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Armagh joint manager Darnell Parkinson said they still have plenty of room for improvement despite maintaining their winning start to the defence of their Lidl NFL crown with a tight 0-11 to 2-4 win over Dublin in Parnell Park.
“We don’t make it easy for ourselves, but I suppose it’s maybe not a bad thing as well,” said Parkinson. “There’s a lot of learning to take when we watch the tape back and look at a few chances we left behind us. The main thing is, we got the points on the board.
“We’re just trying to tell the players to back themselves, that we have a lot of faith in them. We’ve got really good defenders and the more players we can keep high up the pitch, then the better chance we have of getting scores on the board.”
Niamh Reel kicked five points as the defending champions held off a late surge from Dublin to maintain their winning start to the campaign.
A goal from Kate Sullivan after 18 minutes kept Dublin in touch but they trailed by 0-6 to 1-2 at the interval.
Reel’s fourth of the afternoon extended Armagh’s lead after the restart and efforts from Caroline O’Hanlon (free), substitute Caoimhe McNally and Niamh Henderson pushed them further clear but they faced a nervous finish when Niamh Hetherton got a Dublin goal three minutes from time to reduce the deficit to the minimum.
“We thought we could have maybe snatched something at the end, but probably wouldn’t have deserved to,” said joint Dublin manager Paul Casey. “Disappointed, but pleased with the fight the girls showed at the end. They showed great battling skills and we could have nicked it, but it wasn’t to be.”
Playing against Laois in Division 3, Down lost out by two points despite four goals, with the final score Laois 2-11 Down 4-3.
Results
Lidl National Football League Division One Round Three
Armagh 0-11 Dublin 2-4
Kerry 2-10 Kildare 0-7
Tyrone 1-15 Mayo 2-11
Meath 2-11 Waterford 1-13
Lidl National Football League Division Two Round Three
Donegal 1-7 Monaghan 0-8
Galway 1-18 Roscommon 1-11
Cork 3-12 Tipperary 0-9
Clare 2-17 Westmeath 0-7
Lidl National Football League Division Three Round Three
Cavan 6-17 Carlow 1-4
Laois 2-11 Down 4-3
Limerick 5-12 Offaly 1-4
Louth 1-6 Wexford 0-6
Lidl National Football League Division Four Round Five
Fermanagh 4-14 Longford 4-8
Lidl National Football League Division Four Round Two (refixed)
Leitrim 1-11 Wicklow 3-4
