Cork ladies footballers secure impressive victory in Armagh thanks to second-half goals

Armagh 1-9 Cork 2-8

A huge win for Cork as they got the better of Armagh in their Lidl Division 1 Ladies Football League clash at St Oliver Plunkett Park, Crossmaglen, on Sunday.

The win puts Cork second in the table and it’s a huge confidence boost to them as they face into another difficult away tie next weekend against Kerry.

Two second-half goals, from Rachel O’Regan and Rachel Leahy, were key scores for Cork as they remain unbeaten in the league three games in.

They had some outstanding displays with Katie Quirke and Emma Cleary amongst those in attack working hard and covering back when needed.

Defensively Aimee Corcoran and Shauna Kelly were outstanding, but Aoife Healy was the pick of the Cork side. She was superb all through and played a key part in their goals.

A free from Kelly Mallon opened the scoring in the first minute when she pointed from a free for Armagh.

Cork were playing with the wind and their first chance came in the fourth minute when Leahy’s effort on goal was well saved by Brianna Mathers.

Katie Quirke missed a free from a tight angle for Cork, but she made no mistake with her second effort from another free to level the game after seven minutes.

A well-worked Cork move put them in front with Abigail Ring splitting the posts after 14 minutes. From the restart, Cork regained possession and Aimee Corcoran increased their lead to 0-3 to 0-1.

Armagh hit back with another free from Mallon, with all their points in the first half coming from frees.

With 23 minutes gone the sides were level when Mallon was on target again to make it 0-3 each.

Armagh got the game’s opening goal in the 25th minute from an unusual source.

Corner-back Alana Donnelly picked up the ball in the middle of the pitch and drove at the Cork defence.

She beat several defenders before finding the corner of the net to put her side back in front, 1-3 to 0-3.

In the last minute of the first half Aine O’Sullivan scored for Cork to see them trail by two at half-time, 1-3 to 0-4.

Another free from Quirke closed the gap between them to one before a brilliant block from Dara Kiniry denied Maeve Lennon another goal opportunity.

Cork were back on level terms after 40 minutes when Quirke turned provider to Emma Cleary to make it 0-6 to 1-3. However, their lead didn’t last long as they breached the three-player rule and Mallon hit another from a free to put Armagh back in front.

Cork responded in style with Aoife Healy picking up the ball and she played Rachel O’Regan in to goal, to make it 1-6 to 1-4.

Cork were then dealt a blow when Ciara Hughes was sin-binned as they finished the game down to 14.

Mallow pointed the resulting free from the sin-binning to make it 1-6 to 1-5.

Cork responded with Healy involved again, as she found Quirke. Her pass found Leahy to score Cork’s second goal to put them 2-6 to 1-5 up.

Mallon hit back with a two-pointer free for Armagh but Corcoran scored late on to secure the points for Cork.

Scorers for Armagh: K Mallon 0-8 (0-6 f, 0-2 pt f), A Donnelly 1-0, A McCoy 0-1.

Cork: R O’Regan, R Leahy 1-0 each, K Quirke (f), A Corcoran, A O’Sullivan 0-2 each, A Ring, E Cleary 0-1 each.

ARMAGH: B Mathers; M Ferguson, C McCambridge, A Donnelly; E Druse, L McConville, R Mulligan; C Towe, G Ferguson; L Marsden, C Marley, L Kavanagh; M Lennon, A McCoy, K Mallon.

Subs: T O'Reilly for R Mulligan (20), C O'Hanlon for M Lennon (41), K Shields for C Towe (48), E McGeown for C Marley (55).

CORK: S Murphy; M Duggan, D Kiniry, S Kelly; A Corcoran, S McGoldrick, R Corkery; A Healy, A O’Mahony; R Leahy, G Ní Mhurchú, E Cleary; A Ring, K Quirke, Á O’Sullivan.

Subs: L Hallahan for A Ring, Rachel O’Regan for A O’Sullivan, Ciara Hughes for G Ní Mhurchú (all 40).

Referee: Gavin Finnegan, Down.