Donegal vs Armagh Ulster Championship 2022

[general_lee]

Define non contact? You can't push a player you can't pull a jersey you can't charge a player you can't play with a closed fist, head or over the neck tackles are finished thankfully, no trips or deliberate pull downs allowed other than that it's still same as before

You can't touch a player nowadays unless it's a clean tackle first time with contact on the ball and nowhere else and isn't from behind. You can't put your non-tackling hand anywhere on the player or you'll get blown up.

Half a dozen times every game 3/4 players are slapping at a man's shoulders, arms, everywhere but the ball and the player with the ball gets called for over carrying

Depends. If it's a defender coming out he'll get a free out. If it's a forward more often than not he'll get blown for over-carrying, as does any attacking player who hesitates, regardless of whether they've actually over carried or not.

[Itchy]

Never seen as many Tyrone ones so happy and leaving their two bit worth and gloating, frig sake wise up men.

As for the game...best team won, was very surprised how easy Donegal won. I'm not sure if Donegal were better than i thought or was Armagh worse than i thought...Maybe a bit of both. Armagh were cleaned out in Midfield and if truth be told we've been poor in this area for a long time and are crying out for a few good midfielders. Someone pointed out earlier post how J Hall keeps his place in starting 15 and how Ben Crealey etc in midfield starts. Stefan Campbell is one of the best forwards around yet is an impact sub...WTF. He's deadly around the edge of the square so play him there and then bring out the field at times if he hasn't the legs to get up and down the pitch for 70 mins (I'm assuming that's why he's not starting).
Anyway in saying all that Donegal were good and fully deserved their win and good luck to them v Cavan. Donegal have some great footballers with pace who are hard to stop. As for Armagh disallowed goal...In replays etc it could have stood but 9 outta 10 Refs would blow for a free out.

On the Referee today and Ref's in general...Is it me or is our games now virtually contact free, it's so frustrating watch any game now and all players have to do is lift their legs up and fall and it's a certain free out...Very frustrating and i'm not blaming the Ref for today's defeat as he'd no bearing on the result whatsoever.

On the goal, it was 100% a free out. You cannot pull the ball out of someones grasp No 1 and then No 2 it looked like he threw it into the goal. I cannot believe that people think that should be a goal, its not rugby we are playing.

Your comment on Armaghs midfield is interesting. Donegal simply repeated the trick they did in Breffni in their last championship meeting. What did your tactical genius of a manager do to prepare you for this quite predictable tactic from Donegal? Not a lot I would say. I cant believe ye presevere with him. A great player he was but a manager he is an abject failure and thats is quite clear to see.

[Wildweasel74]

Oisin McConville thought it was a goal going by his rant after the game on BBC. Maybe a proper review would been handy for him before he went off on one about the referee.

[illdecide]

Just to clear up a few points...I did say 9 outta 10 refs will give a free out and that's what happened, not complaining about it at all.
As for KMcG keeping his job...not my decision but what i will say is bar a couple of players on starting 15 we don't have any other talent in the County. As for tactics you're prob correct, he should have had a better game plan but in general terms the best team with best players usually win and that's what happened yesterday.
The tackling etc...my previous post was not based on Armagh game yesterday, it was a general observation of our games in general where a player lifts his legs and falls and gets a free straight away.

[Gael80]

Never seen as many Tyrone ones so happy and leaving their two bit worth and gloating, frig sake wise up men.

As for the game...best team won, was very surprised how easy Donegal won. I'm not sure if Donegal were better than i thought or was Armagh worse than i thought...Maybe a bit of both. Armagh were cleaned out in Midfield and if truth be told we've been poor in this area for a long time and are crying out for a few good midfielders. Someone pointed out earlier post how J Hall keeps his place in starting 15 and how Ben Crealey etc in midfield starts. Stefan Campbell is one of the best forwards around yet is an impact sub...WTF. He's deadly around the edge of the square so play him there and then bring out the field at times if he hasn't the legs to get up and down the pitch for 70 mins (I'm assuming that's why he's not starting).
Anyway in saying all that Donegal were good and fully deserved their win and good luck to them v Cavan. Donegal have some great footballers with pace who are hard to stop. As for Armagh disallowed goal...In replays etc it could have stood but 9 outta 10 Refs would blow for a free out.

On the Referee today and Ref's in general...Is it me or is our games now virtually contact free, it's so frustrating watch any game now and all players have to do is lift their legs up and fall and it's a certain free out...Very frustrating and i'm not blaming the Ref for today's defeat as he'd no bearing on the result whatsoever.

On the goal, it was 100% a free out. You cannot pull the ball out of someones grasp No 1 and then No 2 it looked like he threw it into the goal. I cannot believe that people think that should be a goal, its not rugby we are playing.

Your comment on Armaghs midfield is interesting. Donegal simply repeated the trick they did in Breffni in their last championship meeting. What did your tactical genius of a manager do to prepare you for this quite predictable tactic from Donegal? Not a lot I would say. I cant believe ye presevere with him. A great player he was but a manager he is an abject failure and thats is quite clear to see.

Ahh I wouldn't compare the last championship game and yesterday. Donegal were genuine All Ireland contenders when they last played Championship in Breffini. On the face of it, it's hard not to argue Armagh are still miles behind Donegal after yesterday, it was a comprehensive win for Donegal.

It'll take McGeeney and Armagh time to review what happened, but a lot of it was down to Ballybofey. It's a seriously tough ground to visit, Donegal play it so well and it's easy to see why they have their record there. The problem for Donegal is, they can't play every match there and to achieve what they want, will have to produce that type of performance in bigger, more expansive pitches.

McGeeney will rightly be under pressure, but he has built a good squad there, and many counties would love to be a Division 1 team. Yesterday was tough but I still see them playing in an All Ireland Quarter Final later this year.

[Applesisapples]

Armagh fans got some dose of reality today. Athletic grounds in February was like Croke Park in September when they beat Tyrone such was the celebrations.

McGeeney surely has to go unless Armagh reach the AI semis?

Some Armagh fans maybe, the majority of us know there is not enough quality there at the moment. That's not geezer's fault he has retained Div 1 status and that's a plus if they are going to get to the next level. Still way of a tilt at Sam.

[Armagh18]

Keep it short and sweet. Totally deflated, out big names didnt show up, Donegal got the tactical battle right, we didn't. Best of luck to them in the next round. Hopefully we can regroup and go on a good run.

[yellowcard]

Having watched the penalty incident again on TV last night it is very hard to see what the foul was for. Even if there had been VAR in place it would still had been very difficult to make a conclusive decision either way, so it looked like the referee simply copped out and blew for a foul to save any controversy. It was a huge momentum swinger as once Donegal had weathered the initial storm after half time they controlled the rest of the game.

[JoG2]

Donegal took their punishment re suspensions, focused on the task at hand. Armagh spent too much time on trying to get men off on technicalities etc, surely this distracted them to a degree? Or Donegal, especially at Ballybofey were just much better....

[trailer]

Armagh believed their own hype. Found out. Any advantage they had in the league with fitness was totally wiped out. Difficult to see them making any impact in the championship. Many Armagh fans very quiet last night having had plenty to say just a few months ago.
Donegal got all the tactical battles right. But they need to be careful. They can't read to much into beating Armagh. Like Tyrone proved last year you need to keep getting better in every game.

[Armagh18]

Donegal took their punishment re suspensions, focused on the task at hand. Armagh spent too much time on trying to get men off on technicalities etc, surely this distracted them to a degree? Or Donegal, especially at Ballybofey were just much better....

Don't think that would have affected the camp all that much in fairness. Game was won and lost on kickouts. Fair play to you's, have had our number for a good few years now

[Gael80]

Donegal took their punishment re suspensions, focused on the task at hand. Armagh spent too much time on trying to get men off on technicalities etc, surely this distracted them to a degree? Or Donegal, especially at Ballybofey were just much better....

Probably a bit of both, but in hindsight a lot of pundits underestimated the Ballybofey factor. I think Kerry will win the All Ireland, but would probably have an almighty fight to win a championship game in Ballybofey, so I wouldn't be too hard on an Armagh team still learning how to compete at the top of the game.

[yellowcard]

Donegal took their punishment re suspensions, focused on the task at hand. Armagh spent too much time on trying to get men off on technicalities etc, surely this distracted them to a degree? Or Donegal, especially at Ballybofey were just much better....

Only one of the suspended players started the match anyway so I don't think that had any impact. Donegal just were better than Armagh, nothing more nothing less. Any other county would have defended their players in the same manner, the fault is with the disciplinary system.

Also I'm not sure why Tyrone fans would appear to be so delighted with a Donegal win either. Surely if Armagh are as poor as they think we are, they would have preferred to have faced Armagh in a potential Ulster final rather than Donegal. 

[twohands!!!]

Much talk about Armagh being poor tacklers and blaming Geezer. Now undoubtedly he could help improve the situation but I have been saying for years that the way football is refereed in the county doesn't help. Many of the frees given today wouldn't be given at an under 15 game in Armagh. In the minor match last night I think Armagh got 6 cards to Derry's 0 and a high proportion of the frees given were against Armagh. It seems to be a trend.

McGeeney has come out numerous times over the last decade with absolute guff on the tackle.

He's seems completely unable to grasp that the tackle has to be aimed at the ball as opposed to the man.

A better manager would have figured out years ago that his approach to the tackle was out of whack with the general consensus as to what is a legitimate tackle and changed things but McGeeney has just buried his head in the sand on this.

[marty34]

Much talk about Armagh being poor tacklers and blaming Geezer. Now undoubtedly he could help improve the situation but I have been saying for years that the way football is refereed in the county doesn't help. Many of the frees given today wouldn't be given at an under 15 game in Armagh. In the minor match last night I think Armagh got 6 cards to Derry's 0 and a high proportion of the frees given were against Armagh. It seems to be a trend.

McGeeney has come out numerous times over the last decade with absolute guff on the tackle.

He's seems completely unable to grasp that the tackle has to be aimed at the ball as opposed to the man.

A better manager would have figured out years ago that his approach to the tackle was out of whack with the general consensus as to what is a legitimate tackle and changed things but McGeeney has just buried his head in the sand on this.

The No. 3 was doing some punching at the ribs and sides of the Donegal lad when he was coming out.

Full fist punches - could have been a red.

Nowhere near the ball and not even attempting to flick the ball away.