By Niall Gartland

ARMAGH camogs are one step away from a place in the All-Ireland Junior Championship final, but they’ll have to produce something very special indeed if they’re to come out on the winning side of the argument against Tipperary Seconds this Saturday.

The Orchard County have had a superb season in every respect, claiming Division 3A honours before coming out on top of the Ulster Intermediate Championship.

Their All-Ireland campaign has also gone to plan with one notable blip, a heavy enough group stage defeat to last year’s beaten finalists Tipperary, whom they are set to meet again in Saturday’s semi-final showdown.

Experienced Armagh camog Eimear Hayes has faced some fine teams in her time, but Tipperary are arguably the best of them, so it’s a big enough ask to book their spot in the final.

“For us it was their physicality, they’re tall and athletic, and the way they moved the ball through the hands was new to us.

“Their short-passing was probably a step up from anything we’d come up against before. They train with their senior team so they’re playing at that high level as well, and it’s up to us to match and hopefully better that, but we know it won’t be easy.”

While Armagh are bedrocked by a core of experienced camogs that are recognised names on the Ulster scene, they’ve looked to the future by enlisting a number of girls that starred in their recent run to the All-Ireland Minor ‘B’ Championship final, where they fell short against Kildare.

Hayes, who plays her club camogie with Tullysaran, said: “Unfortunately they didn’t win that game but we’ve been able to draft in a few members of that team and they’re pushing everyone on.

“I’ve been about a good while and it’s the best year I can remember in terms of how many places are up for grabs, you don’t know who’s going to be selected and it’s not just the same faces that you’re always seeing.

“The competition is really good and you can definitely see that younger generation starting to come through which is great. At the start of the season our mindset was we’ll see how things go, but the more we played the more we realised that we’re in a good place so everyone’s happy with how it’s gone.”

A doctor by profession, Hayes is stationed at Craigavon Area Hospital but finds herself able to juggle work and play thanks to the understanding nature of the Armagh management.

“There’s lot of matches on weekends so it takes a bit of chopping and changing of shifts. In fairness we all got our fixtures laid out to us early on, so it’s just about working around things and doing my best to make sure I’m covered at work. To be fair our management team are very lenient and understanding of the situation, but if I miss a training session I have to make sure I make up for it.”