Ulster and Armagh - Busy Marley juggling two codes

A powerful and dynamic midfielder for Armagh, if anyone in the Orchard team was a likely rugby recruit, she fitted the bill nicely.

Today, Niamh Marley looks set to line out for Ulster in their interprovincial clash with Leinster before she turns her attentions to Armagh's Division 2 opener against Cavan tomorrow.

And although she is a try-scoring machine in the backline for Dungannon and her province, it wasn’t the smoothest transition into life with the egg-shaped ball.

It’s not easy dedicating yourself to football and rugby without one of your cruciate ligaments.

"Back around 2017, I tore my cruciate and I had been to six different physios and they had said 'no your cruciate is fine, everything is fine’.

"The MRI came back and everything looked fine," said Marley. "But I was lucky I had a really good consultant and he filled me in. I had been playing on without a cruciate for about six months.

"It just so happened that the rest of my quads and hamstrings had been so strong that for 40 or 50 minutes of a game I would last but then the knee would give way.

"I think that put rugby on the backburner."

It was no surprise when Marley decided to go down the GAA route, coming from a family steeped in football.

Her father, Noel, helped Armagh to an unlikely All-Ireland final appearance in 1977 and his four daughters have since proudly represented their club and gone on to receive county honours also.

The eldest, Caoimhe, was a stalwart and former captain for Armagh before she went into the coaching and management side of things. Between her and other sisters Sarah and Catherine, there was no shortage of inspiration in the household.

"With daddy playing with the 1977 team, he was a big massive influence for me, as well as Caoimhe," said