Armagh's Lauren McConville is hopeful the successful run to Lidl National Football League Division 1 glory has given her side the belief that they can mix it with the top counties.
The Orchard County won the top tier for the first time by dethroning the league holders Kerry in the final on 7 April, the cherry on top of a round-robin phase that read six wins and just the one albeit heavy defeat to reigning All-Ireland champions Dublin.
"The league in general, it gave us the confidence that we can compete with these top teams and that we're very capable," McConville told RTÉ Sport as Armagh get set for Sunday's Ulster final against Donegal.
"I would say that we still have plenty to work on after that but we've trained really, really hard over the last few weeks and I think it will put us in a good position now coming into championship.
"It was obviously a great buzz winning the league final as well. It was great for the county and we got great support as well and we'll be hoping for the same on Sunday."
The Crossmaglen native was speaking as she received the award for PwC GAA/GPA Player of the Month for April.
It's not the only honour from the first half of the year. During the league, she made her 100th senior inter-county appearance which allowed for a moment of reflection to how different she was as a player and person when she first made the panel.
"Definitely matured now as time has went on and definitely not as naive as I was when I came onto the panel at 18 years of age," she replied.
"Even just in general, a lot of aspects of my game have changed. I started out playing in the forward line for Armagh and now I find myself in the defence.
"And even just in terms of strength and conditioning and the nutritional end of things, a lot has progressed and that's probably within our team as a whole.
"I've worked really hard with strength and conditioning and it's definitely stood to me and I've noticed the difference in physicality as well stepping into Division 1 so just having that good foundation has stood to me in the latter years of my playing career."
And as McConville has migrated into the backs, she appreciates the brilliance of Armagh's talismanic forward Aimee Mackin who plundered all before her in the league.
"Aimee's amazing. She's had some unbelievable scores throughout the league. I think she was the top scorer in Division 1 so when you have talent like that on your team, it's a great start," she said.
"The good thing as well is that Aimee is bringing a lot of other players around her into the game and we're not just relying on her scores, so it's been great that way too and it was great to see other girls stepping up as well when we really needed them. We've good foundations built there in the forward line."
While a Mackin-led Armagh will have ambitions of making a dent in the latter part of the All-Ireland, another good gauge of where they're at off the back of the league success is in Sunday's Ulster final and a Donegal side that regularly feature in the championship knockout stages poses a formidable threat.
"Over the last couple of years we've had some really close games with Donegal and I don't expect that Sunday will be any different from that," said McConville.
"I think it will go right to the end and right to the wire. It'll be a battle. We know what to expect now and we have faced them over the last couple of years, so it's going to take a massive effort but hopefully we'll be able to get over the line."
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