Defeat sees Tipp remain in Division 2 for 2024

LADIES FOOTBALL: Lidl National League Division 2 Round 7

Tipperary 0-10

Armagh 3-12

Report: Michael Heverin at Fethard Town Park

MATCH DIGEST

Player of the Match: Aimee Mackin (Armagh)

SCORERS – Tipperary: Aisling Moloney 0-5 (4 frees); Niamh Martin, Neassa Towey (1 free) 0-2 each; Emma Morrissey 0-1.

Armagh: Caroline O’Hanlon 2-1; Aimee Mackin 0-6 (2 frees); Kelly Mallon 1-0; Blaithin Mackin 0-2; Niamh Marley, Aoife McCoy, Catherine Marley 0-1 each.

An outstanding Armagh side proved much too strong for Tipperary in their top of the table National Ladies Football League clash on Sunday.

Although they were already through to the Division 2 final, Armagh headed south determined to retain their one hundred per cent record. And they achieved that in some style with an eleven-point victory, all but two of their 3-12 total coming in open play.

Tipperary couldn’t match the brilliance of the Ulster side’s attack and the result saw the premier county miss out on a place in the decider and a chance of promotion. A win or a draw would have put them through to the final, to face Armagh again, but defeat opened the door for Laois, the only other team to beat Tipperary in the league section and the Leinster county’s win over Roscommon saw them pip Tipp to reach the final on the head-to-head record.

Tipperary never looked likely to beat Armagh whose level of football was a notch above the home side, their three superb second half goals sealing the deal. Their outstanding player, Aimee Mackin, was virtually unmarkable, with four points from play and two from frees. Mackin has represented Northern Ireland ladies’ soccer team at youth and senior level and her footballing ability was obvious for all to see.

The Orchard County had another marquee forward in Caroline O’Hanlon, a Northern Ireland netball international, whose two goals in the space of three minutes in the second half ensured there was no way back for Tipp.

In contrast, the Tipperary attack struggled to make inroad into a watertight Armagh rear-guard, and they failed to repeat the performance that saw them beat Tyrone so comfortably the previous weekend.

Five points from play was a poor return. Armagh also had their homework done on Tipperary’s most dangerous forward, Aisling Moloney. She failed to find the space in which she normally thrives, closely marked throughout, and although she finished with one point from play and five converted frees, her influence wasn’t what was required to overcome such formidable opponents.

Yet on one of the occasions when she did break free from the tight marking, lady luck failed to smile on Tipperary. It came seven minutes into the second half when Tipp trailed by four 0-10 to 0-6, and at a time when they were down to fourteen players with Rosanna Kiely receiving a harsh yellow card deep in injury time in the first half.

A brilliant pass from Moloney found Niamh Martin bearing down on goal but her shot thundered off the crossbar. Emma Morrissey pointed from the rebound, but a goal would have been a huge boost for Tipp when the game was in the melting pot.

And the heavy cost became apparent two minutes later when Caroline O’Hanlon had the first of her two goals following a lightning-fast Armagh attack – it was a setback from which Tipp never recovered.

Despite Tipperary struggling to find their best form in attack, and playing into a strong breeze, they matched the Ulster side score for score in the opening twenty minutes after which the sides were tied at 0-3 each.

Armagh led three times with scores from Blaithin Mackin and two from her sister Aimee, but Tipp equalised each time with pointed frees from Aisling Moloney and Neassa Towey and their first point from play from Niamh Martin in the 20th minute.

However, Armagh’s dominance was then translated into scores, with Niamh Marley, Aimee Mackin and Catherine Marley putting the visitors double scores ahead – two of those scores coming from Tipperary turning over possession much too easily.

Moloney, from a free, reduced the margin but Armagh hit back with two from Aimee Mackin and Aoife McCoy – the latter score could easily have been a goal but she opted for a point, and Niamh Martin made it a three-point game at the break, 0-8 to 0-5, with a superb point with the outside of her boot from an Emma Morrissey pass.

The four minutes of added time proved costly for Tipperary with Cahir’s Rosanna Kiely picking up a yellow card and ten minutes in the sin-bin for what was deemed a high tackle, the referee making the decision after consulting with the lineswoman. It was a ruling that angered Tipperary manager Peter Creedon at the half time break.

Against fourteen players, Armagh moved up a gear in the third quarter and Caroline O’Hanlon and Blaithin Mackin stretched their lead to five points, 0-10 to 0-5. Emma Morrissey reduced the margin again after Niamh Martin’s shot came back off the crossbar, but O’Hanlon’s first goal two minutes later, with a tap-in from close range, proved to be the game’s crucial score, making it 1-10 to 0-6.

Aisling Moloney replied with a point, and when Rosanna Kiely returned it might have brought a response from Tipperary. But instead, O’Hanlon struck for her second goal, a low shot this time past Lauren Fitzpatrick.

Again, Moloney replied, this time from a free, but as the game moved into the final quarter, Armagh doused any lingering Tipp hopes of a revival when a flowing move involving sisters Blaithin and Aimee Mackin before setting up team captain Kelly Mallon to shoot to the net.

At 3-10 to 0-8, the result was never in doubt but in fairness to Tipperary they battled to the end and shared four points with Armagh in the closing stages, Moloney from a free and Towey from a Moloney pass, with Aimee Mackin rounding off a superb display with two for Armagh, one a free, and the final score of the game when her blistering pace left the Tipp defence in her wake.

This defeat, coupled with the earlier one to Laois, cost Tipperary a place in the final. They finished level on points with Laois but lost out on the head-to-head. That was a game they could have won, and as Armagh have beaten every team in the division, it was a good league campaign for the Premier girls with some noteworthy wins along the way.

Their spirit was exemplified by players such as Aisling Moloney, who never fails to give one hundred per cent despite her knee injuries, and Anna Rose Kennedy, who lined out despite being a doubt all week after dislocating a finger in the win over Tyrone a week earlier.

Tipp’s focus now shifts to the Munster semi-final which begins against Waterford in May before moving onto the All-Ireland Senior Championship.

TEAMS – Tipperary: Lauren Fitzpatrick (Ballymacarbry); Cliona O’Dwyer (Brian Borus), Maria Curley (Templemore), Emma Cronin (Moyle Rovers); Sarah English (Ardfinnan), Lucy Spillane (Fethard), Neassa Towey (Templemore); Anna Rose Kennedy (Aherlow), Niamh Martin (Sliabh na mBan); Emma Morrissey (Aherlow), Marie Creedon (Thurles Sarsfields), Aisling Moloney (Cahir); Ava Fennessy (Clonmel Commercials), Nora Martin (Sliabh na mBan), Rosanna Kiely (Cahir).

Subs: Niamh Mackey (Clonmel Commercials) for Creedon, Sarah Ryan (Arravale Rovers) for Kennedy, Laura Morrissey (Brian Borus) for Nora Martin, Angela McGuigan (Eadestown) for English.

Armagh: Brianna Mathers; Shauna Grey, Clodagh McCambridge, Catherine Marley; Grace Ferguson, Lauren McConville, Cait Towe; Caroline O’Hanlon, Eve Lavery; Blaithin Mackin, Aimee Mackin, Emily Druse; Niamh Marley, Kelly Mallon, Aoife McCoy.

Subs used: Niamh Coleman, Maeve Lennon, Maeve Ferguson, Dearbhla Coleman, Niamh Reel, Aoibheann McConville, Blathnaid Hendon.

Referee: Jonathan Murphy (Carlow).