Armagh 0-10 Cavan 0-11
Armagh and Cavan played out a close encounter in Middletown on Saturday afternoon, with the Breffni girls just sneaking a victory.
The Orchard County, under the new management of Jim McKernan, fielded a strong side. They were however minus their best forward in Ciara Donnelly.
The conditions were tough to deal with as the strong breeze didn’t really favour either side.
It was the visitors who opened the scoring, but Armagh shot back to take the lead with two points in a row.
Corrina Doyle and Eimear Smyth, Armagh’s goal scorer in last year’s All-Ireland final, but there side ahead.
Cavan claimed the lead one more with a double, but Doyle and Smyth continued to grow their personal tallies.
The Breffni Camogs shot back again however, and another brace had them ahead by the minimum of margins.
Ellie McKee recorded Armagh’s final score of the half while a pointed free to leave her side trailing by one at the break. 0-6 to 0-5.
Second half
Rachael Merry was introduced during the interval, having recovered from a serious hamstring injury picked up last season.
Cavan nabbed another score to go to ahead, but the Orchard County shot back to go ahead by one.
The accurate Ellie McKee fired over three frees in a row to give McKernan’s team the lead. Ciarrai Devlin also pulled off a super save to deny Cavan a certain goal.
While Cavan didn’t ripple the net, they did fire over three points to get their noses back in front.
The lead was short lived however. Substitute Katie Comiskey and McKee (free) levelled the game once more with full time approaching.
Devlin pulled off another fine save but Cavan settled for a point, which handed the away side a slender one-point victory.
Armagh have the opportunity to bounce back next weekend. They face Carlow in the rescheduled first round.
Armagh: Ciarrai Devlin, Ellen Lavery, Nicola Woods, Caitlin Murray, Gemma McCann, Michelle McArdle, Tierna Maguire, Meabh Lenehan, Ciara Hill, Ellie McKee 0-5 (5f), Casey Mullen, Hannah Duffy, Corinna Doyle 0-2, Eimear Smyth 0-2, Niamh Forker. Subs: Eimear O’Kane, Rachael Merry, Katie Comiskey 0-1, Leanne Donnelly.
