Messages

Armagh team named be interesting to see if Geezer drops out one of the forwards for Jarly Og or Conor O'Neill if that is the case we can expect a slugfest like Monaghan last year and not the front foot football we suit best in my opinion. 

If the team named starts has a decent balance with McCabe dropping back as a plus one i would suspect. Rian in middle capable of scores plus 5 natural forwards up front and Mackin,Forker and McGrane have been doing their bit to help with the scoring burden.   

[Reminds me of Derry in 1993, when Tohill ploughed through the muck]

https://www.rte.ie/sport/football/2024/0508/1448043-mcguinness-looms-but-time-for-armagh-to-deliver/

Another "it's their time", "greater need" analysis.

Which I think is fair enough, but it's pressure.

Reminds me of Derry in 1993, when Tohill ploughed through the muck and the Donegal backs to drag them to the title and AI shot they felt they'd fail to grab the previous year, which is why I am a little worried about men like Rian O'Neill being particularly driven!

Will never know how big Tohill stayed on his feet throughout the game, men bouncing off him while all around him, both Derry and Donegal men were sliding and slipping all around him. Still the best individual performance I've ever seen.
Philly McMahon would have given the MotM to someone else if he was Co commentator 

on the losing team!

Could be a  last shot at ulster for alot of Armagh players like Grugan, Campbell, Murnin, Forker who have given great service to Armagh for 10 plus years.  There is not alot between the sides, though Donegal will have the edge on the sideline and have came through the tougher side of the draw. 

My main hope is that Armagh play on the front foot, but the likelyhood is that it will be low scoring and a lot of possession based football. 

[and were not that impressive against Fermanagh.]

I personally think that Donegal will be 4-5 point winners.
Donegal didn't get the credit they deserved for walloping Derry and were narrowly beaten in an Ulster final 2 years ago.
They've already beaten Armagh in a final this year, however, were didn't perform at the same level against tyrone as they did against Derry. Some of their attacking play against Tyrone was poor enough.
They have, in my opinion, a better manager and overall better players than Armagh.

Armagh have struggled to beat a limited Down team and were not that impressive against Fermanagh.
Ok, they are perhaps trying to peak for the final so may improve.
But they've done nothing in recent years to show they have the nerve to win a big game - I think they are just short a few players and need to focus on the football and not the physical antics they often get themselves involved in. If they focus on playing their own game and I think they'll do better than trying to out-tactic Donegal.

Of course I could be entirely wrong, just my read on it.

The Fermanagh game was over after 10/15 mins a potential banana skin easily disposed of. Down/Armagh is a derby game and Laverty learnt alot from last year, was a no win situation for Armagh really if they won by 10 points its the easy side of the draw narrative, while the tight nature of the game will hopefully stand to them. 

When will the fixture details be released for games w/c 18th May?

I'm guessing not until this time next week, but hopefully earlier.

Actually they are in that link I sent earlier. I just didnt scroll down far enough.

Great job thanks, couple decent games on gaago the saturday you would hope.

A lot of people owe the Galway goalie Gleeson an apology. His frees into the wind at the end won them that game. I remember he got a lot of stick over the past few years, notably from his own countymen.

Do they really? He was a calamity against Armagh goalkeeping more inclined with junior b than an all ireland quarter final.  He did well with his frees at weekend yes, but criticism after the Armagh game was fully warranted. 

When will the fixture details be released for games w/c 18th May?

Kildare have much better players than anyone else there then second you would likely have down. Sligo aren't bad and could put the cat amongst the pigeons.

I would have Down ahead of Kildare on the basis they have players who have experienced a final in Croker already and the fact they have a number of Kilcoo players who have the experience of winning big games in croker.  Kildare have flattered to deceive for a long time now. 

How did mount go last night? D

Man Utd wage bill is just madness.

Rank

Player

Gross pay per week

Gross pay per year

1

Casemiro

£350,000

£18,200,000

2

Raphael Varane

£340,000

£17,680,000

3

Marcus Rashford

£300,000

£15,600,000

=4

Anthony Martial

£250,000

£13,000,000

=4

Mason Mount

£250,000

£13,000,000

6

Bruno Fernandes

£240,000

£12,480,000

7

Antony

£200,000

£10,400,000

8

Jadon Sancho

£195,000

£10,140,000

9

Harry Maguire

£190,000

£9,880,000

10

Luke Shaw

£150,000

£7,800,000

=10

Christian Eriksen

£150,000

£7,800,000

=12

Lisandro Martinez

£120,000

£6,240,000

=12

Victor Lindelof

£120,000

£6,240,000

=12

Andre Onana

£120,000

£6,240,000

=15

Aaron Wan-Bissaka

£90,000

£4,680,000

=15

Donny van de Beek

£90,000

£4,680,000

=17

Rasmus Hojlund

£85,000

£4,420,000

=17

Diogo Dalot

£85,000

£4,420,000

19

Tyrell Malacia

£75,000

£3,900,000

=20

Jonny Evans

£65,000

£3,380,000

=20

Sofyan Amrabat

£65,000

£3,380,000

22

Scott McTominay

£60,000

£3,120,000

=23

Mason Greenwood

£50,000

£2,600,000

=23

Alejandro Garnacho

£50,000

£2,600,000

25

Tom Heaton

£45,000

£2,340,000

26

Altay Bayindir

£35,000

£1,820,000

27

Amad Diallo

£28,846

£1,500,000

28

Kobbie Mainoo

£10,000

£520,000

29

Willy Kambwala

£7,500

£390,000

30

Shola Shoretire

£5,000

£260,000

How did mount go last night?Protected species due to nationality in the media.Absolute madness his signing buying someone who best position is the same as your best player.

Comer and Finnerty both had good games for Galway and Walsh made a telling impact from the bench.Galway to me have better forwards and that helped them get  over the line.Could they be getting players back at the right time?

I had a quick look at the ages of all the people who died on the road. 41% were under 30 years old. 30% of people were over age of 60. The other 29% were between 30-60 years old.

I be on that road often enough to see that speed and overtaking at bad time would account for a large portion of the deaths.

Its a poor road but that doesn't always excuse the excess speed or overtaking on blind corners.

Theres one climbing lane on it that certainly doesn't help if you were overtaking by the time you get past the car infront the climbing lane basically ends. 

At least they have the speed cameras out this morning to rectify the issue 

Allen never have a better chance of getting to the final with the draw he had there. Threw that away. Be hard to get over that for him.

good chance is right especially with trump and Ronnie going out in shock losses.be good to see another new name on trophy Wilson won't get a better chance after a relatively poor season.bingham when he gets on a roll is hard stopped and experience of winning big events before would expect them to be in final.gilbert is a big underachiever for his talent doesn't generally handle pressure well fella over the line again at Maguire.

Great to see some new players in there for a change.  Delighted to see that hateful **** osullivan go out. 
Looks like a Bingham v Wilson final now.  Bingham is a bit of a character too.  Jones plays a different game as well and his safety is excellent. 
Refreshing to see these guys up there.  Fair play to them

+1.Ronnie gets so many plaudits for his obvious talent and achievements but an absolute bellend.

I've been going to Down matches since the 80s and yesterday was nothing short of dreadful.

We were 2 points up with approx 15 mins to go v Armagh in an Ulster semi final and my main concern was, I hope this doesn't go to extra time.

If playing like that is what it takes to be competitive, it's not a price worth paying as far as I'm concerned, and judging by the size of the crowd, I'm not alone. Would there have been 2000 Down supporters in Clones yesterday?

I recognise that plenty will take positives from yesterday's performance and to a degree, I can see where they are coming from. Laverty done nothing wrong yesterday, he broke no rules as such but mother of God, the powers that be must take action sooner rather than later because as a spectacle that game yesterday is unacceptable.

And I don't think I'm looking through rose tinted glasses about games from previous era's, plenty of them were poor too. I know Jarlath Burns has put together an impressive looking task force to deal with the predicament football finds itself in, and I'm sure they can use yesterday's game as an indicator of what drastic measures are needed to cure our game.

Down are not alone either, a lot of counties employ similar tactics, at times we have played excellently under Laverty, Cavan away last year in the Tailtain cup was a great performance. But  I really do hope there are rule changes made to avoid what happened yesterday repeated. And even if we won yesterday, I'm sure I would be saying the same thing.

once you go over the 45 shouldn't be allowed back simple rule that easily policed for officials.that are no more than three consecutive handpasses and removal of advanced mark would make games alot more enjoyable.