By Shaun Casey

HEADING to Clones on Saturday afternoon, Stephen Gollogly’s Armagh minor team are aiming to get their hands on the county’s second ever All-Ireland title at that age grade.

Their first was back in 2011 and that team produced senior stars in the mould of Lauren McConville, Player of the Match in the final, and Aoife McCoy, who bagged a hat-trick of goals on the day.

15 years on and it’s Longford that stand between the Orchard County and the ultimate prize as they lock horns in the All-Ireland ‘C’ Championship decider.

Gollogly is well aware of the threat that the Leinster girls will pose his side at St Tiernach’s Park, having compiled some research ahead of the meeting this weekend.

“We’ve got a good bit of research done and all the vibes are that Longford are strong, they’re physical and they have a big ball-winning midfielder and sharp inside forwards, they scored 5-11 in their semi-final and we scored 7-19,” the Derrynoose clubman said.

“They were the standout team in Leinster at the C grade by all accounts and in the group stages they scored three goals, three goals and seven goals in their three matches.”

On that attacking prowess, he continued: “They have those sharpshooters inside that play a bit of soccer as well with Longford Town and with Ireland so they’re going to be good.

“They’re the same as us in that they have four or five girls up with the Longford senior team and three of them started against Antrim a couple of weeks ago and they didn’t look out of place.

“They are going to be a handful without doubt, but I think we’re in a good place and getting to Clones is a wee added bonus so all in all, we’ve done all we can and we just need to get Saturday done and dusted.”

While the dream of reaching a senior All-Ireland final for the first time in 20 years fell to the wayside against Galway last weekend, some of the minor girls got valuable game time for Greg McGonigle’s senior side.

Cassie Henderson, Erin Melanophy and Blaithin Carragher all made their senior debuts this season as Armagh captured a third Ulster title in a row and reached the last four of the All-Ireland series.

All three played key roles for the minors as they defeated Derry to capture the Ulster Minor Silver Championship title back in May, and as they powered past Leitrim in the All-Ireland semi-final.

Caoimhe Gollogly kicked two goals the last day out in their 7-19 to 0-5 win, and top-scored with 2-7, while Emma Hart, Lily McBennett, Aoife McDonald, Alanna O’Neill and Aoife Farrell all struck majors as well.

“I’d be in touch with Greg two or three times a week, there was actually five of the girls that went up and trained with the seniors,” Gollogly explained of the minor players involved with the senior side.

“Three of them got game time at different stages which was good for them. We were seeing their stats and seeing what they were doing (in training), and everyone was happy, but when they came back to the minor set up, you could see the difference that they brought.

“Their mentality, they brought a bit of an edge with their physicality, so it was good in that respect, and it helped us. And the girls themselves, it definitely helped those five as well.”

Unfortunately, Armagh won’t have a full deck to pick from when they travel to the Monaghan venue, but Gollogly says preparation for Saturday’s showdown has gone well and they can’t wait to get out on the field on All-Ireland final day.

“We have three girls that are unfortunately injured for the final, they are long-term injuries and Saturday is just going to come a wee bit too soon for them,” he added.

“We have a couple away on family holidays also that can’t be changed so there’s going to be five girls that won’t be involved, which is a shame for them.

“But our preparations have gone well. We had an in-house game last Sunday morning and you wouldn’t have thought there’s an All-Ireland final coming up, they were going at it hell for leather.

“There’s been very little chat about the final, they’re just doing what they’re doing and they’re looking sharp in training. Everything is going well and we’ve had two sessions this week and we’re on the wind down.

“In the main, everything has gone well since the semi-final. We played really well that day, it was our best game of the year so we’re looking forward to Saturday, and we want the girls to do themselves justice and if they do that, that’s all you can ask for.”