Deadly Donnelly duo
On Saturday, Armagh superbly dealt with everything Cavan had to throw at them and came back in sublime fashion after each goal.
Up front, Armagh’s attacking quality could never be questioned, but the performances of the two Donnelly’s, Ciara and Leanne, were sublime.
On the day, the Donnelly’s actually scored more than the opposition, recording 0-17 of Armagh’s overall tally.
Goals don’t always win games
While Armagh had plenty of talent in their attacking third of the pitch, so did Cavan and showed their class a couple of times.
The Breffni side hit the net on three occasions during the final, two coming within the second 30 minutes of the game.
When Armagh seemed on top, Cavan would come back with a three pointer and push the Orchard to the pin of their collars.
Water break = momentum break
Armagh would have been glad to hear the call for the first water break on Saturday as Cavan were starting to fine some real form.
At the fifteen-minute mark, the hosts were four up (1-4 to 0-3) but would fail to score after the resumption.
Armagh took control of the contest and fired over seven unanswered points to take the lead by the halfway stage, 0-10 to 1-4.
Home advantage
Before a ball was struck on Saturday, it seemed totally unfair that an All-Ireland final would be played on one of the teams home pitches.
Perhaps Croke Park wasn’t available, but surely some arrangement could have been made so one team didn’t head into the game with home advantage.
Anyway, it didn’t matter and Armagh were the better side throughout the sixty minutes of action.
Four years of hurt
2016 was the last time Armagh contested in the Premier Junior All-Ireland Final, when they lost out to Carlow.
Several players were involved in both teams and you can be sure that the hurt from that loss drove them on to victory on Saturday.
