Armagh can’t dwell on rare Croke Park occasion says Murphy

LADIES NFL DIVISION TWO FINAL

ARMAGH V KERRY

Sunday, Croke Park, 2pm

By Kieran Lynch

ARMAGH have a chance to gain promotion back to Division One of the Ladies National Football League, having been out of the topflight since 2017, when they take on Kerry in the Division Two Final on Sunday.

For a team with the ability of this Armagh side, five years in the second tier is too long, and their manager Ronan Murphy explained to Gaelic Life why promotion is so important to his team.

“We think that for team development and squad development that it (Division One) is the place where we want to be playing,” he said.

“So, from that point of view, when we looked at the three different competitions at the start of the year, we wanted to do the very best that we could in all of them.

“We’re here now in the final, and I think that we’re in with a good shout, but we just have to make sure that we perform on the day.”

Another reason why winning the league can have a major positive impact on a team’s season, is that it sets the wheels of momentum in motion heading into the championship, which is crucial in any year, but especially when the league is shortened.

Last year Meath overcame Kerry in the Division Two final and built upon that success by going all the way in the All-Ireland Senior Championship.

“The leagues have been cut, and you only got three games, so it doesn’t really give you much game time,” Murphy explained.

“If we had played seven league games, that would have been ideal going into the championship, but because of the reduced league, there would be a six-week gap between finishing the league and starting the Ulster Championship and that’s a hard void to fill. So, that’s another reason that we wanted to go as far in the league as we could.

“It keeps continuity, and it keeps momentum if we keep winning.”

For Armagh, Sunday will be their first game in Croke Park since 2012 and will be the first experience of playing at Headquarters for most of the squad. Despite that, Murphy says his team cannot afford to get caught up in the occasion.

“I don’t think we have focused on that too much or dwelt on it,” he said.

“Really what we’re trying to say to the players is, that it’s not about being there – it’s about how you perform in Croke Park. The message we’re sending out is, we’ve got there and sure that’s good, it’ll be a good experience, but it means nothing if we don’t go and perform.”

Despite a couple of near misses in the last five years, this is as close as Armagh have been to going up in that time, but despite perfect league form to this point this season, they won’t have it easy against Kerry.

“Listen, it’s the old cliché that it all comes down to who performs on the day,” said Murphy of the challenge that lies ahead.

“We’re expecting a huge battle and Kerry are a very good team, so we know that nothing short of our best will do.

“We know we can win finals – we’ve won the last two Ulster Finals – so we’ll go in confident, and hopefully we get the win on Sunday.”