ARMAGH joint-gaffer Darnell Parkinson believes there is still room for improvement despite maintaining the Orchard’s winning start to their Lidl NFL defence.
The Ulster side edged a tight encounter with DUBLIN 0-11 to 2-4 win at Parnell Park on Saturday to make it three wins from three in Division 1.
Parkinson said: “There’s a lot of learning to take when we watch the tape back and look at a few chances we left behind.
“The main thing is, we got the points on the board.”
Niamh Reel kicked five points as the defending champions held off a late Sky Blue surge.
A goal from Kate Sullivan after 18 minutes kept Dublin in touch but they trailed by 0-6 to 1-2 at the interval.
Reel’s fourth of the afternoon extended Armagh’s lead after the restart and efforts from Caroline O’Hanlon (free), sub Caoimhe McNally and Niamh Henderson pushed them further clear.
But they faced a nervous finish when Niamh Hetherton got a Dublin goal three minutes from time to reduce the deficit to the minimum.
Dubs joint-chief Paul Casey added: “We thought we could have maybe snatched something at the end, but probably wouldn’t have deserved to.”
Yesterday saw MEATH also maintain their impressive start in the top division with a third straight victory.
Kerrie Cole helped herself to a haul of 2-2 in Navan as they withstood a strong final quarter fightback from WATERFORD to triumph 2-11 to 1-13. Royals goalie Robyn Murray said: “The first half we were getting out and had loads of time on the ball with the wind.
“Obviously they didn’t have a big press on because they didn’t want us to go over the top, but in that second half they had some serious pressure on us.”
Cole rattled the net inside 30 seconds for her fourth goal in three games.
But 1-2 from Lauren McGregor kept the Déise in touch at 1-9 to 1-4 at the interval.
Cole’s second major after the break extended Meath’s lead but they had to dig deep.
Waterford manager Tomás Mac an tSaoir admitted: “We left too much work to do.”
Also in the top flight, All-Ireland champions KERRY made it back-to-back wins as they saw off KILDARE at Fitzgerald Stadium by 2-10 to 0-7. Kingdom boss Mark Bourke said: “Delighted to get the win in that it separates us in the table and takes the pressure off.”
And in a crucial tie at the bottom, TYRONE finally registered their first points when they came from behind to oust MAYO 1-15 to 2-11 in Swinford.
In Division 2, GALWAY defeated ROSCOMMON 1-18 to 1-11 and CORK conquered TIPPERARY by 3-12 to 0-9.
In the same division, CLARE coasted to a 2-17 to 0-7 win over WESTMEATH and DONEGAL snatched a 1-7 to 0-8 triumph over MONAGHAN thanks to captain Roisín Rodgers’ last-minute goal.
There were third-tier wins for CAVAN, LAOIS, LIMERICK and LOUTH too. In Division 4, FERMANAGH beat LONGFORD in a 4-14 to 4-8 goalfest and LEITRIM pipped WICKLOW 1-11 to 3-4.
