O’Hanlon says Armagh stronger now

Just a week after winning the Ulster final in July, Armagh captain Caroline O’Hanlon was brushing arms with Usain Bolt and photobombing Prince William and Kate Midleton at the Commonwealth Games.

A Northern Ireland netball star with more than 60 caps, the Carrickcruppen woman will take her professionalism to the field again today when her side look to deny champions Cork a place in the All-Ireland final against Dublin on September 28 (kick-off 3:30pm at Pearse Park).

Despite having played at a number of World Netball Championships, this was the first time the Newry-based doctor and her teammates had qualified for the Games, finishing seventh in Glasgow.

Last year she took a year out to streamline her preparations, operating on the Queens University’s Elite Athlete Programme, and her athleticism since has seen her light up GAA pitches this season, helping the Division 3 league side deny four top teams in the championship this season: Tyrone, Donegal, Laois and four in-a-row Ulster winners Monaghan.

The celebrations in Clones were cut short given her departure for Glasgow however, and she admits it was hard to leave her teammates for three weeks mid-Championship.

“The camp was buzzing after we beat Monaghan and I felt really guilty about leaving the girls. We knew our preparations had gone well, and I thought if we didn’t beat them then we’d never beat them because I don’t think we could have done any more preparation wise,” said the 30-year-old All-Star.

Last year, James Daly’s side came within a point of champions Cork in the qualifying round in Birr, with O’Hanlon narrowly missing a free to level it at the final whistle. But a lot has changed since.

“We’ve a few new players involved, and the team’s reshaped and got a lot stronger all over the pitch. James brought in former players Patricia McEvoy, Aileen Matthews and Fionnuala McAtamney as goalkeeping coach and they’ve a very good dynamic between them. They’ve everything covered and there’s a lot of confidence in the squad now.”

Cork coach Eamonn Ryan has made one change from the side that defeated Mayo in the quarter-final, with Orla Finn named at 15 ahead of Emma Farmer.

Fermanagh face Longford in the curtain-raiser at Pearse Park (1.45pm), with the winners facing Down in the final. That game will also be broadcast live on TG4.

CORK: M O’Brien; R Phelan, A Walsh, B Stack; V Foley, D O’Reilly, G O’Flynn; R Buckley, B Corkery; A Walsh, C O’Sullivan, O Farmer; V Mulcahy, G Kearney, O Finn.

ARMAGH: K Daly, M McGuinness, C Morgan, L Kenny; S Reel, N Marley, R O’Reilly; C O’Hanlon, N Henderson; S McCleary, F McKenna, A McCoy; L McConville, K Mallon, M McAlinden.