By Shaun Casey

HOME advantage will be key for Armagh ladies this weekend, suggests skipper Kelly Mallon, as the back-to-back Ulster champions look to secure their second win on the trot.

Last Sunday’s 5-9 to 1-10 victory over Tyrone put Ronan Murphy’s ladies top of Division 2B and perfectly kickstarted their promotion push.

“Home advantage is definitely an advantage for us, particularly with the Athletic Grounds because the girls really love playing there. There’s definitely a good buzz in the camp now after the win and with the Athletic Grounds on Sunday,” she said.

Mallon, who’s still recovering from a broken fibula picked up while playing for Madden camogs last year, admits there is some frustration having to play the same teams every year. The LGFA decided to run off a regional league once again, pinning Armagh against Tyrone, Cavan and Monaghan, the exact same groupings as last season.

Armagh also played Tyrone and Monaghan in their successful Ulster run and faced the Farney county in the All-Ireland group stages in 2021. The Orchard have been drawn against Monaghan for the opening round of this year’s provincial championship.

“We’re playing the same teams now two years in a row and it’s not really doing us any favours in terms of progression. It’s frustrating for us as much as it is for the other teams, they want to play other counties, I’m sure they’re sick of looking at us too.

“It’s going to have to change next year. The regional leagues can’t continue in my opinion. We had the opportunity to vote for regionalised or back to seven league games and we wanted to go for the seven and the top two go into the final. But for whatever reason, I’m not sure, they decided to go for the regional again.”

In this same fixture last season, Cavan pipped the Orchard by one point and that along with their All-Ireland quarter final exit to Meath, has helped drive the team on this season.

“Cavan beat us up in Breffni Park, they played really well that day. They caught us on the counter, they were very fast on their counterattack, and I suppose we’re a bit sore from that as well,” Mallon added.

“We obviously wanted to push on and get out of Division Two last year but that didn’t happen, but I think we’re a wee bit more focused. We know what we want to achieve this year and I think it’s just a case of getting our best 15 on the pitch and really go after it.

“We took a lot of lessons from the league campaign and the championship as well. It was very, very frustrating for us not to even make it to the semi-final stages (of the league). That was a massive goal for us to at least get to the top four, but we fell short of that.

“We know what we can achieve, we’re fully aware of the potential within the panel but you need to deliver on match day, and we need to get some form of consistency in our play.”