Colm Shalvey reports
Monaghan’s senior ladies need to spring a huge upset away to Armagh this Saturday to maintain their interest in this year’s championship. Monaghan enjoyed a dramatic one-point victory over Armagh at the Athletic Grounds in last year’s delayed league campaign, but so much has changed in the space of just over 12 months since then.
Armagh have gone from strength to strength in the last couple of years, claiming a hat-trick of Ulster titles and consistently threatening a major breakthrough on the All- Ireland stage. It took the eventual All-Ireland champions to end Armagh’s run in both of the last two campaigns: Dublin at the semi-final stage in 2020 and Meath in the quarterfinals last August. Meath have, of course, already secured qualification from Group B via a comprehensive win over Monaghan and a draw with Armagh, although they had to dig deep for the latter result.
Armagh looked to be on the brink of a statement victory for long spells of that tilt at the holders last Sunday and even though they eventually had to settle for a share of the spoils, Ronan Murphy will be heartened by his side’s performance, particularly…
