By Daragh Ó Conchúir at Croke Park
Armagh 0-17
Cavan 0-15
Armagh finally ended their Croke Park hoodoo but were made to sweat by a Cavan side that hadn’t even fielded a team at the start of the year before finally seeing it out.
There was not a whole lot between the sides in a truly outstanding game of camogie but the Armagh defence held firm when Cavan threw caution to the wind in the closing 10 minutes.
In particular, a phenomenal hook by Eimear O’Kane and point-blank save by Ciarraí Devlin denied Niamh Keelaghan two golden goal opportunities that would have turned the game on its head in those chaotic final stages.
In terms of scoring, the game was won at the end of the first half and start of the second, as PJ O’Mullan’s balance of youth and experience transformed a two-point deficit five minutes before the break to a five-point lead within 10 minutes of the resumption.
From there, and thanks to the resistance of their stout rearguard, they were just about able to keep the Breffniwomen at arm’s length.
The first half was a high octane affair, with great handling and huge intensity. Cavan had beaten Armagh by nine points in the group stages, and began extremely confidently with a couple of early points.
Eimear Brady got them under way with a monstrous score from outside the 65 and the magnificent Róisín O’Keeffe supplemented that quickly. O’Keeffe, the Cavan skipper, was a threat at full-forward and remained so when moved out further later on, scoring three first-half points.
The Armagh captain, Rachael Trainor was one of five players that played when the Orchard County lost the 2016 final to Carlow. They beat Cavan in the Covid decider of 2020 at Kingspan Breffni, but had lost four finals on Jones’ Road in the past decade.
Trainor was a big part of why four did not become five, shooting six points, four from placed balls. An absolute peach from play in the first half was one of the scores of the game – there were plenty candidates for that accolade – and she helped her side settle into the fray.
Beside her, Sinéad Quinn slotted three points from play and always asked questions with her directness. Corinna Doyle provided a similar return, while Ciara Geoghegan, who scored one of the greatest goals ever seen at HQ 10 years ago, returned this season after giving birth to her second child and scored a crucial point with her last touch before being substituted, to steady the ship as Cavan came pounding at Armagh.
It was nip and tuck for the rest of the first half once Quinn and Doyle brought Armagh level for the first time. Cavan did re-establish another two-point advantage when O’Keeffe added to a point by Shanise Fitzsimons in the 23rd minute.
Armagh picked up a gear though and in definitive fashion, scored eight of the next nine points. Eimear Hayes, another of the 2016 cohort along with Devlin and Ciara Hill, teenager Eimear McGeary and Trainor, from a free, gave them a 0-9 to 0-8 interval advantage.
Quinn, Trainor and Doyle all split the posts after the restart and it was 0-14 to 0-9 by the 40th minute.
Armagh would not score for another 15 minutes however, as Philip Brady’s squad dug deep. Brady converted a couple of frees and then Hannah Fitzsimons reduced the margin to two.
Game on.
Geoghegan reacted well to double a point after Emma Mulvaney saved from Quinn to end the rot and though Brady brought her tally seven from a free, Armagh then stretched the gap out to four again, Trainor and Doyle on target.
Christina O’Reilly, who played football for Armagh last month, after moving to Crossmaglen last year following the birth of her child, came on to very good effect earlier, having rejoined the Cavan panel in recent weeks and she pointed to renew Breffni hope.
Orla Flynn – an All-Ireland winner with Leitrim, where she has also moved – was impressive off the bench also and Keenaghan was desperately unlucky not to get a goal from three chances, Devlin doing well to control from another delivery the now full-forward just missed connecting with.
Keenaghan did get a point to leave the prospect of a smash-and-grab goal but Armagh held out for a deserved victory.
SCORERS FOR ARMAGH: R Trainor 0-6(3fs, 1 45); S Quinn 0-4; E McGeary, C Doyle 0-2 each; E Hayes, C Geoghegan, C Hill (f) 0-1 each
SCORERS FOR CAVAN: E Brady 0-7(6fs); R O’Keeffe 0-3; N Keenaghan 0-2; S Fitzsimons, H Fitzsimons, C O’Reilly 0-1
ARMAGH: C Devlin, M McCone, G McCann, M O’Hare, E O’Kane, F Loughran, A McEntee, K Convie, C Hill, E McGeary, C Doyle, E Hayes, R Trainor, C Geoghegan, S Quinn. Subs: N Forker for Hill (41-46), Forker for Geoghegan (56)
CAVAN: E Mulvaney, R Fitzsimons, R Crowe McKeever, C Shalvey, E O’Sullivan, H Fitzsimons, A Tierney, D Kaledek, N Keenaghan, E Brady, A Coyle, S Fitzsimons, A O’Sullivan, R O’Keeffe, A Conaty. Subs: C O’Reilly for Coyle (30+1-ht), O’Reilly for A O’Sullivan (ht), O Flynn for Conaty (43), K Tierney for Kaledek (48), E lunkett for E O’Sullivan (56)
REFEREE: S Foley (Carlow)
