ORCHARD QUARTET RECEIVE RECOGNITION
Richard Bullick
Former All Ireland Schools champion Maeve Ferguson is among four Armagh ladies gaelic footballers included in the NFL Team of Division One which will be honoured in a special ceremony at Croke Park this Friday evening.
There are also places in the ceremonial line-up for the Orchard’s leading scorer in their National League campaign, Niamh Reel, along with Blaithin Mackin and Lauren McConville, who captained Armagh in the first six matches of this season.
Player of the Match McConville headed an Orchard contingent of seven in the Team of Division One last April after Armagh had dethroned Kerry in Croke Park as they won the first NFL final in their history.
Kerry turned the tables in emphatic fashion in this month’s showpiece, handing outgoing title holders Armagh a resounding 4-14 to 0-11 defeat at headquarters, on the back of which the Kingdom have deservedly secured the greatest representation.
They have eight players being honoured including captain Anna Galvin in midfield, Player of the Match Danielle O’Leary and Siofra O’Shea in the full forward division, and last season’s All Ireland-winning skipper Niamh Carmody in the No 12 jersey.
The other four are goalkeeper Mary Ellen Bolger, Eilis Lynch at left corner back and the two players picked alongside McConville in the half back line, last August’s All Ireland final Player of the Match Kayleigh Cronin and Aishling O’Connell.
The team is completed by Dublin’s Leah Caffrey at full back and two players from Waterford, who comfortably beat Armagh in their penultimate regular league game, midfielder Emma Murray and Kellyann Hogan at right half forward.
Crossmaglen’s McConville is the only one of Armagh’s magnificent seven from a year ago – which included captain Clodagh McCambridge, Caroline O’Hanlon, Aimee Mackin, Kelly Mallon, Aoife McCoy and Grace Ferguson – to be recognised this time.
Both Blaithin Mackin, who missed the entire National League campaign last season due to injury, and Ballyhegan corner back Maeve Ferguson, an Ulster University student, are following in the footsteps of their elder sisters from last year’s National League Awards.
Part of the St Catherine’s College team which won the All Ireland U16 title back in 2019, Maeve got her Orchard chance at the start of this season in the absence through injury of her older sister Grace and captain McCambridge from the full back line.
The tenacious Ferguson junior has done so well that she retained her starting spot for the National League final despite 2024 All Star Grace being available again and was one of few Armagh players who came away from Croke Park with her reputation enhanced.
Meanwhile, it was an excellent campaign for Silverbridge’s Reel, a player who has often found herself outside the Orchard outfit’s first-choice line-up in past years but really stepped up over recent months to lead a forward line shorn of Aimee Mackin and Mallon.
The hospital doctor has top-scored in four of the seven Armagh matches she has played to date this season, including the NFL final loss to Kerry, accumulating an impressive tally of 0-32 along the way, and is rewarded with the No 15 jersey in the Team of Division One.ond tier title winners Galway get no fewer than nine slots in the Team of Division Two, including the Ward twins, Nicola and Louise, with four going to losing finalists Cork in a line-up completed by a Westmeath representative and Donegal skipper Roisin Rodgers.
By contrast, champions Cavan and runners-up Wexford each have half a dozen players in the Team of Division Three, including star Breffni forward Aishling Sheridan, with the other three places going to Louth.
Given that two of the northern province’s counties contested the final, it is unsurprising that the Ulster representation is greatest in the basement section, with the Team of Division Four featuring seven players from winners Antrim and four from Fermanagh.
The Saffrons recognised include Northern Ireland netballer Ana Mulholland in midfield, while Fermanagh’s prolific forward duo Eimear Smyth and Blaithin Bogue are also selected along with three Sligo women and one Leitrim representative.
