CORK will face Armagh in Saturday’s All-Ireland LGFA U14 Championship Platinum final following victory over Galway at the Éire Óg Nenagh GAA grounds.

The Rebels made it through to an All-Ireland U14 decider thanks to a 5-7 to 1-9 semi-final defeat of their Connacht rivals.

Abigail Fenton top scored with 2-1 while Rosscarbery’s Éirinn Coppinger, Castlehaven’s Katie Whelton and Beth Hegarty also found the net.

Cork’s impressive total also included contributions from Caroline Creedon, Ciara O’Brien, O’Donovan Rossa’s Milana Collins, Aoife O’Connell and Caoimhe McCarthy.

Captained by St Val’s Annie McElroy, Cara Daly (Ibane Ladies), Chloe Walsh (Dohenys), Róisín O’Sullivan (Rosscarbery), Eve O’Sullivan, Nicole Sullivan, Ruby Humston (O’Donovan Rossa and Lauren Young (Kinsale) are the other West Cork LGFA players on this year’s Cork panel.

It has been a hard road to reach an All-Ireland Platinum decider but Cork LGFA U14 Manager Jenni Fouhy (Watergrasshill) has been delighted with her squad’s efforts since the beginning of the campaign.

‘We couldn’t be prouder of all 30 girls on our Cork U14 inter-county panel,’ Fouhy told The Southern Star.

‘At the moment we have 21 clubs represented across the entire squad, which is phenomenal. It does show that the standard of football in Cork is growing all of the time, particularly at underage level.

‘For all 30 players, each one of them has been excellent this year. Work-rate and attitude are what we ask of them and, every week, they deliver. Whether it’s a training session, on match days.

‘Even the girls that haven't played much in the last two games, they’re really supportive of their teammates.

‘From day one, the message we tried to instill in them was that this on a panel of about 30 girls, it is not about any one player. Every one of them is important to us.’

Overcoming a talented Galway side took a full squad effort.

That hard-earned semi-final victory represented the best possible preparation ahead of facing an Armagh team that kicked sixteen points in defeating Meath to reach this year’s Platinum decider.

‘The girls have persevered and gotten over the line in all of their games this year,’ the Cork LGFA U14 head coach added.

‘We were under no illusions going into our semi-final. We knew Galway would be strong and that they would test us to the full. Galway have a lot of quick players, so we knew they were going to run at us.

‘Everyone on the management team is delighted that the girls stood up to the challenge. They worked really hard as a team and on a very warm day that took it out of both teams.

‘Now that we have reached an All-Ireland final, we know that Armagh are going to be phenomenal opponents.

‘Armagh put up 5-11 against Tyrone before scoring 0-16 against Meath in the semi-finals. There is no doubt that they are going to have a strong side.’

Ahead of Saturday’s showdown at St Brigid’s, Kitoom in Roscommon (4pm), Fouhy took time to pay tribute to those people, both off the field, who have helped the Cork U14s.

‘None of this would have been possible without the support and the buy-in that we've gotten from the players parents,’ Fouhy said.

‘We are equally thankful to all the clubs who gave up their pitches and allowed the use of their facilities. We’re really grateful to the Cork LGFA county board too for getting behind us and organising everything that goes on in the background.’

So, a well-organised Cork U14 set-up is ready to face Armagh in this weekend’s All-Ireland LGFA Platinum decider.