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[There is no doubt in my mind that Down are the better team and would beat Armagh should they meet in the final.]

For a bit of divilment I had a look at the Armagh v Down thread from the match earlier in the League.

Here are some of the highlights;

There is no doubt in my mind that Down are the better team and would beat Armagh should they meet in the final. While it could be argued that Armagh would be better prepared to deal with Down should they meet, I believe that Down would go into the game confident and with the knowlege that they can beat Armagh (and by a big margin too), a feeling that none of these players will have had before. Were the game to be tight say in the 60th minute, this new belief would allow them to push on and secure victory. Then again, we may have finished the game off after 8 minutes anyway 

Are Westmeath Armaghs rivals now? Nothing like beating the oul neighbours, but its not much to brag about thesse days. 

Down are decent side on an upward curve but would anyone be genuinely afraid of meeting Down again in a league final or championship?  I think not.

Obviously a seven point hammering and Down playing keep ball for the last twenty minutes wasn't enough for you.

That may have only been a second division game last night, but Down are in a different league to Armagh. Its alright beating the likes of Donegal and Meath, but even the wee teams like Armagh have to be disposed off as well.  Every aspect of last nights game has been covered over the last few pages, so I don't really need to add anything.

Great Down performance, in which every Man played his part. Mc Keever is an absolute disgrace, and should not be seen on any Football field for a long time, after his actions tonight. Armagh are a second rate outfit, reliant on too many old stalwarts whose best days are behind them. That along with a totally incompetent Manager, will ensure a short summer for them. As for Down, the future is Rosy, and the return of aristocratic football will be welcomed by all lovers of the game

Tony, first of all, Up your hole.
Secondly, a fairly comprehensive victory over a second rate outfit with limited ambition.Sluden did give us a lot in the first 20 although 8 up after 8 , when youse had 15, puts paid to the inevitable 'we only had 14 'argument. He did well to spot the first yellow for Moriarity against Kearney ( one James would have been proud of) and I didn't see the second but was told it was deserved.
Thirdly, I thought we had strong performers in the half back line, Kalum King is my man for MF, Maginn and Lavery were excellent off the bench and the Clarkes ,Kearney,Poland and Benny superb.
In the same way it takes 20 to win a game with our Mc Iver inspired gameplan, it takes different men to rise to the challenge in different games, and 7 points did not flatter us.
Finally, in the last quarter, if Sluden hadn't penalised us 4 times for silly handpass infringements we would have won by 10/12 points.
So , off to Mullingar we go and our opponents go back to the drawing board.

I do love moments like this. Fans from other counties getting too far ahead of themselves. I have never be dragged to the level of rubbing a victory in because it always comes back to bite you on the arse which I knew would happen.

[Armaghgeddon]

Armaghgeddon it was a re-occurence of his past injury. seemed to be limping a bit today when walking across the pitch

I thought Ronan was playing when he blocked the Down shot. But then the commentator said he pulled out of the squad.

The trophy mean not have been the most meaningful but the opposition certainly was and its nice to see an Armagh team lift a trophy in Croke Park for the second time in a few months. It was quite difficult at times to discern exactly what Armagh's positional tactics were, I noticed 3 different players marking Marty Clarke at times but fundamentally they seem to be playing Ciaran McKeever as a sweeper in front of the full back line, a role that worked well today. I'd expect to see him line out in a similar position against Derry.

I thought the performance of the wing backs was excellent, Finnian in largely curtailing Clarke's influence from play and Duffy in respect of the way he wins breaking ball and links defence and attack. Andy Mallon was excellent also, particularly in the final few minutes. Up front Stevie was sublime, he looks every bit as good now as his peak from 2003-2006 when he was the best forward in the country. If he carries this form on he'll probably win another All Star. The only worry would be if he got injured. We're very dependent on him for scores though Nippy Swift got a couple of points today and had a very effective match. Ronan Clarke wasn't togged out and he must be a huge doubt for Celtic Park now.

Congratulations to the management team also.

Apparently Ronan Clarke said to the management he didnt want to play. Im sure the commentator said that. Could be wrong.

[Down met a different outfit today than that in Newry a few weeks ago,]

Loved Armagh's mobility and attacking space today, impressive performance with brilliant passing and score taking.  Down met a different outfit today than that in Newry a few weeks ago, plus Croke Park seemed to suit Armagh better. 

Armagh are on an upward curve and that's all we can take out of winning division 2.  The thread this time 3 weeks will be interesting to say the least.

In fairness Armagh met a diffrerent outfit today than in Newry a few weeks ago

A bit of an unfair statement there. I agree that Down never played to the same tempo but on the other hand Down played a 14 man Armagh team for a good bit of that game. Moriarity over the league campaign has proved his worth to the Armagh team. That game in Newry Armagh were beginning to find their feet and were knocked out of shape again when he was sent off.

You can say that you were missing Ambrose but for the past two meeting we haven't had Ronan Clarke.

Things are looking grand for both teams in the coming seasons and a little rivalry wouldn't go a miss.

Ahh come on , Im taking nothing from Armaghs win today and said they were full value for it but from a Down point of view the loss of the 2 players I mentioned was massive . You mention Ronan Clarke , I would judge the loss of him as I would the loss of Dan Gordon . Two class acts who have seen little or no football to date . Both of them could change any game but for one reason or another today wasn't going to be their day .

Apologies if I came across as making it out as if you were doing down Armagh's performance. If anything very little seperates these teams at the moment. Yes, Down have showed great form throughout the league but Armagh - as evident in the last 10 minutes of todays game, they are building their fitness up towards the championship.

It will be interesting to see how Down cope after today. Now this is just my opinion but Downwent all the way without losing but on the last day they suffered a loss. Now I am not too sure about this but I think Down have peaked, they have beat almost everyone that they have played. I was at the Newry game and Down provided the championship intensity whereas Armagh wanted to play at their own intensity and because of that they were hammered - and rightly so.

[Down met a different outfit today than that in Newry a few weeks ago,]

Loved Armagh's mobility and attacking space today, impressive performance with brilliant passing and score taking.  Down met a different outfit today than that in Newry a few weeks ago, plus Croke Park seemed to suit Armagh better. 

Armagh are on an upward curve and that's all we can take out of winning division 2.  The thread this time 3 weeks will be interesting to say the least.

In fairness Armagh met a diffrerent outfit today than in Newry a few weeks ago

A bit of an unfair statement there. I agree that Down never played to the same tempo but on the other hand Down played a 14 man Armagh team for a good bit of that game. Moriarity over the league campaign has proved his worth to the Armagh team. That game in Newry Armagh were beginning to find their feet and were knocked out of shape again when he was sent off.

You can say that you were missing Ambrose but for the past two meeting we haven't had Ronan Clarke.

Things are looking grand for both teams in the coming seasons and a little rivalry wouldn't go a miss.

Allianz NFL D2 final repeat on sky channel 433.

Armagh have it more difficult than Down I think. I would be more confident playign Donegal than Derry.

I also felt today that both teams held back. It was nowhere near the same tempo as the previous meeting.

Donegal arent showing great form

Were beaten by Antrim in the opener last year, but yes they did beat teams through the backdoor eventually getting thumped by Cork. Murphy isnt going to get much this year, teams will be wary of him.

Armagh and Down are the teams on form, they have sounded out the warning to Ulster so now all counties will be on their toes. Not sure about Down though, they havent suffered a defeat till now, will they crumble or will Donegal suffer the backlash?

Armagh and Derry is going to be interesting and very tight. Wont even predict the score.

The games are on SKY channel 433.

The better team on the day did win however I do think that the two teams are a long distance off Sam contenders on that performance.

For Down - full back line was exposed yet again and unfortunately James Colgan is too limited of a footballer to be occupying no 6. Midfield never got going and in the half forward line Kearney was anonymous and wee Danny lost posession too many times by running into cul de sacs of Armagh defenders. Clarke impressed for me at 11 buy John at full forward was totally out of the game and McComiskey simply did not deliver enough from frees or play.

Armagh looked a bit hungrier for the win and much much tighter in their back 6. They won midfield and created an awful lot of room upfront by their running. Also their scoring ratio to shots i guess was very high with McDonnell extremely accurate.

As in previous years reaching the final of a league title a few weeks before a Championship outing may well prove as only a scouting exercise for their opponents and both teams might suffer in their first round games?!

Armagh still looked a bit slugish at times and in the last 10 minutes their fitness started to shine through. Now from what I have read Armagh havent exactly been going all guns blazing with the training yet so the next couple of weeks they may step it up.

McDonnell was accurate on the first half, but in the second he completely fell off the radar. Forker and Jamie Clarke look confident up front today for the short spells that they had the ball. Mackin made a mends for his poor display earlier in the NFL and scored two decent points.

Hearty, now what the hell was he playing at? Maybe it was the defeces fault for letting coulter past them or maybe it was his for not meeting the ball and standing there with his arms in the air waiting for the ball to come to him. If Hearty did go up for the ball it wouldnt have been a goal.

A good run out for this young team, a taste of success will go a long way. Its also nice to know that Ronan Clarke wasn't playing so he has a little longer to recover.

Wouldnt read too much into this game, Armagh will be happy with the win and like the management have said...Armagh are preparing for the championship.

From a Down perpective I think this was a must win. I say this because what would you say the morale would be like? Going all the way through the league without suffering a defeat and having the title taken away in the last game. But then again they might have been getting carried away and being grounded was necessary for them.

Does anyone know why that free which resulted in a goal was given?

Armagh did it all within a decade.

There is no doubting that Tyrone have done better at county level than Armagh but overall in football Armagh have done much much better than Tyrone.

Over the past decade Armagh have won senior, minor and u-21 All Irelands and on top of that a handful of club all Irelands.

Armagh can say that they have won an All Ireland at club and county level...Has any club in Tyrone done this?