Aimee Mackin says history-making Armagh ready for next step

Declan Whooley Declan Whooley | 05-01 16:15

Just weeks after a first ever Division 1 football title and the Armagh footballers are looking to claim more silverware.

Two years after losing to Kerry in a Division 2 decider, promoted Armagh swept through the league campaign to make a top-flight decider.

Once again it was the Kingdom in their way, but Aimee Mackin and Kelly Mallon combined for 1-09 as the Orchard County broke new ground.

Mackin has been in sensational form this year, picking off 3-12 in March alone on her way to scooping the PwC GPA Women's Player of the Month Awards.

Prior to the league final former Waterford player Michelle Ryan said the three-time All-Star was the player of the league, backing that up with 1-04 at Croke Park.

"I wouldn’t say every game was perfect for myself," she said. "In the league final, I wasn’t great in the first half, but throughout the league, as a team, we were all about staying in the moment."

Aimee Mackin with her award after a scorching March in which she scored 3-12

The 27-year-old was absent for last year’s championship exit at the hands of Cork, and says the league success is a great building block.

Mackin’s return from Australia, where she followed sister Blaithin to Melbourne FC in the AFLW, has been a huge boost for the county, and the player herself is revelling being back in the inter-county environment she first entered in 2015.

It’s the fourth year in a row Armagh and Donegal will contest an Ulster final, with Mackin’s side just edging the head-to-head, though it was the Tir Chonaill women that emerged victorious 12 months ago.

That loss for Blaithin and Aimee was compounded by her brothers also tasting defeat in the men’s Ulster final, Connaire and Ciaran are part of an Armagh set-up that went down to Derry on penalties.

Yet again provincial fever has hit the household, with no-one spared when it comes to players assessments.

Aimee Mackin takes on Kerry's Ciara Murphy in Croke Park earlier this month

"It’s exciting. If you can’t enjoy it, there is something wrong. These are the games that we would have gone to when we were younger, to be part of it, and for the boys to be part of it, is brilliant.

"There could be advice, or criticism sometimes as well. We all go to each other’s games. It’s what we enjoy. We probably do bounce off each other at times."

With Meath and Kerry backing up Division 2 and Division 1 titles with subsequent All-Ireland success, the roadmap is there for Armagh to push on and challenge at the business end of the season.

Donegal are up first on 14 May, but can Mackin see her side returning to Croke Park later this year?

"Definitely. We all want to be back there, but it’s so competitive in the women’s game. There are such small differences in games.

"To have a few teams that are able to win it is brilliant. It’s a challenge as a player, but really enjoyable."

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