Armagh v Tyrone [Athletic Grounds, Sun 5th June, 1.30]

[J70]

Superb Armagh performance, much greater hunger, Soupy gave his best performance yet.  Full value for the 6pts win ... just hope it's not another trip to Ballybofey next weekend.

Trust me, Donegal don't want that either.

[greatpoint]

Well played Armagh, I'm happy for McGeeney. Hopefully yis avoid Donegal.

Shows how far above everyone else Dublin have been. Mayo too. Very hard for most teams to put in the effort and energy to put back to back seasons together.

Took the Dubs 3 attempts to do back to back after failing in 2012 and 2014.

Limerick also failed in the hurling the first time, despite being well the best team (IMO)

Yeah, but the Dubs weren't head and shoulders above every other county (bar Mayo) in that 11-14 period.

15-20 they were, when they could cruise to AI titles except for the days when only Mayo could consistently put up a fight.

Its a lot harder for one of the pack teams to reach those levels in successive seasons. They can pull form and fitness together on a given year, but relatively superior skill and ability aren't there for those teams like they always were for Dublin.

Mayo didn't make it out of the qualifiers in 2018 and were well beaten by Dublin in 2019 and 2020.

[HokeyPokey]

Well played Armagh, I'm happy for McGeeney. Hopefully yis avoid Donegal.

Shows how far above everyone else Dublin have been. Mayo too. Very hard for most teams to put in the effort and energy to put back to back seasons together.

Took the Dubs 3 attempts to do back to back after failing in 2012 and 2014.

Limerick also failed in the hurling the first time, despite being well the best team (IMO)

Yeah, but the Dubs weren't head and shoulders above every other county (bar Mayo) in that 11-14 period.

15-20 they were, when they could cruise to AI titles except for the days only Mayo consistently put up a fight.

Its a lot harder for one of the pack teams to reach those levels in successive seasons.

I think Mayo were able to compete with Dublin, but debatable if Mayo were far ahead, if at all, of Tyrone and Kerry at the time. It's not a simple case of x team being better than y and z teams. Some teams are just more suited to compete with certain other teams. Tyrone were there abouts with Kerry and Mayo for most of the last ten years. Kerry, Dublin and Mayo also were coming out of provinces where there were clearly inferior teams for most of those years.

[sidelineball]

Armagh deserved their win, thought they played well. Had a good game plan and won a lot of 1 on 1 battles.  Agree with the sentiment Tyrone couldn't get a free all day, in general I think the knives were out for Tyrone all year, didn't help themselves at times but looking at the reds and black cards they picked up through the league and championship you just don't see other teams refereed the same way. Everything infraction is hammered. 
That being said they were a shadow of their performances last year and were deservedly beaten by impressive Derry and Armagh teams on the day.

[seafoid]

Well played Armagh, I'm happy for McGeeney. Hopefully yis avoid Donegal.

Shows how far above everyone else Dublin have been. Mayo too. Very hard for most teams to put in the effort and energy to put back to back seasons together.

Took the Dubs 3 attempts to do back to back after failing in 2012 and 2014.

Limerick also failed in the hurling the first time, despite being well the best team (IMO)

Yeah, but the Dubs weren't head and shoulders above every other county (bar Mayo) in that 11-14 period.

15-20 they were, when they could cruise to AI titles except for the days when only Mayo could consistently put up a fight.

Its a lot harder for one of the pack teams to reach those levels in successive seasons. They can pull form and fitness together on a given year, but relatively superior skill and ability aren't there for those teams like they always were for Dublin.

They can't do what Dublin could. Dublin won 8 all Irelands between 2011 and 2020. Donegal, Kerry and Throne won 1 each. Mayo won nothing. Dublin sucked all of the oxygen out of the atmosphere. It was, or maybe still is, a monoculture. The rest don't have a hope of building anything as long as Dublin leverages its superior population .

[marty34]

How the f**k did that team win an All Ireland last year??!!

By beating Cavan, Donegal, Monaghan, Kerry and Mayo.

Tyrone must be the worst team to win the All-Ireland.

Very poor.

[J70]

Ok, then Dublin were far ahead of just about everyone in that six in a row period.

Which is my point. Many counties can pull together, give it everything in terms of commitment, fitness and, if all goes well, form, for a season, but find it hard to lift it to those levels year after year. Tyrone are there this year. We in Donegal were there in 2013 and then after 2014 when age and our diminishing tactical advantage caught up with us.

Dublin's superior ability and athleticism removed some of the reliance on intense effort which other teams need. They were rarely put to the pin of their collars or thrown into a dogfight against teams of similar ability, so they were able to cruise through many games and still win it all.

[Blowitupref]

Superb Armagh performance, much greater hunger, Soupy gave his best performance yet.  Full value for the 6pts win ... just hope it's not another trip to Ballybofey next weekend.

Won't be there anyway as the round 2 games will be played in neutral venues

[yellowcard]

Great performance by Armagh we reverted back to a good mix of kicking and running game and were good value for the 6 point win. Rafferty was excellent in goals and full credit to geezer for sticking with him and making him a big part of the game plan. He directly contributed to 4 points today. Two from play, won a converted free and saved a Tyrone point. On any other day he would have been MOTM but you couldn't look past soupy who was outstanding from the first whistle to the last. He must be one of the best players to watch in the country, none of this backwards sideways crap that we see too often with most players. Rian O'Neill had a big influence as well as the game went on and his long kicking is a huge weapon. There were other good performances but every man emptied themselves and that's all you can ask. It does beg the question as to why we deviated from a kicking game in Ballybofey because that is when we are at our best and the crowd get behind it. For some reason geezer always flops in Ulster but thrives in the qualifiers.

We made plenty of mistakes too and you could argue we left about 3-3 behind us on the scoreboard but you have to accept a certain level of mistakes when you play more of a kicking game but I'm delighted we played that way. We won't win an AI but at least we will have had a proper go.

I wouldn't be too hard on Tyrone they have struggled to recapture the heights probably due to a fall in motivation levels and a few of their players didn't seem to have the fire in the belly needed. Apart from McKernan and to a lesser extent McCurry and Meyler they were really poor but a lot of the credit has to go to Armagh and their ferocious tackling. We made it physical and won that battle.

Credit too to Coldrick who I thought was excellent as referee.

[tyrone08]

Great performance by Armagh we reverted back to a good mix of kicking and running game and were good value for the 6 point win. Rafferty was excellent in goals and full credit to geezer for sticking with him and making him a big part of the game plan. He directly contributed to 4 points today. Two from play, won a converted free and saved a Tyrone point. On any other day he would have been MOTM but you couldn't look past soupy who was outstanding from the first whistle to the last. He must be one of the best players to watch in the country, none of this backwards sideways crap that we see too often with most players. Rian O'Neill had a big influence as well as the game went on and his long kicking is a huge weapon. There were other good performances but every man emptied themselves and that's all you can ask. It does beg the question as to why we deviated from a kicking game in Ballybofey because that is when we are at our best and the crowd get behind it. For some reason geezer always flops in Ulster but thrives in the qualifiers.

We made plenty of mistakes too and you could argue we left about 3-3 behind us on the scoreboard but you have to accept a certain level of mistakes when you play more of a kicking game but I'm delighted we played that way. We won't win an AI but at least we will have had a proper go.

I wouldn't be too hard on Tyrone they have struggled to recapture the heights probably due to a fall in motivation levels and a few of their players didn't seem to have the fire in the belly needed. Apart from McKernan and to a lesser extent McCurry and Meyler they were really poor but a lot of the credit has to go to Armagh and their ferocious tackling. We made it physical and won that battle.

Credit too to Coldrick who I thought was excellent as referee.

Wouldn't agree regarding coldrick. Even eamonn commented that tyrone weren't getting frees in the 2nd half. Thought armagh got their frees far far handier than Tyrone.

[seafoid]

How the f**k did that team win an All Ireland last year??!!

By beating Cavan, Donegal, Monaghan, Kerry and Mayo.

Tyrone must be the worst team to win the All-Ireland.

Very poor.

From 96 to 98 the winners of the All Ireland failed to retain their title
From 99 to 01 the same 3 teams each won a second title and flopped the next year.
Back to back titles are comparatively rare.

[armaghniac]

Well done Armagh, I was a bit apprehensive after that poorly defended goal for Tyrone in the first 5 minutes, but Armagh got stuck on.

Wouldn't agree regarding coldrick. Even eamonn commented that tyrone weren't getting frees in the 2nd half. Thought armagh got their frees far far handier than Tyrone.

This "Tyrone couldn't buy a free" is in the eye of the beholder. Anyone can point to plenty of cases for both team where a free might have been given. Soupy Campbell was magnificent. Someone in the Armagh training regime seems to have decided that June was the time to have players fit and Soupy was running up and down the field like a man 10 years younger.
That said, Tyrone were poor enough, there is still room for improvement. Armagh made a number of poor passes that lost possession, that number needs to be halved. 

[tyroneman]

Observations after the game
1. Armagh were very good. Had game plan. Stuck to it and deserved winners.
2. Tyrone were awful, once again. Serious question marks over the hunger and performance of several in that team.
3. More questions need asked of Dooher/Logan. Tactically out-thougt all season.
4. Armagh, with a bit more belief, could do very very well. They have the forwards to cause any team trouble.
5. Coldrick, as per usual, gave Tyrone nothing. He's a brutal ref.

Anyway - well done Armagh and good luck on the rest of the season.

[Armagh Girl]

Great game for Armagh, the sound from the crowd all around the Grounds was immense. Hard Luck to Tyrone, but it laughable the ones on here complaining, they were diving all over the show and getting very easy frees in 1st half, at 1 stage Hampsey was on the back of one of our boys......Armagh were unlucky not to have been further ahead.  After the Injury to Mackin (which i hope he is OK) and long delay, Tyrone got a few points but thankfully Armagh kept going, so hopefully they keep this kind of play up for the next game.  Armagh Abu!

[seafoid]

Tyrone never really got going this year .