Kildare revisit venue of landmark Armagh win

It’s a return to the scene of one of Kildare LGFA’s best wins in recent memories on Saturday.

Last year, Kildare travelled to the Athletic Grounds in Armagh to take on the home team in the final round of the group stages. A win would have sent Kildare into the senior quarter-finals for the first time while a loss would have meant fighting to preserve their senior status in the relegation play-offs.

What followed was a major turn-up for the books as Kildare beat the Ulster champions by 1-12 to 1-10.

Now the teams meet again, this time in the last eight of the competition.

Now in the second year under manager Pat Sullivan, Kildare have established themselves as a Senior Championship team and will approach this game with no fear.

Defeat to Armagh in Manguard Park was part of a Division 1 National League campaign that ended in relegation but Kildare were far from disgraced. They were competitive in every game and carried that good form in the Leinster Championship where they had every reason to believe that they could have beaten Dublin with more of a clinical touch in front of goal.

The one game where Kildare really dropped below their usual standard was against Kerry in the opening round of the All-Ireland series. They bounced back from that in some style last time out as they ran out convincing winners over Tipperary.

So does all that leave Kildare heading into a season-defining game in the Orchard County.

Sullivan has built a youthful panel that bases their game around a mobile middle third. The fact that it was a wing-back, and inspirational leader, Laoise Lenehan who scored the crucial goal in that win over Armagh last year summed up how Sullivan likes his team to play. The half-back line of Lenehan, Ruth Sargent and Molly Aspell were superb in the win over Tipperary and are likely to be central to Kildare’s hopes again.

Further forward is where Kildare have slightly struggled this year. There is so much to admire about their build-up play but the one thing the team lack is a clinical forward in true All-Star form. Aoife Rattigan is probably the closest to that and she has brought her game to a new level in this summer’s Championship but she needs more help around her. So, it was very heartening to see Lara Curran returning to scoring form against Tipperary with three points and she is another vital cog in the Kildare machine.

Armagh, who beat Tyrone in the Ulster final in May to lift their third successive provincial crown, recorded two wins in the groups to reach this stage but with differing performances. An Aimee Mackin hat-trick gave them a 4-10 to 1-9 win over Cork in the first round but they had to nervously hang against a strong-finish Waterford last time out for a 2-15 to 1-15 win.

All the signs point towards a tight, high-quality contest, but if Kildare can match Armagh’s scoring power and maintain their influence from deep, they have already shown they are more than capable of causing another upset on this ground.

With the memory of last year’s upset still fresh and growing belief within the panel, Kildare will travel north convinced this is a chance not just to compete, but to take another significant step forward. Armagh will rightly start as favourites, but they now know better than to underestimate this Kildare side.

TG4 All-Ireland Senior Championship Quarter-Finals 

Armagh v Kildare, Sat 4 July, 1.45pm, BOX-IT Athletic Grounds, Armagh 

Kerry v Meath, Sat 4 July, 5.15pm, Austin Stack Park, Tralee 

Dublin v Cork, Sat 4 July, 7.30pm, Parnell Park, Dublin 

Galway v Mayo, 5.45pm, Tuam Stadium