Messages

I hope to make it to the game and I'd appreciate some directions from someone who knows how to get to the grounds.
I'm based in Dublin and will be using the motorway. I can get onto Newry by-pass okay and I suppose I should turn off onto the A28 but I'm not sure after that.
Where do I go after that?

Come off at the A28,
Armagh is 20mileish ahead, just keep to the main road going past Markethill on your left about 8mile from Armagh,
When in Armagh follow the main road the hill down to the sets of traffic lights, there is a car park in front of you,
Keep in the left lane signed for Monaghan/Killylea,
Go past Armagh City Hotel on your left,
After the next set of traffic lights there is a slip road 100m to your left,
At the bottom of the slip way the ground is behind the Mc Anerneys Shop and there is an official car park about 150m to the left of the slipway in the Christian Brothers Primary School.

Big shock - all the best to him

Anyone thats heading over the glenshane, take her handy and leave plenty of space between cars - couple of scares and near misses there tonight!

The athletic grounds has the Ulster Junior Hurling Final Replay Burt v Creggan, which is due to be followed by Burren v Latton senior semi final on sunday

A draw between Creggan and Burt - 0-10 each.

Apparently Burt led throughout but needed a free in injury time to draw.

Creggan had 14 wides.

Thought it would be tight, Creggan to win replay Cloot?

Based on todays game i cant see creggan winning although the referee let very little go today.
Burt lost their chf with 23mins to 2 yellows
Creggans cf followed 4 mins later - 2 yellows also

Depending on how the replayed game is refereed may determine the outcome

Looks like i am going to have to buy a new car.
Budget of £7'500 to about £10'000.

Looking At something for 08 onwards and would need something that is good on the juice.
Currently driving over 500 mile per week.

Any suggestions for models ??
Any one ever taken a fleet car from England?

I upgraded to a passat in may - 2008 1.9 tdi
good on the juice (for me anyway) - doing a full tank 650-700miles a week.
Car was ex fleet as far as i could tell from history and the fact that a work folder was left sitting in beside spare wheel although i bought from dealer

the thread got kickstarted again - Spirit said it was too quiet recently - calm before the 'storm'!

[granemore just don't have what it takes!!]

Oh poor AG, u mean the self proclaimed king of the parish, so why did they not bring him on, shitty pants  time or maybe he was injured aswell;-)u really are one pathetic loser and pretty stupid aswell, nab not beat u losers in granemore last year? Ok u beat us 3 on the trot whoppy do but guess what u losers have lost 3 county semi-finals on the trot, I rest my case, granemore just don't have what it takes!! The nab r a championship team, we beat u in the biggest game of all..yerrooo;-) so please stick ur league points, all 4 of them, where the sun don't shine!! Ballymacnab for the Armagh senior final, granemore and the hare for Micky mouse!! Enjoy the rest of ur year supporting us!!;-)

Please! Granemore are the better club! They won more Championships in a week than use have in your history!

And pearse og have more than granemore...
and harps have more than pearse og...
and cross have more than harps...

Who gives a shite about championship wins? 
The basis of the last few pages has been about one match - which was won by Ballymacnab - and for you to drag club histories into it has only been done to try and give your deflated ego some sort of massage.

The gaa is great - on any day a club can be a winner or a loser in championship (even if its against the odds) - sport also gives the club a chance to respond to the loss or win in the years that follow.

Armaghgael - if you really want i can lend you a trowel and a few bricks??

[need to think of new chants for the Cross game. F**king tramps]

I didn't get to the 'Nab game on saturday night but based on the final score it looks as if Granemore fielded their second team again.

Granemore were at full strength

Who were granemore missing then?? Lets get the excuses out of the road now!

Shane Rafferty, Barry Toner, Kieran Toner was injured and he still won midfield, Darran Carr, Rory McCelland and Kieran Doyle.
Use boys need to think of new chants for the Cross game. F**king tramps!

Explain.!!

They thought they would be funny after the game and started singing "Easy" etc. Even Cross fans don't do that no offence

Jaysus, if thats all that was shouted

Appropriately named 'scam'roc!

i thought his username was just his normal name backwards - Cormac S

In a word - No - helmets do not provide 100% protection but are designed to lessen impacts of injuries to head injuries.

I refereed a game this year where a player received a blow to the front of the faceguard - resulted in a bad concussion, jaw broken in 2/3 places and 6 teeth misplaced/lost - his helmet was only a fortnight old!!

Ulster Senior Hurling Championship 2011
Armagh beating Down in Casement
Glad i was there to see it as belief in the county team was threadbare beforehand and getting to the Ulster Final gave the whole hurling side of the county a real boost.

I see theres a facebook page - Coming home from a night out looking like marty morrissey - brilliant

Perhaps, teams are finding it hard to play their game against the donegal game.
Scores have to taken every time an opportunity arises and failure to convert seems to spur the likes of Lacey and Cassidy on more.

Personally though i would be joining an ABD (anyone but donegal) club if it were to start!

Watch the game again....Cluxton has one hand on the ball between his legs. He gets barged by his own player yet the Ref cant get the whistle to his mouth quick enough. In my opinion if the keeper has the ball in one hand then your entitled to tackle him exactly like any other player.
The best Refs I have come accross would be fellas that have played the game at decent Club level & know how to handle certain situations.
A Ref who will talk to players & explain his decisions will get far more respect than some guy running round the field blowing everything & taking the "Im the Ref & always right" approach. Dare question their decision & they will fire about Yellow cards like confetti.

Its funny, some say the referees talk too much during the game to players and others want them to talk more to the players and coaches!!

Sitting in the house watching the game from different camera angles will always give you a different view of a 'foul' 'non foul' whatever the case may be. As a referee you can't see everything, a player may block your vision (but it's the referees fault for not positioning right ) A referee who has played the game will have his own take on the rules some too fussy, others like the game to be physical.

They will never suit both sets of supporters and worst of all they will never keep the Assessor happy. Bloody joke if you ask me about the Assessors, again probably never played game at a high enough standard to understand the game (Thats my All Ireland Final appearance gone )

When i talked about talking to players - what i mean to say is i talk to them not down to them or at them, i let the players know what i look out for (rolling ball pickups etc.) and what im gonna let go.

Take the last football game i refereed - pissin wet night with grass that was slightly too long.
I told the captains before the game
- no sliding into tackles as it can be tempting to do so in the wet
- given the weather/conditions the player playing the ball will be given the advantage
- When a frees given i personally like to see the ball moved on so move out of the way unless im booking somebody and let the man play the ball.
I feel that if you talk to players before games the playyers appreciate it and 'respect' you more for it.
The problem in armagh and beyond is that too many referees talk down to players from their cloud of hot air and self importance

Also at club games the job of referee is made hard by eejits calling lines or doing umpires who are that biased it would disgust you.
A referee coould be doing an excellent job in a game and then some p***k calls the wrong decision - who does the crowd get onto more - the referee!

Overall AC,  how would you rate the refereeing in Armagh?  Would you agree that there are certain referees who are total ego trips? 

Overall quite poor - in terms of consistency, age, knowledge of rules etc. but alot of the problems arent down to the referees.
A major problem in Armagh is that the co-ordinators dont co-ordinate a whole pile in the runup to the season - written tests, fitness tests, meetings in general come and go with very poor attendance, infact the poor attenders at these sessions are the ones being slated on Armaghgaa.net and here from time to time.

About the referees being on powertrips i could start a ruckus with some comments but ill not go there - i'll simply say that i would advise young referees not to follow the footsteps of some of the more experienced refs.

Mixed bag, if AC is who I think he is he's a decent and pragmatic Ref. There are others who need to look at the way the conduct themselves, and I'm not referring to poor decision making. That said I don't like to see the sort of vitriol we had posted about named Armagh referee's who at the end of the day are doing their best. there are some crap Ref's in Armagh who are honest and decent in their approach to the game, players and officials and you can dispair at the decision but everyone knows what they are getting. A bad ref is better than no ref and as long as he is consistent then its a level playing field. Most spectators/players/officials only see the things that effect their own team and thats where problems start. We need to get more like rugby where the Ref is respected no matter what his performance. A diificulty is that right from U12 we coach children in the GAA to call the ref's all sorts and the type of win at all costs mentality we saw in Beragh becomes ingrained.

Alot of the attitudes coming towards refs stems from the coaching received by players.
We can go on saying Rubby is the benchmark to strive towards in terms of respect but the GAA seem content in letting the current situation of abuse towards officials, oppositions and our players in general, continue by not setting the proper procedures/policies in place.

Take the go-games:
The go-games werent introduced to eliminate competition for young players (although that is the GAA claim) - the reason for the removal of competition in my opninion was that the level of abuse from the parent-come-coaches towards the opposition, referees, and other parents/coaches was disgusting, often resulting in personal fallouts and much more, as they only want to see their wee johnny do the best and to f**k with the rest.

Where the GAA should be focusing their attention is coaching of young players to respect and it should follow through as they progress through their gaa career