Armagh in mood to put record straight

Armagh in mood to put record straight
ARMAGH ladies’ footballers have defended their decision
not to offer Galway a replay in the All-Ireland semi-finals, as
they try to put the controversy behind them ahead of their first
historic senior final.

Facing defending champions Cork in Sunday’s TG4 senior final is
a massive achievement considering the Orchard women only won their
first junior title last year.

But it has been somewhat overshadowed by the controversial manner
of their defeat of 2004 champions Galway, who had a legitimate point
ruled wide by an umpire in their semi-final meeting, a decision
that cost the Tribeswomen a replay.

The Ladies Central Council ultimately made the decision that the
result should stand and Armagh have defended their decision to ignore
calls from some quarters to offer a replay.

Decision

“It wasn’t our decision to make,” insisted Armagh co-manager
Hayley Boyle yesterday.

“The way we looked at it was that we had done nothing wrong,”
she said. “It was up to the authorities to deal with it and
we were prepared to take whatever decision they made, including
a replay.

“We could absolutely see Galway’s point of view and would have
probably felt the same in their position,” she admitted.

“But they (Central Council) couldn’t just look at it in isolation
because there was definitely (earlier) decisions in that game that
we’d have felt aggrieved at.

“We had a disallowed goal here in the All-Ireland final last
year, a perfectly good goal for a ‘square ball’ but we just had
to get on with it,” she pointed out.

“At end of the day, we felt we didn’t do anything wrong,”
Boyle said.

“We came off the field believing we had qualified for an All-Ireland
senior final, the girls were absolutely ecstatic and to have that
taken away from them would have been absolutely traumatic. If we
had put on six subs or done something wrong ourselves it would have
been different and the timing probably was a factor.

“If it had maybe been the first round of the Ulster championship
or if the authorities had decided it was a replay then we would
have lived with that and played but it was never our decision to
make.”

She pointed out that Armagh were also affected by the controversy
and had to put it behind them quickly. “It is our first year
in senior football, we had qualified for the All-Ireland and the
girls were absolutely devastated when the controversy started and
there was the possibility of it being taken away from them through
no fault of their own.”

Armagh’s rapid rise through the ranks of the women’s game has been
as sensational as their men’s recent success and many believe they
are related.

The sides play a similar all-action game and have other connections.

Maighdlin McAlinden, Maebh Moriarty, Caoimhe Marley and Sinead Finnegan
are daughters respectively of Brian, Paddy, Noel and Jim who were
in Armagh’sAll-Ireland losing side in 1977.

And like the McEntees in Armagh’s recent men’s team, their women
also have star twins from Crossmaglen: centre-back captain Bronagh
O’Donnell and her sister Alma at midfield.

This article was provided by the Irish Independent

Sign up to our email newsletter

sponsors

Partners & Supporters

PROVINCES

Counties

BRITAIN

INTERNATIONAL

See all LGFAClubs