Armagh the focus for Blaithin Mackin after return from Australia

Michael Bolton

After four seasons of splitting the calendar year between Armagh and AFLW, Blaithin Mackin's focus is now fully on inter-county football.

Having huge success in the sport with Melbourne, alongside her sister Aimee, Blaithin made the decision to take a year away from the sport.

With several inter-county players across the country playing AFLW in the summer, teams across the country will face disruption in the weeks ahead.

A decision that would not have been easy to make, all of Blaithin's focus is now with her county.

"The decision was obviously made a while ago, but I think now I definitely feel more settled.

"A lot of the girls are probably heading over to Australia in the next few weeks. I was obviously lucky enough that I always waited until Armagh finished, so it probably wouldn't have been until July, when you were heading away, but I definitely feel more settled now.

I can just enjoy the off-season. Not that you were ever not going full tilt, but it's probably is in your subconscious that if we get beat here, you're going to be heading away, and you have to do, you know, uplift life and go over there

"You're going to move to a new house, you're going to move to the other side of the world. You're not really settled anywhere for four years. But I loved it, and I wouldn't change it, but I think for this year, definitely the overriding feeling is being settled and just looking forward to the championship."

The Mackin family have had a huge impact in Armagh GAA over the years.

Blaithin and Aimee have been crucial to their county's rise in recent years, with Conor winning an All-Ireland in 2024, and Ciaran back from injury for Kieran McGeeney's side.

Injuries have been cruel on the Mackin's, with Aimee and Ciaran suffering ACL injuries.

Something so regular in her childhood, playing football with her sister, has been rare in the last couple of seasons, with Blaithin happy to see Aimee alongside her on the pitch.

"It was a long time since we had been playing Gaelic together.

"For ourselves, you grew up playing with each other. You played at school, played at University, played at underage for county and club. You know each other inside out.

"It is brilliant for me whenever I am kicking the ball, and it is nice to see her face again. For the family, they are delighted that Aimee came through her rehab and got herself in really good shape.

"Mum doesn't like the worries of injuries, so she is delighted once we come through a game unscathed.

"Dad and Mum always say if an ACL or a bad knee is the only thing that comes to your door, you're not doing too bad.

"There are plenty of bad things happening in the world, that can happen in life."

Armagh will be aiming for another Ulster title as they take on Tyrone in the next round of the Ulster championship.

In a league campaign where they avoided relegation, last season saw Armagh failing to progress from the group stages.

In what is set to be a very open championship, Blaithin is confident Armagh can be among the teams in contention, but says they must improve on last season.

"Everybody's goal is obviously an All-Ireland. I think there probably is about at least six teams, maybe eight teams there that would all say the same thing.

"If they have everybody fit, and they've a full panel to select from, who would be capable of an all-Ireland. I think we're probably in their calibre. Based on last year, we're not so based on previous years, we're probably in the early teams.

"When you look at our squad and depth, that's fair to put us there. But I think personally, and the way we look at it is we haven't put in those performances when it's mattered, in semi-finals or quarter finals.

"Last year, we obviously didn't qualify out of the group, and probably had a poor championship campaign.

"I think for us we need to be nailing our performances, nailing what we need to do because we don't want to be a nearly team anymore,"