AIQF 2017 Tír Eoghain vs Ard Macha, Sat. August 5th @4pm

[LCohen]

Very much men against boys. Div 3 vs Top 3.

As I said previously I really didn't understand how Armagh were being given so much credit from (just) beating average teams while Tyrone were being dismissed as not having been tested.

Tyrone dispatched whoever they met with aplomb. You can't ask for more than that.

Armagh really need to settle on a system that works for their players and then get it ingrained over a number of years.

I still think we are a marquee forward or two away from beating the Dubs/Kerry but anything can happen on the day....

Good to see that on a day where many players were poor (compared to normal) we had players stepping off the bench to power us on.

Hope the injury to big Colly isn't too bad. Hospital pass he was given.

So much for renaissance man Clarke. He was never going to get the time and space Kildare offered him and he seemed to be quite frustrated by the end.

The failure to give Clarke time and space had more to do with our set up than yours

[Throw ball]

Have not bothered to read through all the posts as I am sure among the sensible posts there is plenty of wind up.

As an Armagh man I feared this could happen. When I looked at the subs listed in the programme 3 had never played championship football - 2 had no league football either - and another - Dyas - had not played football in 2 years. We were down to the bear bones. On the other hand Michael Cassidy was the only complete newbie on the Tyrone panel.

For me to beat Tyrone you need either an early lead to draw them out or replicate their system. Armagh hadn't time to work on the latter and started too nervously to get a lead. Once Tyrone get the lead and you have to come out their pace will really catch you on the break. Additionally many Armagh players do not have the upper body strength the Tyrone players have to break tackles. At least that can be worked on.

If Tyrone are to beat Dublin they will have to play much better. They may have been playing a division 3 team but there were long periods when Armagh controlled the ball and they wasted an incredible amount of chances. You wouldn't expect Dublin to be that generous. As a said earlier in the week though I hate the way Tyrone play. It is mighty effective though and Tyrone have never much cared what outsiders think. That is one of their strengths.

All in all a better year for Armagh than expected. We will only learn if today is a failure if they fail to learn from it.

On a completely separate note the black card is driving me mad. Shields card was obvious. Grugan I thought was dreadfully unlucky. For me he slipped on the Croke Park surface and accidentally caught the Tyrone player. Too much is left to interpretation. I didn't even know Sheridan had been carded until I got home! Meanwhile early in the first half McGeary hand tripped O'Hanlon along the sideline off the ball in front of the linesman. Considering how Clarke got carded a few matches ago it is extremely frustrating.

[T Fearon]

Let's face it any teamcan fluke a quarter final place.Even Fermanagh did it a couple of years ago.We were lucky to beat Westmeath and late goals helped us just edge out mediocrities like Tipp and Kildare.We are a million miles away from Dublin and Tyrone and the only real successes today were ould hands Vernon and Donaghy who can't have too long left.

[T Fearon]

I echo the comments on the train.I took the train today,one of the three specials.Fine on the way down,but a nightmare coming home.I was on the last train from Connolly (supposed to be departing at 9.20pm,left at 9.40pm,took a full hour to get to Drogheda.Young and not so young carrying parcels of drink (is there any other form of public transport that would allow this), and Liverpool fans on the train as well,and sadly copious amounts of sectarian songs being sung as the mainly young ones downed the alcohol.Also only for the intervention of a couple of wiser heads,there would have been fights breaking out too.Never again will I use a "GAA special", this is not the image GAA should be sending out,I was disgusted,God knows what anyone on the train of a non GAA disposition felt.

[Tony Baloney]

I echo the comments on the train.I took the train today,one of the three specials.Fine on the way down,but a nightmare coming home.I was on the last train from Connolly (supposed to be departing at 9.20pm,left at 9.40pm,took a full hour to get to Drogheda.Young and not so young carrying parcels of drink (is there any other form of public transport that would allow this), and Liverpool fans on the train as well,and sadly copious amounts of sectarian songs being sung as the mainly young ones downed the alcohol.Also only for the intervention of a couple of wiser heads,there would have been fights breaking out too.Never again will I use a "GAA special", this is not the image GAA should be sending out,I was disgusted,God knows what anyone on the train of a non GAA disposition felt.

From chatting to Armagh ones from around the city there seems to be a scummer element from the Portadown/Lurgan contingent that can't go to any match without a feed of drink.

[rrhf]

Hard luck Armagh, both teams wanted a good match and it wasn't that. Great craic with the Armagh supporters - deserved better.

[Orior]

Hard luck Armagh, both teams wanted a good match and it wasn't that. Great craic with the Armagh supporters - deserved better.

Yes, we are quite good really. Good luck against the Jacks.

[sam03/05]

I wonder does Jamie Clarke still think Armagh have the best technical players in Ireland 
He can go back to drinking his coffee now!!!

[RedHand88]

Hatre's pre match bull shit appears to have worked with Gough. Armagh can't buy a free. I thought he was the best ref in the country. He is a cheat

Lol wise up and listen to yourself. Maybe Armagh could just learn to tackle?

[Orior]

Hatre's pre match bull shit appears to have worked with Gough. Armagh can't buy a free. I thought he was the best ref in the country. He is a cheat

Lol wise up and listen to yourself. Maybe Armagh could just learn to tackle?

In the second match it seemed like if three Dubs surrounded a  Monaghan player then the ref gave a free to the Farney. Quite the opposite in the first match.

[LCohen]

I echo the comments on the train.I took the train today,one of the three specials.Fine on the way down,but a nightmare coming home.I was on the last train from Connolly (supposed to be departing at 9.20pm,left at 9.40pm,took a full hour to get to Drogheda.Young and not so young carrying parcels of drink (is there any other form of public transport that would allow this), and Liverpool fans on the train as well,and sadly copious amounts of sectarian songs being sung as the mainly young ones downed the alcohol.Also only for the intervention of a couple of wiser heads,there would have been fights breaking out too.Never again will I use a "GAA special", this is not the image GAA should be sending out,I was disgusted,God knows what anyone on the train of a non GAA disposition felt.

From chatting to Armagh ones from around the city there seems to be a scummer element from the Portadown/Lurgan contingent that can't go to any match without a feed of drink.

There is a sense of "I'd like to see them take the drink off us". They are probably right in that. But eventually translink/NIR might just say they won't bother with the GAA special and properly police the normal train. There is no automatic right to have a train put on for you so that you can behave like a lout.

[Throw ball]

Hatre's pre match bull shit appears to have worked with Gough. Armagh can't buy a free. I thought he was the best ref in the country. He is a cheat

Lol wise up and listen to yourself. Maybe Armagh could just learn to tackle?

In the second match it seemed like if three Dubs surrounded a  Monaghan player then the ref gave a free to the Farney. Quite the opposite in the first match.

This is something that annoys my head. I even mentioned it last week in a post. It seems with some referees that if you tackle 1 on 1 and tug a jersey it is a yellow card but if 3 or 4 thump the crap out of someone it is the player with the ball who is doing the fouling. It is a blight on the game. Save the choke tackle for Rugby. It also highlights another inconsistency in refereeing. I prefer the way Lane referees this - and mentioned Sean Hurson in an earlier post.

[BennyHarp]

Hatre's pre match bull shit appears to have worked with Gough. Armagh can't buy a free. I thought he was the best ref in the country. He is a cheat

Lol wise up and listen to yourself. Maybe Armagh could just learn to tackle?

In the second match it seemed like if three Dubs surrounded a  Monaghan player then the ref gave a free to the Farney. Quite the opposite in the first match.

I don't know about that. The Dubs tackled in bunches a lot and rarely was a free given. Just because there's players around the man in possession doesn't mean it's a foul. Tyrones tackling is one of the absolute stand out qualities that they possess. Often this is diminished by people saying it's a blanket defence but the quality of the tackling and the discipline of the second or third man not to jump in or foul is superb. I thought McCarrons handling of Clarke was superb. Although deficient in speed and technical ability he (bar 2 occasions) kept his angles right when Jamie had the ball and rarely let him past, forcing him to cut back into an area where McCarron new he would have assistance. Cearly he lost the plot and got sent off but the knees that where flying in on McCann for the first yellow clearly infuriated him.

[LCohen]

Let's face it any teamcan fluke a quarter final place.Even Fermanagh did it a couple of years ago.We were lucky to beat Westmeath and late goals helped us just edge out mediocrities like Tipp and Kildare.We are a million miles away from Dublin and Tyrone and the only real successes today were ould hands Vernon and Donaghy who can't have too long left.

There were positives in each of the 2 games before yesterday which you are determined to ignore or dismiss. There wasn't much quality in Mullingar but there was at least heart.

Fermanagh was a training run out, Down a catastrophe and most of the league was inept. Call it how it is/ was but don't make things up

[LCohen]

Have not bothered to read through all the posts as I am sure among the sensible posts there is plenty of wind up.

As an Armagh man I feared this could happen. When I looked at the subs listed in the programme 3 had never played championship football - 2 had no league football either - and another - Dyas - had not played football in 2 years. We were down to the bear bones. On the other hand Michael Cassidy was the only complete newbie on the Tyrone panel.

For me to beat Tyrone you need either an early lead to draw them out or replicate their system. Armagh hadn't time to work on the latter and started too nervously to get a lead. Once Tyrone get the lead and you have to come out their pace will really catch you on the break. Additionally many Armagh players do not have the upper body strength the Tyrone players have to break tackles. At least that can be worked on.

If Tyrone are to beat Dublin they will have to play much better. They may have been playing a division 3 team but there were long periods when Armagh controlled the ball and they wasted an incredible amount of chances. You wouldn't expect Dublin to be that generous. As a said earlier in the week though I hate the way Tyrone play. It is mighty effective though and Tyrone have never much cared what outsiders think. That is one of their strengths.

All in all a better year for Armagh than expected. We will only learn if today is a failure if they fail to learn from it.

On a completely separate note the black card is driving me mad. Shields card was obvious. Grugan I thought was dreadfully unlucky. For me he slipped on the Croke Park surface and accidentally caught the Tyrone player. Too much is left to interpretation. I didn't even know Sheridan had been carded until I got home! Meanwhile early in the first half McGeary hand tripped O'Hanlon along the sideline off the ball in front of the linesman. Considering how Clarke got carded a few matches ago it is extremely frustrating.

Totally disagree that you have to match them up. I watched the Dublin tactic of width. If a corner forward tracked his man back the wing forward jogged into the corner. When Dublin got the ball they knew they were guaranteed to have an attack the full width of the pitch and the sweepers couldn't cover them all. This isn't wise after the event. It was called out before and the 2 games yesterday amongst other things proved it to be correct