Aimee Mackin excited by one-on-one battles under new rules

Michael Bolton

After a long wait, Aimee Mackin made her return to action from injury in her county's win over Kerry last weekend.

It was an important time to come back to, as Mackin scored four points to help move Armagh out of the relegation zone.

Mackin was out of action since May 2024 with a second ACL injury.

In a shake-up to this season, new rules were added to Ladies football, many of which were brought into the men's game last season.

This includes the three-up rule, the two-point arc, and the solo and go, all of which Mackin has enjoyed seeing so far this season.

"There's probably a lot of player-on-player, one v one battles, which is exciting.

"And then obviously the 'solo and go', I think is massive. It just speeds up the game.

"That's probably the biggest takeaway from the difference in playing with the rules and without the rules.

"And just out and about talking to people from watching the games, they're saying that it's a lot more exciting."

As one of the most dangerous forwards in the country, the three-time all-star is enjoying the one-on-one battles with defenders, and the space this has created in the game.

"The art of defending is probably back with [those] battles.

"It just adds to the excitement of the game, and that can only bring on attendances a match or views for people watching.

"That's how you grow up playing.

"With the three-up, there's still 12 people back. So if you move the ball fast enough, you can isolate your one v ones. It's still probably similar in terms of breaking down a defence as well.

"I think it'll add to the sport and just develop us and make us probably faster as well because the game is so fast so naturally you have to think on your feet a lot quicker to catch teams off guard."

Armagh have been building over the years, and reached the semi-finals in 2024.

With Cork and Galway already qualifying for the Division One final, and All-Ireland champions Dublin near the bottom of the league, it has shown how competitive this season will be.

Kerry and Meath have gone on similar journeys to Armagh, which have ended in All-Irelands, and Mackin is hopeful Armagh can learn from them.

"When you're watching the All-Ireland finals, you're envious of the girls that are playing for their county and representing them

"It's very tight at the top.

"We can see it in the league this year, with the round of fixtures and how competitive it is. And then adding to the new rules as well, it's maybe making it more exciting, unpredictable to know who's going to come out on top.

"I think it leads into a nice, exciting summer when you've seen how the league campaign has been going and how tight it is at the top of the league.

"It's hard to know exactly where Armagh are.

"You can't look back on what happened previously. I think it's a new year with new girls coming in and more experienced girls still there.

"Our motto is to develop game on game, and in each training, you're trying to look to improve.

"So at the minute we've been doing that in the league, we probably have been performing OK, but we are still sort of in a relegation battle.

"We know the challenges that are going to be ahead come the Championship, and the teams that we're going to come up against are just as good as any other team.

"On our day, we just look forward to it and try to perform at our best, and you just see where that takes you."