Roscommon aim to raid the Orchard
Roscommon's Orla Connelly and Armagh's Leanne Donnelly will see their sides battle for a semi final spot. Picture: INPHO/James Crombie.
Roscommon’s camogie side face their biggest game of the year to date as they come up against Armagh in the Glen Dimplex All Ireland Premier Junior Camogie Championship quarter final.
Eoin Hardiman and Cian Ryan’s side are aiming to secure their first win in three games after successive defeats to Cavan and Laois.
Roscommon started their Championship campaign with a gutsy win on the road against Limerick before hammering Mayo in the second round of fixtures.
They entered their third game against Cavan full of confidence but suffered a 2-11 to 0-15 defeat in Woodmount. Hazel Kelly appeared to have moved Roscommon on to the cusp of victory before a last gasp Christina O’Reilly goal propelled Cavan to a vital win.
Roscommon were defeated by Laois last time out as despite two long range Orla Connolly goals from frees and Niamh Fitzgerald’s reliability from the placed ball, the home side proved too strong. This meant Roscommon finished third in their group and faced the second placed team in the opposite group, which proved to be Armagh.
This is a difficult showdown against an Armagh outfit that lost last year’s All Ireland semi final to eventual champions Clare by a point.
Armagh and Roscommon have been involved in two competitive affairs already with Armagh taking the spoils on each occasion on the way to becoming Division 3A League champions.
They were involved in a cracker at BOX-IT Athletic Grounds in the round-robin phase, losing by eight points despite scoring 4-10. If that was a Wild West shootout, the subsequent semi-final was far cagier and though Roscommon reduced Armagh’s scoring output by five goals, they were held to nine points themselves.
Armagh’s only blemish in the Championship series came last weekend, when Tipperary inflicted an 11-point defeat upon them. Roscommon, despite suffering two defeats, will aim to ensure this goes down to the wire.
Roscommon 1-17 Limerick 2-10
Roscommon 4-23 Mayo 0-3
Roscommon 0-15 Cavan 2-11
Roscommon 2-9 Laois 4-13
