Niamh Ní Chonchúir strike sets Kerry on way to another decider

Niamh Ní Chonchúir grabbed a 16th-minute goal at Glenisk O'Connor Park as Kerry advanced to a third consecutive TG4 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final with a triumph against Armagh.

Five points to the good at the midway stage in this penultimate round contest, the Kingdom did enough in a low-scoring second half to seal their place in a top-tier championship decider alongside Galway, where they will hope to make amends for final defeats to Dublin and Meath in the past two seasons.

During a lively start to the contest, Armagh popped over points via the boots of Eva Lavery (two), Blaithin Mackin and Dearbhla Coleman. While Kerry attacker Siofra O’Shea added a score to compliment an earlier free from Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh, Niamh Henderson split the posts on the run to give the Ulster side a 0-05 to 0-02 cushion on the first-quarter mark.

Yet team captain Clodagh McCambridge was temporarily replaced with a blood injury around this juncture following a clash with Kerry’s Aishling O’Connell, who was also forced off for a five-minute period, and in her absence Ní Chonchúir got on the end of an excellent move to drill a fierce strike past Armagh netminder Anna Carr.

This added a spark to the Kerry challenge and with Danielle O’Leary, Ní Mhuircheartaigh (free) and the returning O’Connell finding the target to supplement a 0-2 salvo from skipper Niamh Carmody, the Munster champions were 1-07 to 0-05 in front at the break.

However, the Kingdom had suffered a blow a little under two minutes before the interval when Carmody was sent to the sin-bin. Even though their five-point cushion remained intact upon her re-emergence, Armagh added swift scores courtesy of Niamh Coleman and Mackin (free) to ramp up the pressure on