The Armagh Camogie team kickstart their season this weekend when they travel to Carlow for their league opener.
Under the new management team of Jim McKernan and Ciaran Cunningham, Armagh will hope to go one step further than last season.
That’s in the league and the on the All-Ireland stage. They reached the finals of both competitions but lost out to Wexford on both occasions.
They met Carlow last season in the semi-final of the league and played out an eight-goal thriller. It was the girls in orange and white who prevailed, but it certainly wasn’t an easy one to get through. The first half was fairly straight forward. Armagh shot into an impressive, early lead, landing 2-6 inside the opening ten minutes of the game. Sinead Kieran and Colette McSorley claimed two of the five green flags raised by Armagh as they dominated the opening exchanges. Ciara Donnelly, who top scored with a personal haul of 2-4, fired home a third goal just before the break. Donnelly’s three-pointer seen Armagh ease into the interval holding a comfortable 3-9 to 0-2 advantage. But that all changed after the turnaround. With the aid of a strong breeze, Carlow clawed their way back into contention. The Leinster ladies rattled home two goals of their own as they kickstarted their comeback charge. Substitute Rachael Merry, who remains on the comeback trail following a hamstring injury picked up last year, made a telling difference when introduced. Merry fired to the net and also set up Donnelly’s second goal as Armagh secured a six-point win. The Granemore attacker will be sorely missed this weekend as the Orchard hope to get their season off to a good start. Promotion will surely be the target from the get-go and a win this weekend would set them up perfectly for the campaign ahead.Last year
