By Paul Keane

It's a tricky question that Kelly Mallon has to mull over; which would be the more significant to her, captaining Armagh to a piece of silverware at Croke Park this weekend or securing a record 10th national road bowling title?

"That's a hard one to answer," said the Orchard County skipper eventually. "I think it would be football, it's my first sport, my first love. So to win something, especially as captain, that would probably mean a little bit more."

Mallon will head to Croke Park on Sunday for the Lidl National Football League Division 2 final against Kerry. The winners will secure not just the title but precious promotion and Armagh's cause has been helped by the availability of experienced attacker Mallon after several months out with injuries.

She suffered a fibula break last autumn while playing camogie for her club and just as she was nearing a full recovery her Achilles began to play up.

It was a frustrating period but her first game back could be Sunday's glamour decider, against the Kingdom. What's certain is that she will be available for selection.

"I'll be togging out, whether or not I'm used is outside of my control," said Mallon.

Back to the road bowling. It's a passion of Mallon's that was cultivated from an early age. Now she stands as the leading woman in Ireland with honours at European and World level too.

"It's seasonal," she explained. "If I had a competition coming up, I'd only maybe start (preparing) three to four weeks before that competition so it's not a year long thing for me.

"It's through the summer as well. There'd be an Ulster competition and then an All-Ireland series and then a couple of months later you would have an international competition. Then every four years you could have the Europeans as well.

"It's big in Armagh, I wouldn't say it's Ulster-wide but definitely Armagh and Cork would have quite a lot of members."

So how did she start?

"It was Daddy, his brother would have taken him along to it, then Daddy just got into it and loved it and all of our family would have participated," she explained. "Our local area, our local road, they have weekly competitions. It's something he sort of pushed me into and I've stayed at it."

For a few years there, Mallon gorged herself on three different sports; football, camogie and road bowling. Inevitably, there was a physical toll.

"Certainly there was a period in my life where I was training every day," she said. "I picked up Achilles tendinopathy back in 2016. It was just because I was doing so much, far too much volume in a week. It's just something I've had to manage from that year."

Mallon enjoys the contrasting elements of the team and individual sports.

"I do enjoy that sole responsibility," she said of road bowling. "But definitely the team environment, there's nothing like the buzz of being in a changing room."

It'll be a Croke Park changing room on Sunday for Mallon and her Orchard colleagues. Opponents Kerry lost the last two Lidl Division 2 finals that were played, in 2019 and 2021. They beat Monaghan by three points in last month's semi-final. Armagh, meanwhile, hammered Laois by 7-18 to 1-9.

"Kerry played in last year's final, Meath beat them," noted Mallon. "They're a really good team. They've lost a couple of players but they're a strong team."

After Sunday, Armagh's focus will turn to the challenge of retaining the Ulster title.

"We play Monaghan on the 30th of April," she said. "It's maybe three weeks after Sunday. Some people talk about the lack of competition in provincial championships but in Ulster it's pretty strong. Donegal, I feel like Donegal are probably a wee bit stronger this year than they were last year, Monaghan as well, they're quite an up and coming team. So it will be interesting to see. We obviously play Monaghan in the semis, and Donegal play Cavan. So we'd be hoping to push on and win three-in-a-row."