AOIFE McCOY and the Armagh ladies do not have to look far for heroes to inspire their bid for TG4 All-Ireland SFC glory.
On July 28 of last year, the county’s men edged out Galway to claim the second All-Ireland Senior Football Championship title in their history — and the first since a breakthrough success in 2002.
In their 1-11 to 0-13 triumph at Croke Park, defensive duo Barry McCambridge and Connaire Mackin played crucial roles in getting the Orchard County over the line.
Eight days earlier, McCambridge’s sisters Clodagh and Meabh featured alongside Mackin’s sibling Blaithin — his other sister Aimee was missing through injury — as Armagh lost out to Kerry in the LGFA’s Championship semi-final at O’Connor Park.
McCoy, who works from home in Lisburn as a software engineer, lined out at centre-half forward on that day in Tullamore.
And as Armagh aim to go a couple of steps further in this year’s Brendan Martin Cup, she acknowledges the lads’ achievements can spur them on.
She explained: “I think plenty of people have said it.
“The boys winning the All-Ireland last year, not really realising it, but it has maybe been a good push for ourselves as well. It has just brought a lot of happiness and stuff to the county.
“I think for ourselves it probably has pushed us on.
“We have a lot of girls that have siblings that are involved in that panel. The likes of Clodagh and the Mackins and stuff like that.
“Definitely you’re trying to emulate that success. Even without knowing it, it probably has pushed us on that bit more too.”
Despite losing out to Galway last week by a point, the Armagh men had already qualified for the quarter-final phase of the All-Ireland SFC prior to their group-stage clash.
McCoy and her Orchard colleagues will also be hoping to have booked a spot in the last eight of the Brendan Martin Cup by the time the final whistle sounds in their Group 3 clash with Kildare at the Athletic Grounds today.
Should Armagh get the better of the Lilywhites this afternoon, they will join Meath — who they have drawn with in their sole group fixture to date — in the All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals on the weekend of July 5-6.
The Orchard women could also potentially claim top spot ahead of a Meath side that secured a three-point victory against provincial rivals Kildare last weekend.
But McCoy stressed the main focus will be on trying to get the better of the Lilywhites.
PRIME FOCUS
She said: “A win will basically secure us a spot in the quarter-final and then after that, obviously we’d love to finish first in the group.
“To get that home quarter-final, that would be great.
“We’ll be focusing really on a win first and then just take it from there to see how it goes.
“Kildare have obviously come into Division 1 this year and they’ve maintained their status there.
“In 2023 they won the intermediate, so they’re a very good side. We played them earlier in the year down in Silverbridge.
“That was a home game for us. We had a very good performance that day, we were going pretty well in the league at the time, but they’re a very good team and they have some quality players.”
While McCoy has played in no fewer than six Lidl National Football League finals since breaking on to the Armagh panel in 2014, her sole All-Ireland final appearance to date at adult level has been on the club scene.
Although she hails from St Patrick’s Dromintee GAC, McCoy had a previous spell with Shane O’Neills in Camlough at a point when her home club was not in a position to field a team.
Joining her on this adopted side were fellow Dromintee footballers Shauna Grey and Katie Daly — and it was a productive time for the trio.
After helping them to secure county and provincial honours, McCoy, Grey and Daly featured for Shane O’Neills in an AIB All-Ireland intermediate club championship final against Galway’s Annaghdown at Parnell Park in December 2016.
A superb 2-4 haul from Aimee Mackin was not enough to get the Armagh and Ulster champions past their Connacht opponents.
But McCoy admitted reaching this showpiece was part of a great adventure with the Camlough outfit.
She added: “A great experience to say that you played in an All-Ireland club final and unfortunately we just couldn’t get the result.
“But we probably couldn’t have asked for a better club to be transferred to. It was a brilliant experience with a great group of girls.”
