Armagh 1-13 Monaghan 2-11
Armagh and Monaghan played out a thrilling encounter in the Athletic Grounds on Sunday and it was the visitors who earned the victory.
The Orchard County will feel they could have won the game and they had enough chances to get something from the encounter.
The worked tirelessly hard for the goal that would have guaranteed the win, but just couldn’t find the back of the net.
Ciara McAnespie opened the scoring for Monaghan right from the off following a quick one-two with Laura McEneaney.
Aimee Mackin levelled with her first while the exciting Alex Clarke pointed to put ahead in front for the first time.
Aoife McCoy punted over a score while Clarke got on the end of a pacey move to stretch the lead to three.
Monaghan were soon back on level terms when McEneaney found a gap in the Armagh defence and rattled the back of the net just before the water break.
Fionnuala McKenna knocked over Armagh’s only score of the second quarter while McEneaney raised her second green flag just before the interval.
Shauna Coyle added on a point for Monaghan while McEneaney grabbed her second goal to give her side the lead at the break, 2-2 to 0-5.
Niamh Coleman and the dangerous Aimee Mackin narrowed the gap for Armagh, but Casey Treanor kept the home side at arm’s length.
Armagh burst ahead with their next attack however as Mackin played through Aoife McCoy who gave the keeper no chance as she fired to the net.
McKenna added another score as Ronan Murphy’s side got their noses ahead by two points, 1-8 to 2-3.
Monaghan were soon back on level terms as the impressive Ellen McCarron and Laura McEneaney both found the target.
Alex Clarke traded scores with the opposition, as did Eve Lavery, before a strong run from Aimee Mackin ended with the Shane O’Neill’s attacker blasted the ball over the bar.
Monaghan hit the next three points to get two ahead, but two more Mackin points left a nervy finish for both teams.
Monaghan were the ones who snatched the winning score however as Casey Treanor squeezed over the final score of the game.
Armagh will take a lot of valuable learnings from this close encounter and will now prepare their round three clash against Cavan next weekend.
Armagh Scorers: Aimee Mackin 0-5, Aoife McCoy 1-1, Alex Clarke 0-3, Fionnuala McKenna 0-2, Niamh Coleman 0-1, Eve Lavery 0-1.
