ARMAGH DETHRONED BY KINGDOM GOALS
ARMAGH 0-11 KERRY 4-14
Richard Bullick
Armagh dethroned Kerry as National League title holders last April and the Kingdom got their own back in stunning style on Saturday by toppling the Orchard’s crown with an exceptionally comprehensive victory in Croke Park.
In condemning Armagh to a third consecutive defeat for the first time since 2017, Kerry inflicted Armagh’s heaviest beating ever at headquarters and worst anywhere this decade as they established an eight-point interval lead and went on to win by 15.
It was an extremely emphatic margin which nobody had seen coming as this was expected to be another close contest between well-matched teams which have enjoyed a great rivalry over recent years.
But Kerry were eight up by the time Armagh finally registered their first score of the late afternoon, a wonderful long-range effort from last year’s NFL final Player of the Match Lauren McConville, and there was to be no Orchard comeback.
On a day when Armagh didn’t do themselves justice, we got a fleeting glimpse of what might have been early in the second quarter when that McConville score was the first of four Orchard points in a three-minute purple patch.
Armagh had actually begun brightly in this tea-time showdown which followed Galway’s win over Cork in a low-scoring Division Two decider but had nothing to show for it thanks to early wides by both Niamh Henderson and Eve Lavery.
At the other end, Louise Kenny did well to win a ball played for Danielle O’Leary and Anna Carr had to come off her line quickly to avert danger before a wild wide by Kerry indirectly led to the first Kingdom goal.
Unsurprisingly preferred in nets to her regular understudy Brianna Mathers who had performed such heroics against Meath last time out, the experienced Carr’s shortish kickout was lost and last season’s All Ireland-winning captain Niamh Carmody chipped her perfectly.
Blaithin Mackin shot straight at Kerry goalkeeper Mary-Ellen Bolger after the Clann Eireann namesakes Niamh Coleman and Henderson combined and Armagh were indebted to Kenny for an absolutely brilliant block down the other end soon after.
There was a speculative wide by Blaithin Mackin and then Armagh suffered a blow when Kenny injured herself in the process of fouling O’Leary and had to be replaced by All Star Grace Ferguson with just 10 minutes gone.
Armagh had made three changes to their starting team from the Meath match last time out, with Carr and the injured duo of Cait Towe and Armagh’s leading-scorer this season Niamh Reel coming in for Mathers, Grace Ferguson and former skipper Kelly Mallon.
Well though Maeve Ferguson has done during the first phase of this season, it was a surprise to see her start Saturday’s big game ahead of her elder sister given the latter’s All Star status, but the 2019 All Ireland winner with St Catherine’s College acquitted herself well.
Armagh going with an extra back meant managers Joe Feeney and Darnell Parkinson effectively choosing to start either Reel or Mallon rather than both, in which case the unlucky Kenny may have found herself squeezed out.
The long-serving Shane O’Neills skipper showed her worth before having her evening ended so early and, after a delay while she was treated and then left the field, Siofra O’Shea converted the free.
O’Leary kicked a wide after Carr’s kickout had gone to Kerry and Armagh couldn’t take their own next chance which came after McConville went forward with purpose and fellow stalwart Aoife McCoy cut in along the endline but fisted across the face of goal too high for Reel.
The 13th minute proved unlucky for Armagh as it brought Kerry’s second goal, O’Leary firstly hitting the right post and then lashing in the re-bound soccer style to put the Kingdom seven up despite the best efforts of Roisin Mulligan to curtail the threat.
Orchard county native Neil McCoy was critical on the RTE text commentary of how Armagh were leaving themselves exposed at the back, but Maeve Ferguson did win the ball well from the next Kerry attack and got a free out.
Blaithin Mackin was perhaps lucky not to find herself in trouble with the referee for flattening an opponent with a blatant shoulder before Kerry extended their lead courtesy of a long-range point from Carmody.
Friday’s team announcement had brought to a surprise end McConville’s long run of over 50 consecutive Armagh matches in the No 6 jersey but the little warrior was still very recognisable as she burst forward in the lead-up to the Orchard outfit’s first score.
Emily Druse took over from McConville and she laid the ball off to Reel high on the left, who passed backwards to the diminutive Crossmaglen legend who almost kicked herself off her feet splitting the posts from long range.
Lavery doubled the Orchard account right away after Druse won the Kerry kickout and the left-footer from Ballyhegan quickly added another following a good break and ball in by Blaithin Mackin.
Although Jadyn Lucey broke the scoring sequence by chipping over the bar after O’Leary did well, Armagh responded promptly when Caroline O’Hanlon won her own kickout, Blaithin Mackin went forward and McCoy set up Henderson for Armagh’s fourth point.
Blaithin Mackin hit her second speculative wide of the opening period after a lovely ball by O’Hanlon to fellow doctor Reel and, although the Kerry kickout went over the sideline, Armagh gifted possession back to their opponents.
Armagh survived another threatening attack in which Mulligan was again left isolated against O’Leary and Maeve Ferguson was a little lucky not to be blown for charging as she tried to come out from near her own goal.
Henderson had hoped for a weekend of double celebration after turning 30 during the week but she was twice thwarted by the woodwork, firstly when she tried to fist over in the 24th minute just before O’Leary put Kerry six ahead.
Carmody kicked a wide for Kerry, who were lucky not to have a player sinbinned by Shane Curley for a crude challenge on McConville as she attacked towards the left corner, but at least Reel punished them by converting the resulting free from very wide out.
Disaster struck Armagh in the 28th minute as Lucey grabbed the third Kingdom goal after Aishling O’Connell and O’Shea had won balls above McConville and Orchard captain Clodagh McCambridge respectively.
Armagh frustratingly failed to manage the countdown clock as they attempted to pull at least a point back before the interval, showing insufficient urgency or awareness as they played the ball around until the half-time hooter sounded.
Although the Orchard needed a strong start to the second half, O’Leary increased Kerry’s lead to six with a score in the opening minute which came all too easily, but Armagh went excruciatingly close to hitting back with a goal.
Following good build-up play, McCoy’s shot beat the keeper but last August’s All Ireland Player of the Match Kayleigh Cronin did brilliantly to stop the ball crossing the line and a Kerry team-mate mopped up possession.
McConville strode forward at pace on another big break but Druse got her angles wrong with a high shot which went wide and then Clann Eireann captain Henderson hit the post again at goal level, this time with a right-footed shot.
Cronin, who has signed to play in this year’s AFLW, pointed for Kerry who raised their fourth green flag in the 37th minute when Carr could only tip a shot from Lucey into the root of her net, leaving Armagh with a mountain to climb.
Things got worse as the Kerry scoring spree became 1-4 in a four-minute period, Carmody pointing despite a superb point-blank save from Carr initially, O’Shea fisting over and Niamh Ni Chonchuir extending her team’s advantage to an astonishing 16 points.
Armagh made two changes, Mallon replacing her Harps clubmate Druse and Lavery giving way to Derrynoose young gun Caoimhe McNally, who pulled back a point with a nice strike less than a minute after entering the Croke Park pitch for the first time in her career.
But O’Leary quickly cancelled it out and Reel reeled off three frees for Armagh in the first five minutes of the final quarter, punctuated by a couple of Kerry wides and a good block by Maeve Ferguson.
Reel replied to another O’Shea free with a left-footed point from play, O’Leary had a shot off target and, unlike Meath’s Monica McGuirk a fortnight earlier, the Kerry keeper wasn’t fooled by an Armagh attempt – O’Hanlon in this case – to flick on a ball being played in.
Coleman had given way to towering Wolf Tones teenager Eimear McGeown – who had pointed 26 seconds into her Orchard debut when these teams met in Tralee in the opening game of the season – and Armagh’s final change saw Megan McCann replace Towe.
O’Leary calmly chipped over another point and McNally had a shot off target after McConville had hit the post high up following a burst through the middle and play was brought back for a free in.
Three years ago, O’Leary had been the young unknown who broke Orchard hearts with 1-2 off the bench in the Division Two final but now, with the legendary Louise Ni Mhuircheartaigh gone, she is stepping up to spearhead the Kerry attack along with O’Shea.
A long-range point took O’Leary’s haul to 1-5 shortly before she was announced as Player of the Match and, although Mallon pointed for Armagh to reward McConville persistence, Kerry had the last word with a point in the final minute from sub Rachel Dwyer.
The Kerry full forward line registered an imposing 3-9 between them, O’Leary’s top-scoring contribution being complemented by Lucey’s 2-1 and O’Shea’s three points, two of them from frees. Reel’s five points took her haul for this National League campaign to 0-32.
Kerry’s win ended a run of three consecutive victories for Armagh in Division One encounters between these teams since the start of last year, including January’s dramatic comeback in Tralee which included three late goals.
It is almost two decades since the iconic O’Hanlon, now 40 and in her 24th inter-county campaign, first wore the orange No 9 jersey in Croke Park in the 2005 All Ireland Junior final and Orchard followers will hope she gets the chance to do so again later this season.
Saturday felt like a confidence-denting and even somewhat bewildering defeat which will have given Armagh much to ponder, but both the Kerry manager and captain were keen to emphasise afterwards that they are a much better team than this scoreline suggests.
ARMAGH: A Carr; M Ferguson, C McCambridge (capt), L Kenny; L McConville (0-1), C Towe, R Mulligan; N Coleman, C O’Hanlon; E Druse, B Mackin, E Lavery (0-2); N Reel (0-5; 4f), A McCoy, N Henderson (0-1). Subs used: G Ferguson for Kenny (11mins), K Mallon (0-1) for Druse (40), C McNally (0-1) for Lavery (40), E McGeown for Coleman (53), M McCann for Towe (53).
KERRY: ME Bolger; R Rahilly, D Kearney, E Lynch; A O’Connell, K Cronin (0-1), A Dillane; M O’Connell, A Galvin (capt); C Evans, N Ni Chonchuir (0-1), N Carmody; D O’Leary (1-5), S O’Shea (0-3, 2f), J Lucey (2-1). Subs used: R Dwyer (0-1) for Lucy (45), L Boyle for Carmody (45), C McCarthy for Dillane (51), F O’Donoghue for Rahilly (53), N Quinn for Ni Chonchuir (57).
Referee: Shane Curley (Galway).
