CORK 2-8

ARMAGH 1-9

ELAINE INGRAM REPORTS

JOE Carroll was a happy man on the long journey home from Armagh on Sunday evening, as Cork took a giant step towards safeguarding their Lidl National Football League Division 1 status.

In a rearranged tie that had been postponed the previous weekend, the Rebels picked up three valuable points on the road that maintains their impressive start to the campaign.

After three rounds, Cork sit second in the table, with only Waterford above them. Carroll’s crew are well on their way to making sure their return to Division 1 won’t be a brief one.

‘We were one of the favourites to be relegated back to Division 2 but we've had good results,’ Carroll said.

‘You could say we haven't played the big shots yet like Kerry, Waterford, Dublin. Anything we get out of the league from here on is going to be a plus for us. Hopefully another couple of points will keep us in Division 1 which was our target and we'll see where it takes us after that.’

Cork manager Joe Carroll speaks to his players after the game. (Photo: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile)

Cork’s unbeaten start has sent confidence soaring ahead of the trip to Kerry this Sunday, and he will want a repeat of their second-half performance in Crossmaglen last weekend.

Armagh led by two points at the break, thanks to a goal on 26 minutes provided by Alana Donnelly, but the Rebels rallied in the second half. More of the same in Tralee this Sunday, please.

‘We were delighted with our performance, especially in the second half when we were two points down playing against the wind. The pitch was in excellent condition, superb actually given the weather we've been having,’ Carroll noted.

‘We weren't happy with the goal we gave away in the first half where she waltzed from half-back right down the middle of our defence, but these things happen. We worked a lot harder in the second half.

‘Goals, at times, can come from turnovers and I think we were fast with what we did with the ball when we got the chances and we took them.

‘We possibly had another goal chance at the end but we took our point just to make sure that we had the match won.’

Cork's Rosie Corkery holds off the challenge of Armagh's Maeve Ferguson. (Photo: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile)

While the swirling wind at Oliver Plunkett Park somewhat favoured Cork in the opening half, it still made scoring tricky, with the wide count high.

Even though the home side led at the break, Cork had most of the ball up to then, with points from play courtesy of Abigail Ring and Aimee Corcoran, following traded frees between Armagh's Kelly Mallon and Katie Quirke.

A third Mallon free had the sides level before the super run and goal from Donnelly but Cork forward Áine Terry O'Sullivan, who travelled the whole way from the Beara peninsula on Sunday, pointed from play, leaving the half-time score 1-3 to 0-4 in favour of Armagh.

Abigail Ring and Aoife Healy celebrate Cork's win. (Photo: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile)

Some great defending at both ends denied further scores from materialising, until a couple of Cork points levelled proceedings at 1-3 to 0-6 with ten minutes of the half played.

Brianna Mathers, in the Orchard goal, did well from a couple of high balls but after Mallon had nudged Armagh in front again, Rachel O’Regan netted on 48 minutes, giving the Leesiders a 1-6 to 1-4 lead.

Rachel Leahy added a second goal for Cork and while the home side got within a point with a free from outside the arc by Mallon, Cork had done enough for a two-point victory.

Scorers 

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: K Mallon 0-8 (6f, 1tpf), A Donnelly 1-0, A McCoy 0-1.

Cork: Sarah Murphy; Melissa Duggan, Dara Kiniry, Shauna Kelly; Aimee Corcoran, Sadhbh McGoldrick, Rosie Corkery; Aoife Healy, Abbie O'Mahony; Rachel Leahy, Grace Ní Mhurchu, Emma Cleary; Abigail Ring, Katie Quirke, Áine Terry O'Sullivan.

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

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 Lennon (41), K Shields for Towe (48), E McGeown for Marley (55).

Referee: Gavin Finnegan (Down).