Setback for slow starting Meath against lively Armagh

Meath fell to a heavy 0-8 to 2-12 defeat at the hands of Armagh in round four of the Ladies NFL Div 1 at Ashbourne on Sunday afternoon, writes Tom Gannon.

It was a disappointing display from Shane McCormack’s side as they had plenty of confidence heading into the match after winning their opening three games.

Armagh put in a fantastic performance and were well deserving of the victory. Meath will be disappointed by the number of unforced errors that they inflicted upon themselves. They were never really fluent going forward and plenty of handling errors meant that the Royals never got momentum swinging in their favour.

Meath found it hard to get to grips with Armagh’s inside forwards Aimee Mackin and Kelly Mallon. Grace Ferguson was also a huge threat going forward for the Orchard County. Two of the more experienced members of the Meath side, Maire O’Shaughnessy and Emma Duggan, were Meath’s best performers on the day and their exploits were commendable.

Armagh came out of the blocks quickly and midfielder Caroline O’Hanlon got their tally underway by getting on the end of a well-worked team move. Aimee Mackin quickly followed this up with a score that gave Armagh an early two-point lead. O’Halloran doubled her tally and Meath found themselves three points behind after only five minutes. Mackin also secured her second point soon after.

A nasty clash of heads between Katie Newe and Louise Kenny caused a fairly considerable delay and ended both player's participation in the game. Niamh Gallogly finally got Meath’s account underway but her score was quickly cancelled out by Kelly Mallon’s free to leave it 0-5 to 0-1.

Emma Duggan showed her class when she led her marker astray before skilfully peeling away and collecting the incoming ball. She followed up this wonderful footwork by popping it over the bar for Meath’s second point. Duggan followed this up with her first free to leave two between the sides after 20 minutes, 0-3 to 0-5.

O’Shaughnessy and Mallon traded points. O’Shaughnessy provided a lovely score from a decent distance out. Energetic cornerback, Ferguson caused a lot of issues for the Meath defenders. She managed to weave through the defence and in the end had to be dragged down for a free. Mallon converted the free to extend Armagh’s lead back to three.

Duggan secured her second from play to reduce the gap back to two, 0-5 to 0-7, right before the half-time whistle. Armagh were much stronger in the first half. Meath were probably a little bit lucky to be only down by two points.

Meath started the second half well and in the opening exchanges created a few nice opportunities for themselves by holding onto possession and working the ball forward. However, a couple of wides meant that Meath could not make inroads on Armagh’s lead.

It was Armagh who struck first blood in the second half. A quick counterattack by the Ulster side was completed when the ball fell to Aimee Mackin. Mackin found herself through on goal and buried the ball past Monica McGuirk and into the net.

Points from Mackin and Eve Lavery kept Armagh’s score ticking away before the killer blow of a second goal fell the way of the travelling side courtesy of Kelly Mallon. Meath handling errors and silly mistakes cost them dearly as Armagh were always ready to pounce when an opportunity fell their way.

With only 10 minutes remaining, the game had completely ran away from the Royals. Further points from Emily Druse and Mallen had extended Armagh’s lead to 10.

To their credit, Meath did try to battle on. O’Shaughnessy and Gallogly continued to try and run at their opponents however Armagh's defence was resilient and Meath struggled to find a way through

Duggan got one more consolation point to add to her tally but ultimately Armagh held on for a wide-margin victory. Meath will take some solace in the fact that it is still early in the season and one bad day at the office has not tarnished what has been quite a decent league campaign to date. Shane McCormack’s side will have to regroup ahead of an away clash against Galway in two weeks' time.

SCORERS

Armagh – Kelly Mallon 1-4 three frees; Aimee Mackin 1-4; Caroline O’Hanlon 0-2; Emily Druse 0-1; Eve Lavery 0-1.

Meath – Emma Duggan 0-4 one free; Marion Farrelly 0-1 one free; Maire O’Shaughnessy 0-1; Aoibhin Cleary 0-1; Niamh Gallogly 0-1.

TEAM

Meath - Monica McGuirk; Katie Newe, Aine Sheridan, Nicole Troy; Niamh Gallogly, Mary Kate Lynch, Aoibhin Cleary; Maire O’Shaughnessy, Shelly Melia; Megan Thynne, Ella Moyles, Ciara Smyth; Meadhbh Byrne, Marion Farrelly, Emma Duggan Subs - Ciara Lawlor for Newe 12m, Seona Lynch for Farrelly 42m, Lisa Young for Smyth 49m, Tori Foster for Thynne 55m, Shauna Ennis for Byrne 59m, Rachel Casserly for O’Shaughnessy 59m.

Armagh – Anna Carr; Grace Ferguson, Clodagh McCambridge, Roisin Mulligan; Cait Towe, Lauren McConville, Dearbhla Coleman; Niamh Coleman, Caroline O’Hanlon; Emily Druse, Aoife McCoy, Eve Lavery; Aimee Mackin, Louise Kenny, Kelly Mallon. Subs – Corrina Doyle for Kenny 12m, Megan O’Callaghan for Lavery 45m, Eimear O’Brien for Druse 55m Maeve Lennon for McCoy 59m, Maeve Ferguson for Coleman 59m.

Referee - Eddie Cuthbert (Down).