DREAM DEBUTS FOR ORCHARD NEW GIRLS
Richard Bullick
Eimear McGeown pointed just 26 seconds into her Orchard debut and fellow teenager Rebecca Cunningham netted with her very first touch for Armagh after coming off the bench in Saturday’s stunning away win against Kerry.
Towering full forward McGeown from Derrymacash club Wolfe Tones wasn’t even meant to be starting, but was drafted in as a late replacement when former Armagh skipper Kelly Mallon joined a lengthy list of frontliners missing for this tough first fixture of the season.
Understrength Armagh shocked Kerry with a fantastic comeback as three late goals gave the National League title holders a thrilling 3-11 to 1-13 victory over the All Ireland champions in Tralee in Joe Feeney and Darnell Parkinson’s first match at the Orchard helm.
Subs Blaithin Mackin and newcomer Cunningham netted in quick succession to turn the game on its head before Armagh’s 2024 Player of the Year Roisin Mulligan raised the Orchard outfit’s third green flag in a five-minute purple patch.
The wing back’s confident finish put Armagh four up with less than three minutes remaining but the visitors still defended ferociously including another great stop by goalkeeper Anna Carr which turned the ball past her left post just before the final hooter.
That last save rounded off a superb Player of the Match performance from Carrickcruppen’s Carr, whose series of fantastic saves kept the visitors viable in a contest where they trailed by seven points midway through the second half.
Remarkably, the win was in the bag by the time Kerry went to take that futile 45 but, with the cameras trained on Carr as her award was announced, it was striking to see the keeper and her clubmate Caroline O’Hanlon still so fully focused and animated on the goal-line.
Back in her beloved orange No 9 jersey for the first time since turning 40 last August, the opening act of O’Hanlon’s record-breaking 24th consecutive inter-county campaign had been winning the throw-in, which led to McGeown’s early score.
At this stage, we’re used to O’Hanlon having county team-mates born since her Orchard debut but that cohort have now been joined by those who were only coming into the world around the time the incomparable Bessbrook sportswoman won her first All Star in 2006!
Watching shots of O’Hanlon warming up in Tralee wearing a hat and a huge smile despite the driving sleet, it was clear that her hunger and drive remains undiminished, and the evergreen veteran’s performance certainly backed that up.
Frustratingly curtailed by a torn calf muscle last summer, Armagh’s midfield maestro seems back to full fitness and she went the full hour here, even visibly stepping up in the closing stages to take control and steer this depleted team home.
It was a proud day for Crossmaglen legend Lauren McConville, who had the honour of leading her county for the first time in the absence of regular captain Clodagh McCambridge, breaking a remarkable run of 70 consecutive starts for the Lurgan woman since 2018.
When McCambridge had to leave the field briefly for stitches during last summer’s All Ireland semi-final between these sides, the Kingdom capitalised with the big game’s only goal but this time Armagh somehow managed without their magnificent full back.
Powerful full forward Siofra O’Shea led the way with 1-6 for the Kingdom women, who as All Ireland champions were given a guard of honour by Armagh as they ran out for what was their homecoming match in front of a decent crowd at Austin Stack Park.
Both teams are under new management since the three clashes last season, when Armagh won a pulsating league game at the Athletic Grounds and then came from behind to dethrone title holders Kerry in the Orchard’s first ever NFL final at Croke Park in April.
Mark Bourke has taken the reins in Kerry in succession to Declan Quill and Darragh Long, while, after a single season at the Orchard helm which delivered two trophies, Greg McGonigle has handed on the Armagh mantle to former assistants Feeney and Parkinson.
Kerry legend Louise Ni Mhuircheartaigh has retired on the back of finally achieving the holy grail with Kerry, while no fewer than 17 of the 41 players involved with Armagh last season weren’t part of this first matchday squad of a new year.
Ace markswoman Aimee Mackin is still sidelined by the cruciate rupture sustained in last May’s Ulster final victory over Donegal and was joined on official water-girl duties here by McCambridge, with new All Star Grace Ferguson another major absentee.
Ulster All Star Dearbhla Coleman wasn’t togged out either along with Meabh McCambridge, who had become a regular in the later stages of last season, while the versatile Sarah Quigley was also listed as a water-carrier.
The brilliant Blaithin Mackin, who had a few injury issues during the recent AFLW campaign Down Under for Melbourne Demons, just started on the bench while last season’s Ulster final Player of the Match Niamh Henderson only featured for the final five minutes.
Losing Mallon from the selected line-up was another blow but the promising McGeown grabbed her chance, not only taking both her points with aplomb but doing well in the build-up to each, as she also did ahead of her stinging low shot which was deflected for a 45.
Niamh Reel has often found herself left out of the Armagh starting team due to the embarrassment of forward riches but almost always delivers when called upon and she shone here with four fine points from play.
Ballyhegan’s Eve Lavery was used off the bench in last season’s National League campaign ahead of a productive championship summer but she too stood up on Saturday, raising three white flags before going off injured.
On the day, the Orchard didn’t even require a scoreboard contribution from new All Star Aoife McCoy or captain McConville as the bench chipped in with two goals from Mackin and Killeavy’s Cunningham before Mulligan got her first major for Armagh.
A special mention must go to the Orchard’s scampering menace Emily Druse who laid on Cunningham’s goal after one of countless superb bursts forward from the irrepressible Harps player who has established herself in the team despite the demands of studying Medicine.
Maeve Ferguson, younger sister of Grace, got stuck in at the back alongside Louise Kenny – the first woman other than McConville to wear the orange No 3 jersey this decade – and All Star nominee Cait Towe, with Carr a real rock behind them in nets.
Ulster All Star Niamh Coleman partnered O’Hanlon in a familiar midfield, Moya Feehan started in the half forward line a decade after first being brought into the panel as an accomplished prospect and Maeve Lennon got a long-awaited chance up front.
A prolific forward for Derrynoose, Lennon’s only shot in this match unfortunately went wide and she eventually gave way to clubmate Caoimhe McNally, who produced an eye-catching cameo on her first Armagh outing.
So there were a total of three Orchard debuts on the day including two of the six fresh faces in the matchday squad who weren’t involved last season, McGeown and McNally, though one of the other four is a player of proven pedigree.
Clann Eireann forward Eimear McConaghy, Diarmaid Marsden’s daughter Lara Marsden and young Silverbridge goalkeeper Cailin Traynor are entirely new to the panel, but in Catherine Marley’s case it is a very welcome return to Orchard duty after missing last season.
The fourth of four sisters to have worn the orange jersey at adult level, Marley wasn’t one of the six subs used by Parkinson and Feeney on Saturday but the whole-hearted half forward should have an important part to play as the campaign progresses.
Corinna Doyle, who featured less as last season went on, is another name missing now, while a number of others had disappeared before the end of that campaign including Niamh Murray, Megan O’Callaghan, Caitlin McCormack, Caitriona O’Hagan and Shauna Grey.
The others from last year who weren’t officially listed in some capacity at the weekend are Rachel McCabe, Eimear O’Brien, Maeve Watters and Aoibhin Donohue, though the Clann Eireann youngster has again been named in the Armagh Minors panel for this season.
Some may caution against reading too much into a league game in January but be in no doubt that Kerry wanted to win this one, as maybe best illustrated by them desperately sending Niamh Ni Chonchuir back on having subbed her when leading by five points.
Although under new management, Kerry had nine of their starters from last August’s All Ireland final victory against Galway in their run-on line-up in Tralee and would have fancied avenging those two league losses at Orchard hands last season.
Following Friday’s disruptive weather, Armagh had to fly down on match morning and they showed fantastic character – not to mention cutting edge – in salvaging victory from such an unpromising position and scoring 3-11 in the process against strong opposition.
Dublin showed their trademark depth by beating Mayo 2-7 to 1-7 at Parnell Park on Saturday despite fielding a very experimental line-up while neither of Division One’s newly-promoted teams could make home advantage count the following day.
Kildare lost 2-7 to 1-13 at home to Waterford while Tyrone’s first fixture in the top flight since suffering relegation in 2016 resulted in a 0-2 to 4-4 defeat at the hands of former Armagh manager Shane McCormack’s Meath.
Armagh host their near neighbours this Sunday (2pm) in an Ulster derby, but the fact that the National League champions have to play the game at St Paul’s in Lurgan rather than in the Athletic Grounds suggests that ladies football remains shamefully marginalised.
All credit to St Paul’s GFC for being prepared to stage the game and hopefully a good crowd will turn out to give this admirable Armagh team the support they deserve, but a match of this stature should really be taking place at county headquarters.
Meanwhile, another former Armagh manager James Daly’s reign as Donegal gaffer began with a low-scoring 1-4 to 0-7 draw away to Clare in Division Two where recently relegated big guns Cork and Galway made winning starts, as did Monaghan at Roscommon.
