ARMAGH defender Clodagh McCambridge has said losing last year’s Division Two final provided them with the drive and motivation to get back there again this year.
The Orchard County made it six wins from six with a comfortable 3-15 to 1-6 victory over Westmeath at the Box IT Athletic Grounds on Sunday and in doing so, booked their place in a second successive league final with a game to spare.
They still have to play Tipperary in the final round of games this weekend but no matter what the result is, Shane McCormack’s side will have a league decider in Croke Park to look forward to next month and another chance at winning promotion to Division One next season.
Who their opposition will be remains to be seen, with Tipperary and Laois both fighting for that place. Tipp are in the better position and only need a draw against Armagh while Laois need to beat Roscommon and hope Armagh beat Tipperary for them to take that last final berth.
“We are all really delighted to be in a league final. It was always going to be tough to get back to a final this year, with it being back to the full seven league games rather than a split league, as well as it being such a competitive division,” said the full-back.
“We have been working hard from the start of the year, focusing on taking each game at a time, so now to go into the final round of games knowing that we don’t have to worry about other results is a weight lifted.
“Having to wait a year to get the opportunity to rectify the defeat in the league last year was tough to take, but has definitely been a motivation this year,” she added.
Seven different players got on the scoresheet for the home side and by half-time they were well on their way to victory, leading 2-8 to 0-3.
Armagh led 0-4 to 0-1 after 17 minutes before Westmeath’s Sarah Dillon halved the deficit with her second point from a free.
However, 2-3 from the game’s next six scores, including 1-3 without reply in four minutes saw Armagh take in that 11 points half-time lead, Lauren McConville with a 19th minute goal and Aoife McCoy with the second in the 28th minute.
Westmeath found the back of the net in the sixth minute of the second half and tagged on a point to make it 2-9 to 1-4, but Armagh kept their side of the scoreboard ticking over. Westmeath hit their final point in the 46th minute as Armagh finished strong with 1-4 in the final quarter, Aimee Mackin finishing with 1-6, with a 47th minute goal.
It wasn’t the complete performance, according to McCambridge, there is always something to work on and, as a top class defender, conceding goals doesn’t sit well with her.
“Going into the game we knew Westmeath were going to be tough opposition, with a lethal forward line that have scored a number of goals in the league so far, so there’s always that uncertainty no matter how in control you feel,” she said.
“We had highlighted a number of areas to improve on from our last games, that we knew needed to be right to get over Westmeath, and there were really improved passages of play at times, but we’ll still have things to improve on going forward too - we mightn’t be as happy with conceding the goal and scorable frees.”
A year on too, Armagh are a more experienced side and that, along with their drive for success, has also contributed to their success, says McCambridge. A return to the eight-team league structure has also helped.
“With each year, we’re gaining more experience together and we would hold ourselves to high standards in our play. We probably have high expectations in terms of our performances, regardless of results, which means that, so far in the league, we’ve been more consistent in our performances than we have been in other years,” she said.
“The return to normal league structure has helped as well. Now we’re playing against teams who set up differently with different talent which allows us to develop, whereas in recent years, we’ve played the same few teams regularly.”
Lidl National Football League Division Two round-up
MONAGHAN fight to stay in Division Two will go down to the final day after their 0-13 apiece draw with Roscommon at Smithborough on Sunday.
A Jodie McQuillan free in injury time salvaged a draw for Kieran Kearns’ side to deny Roscommon a first win, although they did pick up their first league point of the campaign.
Monaghan now face Westmeath, away, in their final game on Sunday needing to at least take a point from that game and if not, then hope that Roscommon lose to Laois, which would see the Rossie relegated from the second tier.
Not for the first time in this league campaign, Roscommon saw the three points snatched away from them. They led by four points, 0-11 to 0-7 in the 42nd minute and then by five, 0-13 to 0-8, with eight minutes left but were unable to hang on to that lead as Monaghan chipped away at their opposition, captain Muireann Atkinson, Amy Garland and McQuillan with three frees, rescuing a point for the Farney.
The first half had been an edgy affair with the lead exchanging hands a number of times and the game level on seven occasions but it was Roscommon who held a slender advantage at the break, 0-8 to 0-7. Chloe McBride hit five of Monaghan’s first half points.
CAVAN’S outside hopes of making the Division Two final were ended by Laois with a 4-6 to 2-8 loss in Crettyard.
Heading into this penultimate round game, both sides were still in the hunt for a league final berth so it was all very much to play for, with the winner’s hopes still alive and it is Laois who could still make the final with Armagh by virtue of their head-to-head victory over Tipperary if they beat Roscommon and the Orchard County beat Tipperary this weekend.
Mo Nerney scored a hat-trick in this four point win as Cavan were rocked by two early goals but grabbed one of their own in the first half to trail by three at the break, 3-3 to 1-6 before a second goal left just the minimum between the sides. However, that was as close as Gerry Moane’s side would get and an unanswered 1-1 from the home side put five between them and they were able to keep Cavan at arm’s length.
TYRONE lost out to Tipperary 2-15 to 1-7 in Fethard as the Munster side kept up their pursuit of a Division Two final berth.
Their first half performance set them on their way to victory as they built up a 1-12 to 0-4 lead at the break. Tipp were 0-5 to no score ahead before Chloe McCaffrey got Tyrone’s first score, a point, in the ninth minute.
The home side continued to dominate outscoring their opponents 1-6 to 0-2 over the second quarter, Neassa Towey with a 20th minute goal.
Grainne Rafferty (free) and a McCaffrey goal six minutes after the restart brought Tyrone back to within seven but Aisling Moloney’s 47th minute goal ended any hopes of a Tyrone comeback as she pushed her side’s lead out to 11 points with the scoring petering out in the final quarter as the sides shared two points each.
Tyrone will finish their league campaign against Cavan on Sunday.
