29 September 2006 Armagh in mood to put record straight Share this Article 0 0 0 Shares! 0 Shares! 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 Share this Article 0 0