCAL Women Sport award winner Lauren McConville has special memories of the last time Armagh ladies played an Ulster final as part of a double bill with a men’s championship match in Clones even though it’s over a decade ago.
She was just a teenager in her first season of adult inter-county football when Caroline O’Hanlon lifted the trophy in front of a five-figure crowd after Armagh had stunned a mighty Monaghan team who were hot favourites to make it five Ulster titles on the trot.
That 2014 triumph, achieved against a team that had spent the spring playing two National Leagues above them, ended a run of seven lean years without Ulster Senior Championship success for Armagh and was just the third title in their history.
The Orchard crew won with James Daly at the helm while their opponents were managed by an Armagh man, the legendary John Morrison, who then hot-footed it up to the pressbox to cover the men’s match for his local newspaper!
By incredible coincidence, there will again be an Armagh man in charge of the opposition this weekend, with none other than the aforementioned Daly plotting the downfall of his native Orchard county on Saturday (3pm) in his new role as Donegal manager!
Although Armagh faced Cavan in a round robin match in Clones two seasons ago as a curtain-raiser to the men’s Ulster final, this is the first time in 11 years that they have had the chance to play their provincial showpiece as part of a double-header.
Unlike in 2014, the men’s match is also the Ulster final and it could be a wonderful family double for Lauren McConville, whose younger brother Cian McConville is in line to feature for Kieran McGeeney’s side against Donegal after a brief but effective cameo in the semi.
“Next Saturday will be a massive occasion for both the Armagh men’s and women’s teams playing Ulster finals in the same venue on the same day – and the fact we’re both up against Donegal will just add extra spice and should make for an amazing atmosphere.
“I would love to see the men get over the line after a long wait from their last Ulster title. It would be great to see Cian get an Ulster medal and, if both Armagh teams can come out on top at the weekend, it would be a very proud day for our family,” reflects Lauren.
“It isn’t just us though, there are other connections between the teams too such as the Mackin siblings, and also (Armagh captain) Clodagh McCambridge and her brother Barry, so it will be a really special occasion.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to play county football for more than a decade now but winning that Ulster final in 2014 is still one of my fondest memories playing for Armagh down through all these years.
“That was my debut season and to get an Ulster Senior Championship medal was just unbelievable, especially as we were underdogs going up against a very strong Monaghan team at the time who had been to two All Ireland finals in the previous three seasons.
“The atmosphere in Clones was brilliant with the double-header that day and winning in front of a massive Armagh crowd made it extra special. It’s great that our younger girls will get to play in front of such support and we’re really looking forward to it as a team.”
During the intervening 11 years, Lauren herself has gone from bustling teenage half forward to a much-decorated centre half back, who turned 30 last Christmas the month after finally receiving a much-deserved All Star having being shortlisted the previous three seasons.
Already crowned Irish News Ulster Ladies Footballer of the Year last autumn, the Orchard taliswoman added the LGFA Player of the Year title at the recent Local Women Sport Awards and she is now rightly regarded as one of Armagh’s greatest ever players.
That 2014 final was just the fourth in Orchard history whereas this weekend’s showdown with Donegal will be the eighth consecutive Ulster showpiece which Armagh have contested as they seek to be crowned champions for a fifth time this decade.
This will be the seventh time since 2018 that bitter rivals Armagh and Donegal have locked horns in the big game, with the spoils shared at three victories apiece from those half dozen deciders they met in.
Donegal won the first two in emphatic fashion but, having overcome Monaghan in the pandemic-delayed pre-Christmas showpiece of 2020, Armagh made it three titles in a row with narrow wins against the north west women the following two years.
Armagh relinquished the provincial crown courtesy of defeat against underdogs Donegal at Owenbeg two years ago and then had to dig deep to squeeze over the line after extra-time in Clones last May.
That close shave came on the back of Armagh having been enthroned as National League champions for the first time, a crown which they relinquished last month with a shuddering 15-point defeat at the hands of Kerry in Croke Park.
While that felt like a horribly bad day at the office, it will still be fascinating to see how Armagh react as they return to action against Donegal, who finished fourth in Division Two this spring after a league campaign which included no fewer than three draws.
Daly’s women were level on nine points with Tipperary and Monaghan, but that trio were nine points adrift of second-placed Cork while Galway, who went on to defeat the Rebelettes in the second division final at Croke Park, won all seven regular league games.
Although Armagh are justifiable favourites, Daly will be aiming to mastermind an upset like he did in the corresponding game 11 years ago albeit from the orange corner on that unforgettable occasion.
Six of his starting side that day remain involved now with the timeless O’Hanlon joined by her her fellow goal-scorer Kelly Mallon, McConville, Daly’s clubmate Aoife McCoy, Niamh Henderson and Louise Kenny, who was just 17 at the time.
Three more of the present panel – goalkeeper Anna Carr, Eve Lavery and Catherine Marley – were teenage unused subs that day as Armagh won 2-14 to 1-8 on an afternoon Fionnuala McKenna top-scored with six points.
With the exception of a point by Mags McAlinden, who is part of Armagh’s current backroom team, the rest of the scores came from players still around – O’Hanlon’s 1-2 and Mallon’s 1-1 augmented by McCoy raising two white flags, with one each by McConville and Kenny.
The then teenage Henderson did well alongside O’Hanlon in midfield but didn’t feature in another Ulster final for a decade, returning from nine years out of county football with a bang by winning Player of the Match in last season’s Clones showpiece!
“I can’t put into words how fortunate I felt last season to play in Croke Park with Armagh again, be part of our first ever National League title win, then pick up another Ulster Senior Championship medal. Getting Player of the Match was just the icing on the cake!
“It came as a surprise because that accolade could have gone to anyone,” insists Henderson, who stepped up with three priceless second half points after Armagh’s ace markswoman Aimee Mackin had ruptured her cruciate.
“Getting to play in Croke Park in the 2012 All Ireland Intermediate final aged just 17 was amazing, getting a wee point to my name and then watching one of my heroes, Mags McAlinden, lifting the trophy as captain.
“But that was probably topped by that 2014 Ulster final win in a packed Clones. Monaghan were massive favourites for that final but we beat them well on the day. There was a huge crowd in by the end of our game as it was a curtain-raiser like this weekend’s will be.”
Henderson turned 30 a few days before last month’s NFL Division One showpiece so had her party pooped by Kerry but the Lurgan woman can take confidence from her exploits in Ulster finals last year, winning Player of the Match for both Armagh and Clann Eireann!
Armagh’s margin of defeat in the recent National League decider was their worst since also losing by 15 to Donegal in the 2019 Ulster final, though that was a major improvement on the 28-point pasting from the same opponents in Brewster Park the year before.
But just seven weeks later, Armagh came agonisingly close to a revenge victory over Donegal in the 2018 All Ireland quarter-final and they should be perfectly capable of bouncing back from that jarring NFL final loss last month with victory on Saturday.
Whether this match has come too soon for an Aimee Mackin comeback remains to be seen but Armagh are developing decent depth so, even without her, joint managers Joe Feeney and Darnell Parkinson will still have some positive selection headaches.
Current All Star Grace Ferguson and former skipper Mallon didn’t start the NFL final but Armagh’s players in those positions made the Team of Division One, illustrating the fierce competition for places bubbling up in this Orchard squad.
With the exception of 2023, when she had stepped away from the panel after the National League campaign, the incomparable O’Hanlon has played every minute of Armagh’s 11 Ulster Senior Championship showpieces and will line out in midfield again.
The wheel has kept turning, with those young guns of 2014, McCoy and McConville, long since becoming established stalwarts of this side and a new generation dynamic duo, Emily Druse and Roisin Mulligan, collecting their first Ulster medals last May, a decade on.
Armagh have a comparatively poor record in age group football over recent years while enjoying sustained success at adult level and they will be tipped by the pundits to land a fifth Ulster title in six seasons, but it should be another absorbing battle against familiar foes.
This year is the 10th anniversary of Donegal’s first Ulster title triumph and, having dominated the second half of last decade, Daly’s women will be eyeing up a sixth provincial crown with their manager knowing favouritism doesn’t guarantee anything in these Clones showpieces.
Jim McConville is hoping to watch both his daughter Lauren McConville and son Cian McConville in action in Saturday’s Ulster final double-header
