McKenna Cup 2024

[Leo]

A Down perspective

Crowd - the stand holds over 4,000 and was full, there was at least 1500 on the town terrace, so 5000+ which will equate to about 2,200 when Ulster Coucil annouvc=ce the attendance.

Carr was mom in first half, so much so that Armagh introduced Mckeever to mark him before half time (and he did leave his mark a couple of times).
Gordon owned the second half at midfield and (AT LAST) the penny should drop with wee James as to his midfield credentials. Good start by Gough until he tired (and Dan took over), gritty performance from Hughes, Doyle cruising back nicely, Miskelly a real prospect, Brady full of endeavour but, sorry lads, just too too small, King worth another go on the square, both Brannigans did well, D Turley shone in patches,  Corkery carried most threat for Armagh but too interested in the niggly stuff.,
Interesting to see AOR go to the back of the stand for the second half for a proper view of the action.... and....
As for ink-run Sludden???
Is this referee appointment lark a complete joke or we all missing something profound?
Armagh were leaderless and disjointed and Grimley appeared to be the man in charge.

[never kickt a ball]

Good start for Fercanavagh!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/northern_ireland/gaelic_games/16463562.stm

[tyroneman]

Very poor from Tyrone for 3/4 of the game. Lucky to be 3 up and not 6 behind at the half with Queens having 3 clear goal chances in the first 35.  Found 3rd gear in last quarter and took a measure of control to pull away. It was only when the students went 1 up that we really looked to have any urgency.

All the failings of last year were evident. Slow build up, lack of pace all over, poor option taking etc etc.

Main positives were Lafferty who looked decent, showed for ball and wasn't afraid to shoot and Harte. For anyone who wondered why Harte was kept with Tyrone and not the ranch - today was the answer. Everything good came through him.

Not sure CHB suits him but Uncle seemed to be trying to use him like a deep sitting Quarterback and playmake from the back.

If this is an attempt to get quicker ball released to the forwards then maybe it might be worthwhile.

Pick of the rest: young Ronans first touch in a senior shirt = goal. Can't ask for more than that.  Mattie got involved but would prefer to see him in FF line. Cass played ok.

On the downside Murphy was very poor. Not sure what he offers now that he hasn't the past few years. McNeice looked like he was out of his depth, but at least he will have time to improve.

Defence is the big worry. The nippy QUB forwards had the run of the place for long stretches.

Anyhow, as an exercise to blow the cobwebs out it did just fine.

[Any craic]

See Tyrone debut boy Johnny Lafferty from Urney kick 3 points from play vs Queens today at Omagh - http://t.co/nzUgArrf

[DuffleKing]

Not working ac

[trileacman]

Keep trying, it'll work sometime. Was the same with me.

Lafferty's last point was a great score. Also Seamus Quigley is a heavy f**ker, reminds me of Rory Woods.

[rrhf]

Poor game and performance v early days. Positives to date. Midfield worked hard pj quinn gametime for justy and mc caul. Petey when he goes forward. Mc kenna and lafferty.  Negatives held ball up too much lost shape many time.  Roll on

[Throw ball]

As for ink-run Sludden???
Is this referee appointment lark a complete joke or we all missing something profound?
Armagh were leaderless and disjointed and Grimley appeared to be the man in charge.

Was not the worst ref performance ever, although from an Armagh point of view playing an advantage in the first half only for Armagh to lose the ball and Down go down the other end and score their first goal didn't help. (He signalled advantage with an outstretched arm by the way!) He seemed to stop playing advantage after that though!

As for your other comment I think you must be on the wind up. Grimley did no more than he did when he was assistant to Big Joe or Banty. He will offer an opinion no matter who is in charge. It was also very obvious before the game how many players O'Rourke went round to talk to. Unlike many I will reserve judgement on our new management team for a while yet.

[Any craic]

See Mickey Harte verdict on yesterday, with the best action from the game - http://tinyurl.com/88xyxc7

[JHume]

Crowd at Donegal v Jordanstown was 1,700-odd.

Jordanstown well worth their victory, although Donegal missed a couple of good goal chances in the 2nd half.

Best Jordanstown performance I've seen versus Donegal since they were admittted to the competition. We usually had the beating of them handy. But yesterday they tore into Donegal and deserved their win. Kieran Hughes was brilliant at full forward.

[Lazer]

There was a good crowd at the Down game - was amazed, expected to be be able to drive up an park easily but didn't happen!

I suppose the relatively good weather and the fact it was Armagh brought the good crowd out, although £9 in was steep - didn't realise there was a £20 season ticket - would have bought it had known!

Its hard to tell how good down were, as Armagh were pretty dire, Down was good passing, midfield and winning the ball back.

I think Gough played well too - good addition to the team.

Its good to see James trying out new players and new positions, hopefully we'll get a good team together and continue to gather momentum as the year progressed.

It was a good start to the year anyway!

[Captain Obvious]

St. Mary's at home we need to win that one.

[Sanchez]

Can anyone post the St Mary's team from yesterday?

[KIDDO 4]

St. Mary's University, Belfast: N Morgan (0-2f); M Slane (Capt.), D McBride, E McArdle; C O'Hara, G Teague, M Murray; N Donnelly, R O'Callaghan; D McCusker, R Sexton, N Sludden; B Doyle (0-2f), O McKeever, C Conaghan.
Subs: C McMahon for McKeever (42), B Herron for McCusker, E Bradley (0-1f) for O'Callaghan (both 44), T Canavan for Conaghan (54), J Gilmore for Sexton (63).

[onefaircounty]

Is that keeper from Tyrone, was he the same boy in nets for Dungannon Swifts tonight.