Cork 1-9

Armagh 4-10

GER McCARTHY REPORTS

CORK head into Saturday’s All-Ireland senior football championship must-win showdown with Waterford needing a big improvement on last weekend’s loss to Armagh at Páirc Uí Rinn.

Aimee Mackin’s first-half hat-trick laid the foundation for a deserved Armagh win in Group 1’s opening match.

Putting a disappointing first-half display behind them, Cork rallied in the second period but were unable to close the gap.

Now, Cork must defeat Waterford in Dungarvan to prolong the Rebels’ season.

A far from straightforward task, considering the Déise defeated Cork by 11 points in the Munster championship last month.

‘Anybody neutral will be saying Waterford are hot favourites,’ Cork manager Joe Carroll told The Southern Star.

‘We’ve played them twice, in the league game here and in the Munster championship as well. They beat us comprehensively the second day.

‘Look, we have to get our own house in order. The Waterford game will take care of itself if we can play a full 60-minute game. We haven’t been doing that for even 50 minutes. In a lot of games, we’ve been playing fairly well in the first half. The Kerry game, we were reasonable in the first half. Second half we weren’t.’

Cork's Áine Terry O'Sullivan battling with Armagh's Lauren McConville. (Photo: Tyler Miller/Sportsfile)

Carroll didn’t mince his words following his side’s disappointing loss to Armagh.

The Cork manager was glad of an opportunity for his players to quickly refocus on this weekend’s clash in Waterford.

‘Against Armagh, we were very poor in the first half but we were good in the second half despite not taking all our chances’, Carroll added.

‘If we’d taken our chances with the two goals, we could probably have been ahead with seven or eight minutes to go. Look, that didn’t happen and the only thing we can do about it now is go forward again for next week.’

There were few positives to take from Cork’s fourth consecutive (provincial and All-Ireland) championship defeat.

The consistent form that delivered a Division 1 league title in April is something Cork badly need to rediscover if Waterford are to be overcome in their own backyard.

Against Armagh, Beara’s Áine Terry O’Sullivan kicked three points and substitute Leah Hallihan contributed 1-1 but it wasn’t enough on a day Cork’s other forwards badly miscued. Doheny’s Melissa Duggan and Kinsale’s Kate Redmond toiled hard as did Castlehaven’s Niamh O’Sullivan and Clonakilty’s Katie O’Driscoll when introduced off the bench.

Melissa Duggan in full flight. (Photo: Tyler Miller/Sportsfile)

Aoife McCoy opened the scoring before Aimee Mackin raced clear and sent a thunderbolt into the top corner to hand Armagh a 1-1 to 0-0 lead.

Cork missed numerous chances but were thankful for three Áine Terry O’Sullivan first-half points. Grace Murphy and Emma Cleary also raised white flags. Yet, it was the Ulster champions who led 3-4 to 0-5 at the interval and were full value for that score. A converted Mackin penalty arrived before she completed her hat-trick from close range.

Katie Quirke (free) got Cork off to a positive restart. Mackin responded via a left-footed effort but Quirke scored again immediately after.  A fisted Leah Hallihan effort preceded Emma Cleary missing the target from close range.

Despite that let off, Cork poured forward until Cassie Henderson came off the bench and split the posts to make it 3-6 to 0-8 with 15 minutes to go.

Cork were guilty of wasting another goal chance before Kelly Mallon increased Armagh’s advantage. The hosts answered via a Katie Quirke free.

Then, a flowing move ended with Cork’s Leah Hallihan palming the ball into the net with eight minutes to go.

A rampant Armagh finished strongly however, despite a controversial moment when the Rebels demanded a free for an apparent three-up infringement.  Nothing was awarded and Bláithin Mackin’s two-pointer preceded a Cassie Henderson white flag.

The game was over once sub Caoimhe McNally fired in a late goal to cement Armagh’s win and heap further pressure on Cork ahead of their trip to Dungarvan.

Scorers 

Cork: L Hallihan 1-1; Á T O’Sullivan, K Quirke (2f) 0-3 each; E Cleary, G Murphy 0-1 each.

Armagh: A Mackin 3-2 (1 pen, 1f); C McNally 1-0; B Mackin (2pt), A McCoy, K Mallon, C Henderson 0-2 each.

Cork: S Murphy; M Duggan, S Kelly, D Kiniry; A Corcoran, S McGoldrick, R Corkery; M O’Callaghan, K Redmond; R Leahy, R O’Regan, E Cleary (captain); G Murphy, K Quirke, Á T O’Sullivan.

Subs: L Hallihan for R O’Regan (ht), N O’Sullivan for G Murphy (50), A O’Mahony for M O’Callaghan (51), K O’Driscoll for A Corcoran (52).

Armagh: B Mathers; A Donnelly, C McCambridge, C Towe; E Druse, L McConville (captain), G Ferguson; C O’Reilly, B Mackin; L Marsden, A McCoy, C Marley; A Mackin, C O’Hanlon, K Mallon.

Subs: C McNally for C Marley (41), C Henderson for C O’Reilly (44), E Melanophy for L Marsden (58), E Cassidy for A McCoy (60).

Referee: B Redmond (Wexford).