Donegal 1-13 v 0-17 Armagh (AET)
This Ladies’ Ulster Final was a tense affair throughout, as Donegal looked to seal the county’s second Ulster crown in a week following the men’s team victory against the same opposition just a week ago.
A free-flowing first half saw the gap between both sides not able to gain a lasting advantage as they went into the break separated by just a point, Armagh ahead 0-06 to 0-05.
Despite Armagh establishing a four point lead with a rapid start to the second half, within the last 15 minutes Donegal clawed away at the Orchard County’s advantage.
Donegal closed the Armagh advantage to just one, but a late flurry of scores from Armagh before injury time seemingly made those efforts all for nothing.
That however would quickly change as Katy Herron slotted home a phenomenal goal with a minute of added time left to bring the gap down to one, and with the clock hitting zeroes at the end of injury time, the drama wasn’t over yet.
Donegal were awarded a free, and Suzanne White fired over an astonishing score to level the tie and complete the most unlikely of Donegal comebacks to send the tie to extra time.
Both sides traded a single score in the first half of extra time, before Donegal took only their second lead of the entire contest, and their first lead since they notched the opening score of the game in the third minute.
Just 30 seconds later Armagh had a fast-break goal disallowed after one of their players stepped out of play with the ball in the build up.
Soon the scores would be level again though, in a hard-fought matchup that started resembling the men’s final in the same ground just a week prior.
Aoife Gallagher then gave Donegal the lead briefly with five minutes left to go, before Armagh struck back immediately on the counter-attack in an enthralling end to the tie.
Armagh clawed ahead again with just moments to spare, and despite some close calls Donegal just couldn’t find the score that would take the game to penalties.
A heartbreaking loss for Donegal, but they will be immensely proud of the fight they showed in a brilliant contest that went down to the wire.
