ARMAGH and Dublin reached the last four of the Ladies All-Ireland championship after hard-fought quarter-final victories. Armagh needed a strong finish to see off Ulster champions Donegal 2-13 to 2-11 at St Tiernach’s Park, while Dublin held off Monaghan 1-13 to 0-13.
Armagh have improved with each game in their qualifier run, but they trailed by 2-10 to 1-10 when the excellent Yvonne McMonagle scored her second goal for Donegal in the 44th minute.
An immediate response came with a goal from Caroline O’Hanlon after Aoife Lennon and Aoife McCoy combined well. Geraldine McLaughline did point Donegal in front again on 46 minutes but it was to be their final score.
McMonagle had a chance to put Donegal four ahead with what would have been a hat-trick goal only for Katie Daly to save. Buoyed by that let-off, Armagh had late points from Fionnuala McKenna, O’Hanlon and Aimee Mackin to repeat their national league Division Two final win over the same opposition and progress to the last four.
Donegal began very brightly in the first half, and had a 0-5 to 0-2 lead inside the first quarter, with McLaughlin scoring three points. McMonagle then struck for her first goal, profiting from McLaughlin’s excellent handpass to finish smartly but O’Hanlon and Lennon helped to ensure that Armagh trailed by just two, 1-7 to 0-8, at half-time.
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Donegal again pushed four clear early in the second period, but Lennon netted for an Armagh goal, McCoy and Sarah Marley the architects, on 36 minutes. An incredible McMonagle point was Donegal’s response but efforts of an equal quality from Mallon and Lennon tied matters at 1-10 each again. McMonagle’s second goal, from McDonnell’s pass, looked to have swung the momentum Donegal’s way again, but Armagh were not finished.
Dublin held off a stiff challenge from Monaghan to go through. Leading by six points, 1-7 to 0-4, at half-time, last year’s beaten All-Ireland finalists saw that advantage shrink to just two by the 43rd minute as Monaghan came out for the second period with vigour.
Dublin settled again, however, with points from Amy Connolly, Lyndsey Davey, Niamh McEvoy and Hannah Noonan to give themselves breathing space once more. Caitríona McConnell and Cora Courtney helped to bring Monaghan back to within two again as the game entered its final minute. Dublin won the resultant kickout, though, with the ball worked to inspirational captain Davey, whose perfect pass allowed Niamh Collins to get the clinching score.
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