McKenna Cup 2024

[Armamike]

I was very happy with the Armagh performance today, given that the line up was unrecognisable as an Armagh team. It's not meant to be disrespectful to Donegal posters on here but that WAS our third string!  I thought Armagh's best performers were Toal, McClelland, Donnelly and Swift.  The McCreeshs did well at the back too.  Toal has that bit of class and scoring potential about him that we could really do with in the forward line this year and if he keeps the level of workrate up that he has shown in the last couple of games then he should be able to nail a starting spot. If he had got a better supply of ball in the second half he would have been able to do a lot more damage.  I don't think there are too many individual star performers among those lads but in the last few games they have shown a remarkable level of composure, confidence and maturity in their play for guys who are mostly in the 19/20 age bracket. Played well as a unit too. 

Armagh's line up for the first few league games is going to be interesting! The university players will be back but none of those lads are regulars themselves.  The growing injury list and the absence of the Cross contingent will mean another experimental line up for the early games. I hope we can salvage some points early on and hang in there until the cavalry arrives later on.

[thejohnharanexperi]

The record books will show that we bucked the hoodoo and finally beat Armagh and yes I know they were a 2nd string,reserves,hell some of them were probably playing for the Armagh U16 development squad only last week but a win is a win.Hopefully this can give the team confidence for May 27th.
                                                         I have to say that there were a lot of cocky Armagh supporters leaving Healy Park yesterday safe in their belief that the 'A-Team' will have no bother of disposing of us come the championship.Form during the Mc Kenna Cup can not be equated with what 'should' happen in the Summer.Ask Tyrone as they beat us by 18 points in the Mc Kenna final in 2005 only to lose to a 13 man Donegal team in Clones that Summer.It could be argued that this young Armagh team brought an intensity to the match as they were each fighting for league panel places and it showed in their pressure when we were in possession as there were many turnovers.Some of the pulling and dragging especially of Toye,Hegarty and Kavanagh should have been addressed by Toland,the abysmal ref.
Individual positives were the display of the two Mc Gees,Cass in midfield - a powerhouse performance,Barry Monaghan and Wappa's point tally.
Mc Iver was correct to feel aggrieved by the refs sending off of Cass and an appeal should be lodged as to the reason why he deemed Kevins tackle as a foul let alone a yellow card offence.It was laughable to hear the baying Armagh ones calling for Cass to be sent off for a fair shoulder.The 'crack' could be heard in the stand and I'm sure everyone wishes young Duffy a speedy recovery.Cass had the forward momentum whilst Duffy had just received the ball and was stationary.I dont know the protocol in disciplinary appeals but i hope that Toland can be asked to account for his decision of a second yellow card.In fact it swung the advantage in our favour and it never looked like our slender lead could be matched by fading Armagh attack.Another chance to finally win some silverware awaits on the 18th February and we go down to Pairc Ui Rinn on Saturday night unbeaten.
Cass's suspension and Ciaran Bonner's (shoulder injury) absence will be a big loss.Colm Anthony and big Neilly were in the stand and have'nt featured yet this year due to injury and tonsilitis and it remains to be seen if they will figure in the Cork match.
Still Mc Iver has to be concerned that we could'nt account for that Armagh side with so many first team players on show.

Ciaran Sharkey 7.0 Could not fault display were he was'nt called upon to make a save and kicked fairly accurately.
Paddy Campbell 6.0 Paddy aint a corner back and a strange decision by Mc Iver when he could have given Witherow another run.
Neil Mc Gee 7.5 Played very well and pushed Cass close for MOTM IMO.Sound and strong under the high ball.
Frank Mc Glynn 6.0 Much better suited to wing back and too loose in marking his man.
Tommy Donoghue 7.0 Best game so far,showed plenty of confidence and won plenty of scrappy ball.
Barry Monaghan 7.0 Improving with each game and phenomenal strength in breaking the tackles.
Eamonn Mc Gee 7.0 Along with his brother the pick of our defenders.
Joe Friel 7.0 Found it puzzling when subbed by Roper.Best game in county jersey so far.
Kevin Cassidy 8.0 Immense throughout and led by example.Beginning to bed into midfield position.
Christy Toye 7.0 Made some valuable runs that eventually drew belated frees in second half but needs to maintain a consistency of play throughout.
Michael Hegarty 7.0 Captain for the day and like Toye and Kavanagh found it difficult to escape the pulling and dragging fest on the '40'
Rory Kavanagh 6.5 Does not look fit and only began to show when reduced to 14 men.
Kevin Mc Menamin 7.5 Wappa's tally of 4 points made him our best forward and should have been given more of the frre taking duties with the wind advantage in the second half.All told 5 different players tried their luck at frees.
Brendan Devenney 6.5 In fairness the quality of ball was not of the same standard as last week.Failed to execute some easy frees but made one incisive run that set up Roper for a goal chance that ended up going over for a point.
Ciaran Bonner 7.0 Came off injured following awkward fall at start.looked lively and was missed for rest of match as orthodox 3 man FF line was employed when Thompson came on.

Subs:
Barry Dunnion 7.0 In for second half and injected much needed attacking option with Donoghue going back into corner.
Brian Roper 6.5 Chasing shadows for a while but popped up for a point.
Leon Thompson 6.0 Like Devenney,not able to make much headway and when he did break free shot weakly into the keepers hands from 20m.
Adrian Sweeney 7.0 Able to hold up ball when needed but obviously has'nt the pace to do any real damage these days.Impact sub season once more.
Ryan Bradley Not on long enough to rate.

Healy Park is a fine set up and the PA system is the standard that every other county ground should aspire to. The main announcer had a voice similar to Benedict Kiely,clear and sonorous.For all those of an older generation that was the guy who did many of narrations on the RTE series 'Hands'. I believe he was/is one of Omagh's most renowned sons.

[bennydorano]

The record books will show that we bucked the hoodoo and finally beat Armagh and yes I know they were a 2nd string,reserves,hell some of them were probably playing for the Armagh U16 development squad only last week but a win is a win.Hopefully this can give the team confidence for May 27th.
     

       

IT mightn't be comfortable reading for Donegal ones, but it was a 2nd/3rd string.  I was at an Armagh v Tyrone U21 game on Saturday, Armagh were largely made up of trialists.  The last 3 subs that came on for Armagh yesterday were playing on the saturday and at least 2 of them were taken off then.

I thought Tony McClelland was excellent yesterday, very composed for such a young lad.  McNulty, as usual, never gave Devenney a kick and this could be Peadar's year to make the breakthrough.                                        

[Over the Bar]

The main announcer had a voice similar to Benedict Kiely,clear and sonorous.For all those of an older generation that was the guy who did many of narrations on the RTE series 'Hands'. I believe he was/is one of Omagh's most renowned sons.

He's simply known as "The Voice" and has been doing the job for well over 50 years.  There was a tribute to him in one of the programmes last year but all the attention seemed to unsettled him and he gave the wrong announcments all day re: subs etc.

[realredhandfan]

Did the wee Omagh woman sing the Anthem.

[ONeill]

Armagh have a bright enough future going by what i watched yesterday. Toal is a talented lad, some very McDonnell-like qualities about him. From 15 mins-35mins in the first half they more than matched an almost championship-strength Donegal side. Their tackling/defending at the back was a mirror image of their senior counterparts circa 02-04.

Donegal will be hoping they get a full year out of Cassidy. He's thee class act of the side but I still feel he's more suited and effective at CHB.

I rarely criticise refs, but if that's the standard for the year God help us. His interpretation of what was a legitimate tackle changed from minute to minute. In the first half he let Armagh away with some heavy-handed defending whilst Donegal were blown up for the slightest touch. In the second half it was the reverse. I thought Donegal were awarded some soft frees after the sending off (which wasn't even a black book offence).  

[goal and a point]

Cassidy shoulder wasa good of hit as you will see. i think it was duffys size - alot smaller than casssidy that made the tackical look alot worse than what it was. I think Armagh can gain alot of inspiration similar to tyrone that there are alot of new boys fit to step up to the mark afterall i would say donegal had at least 10 of there starting championship 15 playing

[Over the Bar]

If that's the strength in depth that Armagh have I'd say they are nailed-on certs for Sam this year.

[laughinpaddy]

Armagh have a bright enough future going by what i watched yesterday. Toal is a talented lad, some very McDonnell-like qualities about him. From 15 mins-35mins in the first half they more than matched an almost championship-strength Donegal side. Their tackling/defending at the back was a mirror image of their senior counterparts circa 02-04.

Donegal will be hoping they get a full year out of Cassidy. He's thee class act of the side but I still feel he's more suited and effective at CHB.

I rarely criticise refs, but if that's the standard for the year God help us. His interpretation of what was a legitimate tackle changed from minute to minute. In the first half he let Armagh away with some heavy-handed defending whilst Donegal were blown up for the slightest touch. In the second half it was the reverse. I thought Donegal were awarded some soft frees after the sending off (which wasn't even a black book offence). ?

Have to agree with you here o'neill standard of officialdom was terrible to say the least. hope thats not an example to be followed
that Armagh team yestarday is about 80% of the u21 team this year! although i still think its going to be a Tyrone-Dublin All Ireland Final!

[Orior]

If that's the strength in depth that Armagh have I'd say they are nailed-on certs for Sam this year.

LOL. Now feck off.

[full back]

If that's the strength in depth that Armagh have I'd say they are nailed-on certs for Sam this year.

OTB are you trying to do a 'Tony' on Armagh?

[Gaoth Dobhair Abu]

If that's the strength in depth that Armagh have I'd say they are nailed-on certs for Sam this year.

OTB are you trying to do a 'Tony' on Armagh?

Looks like Armagh are out in the first round of qualifiers!   

[armaghniac]

I think the Armagh camp will be happy enough with this game. It might have been important to Donegal to beat Armagh, but it doesn't have the same importance the other way around. With the McKenna cup final supposed to on the weekend when Cross' were playing in Mullingar, it wouldn't suit Big Joe and a lot of Armagh people, a big "derby" against Tyrone when so many players were unavailable didn't have that much to recommend it. It is much more important to say in Division 1. The league offers Joe a chance to try out any players that caught his eye in the McKenna cup campaign. You can't draw much by way of conclusion about the championship from this type of game, except to say that there are some prospects for the current panel and others who might make a decent team in the future when the old faces are permanently unavailable. The defensive work yesterday was sound, but the transfer of the ball forward was poor, while this is not a strong point of Armagh at any time the lack of organising figures like McGrane did not help the shape of the team. Some of these players could look better in a settled lineup.

On a lighter note, I see Paul Hearty scored a great point at the all-stars, could our Armagh's forward problems be solved!

[never kickt a ball]

Hi folks,

due to the high traffic and server usage, our hosting company moved us onto a different server. Unfortunately this caused the loss of certain posts and some threads too.
At the moment we'll need to upgrade to a dedicated server to cope with the demand, which will cost a bit more.

Regards,
The Admin.

Thought I was going mad as the posts from last night in this thread or the Armagh v Donegal thread disappeared. In fact the Ar V Donegal thread seems to have disappeared altogether.  As they contained photos of the Armagh personnel I thought they had complained and had them removed. Anyway above explains everything.

[never kickt a ball]

Not long now to the Tyrone v Monaghan semi-final. Both teame have won their opening games and by the time the match is played Tyrone will have played their last three games under lights. Should be a good game! What do you think, should Harte play the University 4 or is he allowed to?