McKenna Cup 2024

[never kickt a ball]

Down see off Queen's in McKenna

Down defeated Queen's 1-17 to 0-8 in Saturday night's Barrett Electrical Dr McKenna Cup Group C game.  Down led 0-9 to 0-6 at half-time and a Martin Clarke penalty midway through the second half boosted their lead.  Clarke was the dominant figure and ended with a tally of 1-6, including five frees while John Clarke and Paul McComiskey accumulated 0-3 apiece.  The Queen's scores came from five James Kielt frees, Gerard McAleese and two second-half frees from Michael Ward.  Martin Clarke played for 50 minutes of the match at Pairc Esler.

Barrett Electrical Dr McKenna Cup results/fixtures

Saturday 16 January

Group A - Result

Armagh 1-12 0-16 UUJ

Group B

Cavan 0-9 0-11 Donegal

Group C

Down 1-17 0-8 Queen's

Story from BBC SPORT:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/sport1/hi/northern_ireland/gaelic_games/8463842.stm

Published: 2010/01/16 20:54:29 GMT

© BBC MMX

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

UUJ beat Armagh in McKenna opener

UUJ defeated Armagh 0-16 to 1-12 in Group A of the Barrett Electrical Dr McKenna Cup at Crossmaglen on Saturday. Brian McCone's 16th-minute goal gave Armagh a five-point lead but UUJ hit back with six unanswered points to draw level at 1-6 to 0-9 at half-time. Jason McAnulla put UUJ in front with the first score of the second half and remained ahead until the final whistle. Steven McDonnell had a chance to level with the last kick of the game but sent his free wide.

Paddy O'Rourke out!

[never kickt a ball]

Marty's Mark!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBt4HxxQ7Vw

Martin Clarke first to claim mark in game tonight.

[Milltown Row2]

So we were beat 0-16 to 1-12. Typical McKenna Cup game, a bit sloppy and plenty of players not looking fit yet.

Armagh team was:

P Hearty
A Mallon
V Martin
B Shannon
S O'Neill
B Donaghy
F Moriarty
M Mackin (C Vernon, HT)
J Lavery
R Austin
C Watters (A Kernan, HT)
J Feeney (J O'Neill, ~60mins)
T Kernan (M McNamee, ~15mins)
R Henderson
B McCone (S McDonnell, ~60mins)

Defence was a bit sloppy and loose, Martin was probably the pick of them. Midfield broke about even. Forwards were alright, but not great. Of the newer faces, few really stood out apart from Martin and maybe Feeney, and a few others were pretty awful, but it would be unfair to judge them after one game. Stevie McDonnell had a free from about 35 yards to even it with the last kick of the ball, but missed.

The new rules are a bit shit. Clean catches at midfield were so infrequent that the mark seems slightly pointless. This rule fails to deal with the far more common situation, where a man picks up a break ball only to find himself surrounded. The hand pass rule is idiotic. Enforcing the use of the fist does nothing to improve the game, and only serves to frustrate players and spectators when blown up.

Someone should tell that Conor Bayne fella to sort his hair out.

fails in what way? should we make it non contact then? if someones is surrounded then he ought to release the ball quicker. the rule changes are shite who think these things up?

Casement tomorrow to check out the new boys

[020304 Tir Eoghain]

Could anyone post the UUJ team please? Thanks.

[Milltown Row2]

Your lot were playing tonight, milltown2.

aye, dont see any reason they shouldn't. you could get hurt in training just as easily as a game

[AFS]

fails in what way? should we make it non contact then? if someones is surrounded then he ought to release the ball quicker. the rule changes are shite who think these things up?

Casement tomorrow to check out the new boys

Well, it seems the rulemakers were unhappy that these pile ups were happening around the middle after kickouts. So they bring in the mark to prevent lads making clean catches getting tangled up in this manner, but there are fcuk all clean catches in a game. Conversely there are a couple of dozen break balls won around the middle in any given match, but the new rule does nothing to prevent the break ball winner getting immediately tangled up. In short, the new rule does fcuk all to solve the perceived problem.

I don't think any additional rules were needed, and I'm just highlighting the inefficacy of this new rule.

[downgirl]

Marty's Mark!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBt4HxxQ7Vw

Martin Clarke first to claim mark in game tonight.

Beautiful and talented... *sigh* 

[down6061689194]

Martys catching was superb. Really looks like AFL devlops catching well. His spring is also up there with coulters.

[Milltown Row2]

Your lot were playing tonight, milltown2.

aye, dont see any reason they shouldn't. you could get hurt in training just as easily as a game

Interesting point. If St. Gall's players can play for their uni in the McKenna Cup, why can't other St. Gall's players play for the county in the same competition?
In hindsight, scrap that. Probably something to do with training times.

not sure about the training times, but if the are training with the club then they are fit to play the games. don't see any reason they shouldn't play. ti'm not for wrapping players up in cotton wool (it plays to their already inflated egos) let them play away with the county.

breaks things up for them, but i'd want them to train with their club players if they are still in the All Ireland comp.

[Milltown Row2]

yeah, still, i don't mind if they are playing county games a week before their own game. i don't believe in this burn out crap. lucky fookers have a time of it

[down6061689194]

Martys catching was superb. Really looks like AFL devlops catching well. His spring is also up there with coulters.

How can you tell that in January?

He was out jumping fellas taller than him, springing off the ground well, which is an asset of Benny.

[bikeflyer30]

I thouhgt down had a good game tonight but the first thing that comes to mind is the wee James factor up and down the line and loads shouting support to the players its a nice change.

[down6061689194]

No short frees and not closing down the keeper seem to be james' aim. He went mad at marty for letting his man get a few shorts.

[Trevor Hill]

Down seem to have finally found a left footed free taker in Marty Clarke, by my reckoning he scored 1-05 tonight, though the BBC have him down for 1-06. He was the stand out performer on the pitch tonight, without ever really exerting himself. He looked very assured from frees and tucked away a nice penalty just before he was taken off with 20 minutes to go. The penalty came from an excellent ball from Coulter to an unmarked Laverty who was just on the field a few minutes.
But it wasn't all about Martin Clarke. Ambrose was excellent at midfield, while James Colgan had a steady game in defence. He looked very comfortable in possession and his distribution was excellent. The defence looked pretty solid and Alder looked very comfortable, though he didn't have a lot to do. All in all it wasn't a bad Down performance, they seemed to have a game plan and stuck to it, something that has been missing for a long time.
Queens were poor and although they were still in the game after 30 minutes they didn't seem to come out for the second half. Best for Queens were Ireland in midfield and James Kielt who scored 5 points.