Richard Bullick
A record eight Armagh players have made ladies gaelic’s All Stars shortlist as an uplifting footnote to a very successful season which brought the Orchard outfit’s first National League title and saw them reclaim the provincial crown from Donegal.
The previous Orchard record was seven, way back in 2006, the only year in their history that Armagh have reached the All Ireland final – and the iconic Caroline O’Hanlon is one of the nominees again this time.
All Ireland Player of the Year a decade ago when she received the most recent of her three All Stars, the 40-year-old Armagh midfield maestro has been shortlisted for the 12th time in an exceptional career.
At the other end of the scale, both Ballyhegan’s Grace Ferguson and Clann Eireann half back Cait Towe are first-time nominees, the former alongside Orchard captain Clodagh McCambridge in the cohort from which the full back line will be selected.
There is a fourth consecutive nomination for newly-crowned Ulster Ladies Footballer of the Year Lauren McConville while Aoife McCoy and Anna Carr have also been on the shortlist before and Blaithin Mackin made the 2020 Team of the Senior Championship.
This season’s shortlist is unsurprisingly dominated by All Ireland champions Kerry, with no fewer than 15 Kingdom representatives, but runners-up Galway’s tally of nine is just one more than the Orchard contingent.
Armagh’s fellow losing semi-finalists Cork have picked up just four nominations compared to five for Dublin, who were dethroned as All Ireland champions by Galway at the last eight stage. Meath, Kildare, Tipperary and Waterford have one nominee each.
Having felt shortchanged in the past, most notably when reaching the 2015 All Ireland semi-finals led to just two All Star nominees, the Orchard county certainly can’t complain about the size of their representation on this season’s shortlist.
Five of the eight nominees picked up Ulster All Stars at the end of last month with the exceptions being Blaithin Mackin, O’Hanlon and Towe, while the trio honoured at that Belfast banquet who miss out are Niamh Henderson and siblings Niamh and Dearbhla Coleman.
Considering she picked up the Player of the Match award after Armagh’s Ulster Senior Championship showpiece win against Donegal, Henderson is a notable omission, while the consistent Niamh Coleman can count herself fairly unlucky not to be among the eight.
O’Hanlon was outstanding during the National League and her calming influence was evident in the Orchard outfit’s first ever Division One decider and Ulster final but she missed both All Ireland group games due to the injury which curtailed her in the knockout stages.
Sidelined by a medial ligament tear throughout the National League, Blaithin Mackin also sat out the Ulster showpiece so her inclusion comes on the back of four fixtures in the All Ireland series, notably a Player of the Match performance in the quarter-final against Mayo.
By contrast, Blaithin’s older sister Aimee Mackin – a three-time All Star who also featured in that 2020 Team of the Senior Championship – was an influential figure in Armagh’s NFL title triumph but her season ended early with a cruciate rupture sustained during the Ulster final.
Both Aimee Mackin and former skipper Kelly Mallon were among the half dozen orangewomen who made this season’s ceremonial NFL Team of Division One along with McConville, McCoy, Ferguson and O’Hanlon.
The Orchard’s breakout star of 2024, young corner back Roisin Mulligan, and Ballyhegan’s Eve Lavery were on the Ulster All Stars shortlist, leaving livewire Emily Druse as the only Armagh regular not to be honoured in one way or another.
For the record, O’Hanlon’s fellow Orchard heroes to be shortlisted 18 seasons ago were the O’Donnell twins – captain Bronagh and Alma – the then Caoimhe Marley, goalkeeper Fionnuala McAtamney, All Ireland final goal-scorer Mairead Tennyson and Aileen Matthews.
This year’s Dublin banquet takes place at the Bonnington Hotel on November 16 when it is hoped that Crossmaglen’s McConville will finally become an All Star after missing the final cut in each of the past three seasons.
Out of those shortlisted, the 29-year-old centre half back would appear to be the Orchard’s best hope though unfortunately Lauren won’t be able to be there in person as she is currently Down Under playing for Gold Coast Suns in the AFLW.
Dublin duo Jennifer Dunne and the highly-decorated Sinead Goldrick are also in Oz for the same reason as is Tipperary’s sole nominee Aishling Moloney, though in any case Kerry will be expected to get the lion’s share of the 2024 All Stars after ending their All Ireland famine.
