Waterford 6-8
Armagh 5-10

by Deniese O’Flaherty

Waterford held off a strong Armagh comeback to claim the ZuCar All-Ireland U-18 C title in an enthralling and absorbing contest in Kinnegad.

Last year’s beaten finalists were 15 points ahead in the 40th minute but Armagh showed tremendous character to cut the deficit to one. Time was against them as Waterford were able to hold on.

Three points from the boot of Eimear McGeown put Armagh ahead by two points in the 12th minute after Deise had just taken the lead when Ava Connolly scored their first goal. By the end of the first quarter Waterford added two more goals to their tally; Hannah McGrath and Aoife Butler raising the green flags.

McKeown kicked over her fifth point for the Orchard County in the 18th minute. They added on three points but Waterford cancelled them out in the 24th minute.

A superb solo goal from Aoibhín Donohue in the 29th minute was much needed for Armagh and cut the gap to five points. A point from Mallaidh Loughran left four between the sides entering stoppage time.

The industrious Eimear O’Neill scored Waterford’s fourth goal in the third minute of stoppage time and there was time for drama before the break as Armagh keeper Naoise Hughes was sin-binned for bringing O’Neill down. Leah Browne dispatched the penalty to give the Munster side a 5-6 to 1-7 half-time lead.

Armagh kicked over an early point in the second half and minutes later were awarded a penalty when Emily Foran fouled Donohue. Foran was shown a yellow card. Donohue stepped up but her spot-kick was saved by Waterford netminder Katelyn Gardner.

It got worse for Armagh when Waterford Butler grabbed her second goal and her side’s sixth goal to extend the lead to 13 points. Two Connolly points put 15 between the sides but that was to be Waterford’s last score.

The final 20 minutes belonged to Armagh as they showed real fighting spirit. Goalkeeper Naoise Hughes, who came on as an outfield player after her sin-binning, scored two goals for the Ulster side.

A goal from Eva Cassidy in the 60th minute left for a frantic few minutes of stoppage time but Waterford stood firm to claim victory.

Scorers - Waterford: L Browne 1-5 (1-0pen, 3fs), A Butler 2-0, A Connolly 1-2, H McGrath 1-1, E O’Neill 1-0. Armagh: E McGeown 1-6 (1f), N Hughes 2-0 (1f), A Donohue, E Cassidy 1-0 each, C McNally 0-3 (2f), M Loughran 0-1.

WATERFORD: K Gardner; R Power, R Mackle, E Foran; R Walsh, O Power; G Carrogan, L Ní Arta, H McGrath; A Fitzpatrick, A Butler, L Browne; A Connolly, E O’Neill, A Mulcahy. Sub: D Roche for Foran (51).

ARMAGH: N Hughes; A Stanfield, E Murphy, R Lenaghan; G O’Rourke, A Delaney, E Druse; M Greene, M Loughran; A Donohue, E Cassidy, E McGeary; C McNally, E McGeown, R Cunningham. Subs: F Loughran for A Delaney (ht), N Hughes for M Greene (40), B McGinley for Lenaghan (42), A Roberts for Cunningham (49), C Donnelly for McNally (52).

Referee: Paul McCaughney (Westmeath).

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