'The feeling is nothing but pride and admiration for that group' says Armagh Ladies co-manager Darnell Parkinson after draw with Meath

Armagh were without captain Clodagh McCambridge and Blaithin Mackin, and whilst Aimee Mackin returned to the bench, she wasn’t quite ready for minutes on the pitch. Furthermore, Roisin Mulligan and Eve Lavery were limited to substitute appearances.

The Orchard Ladies overcame those changes however, and a superb performance had them four points ahead with three minutes to go. But Meath hit 1-1 at the death to snatch a draw.

Despite that disappointment, Parkinson was delighted with his team’s display against the odds.

“To say our backs were against the wall there is an understatement,” he said.

“I think I must have run over a black cat or something this week. Just this week, whatever it was, we suffered a couple of freak injuries. We lost Clodagh in the warm-up and it really was a case of every single player just putting their shoulder to the wheel.

“So yes, although you might be thinking to yourself, 'we've let that lead slip'. But honestly, after that performance, the feeling is nothing but pride and admiration for that group.”

Armagh had done brilliantly to put themselves in a position to win the game coming down the home stretch, and whilst they had to settle for a draw, Parkinson conceded that it wasn’t a bad result.

“It was class. It was everything we'd worked on and it just looked as if it was going to get us over the line.

“But look, to come down here before the game, with the players we ended up having out, if someone would have said we could take the point, I might have took that point. So look, I am just extremely proud.

“I can't say anymore how proud I am of every single girl there. It was epic stuff.”

The alarm bells were ringing for Armagh supporters when McCambridge and Blaithin Mackin didn’t take to the field, but Parkinson remained positive on their injuries, saying that the management team had to ‘think of the bigger picture’ with hopefully a long Championship run ahead.

“Honestly, Clodagh's injury was just something completely freakish,” said Parkinson, who manages the team alongside Joe Feeney.

“For Blaithín and the likes of Eve [Lavery] it was just a case of fitness tests during the week. We had to think of the bigger picture and what's to come down the line and make really tough calls, but probably the right ones overall.

“It could be a case that the next day we might have five or six bodies back on the pitch here.

“That was Aimee's first squad appearance since her injury and that's a big massive step for her. So yeah, let's just try and get the girls back out on the pitch and just make sure that we build from this.

“We just can't let this one performance and leave it behind us here. We have to just take everything we can out of it and then see where this takes us.”

As Parkinson mentioned, Armagh have two weeks to get ready for their next test, with Kildare coming to town.

However, the pressure will be on for that game after today’s result.

“Look, every game you're going out to try and get the two points,” he said.

“I suppose now with us having the two-week break, we'll know exactly what we have to do against Kildare, which is a bit of an advantage.

“We'll have that break to now get girls back on the pitch. So yeah, look, we'll be getting into that Kildare game going full throttle at it to sort ourselves as best as possible then for hopefully a quarter-final.”