TG4 All-Ireland Ladies IFC Final – Armagh 1-12 Waterford 1-5

Armagh defeated Waterford by 1-12 to 1-5 in the TG4 All-Ireland Ladies IFC Final on Sunday at Croke Park.

TG4 All-Ireland Ladies intermediate football championship final

Armagh 1-12 Waterford 1-5

By Jackie Cahill at Croke Park

ARMAGH regained senior status with a comfortable seven-point victory over Waterford in Sunday’s TG4 All-Ireland ladies intermediate football final at Croke Park. The Orchard girls, beaten senior finalists in 2006, produced an accomplished performance to leave Waterford reflecting on a second intermediate final defeat in three seasons. At half-time, Armagh led by 1-5 to 1-1 but they could have been much further ahead, having registered no fewer than 13 wides in the opening half.

Waterford opened the scoring through captain Michelle McGrath with just 18 seconds on the watch but after hitting the front, Armagh were never caught. With ten minutes on the watch, Caroline O’Hanlon’s free struck the Waterford upright but Armagh full-forward Shauna O’Hagan was on hand to pick up the pieces from close range. That goal handed the Ulster champions a 1-0 to 0-1 lead but Waterford netted themselves in the 12th minute when Hannah Landers took a pass from Linda Wall to finish superbly at the Hill 16 end.

Armagh fully deserved their four-point half-time advantage as Waterford struggled to make headway in the opposition half. Wall cut the gap back to three points with the opening score of the second half but Armagh were always in control. With twenty minutes left, Armagh were 1-10 to 0-3 clear, thanks in main to dominance in all sectors of the pitch. In the 41st minute, Ciara Lennon went close to netting a second Armagh goal but her shot flew inches wide.

At the other end, meanwhile, Armagh goalkeeper Catherine McAlinden was in sparkling form. McAlinden was brilliantly protected by a rock-solid Armagh full-back line for most of the game but when called upon, the Clann Éireann custodian came up with the goods. A foul on Linda Wall by Sinead McCleary handed Waterford the chance to get back into the game, as referee Pat Kehoe awarded a penalty to the Déise. But Michelle Ryan’s poorly-struck effort in the 52nd minute was comfortably saved by McAlinden, who then produced a fine save from Ryan’s blistering drive a minute later. Armagh went close to a second goal soon after as Kelly Mallon’s shot across the face of goal was narrowly missed by the inrushing Mags McAlinden.

Scorers for Armagh: S O’Hagan 1-1, C O’Hanlon 0-3f, M McAlinden 0-2f, F McKenna 0-2, N Henderson, M McGuinness, C Lennon & K Mallon 0-1 each.

Scorers for Waterford: H Landers 1-0, L Wall 0-2, M Ryan 0-2 (1f), M McGrath 0-1.

ARMAGH: C McAlinden; C McCann, L Brown, S Marley; S Reel, N Marley, N Henderson; S McCleary, C O’Hanlon; M McGuinness, M McAlinden, F McKenna; C Lennon, S O’Hagan, K Mallon.

Subs: S Mackle for McKenna (50), M Tennyson for Mallon (52), C O’Hare for Lennon (57), C Duffy for Henderson (57).

WATERFORD: A Jordan; A Landers, K McGrath, N Dunphy; R Tobin, G Enright, M Wall; M McGrath, E Power; L Wall, M Ryan, T Fitzgerald; A Wall, S Curran, H Landers.

Subs: E Fennell for Fitzgerald (24), M Revins for Landers (46), G Kenneally for Fennell (56).

Referee: P Kehoe (Carlow)

Match Preview

Sunday’s TG4 Ladies Football Intermediate Championship final will be seen by both Waterford and Armagh as the chance to take the first back towards the upper echelons of senior level.

Waterford reached eight senior finals out of 10 between 1991 and 2000, winning five, but they now find themselves in the second tier as they try to rebuild. For manager Pat O’Brien, it has been a case of allowing the side to gain the requisite experience to ascend back to senior.

“It’s a long time since we were senior,” he says, “but the one thing is that we’re a young team and a growing team.

“It has probably been good for the county, we are starting to mature now and hopefully we can kick on.

“We had to blood a lot of young players, even the last couple of years, the fellas who were there before me had to bring a lot of players on.

“At this stage, they’re coming right and there’s a lot of experience there too.”

In his first year in charge, O’Brien felt that his side were good enough to make a tilt at the All-Ireland.

“We started back last September and I’m happy with the way things are going,” he says.

“We knew that we had a strong panel and our main objective starting out was to do well in the league. We did that and then we won the Munster championship for the fourth time in a row.

“We set out our stall then in the All-Ireland championship, we knew that there were a lot of other strong teams. We have played Armagh twice already, they beat us by six points the last day.”

The Ulster side have been senior more recently, re-grading last year. They reached the 2006 senior final, losing by a point to Cork, and their boss James Daly acknowledges the the work of his side in giving themselves a chance of an immediate return.

“Some of the girls felt that we didn’t need to go down and they wanted to put that right.

“They have put a lot of work and a lot of effort in and we’re back where we want to be.

“We have eight girls from the 2006 panel, maybe three or four would have started that day.

“We have two or three who were on the fringes then too, so hopefully that can help.

“It’s great for someone like me to be in charge of a team where you have so many leaders. We have some young girls and the older players would put an arm around their shoulder and tell them what they need to be doing, and that helps them hugely.”

This is the third meeting of the counties this year, and while Armagh have the upper hand so far, Daly is not taking anything for granted.

“We played them in a group play-off and won, before that we drew and in fairness to Waterford they should probably have won that day.

“I don’t knew if Waterford were 100% that day, they’re a very good side. They’re a good running side and they can take scores, we have a lot of respect for them as well.”