Armagh Club football & hurling

[diesel-smuggler]

brief summary on the game today:-

pitch terrible with a lot of puddles throughout dug up very easy, im sure clan na gael will be glad to see if left in such a mess!

st.marys played the far better possession football and went two points in front from the boot of tir na nog's paul carville (very impressive with the left footed frees) armagh responded with 1-1 from kevin o'rourke, he took his goal well fisting the ball over the goalkeeper. mccaughey from sarsfields found the net for armagh squeezing the ball through the goalkeepers legs, armagh six points to the good and cruising then they switched off! st. marys came back with 1-3 to level the score at half-time.
the game was entertaining enough given the teams on show and the condition of the playing surface some great scores particularly from paddy mckeever and paul carville. st.marys edged in front by 2 points going into the last ten minutes they had a man stupidly sent off for becoming involved in an incident with martin o'rourke. armagh pulled back to level and i suppose a draw was a fair enough result for both teams.

the armagh lads on the st.marys team (gareth o'neill - dromintee, paul carville - tir na nog, john mc cormack - annaghmore, paul keenan - carrickcruppen and ryan hamill - silverbridge) done rightly and should maybe be given an opportunity to try out in the national league at some stage -

positives for armagh - aidan o'rourke and martin ferris excellent in defence, midfield non-existant, forwards paddy mckeever and kevin o'rourke tried hard.

negatives for armagh - enda is past it im afraid got roasted today and couldnt wait to be called ashore mid-way through the first half, ciaran mckeever going off holding hamstring just hope it was a slight twinge and not torn. big time need a midfield for the national league as mark quinn and brendan donaghy today came off second best in my opinion!

[border rabbit]

Whats the story with Philly Loughran? Thought someone said recently he had serious back problems

[pintsofguinness]

What position did Hamill play in?

I think the Bridge's Brendan Byrne is with St Mary's too, didn't he feature?

[Sandy Hill]

Whats the story with Philly Loughran?

Nice big lad but he can't cut it. If we're relying on him we're in big trouble. Anyone got today's lineout?

[border rabbit]

Heard a good one last nite. Apparently Tullysarron have appointed a Tyrone man to take their senior team, for silly money whilst overlooking Vinny Loughran and an inside man who were proposing to do for nothing! They must have sold some tickets for their car draw. And he took some team in Antrim last year and pissed off before the end of the year with their money in his pocket.  

Tullysarron for the Junior, or it could be a very costly year!
This all came from a fella from a club close by, so it could be just bull, (notice use of the word apparently).

[pintsofguinness]

welcome to the board rabbit, what club are you from?

[border rabbit]

Sorry pints Id rather not say, I a know a few people around the PortMor-Tullysarron-Grange triangle and Ive been admiring the view from afar on the Armagh site and it can get very twisted, but years ago I played abit of underage footie for a club within touching distance of Armagh town, heading south.

[Orior]

On the subject of this year's managers, Brian Mallons brother is looking after O'Hanlons.

[corn02]

Did Barry Shannon play corner back today, what is the point in trying players if you are not going to try them in their positions.

[Uladh]

Shannon started corner back but followed that red haired fella from the bridge out the field. did a good job on him too.

it's difficult to take anything from these games given the conditions they were all played in and the weakness of the teams. very few if any newcomers grasped the nettle. gregory loughran has probably been the pick. the ferris lad gets on the ball a lot but does very little with it beyond slow the play up. he misses so many tackles too, but there's probably raw materials to work with.

of the older guard, enda has had a very worrying 3 outings. out of condition and well off the pace all 3 days. AOR has pleasantly surprised me and performed well both wed and today.

overall i'd say there won't be much change when it comes to the names on the panel for the NFL.

Roll on cavan in cross and a strong armagh outfit showing us what's left in the locker.

[Goats Do Shave]

Whats the story with Philly Loughran? Thought someone said recently he had serious back problems

He didn't tell me how serious his back problem was (He didn't look in too much pain when I saw him... )

What age is the Sarsfields lad? - I thought he performed very well for his fisrst game & in those conditions! - He was super for the Derrytrasna men against Ballyhegan last year!

Roll on cavan in cross and a strong armagh outfit showing us what's left in the locker.

Agreed!!

[bennydorano]

Heard a good one last nite. Apparently Tullysarron have appointed a Tyrone man to take their senior team, for silly money whilst overlooking Vinny Loughran and an inside man who were proposing to do for nothing! They must have sold some tickets for their car draw. And he took some team in Antrim last year and pissed off before the end of the year with their money in his pocket.  

Tullysarron for the Junior, or it could be a very costly year!
This all came from a fella from a club close by, so it could be just bull, (notice use of the word apparently).

How's Vinny an inside man? He's a ballymacnab/Keady man!?

[Goats Do Shave]

I belive they got a guy from Moortown.

After chatting to a mate from Moortown... he didn't impress in his own club!

[illdecide]

Illdecide, is Barry McCabe still involved with the Clans.  I played with him in London in the twilight (actually the darkness) of my footballing time.  He was one of the fittest men I have ever met and a gentleman to boot.

No he's not involved with any of the teams in the Clans. He managed the senior team about 4 years ago for 1 year (the year we got relegated) but it wasn't his fault as he couldn't get a team down and players went AWOL on him, his biggest problem was he was too nice.

Agreed the man is a gentleman and there won't be to many men saying bad things about Barry McCabe and yes he was the fittest hoor i've ever met

[ardmhaca08]

McKenna Cup Review. Taken from Orchard County:
Having seen all three of Armaghs McKenna Cup games there are a number of things that concern me. I know its was no where close to a first team but still I think at times the tactics were poor. Against both Derry and St Marys Armagh choose have a spare man in front of the full back line - Mc Nulty against Derry and AOR against St Marys. It looked good when the ball was kicked into their hands however in bothgames it was the players they were supposed to be marking who were doing the damage. Today Niblock roamed the field on his own while AOR didnt seem to bother about him, he sprayed passes all over the place. Against Derry NcNultys man got man of the match.

Our half forward line is dropping to deep, i know old habits die hard but on Wednesday Night Swift came charging out with the ball and while on his on 45 meter line could only look up to see three Fermanagh men around him and not an Armagh forward within forty Meters !!!

Another issue which concerned me today was the speed which McNulty and McKeever got replaced both were clearly injured but it took 3 to 5 minutes to get them off. The St Marys goal came while McNulty was injured.

The McKenna Cup did deliver a number of positives:
1 Finian Moriarty was very good and developing into a strong defender and good leader
2 Ciaran McKeever is a real leader a class act he should be our No 6 For years
3 Paul McCaughey made a good impact today and deserves another chance
4 Kevin O'Rourke is a great prospect - took a few lovely scores - he is lively and strong and quick
5 Brain Mallon great to see him back and hopefully by the time of the championship he will be a full power
6 Gareth Swift looks to be a useful option

Anyone anything to add to this or to disagree with? Not much craic about this thread at the min!