Football

Armagh's Aimee 'Mackin' progress with family training advantage

Armagh's Aimee Mackin at Camlough Lake, promoting the Teams of the 2020 TG4 All-Ireland Ladies Football Championships and the AIG Goal of the Year.<br /> Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
Armagh's Aimee Mackin at Camlough Lake, promoting the Teams of the 2020 TG4 All-Ireland Ladies Football Championships and the AIG Goal of the Year.
Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
Armagh's Aimee Mackin at Camlough Lake, promoting the Teams of the 2020 TG4 All-Ireland Ladies Football Championships and the AIG Goal of the Year.
Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

Training venues used to be a problem; numbers at training is the new concern; and a merger between men's and ladies football is an ongoing debate.

Yet all of those issues are answered simply by the nature of the Mackin household in south Armagh.

Aimee, younger sister Blathain, and brothers Connaire and Ciaran are all still living at their Camlough home, all involved with the Orchard County senior football sides.

That makes for a ready made collective training bubble, as Aimee explains, with all of them waiting to 'return to play':

"We're all at home, we're all keeping each other on our toes – plenty of training to be done. We're playing two-a-side games against each other.

"We've just been training at the house, me and my sister [Blaithin], we've been sent down programmes to do, so that's keeping us busy. Obviously we thought we were going to be back sooner than now but unfortunately we can't. We just have to hold out and wait for another wee while."

Aimee and Blathain helped Armagh to a first Ulster senior championship crown since 2014 late last year, not long after the disappointment of All-Ireland semi-final defeat by Dublin, who went on to complete a four-in-a-row.

The sibling rivalry has kept spirits up, with the ladies in particular raring to go again after their provincial triumph, says Aimee:

"Yeah definitely, that's one thing that we actually said a few weeks ago. We were just saying it was good to have siblings to push you on. Me and Blaithin in particular, we're doing most of our training together so it makes it that wee bit easier.

"We're probably a wee bit competitive in a good way. We're not too much… we stick up for each other as well when we need to but it definitely keeps pushing us along."

Asked about the source of their talent, she replies with a smile: "I have to say my dad [Mickey] – he'll be disappointed if I don't! My dad would have played football, he's heavily involved in our club, same as my grandparents would have been and great-uncles as well.

"There was only one thing we knew to do, that was to play football. That was instilled into us from a very young age. Obviously we have to thank our parents for taking us to matches, taking us to training. They pushed us, that's what we needed, and thankfully it worked out."

That background goes some way to explaining why Aimee did not pursue a soccer career, despite being good enough to represent Northern Ireland as a teenager.

Although she could have been lining out against England in yesterday's prestige friendly, she insists she has no regrets:

"I suppose you wonder what way it could have worked out for you. I don't say I regret anything because the Gaelic has been my number one sport. You look back and think 'It could have been…' but it's not something I think too much about because I'm enjoying what I'm doing now and I'm focussing 100 per cent on playing for my club and my county."

NI boss Kenny Shiels had been in touch, she confirms, but her recovery from a cruciate knee ligament injury during the historic 2019 Championship victory over Cork was another factor in her concentrating on Gaelic:

"Yeah, well, we had a conversation. It was a bit too soon for my injury situation and I'd been focused completely on Gaelic so that's just the way it is but they were going well, I've been keeping an eye on them and, yeah, it's a big game so it's exciting."

The exciting attacker doesn't rule out going to play Aussie Rules in years to come either: "Not at the minute, but it's obviously something a lot of inter-county players have been looking at because there are so many people away. It's something I can look at in the future but at the present time I'm not looking into it."

Of more immediate interest is Saturday's announcement of the AIG/LGFA Teams of the 2020 TG4 All-Ireland Ladies Football Championship.

Aimee is sure to make that selection, as one of three nominees for senior player of the year, along with Dublin duo Sinead Goldrick and Carla Rowe. She also has a contender for the Goal of the Year for her cracker in the defeat by the Dubs.

Although Cork and then Dublin have dominated over the past decade-and-a-half, Mackin is confident that Armagh are getting closer to the ultimate prize:

"Not too far based on last year's games. Obviously it's a new year this year so it's a new challenge. We don't know how they're shaping up or whatever, but I think it's in our control.

"If we control what we do, we'll definitely close the gap. Obviously Dublin and Cork have set the standards for Ladies football and they've set them pretty high so it's up to us and every other county to try and reach that."

With their family training advantage, the Mackin sisters will surely help Armagh progress in 2021.