Aoife McCoy hoping Armagh's rising tide can push them on to ultimate All-Ireland glory
When it comes to searching for inspiration in their pursuit of TG4 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship glory, Aoife McCoy and the Armagh ladies footballers have the ideal guiding forces.
Back on 28 July of last year, the Armagh men's team edged out Galway to claim their second All-Ireland title – and the first since a breakthrough success in 2002. In the 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 at the penultimate stage of the LGFA's top-tier championship at Glenisk O'Connor Park in Tullamore.
The aforementioned McCoy lined out at centre-half forward in that game and as Armagh aim to go a couple of steps further in this year's Brendan Martin Cup, she acknowledges the achievements of their male counterparts could help to spur them on.
"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," McCoy explained.
"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 on the same margin that they defeated them by in that 2024 decider, the Armagh men had already qualified for the quarter-final phase of the All-Ireland senior championship prior to their group stage meeting last weekend.
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 BOX-IT Athletic Grounds today (throw-in 2pm).
Should Armagh get the better of the Lilywhites, they will join Meath – who they have drawn with in their sole group fixture to date – in the All-Ireland quarter-finals on the weekend of 5/6 July.
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 latter side on home soil.
"At the end of the day, we're going out to get a win first of all. 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.
"They [Kildare] have obviously come into Division One 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 onto the Armagh panel in 2014 – winning a brace of Division 2 crowns to go alongside victories in Division 1 and Division 3 – 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 weren't in a position to field a team. Joining her on this adopted side were fellow Dromintee footballers Shauna Grey and Katie Daly, and it proved to be a productive time for this triumvirate.
After helping them to secure county and provincial honours earlier in the year, McCoy, Grey and Daly featured for Shane O'Neills in an All-Ireland intermediate club final against Galway's Annaghdown at Parnell Park in December 2016.
A superb 2-04 haul from Aimee Mackin wasn't enough to get the Ulster champions past their Connacht opponents, but McCoy admitted reaching this showpiece was part of a great adventure with the Camlough outfit.
"It was really nice. I think momentum just grew with Shane O'Neills that year. They had a very good team, but momentum just seemed to build each game. A great experience to say that you played in an All-Ireland club final and unfortunately we just couldn't get the result.
"I have to say, it was a really enjoyable couple of years with Shane O'Neills. Obviously Dromintee is my club and I absolutely love it, 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."
Even though she has been working from home for the past few years in her role as a software engineer with Liberty IT, McCoy currently lives in Lisburn – a place just outside of Belfast that forms the boundary between Antrim and Down. This leaves her with a slightly longer journey to inter-county training than those who are based within Armagh, but the 2024 TG4 All Star winner doesn't see this as a major burden.
"It's about 50 minutes up and down to training. There are people who travel far worse than that. I can't really complain too much," McCoy added.
"It's my only job that I've had since I graduated out of university. I'm in the company probably coming up to 10 years now, which is mental, but it's a great company. I'm very lucky since the Covid pandemic that I've been working from home. It suits with the football as well. It gives me that bit of flexibility."
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