Aimee Mackin insists Saturday’s Championship showdown with Mayo is more do-or-die than dead rubber.
Mackin’s Armagh and Mayo will wrap up their group campaign in Ballinamore, though with both already through to the quarter-finals, a defeat wouldn’t be fatal.
The bigger picture is that a win could be crucial as the team that tops Group 1 will have the easier route to the All-Ireland final.
As for whoever loses, they’ll meet Galway in the last eight and potentially four-in-a-row All-Ireland champions Dublin in the semi-finals.
Reigning Footballer of the Year Mackin said she hasn’t looked into who they may or may not face but rubbished the idea that it doesn’t matter who wins this weekend.
Speaking at the launch of the John West Feile na nOg competitions, attacker Mackin said: “Ourselves and Mayo are the same, we’re approaching it as if it’s a normal Championship game and as if it’s do-or-die. We don’t look at it as a dead rubber game. Every game is important.
“We want to try to get a good performance and try to get a win. Mayo will be likewise.
“We know they’ll not slack off just because we’re both through. We definitely don’t look at it like that.
“Obviously you can see what way the quarter-final spots might go but I haven’t looked any further than that.”
Mackin received huge plaudits for her precise outside of the boot pass to Caroline O’Hanlon against Monaghan in Round 1, setting up a goal.
Some suggested Mackin may have been going for a point but she insisted: “No, no, it was a pass. If I had a shot from there and it didn’t go over, I’d be getting an awful earful from the manager.
“I just saw Caroline in there, one v one, and if you put a high ball in she is very rarely not going to get it. It was a good run by her to see the space.”
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