Four Wins From Four For Armagh Ladies

Armagh joint manager Darnell Parkinson said that strong competition for places is driving the standard for the reigning Lidl NFL champions as they maintained their 100% start to the defence of their crown with a 2-14 to 1-10 win over Mayo.

“We were happy with the first half, maybe not so much with the second half but it’s always good to get a win and still come out with a lot of things to improve on. We got to use a lot of our squad as well, so you’ve got to take that into consideration,” he said.

“Last week was actually the first time where we were able to have a full in-house game, full pitch. It ended up that we had one team winning by a point and you come away from that absolutely delighted, that’s exactly what you want.

“Everyone is playing for their jersey and when an in-house game is as competitive as that, that is showing the depth in the squad.”

Niamh Henderson got a goal before the break to lead by 1-11 to 0-4 and she added a second after Mayo’s Saoirse Lally got a goal after the restart and the champions pushed on from there to maintain their impressive defence of their title.

“We’re disappointed again; that’s four losses in a row,” said Mayo manager Liam McHale. “Armagh are a very good outfit, very slick, great kick passing which stretched us around the place but again we’re very frustrated because I thought we’d loads of opportunities to be closer and stay in the game. We have four stone-wall goal chances that we either got a point from or missed.

“We gave away bad turnovers at bad times and made mistakes and these good teams punish you, but I think the scoreline flattered them a wee bit. We were closer than that but we’re learning on the hoof here now and it’s a tough learning experience for us.”

Results
 
Lidl National Football League Division One Round Four
Armagh 2-14 Mayo 1-10
Kerry 4-5 Tyrone 1-7
Dublin 2-7 Waterford 0-13
Kildare 2-7 Meath 1-5
 
Lidl National Football League Division Two Round Four
Cork 1-9 Monaghan 1-3
Galway 1-14 Westmeath 0-3
Roscommon 0-10 Donegal 1-7
Tipperary 2-6 Clare 0-7
 
Lidl National Football League Division Three Round Four
Laois 5-8 Offaly 1-4
Down 1-8 Louth 1-6
Wexford 2-5 Cavan 0-9
 
Lidl National Football League Division Four Round Five
Antrim 3-8 Leitrim 1-10
Sligo 3-19 Kilkenny 1-1
Wicklow 3-16 Derry 1-6