Armagh v Donegal USFC 14/06/2015

[Oraisteach]

Magnificent day in Armagh--a beautiful blue sky, the cathedral serene in the background, a full house at the Athletic Grounds.  But then the whistle blew and the game started . .  .

The McBrearty goal was devastating, and after that a catastrophe, the essence of which was Geezer being thoroughly out coached.  He seemed to have no idea how he was going to thwart the familiar Donegal defense, a visionless plan that had our lads running into tackles and then resorting to wild no-hope hay-making kicks.  And then to see our team parked in our half of the field watching the Donegal lads going through a glorified hand-passing practice session was immensely frustrating.

I don't think our guys gave up; instead, they just didn't seem to have a clue what to do, and blame must be placed squarely on management.

As others have mentioned, Murphy's free-taking was sublime.

[J70]

Just in from the game, that was atrocious. No discernible game plan from Armagh, no passion from the majority of the team as well. Thought Coldrick was terrible.

I thought Coldrick was all right. One or two questionable frees and an inexplicable lack of a card for an Armagh midfielder, but nothing that made any difference and overall a decent performance,  at least from tv viewing. Armagh people should have the ref well down their list of things to be upset about after that game.

[Fuzzman]

Are you excited about your annual run through the qualifiers?

Yes.

[heganboy]

Two hands, I am a fan of stats in their place, but if you think the difference in this game has anything to do with frees conceded or that it's even relevant as a key stat I'm afraid you have the wrong end of the stick completely.

A key fact of the game is how good the Donegal defence has been in the tackle, especially when you consider how much Armagh have run at their defence.

Again I'm going to have to disagree with you. The tackles (both legal and illegal) were symptom rather than cause.

The channels through which Armagh tried to attack and the lack of support to the man leading the channel resulted in Armagh running into tackles with no release path. That left them hanging on to the ball and passing, very often aimlessly, to Donegal directly or into no man's land where Donegal were more often not first to the ball.

The reverse was also true, Donegal had a very patient build up and you could often see 7 men lined across the 65, the forwards runs ahead were made to count (both to create space for the attack from the massed ranks or often directly to create the score) and the channels were co-ordinated, that left the Armagh defenders in a position where they had to foul to prevent the ball release to a 3 on 1, or the momentum of the attacker would have carried the attacker past the static defender and again the foul was often conceded.

[Harold Disgracey]

He was poor and had the game been any way close there would be a hell of a lot of comment on his performance. Armagh were totally clueless, at times it looked as if they were afraid to put in a tackle for fear of giving away a free.

As others have pointed out Murphy's free kicks were superb, although he took forever to take them.

[Mourne Rover]

This may have been asked before, but what is McGeeney's main managerial achievement in provincial championship football ? While he has had a few decent results in the qualifiers with Kildare and Armagh over the years, significant wins at provincial level
have been rare for his teams. His Kildare side beat a fairly limited Meath in the 2010 AI quarter final, so does that go down as the best day of his coaching career ?

[T Fearon]

Relax,we play Wicklow in qualifiers and then maybe Leitrim in Rd2,we could go all the way to Rd 3 like we did in 2013!

[Nigel White]

Genuine question to Armagh people?
Apart from hype, over training and a massive expenses bill, What exactly does Kieran McGeeney bring to a county?

Virtual bankruptcy in the case of Kildare

[INDIANA]

Two hands, I am a fan of stats in their place, but if you think the difference in this game has anything to do with frees conceded or that it's even relevant as a key stat I'm afraid you have the wrong end of the stick completely.

A key fact of the game is how good the Donegal defence has been in the tackle, especially when you consider how much Armagh have run at their defence.

Again I'm going to have to disagree with you. The tackles (both legal and illegal) were symptom rather than cause.

The channels through which Armagh tried to attack and the lack of support to the man leading the channel resulted in Armagh running into tackles with no release path. That left them hanging on to the ball and passing, very often aimlessly, to Donegal directly or into no man's land where Donegal were more often not first to the ball.

The reverse was also true, Donegal had a very patient build up and you could often see 7 men lined across the 65, the forwards runs ahead were made to count (both to create space for the attack from the massed ranks or often directly to create the score) and the channels were co-ordinated, that left the Armagh defenders in a position where they had to foul to prevent the ball release to a 3 on 1, or the momentum of the attacker would have carried the attacker past the static defender and again the foul was often conceded.

Donegal didn't have to do anything attacking wise today.

All they did was draw the Armagh blanket out and Armagh bought it. Long ball into isolated one on one situations.

That's it summed up in one sentence.

[INDIANA]

This may have been asked before, but what is McGeeney's main managerial achievement in provincial championship football ? While he has had a few decent results in the qualifiers with Kildare and Armagh over the years, significant wins at provincial level
have been rare for his teams. His Kildare side beat a fairly limited Meath in the 2010 AI quarter final, so does that go down as the best day of his coaching career ?

Won the O Byrne Cup.

Far better at Brazilian ju jitsu then management.

[Dinny Breen]

Two hands, I am a fan of stats in their place, but if you think the difference in this game has anything to do with frees conceded or that it's even relevant as a key stat I'm afraid you have the wrong end of the stick completely.

A key fact of the game is how good the Donegal defence has been in the tackle, especially when you consider how much Armagh have run at their defence.

Again I'm going to have to disagree with you. The tackles (both legal and illegal) were symptom rather than cause.

The channels through which Armagh tried to attack and the lack of support to the man leading the channel resulted in Armagh running into tackles with no release path. That left them hanging on to the ball and passing, very often aimlessly, to Donegal directly or into no man's land where Donegal were more often not first to the ball.

The reverse was also true, Donegal had a very patient build up and you could often see 7 men lined across the 65, the forwards runs ahead were made to count (both to create space for the attack from the massed ranks or often directly to create the score) and the channels were co-ordinated, that left the Armagh defenders in a position where they had to foul to prevent the ball release to a 3 on 1, or the momentum of the attacker would have carried the attacker past the static defender and again the foul was often conceded.

Donegal didn't have to do anything attacking wise today.

All they did was draw the Armagh blanket out and Armagh bought it. Long ball into isolated one on one situations.

That's it summed up in one sentence.

That's three sentences.

[Dinny Breen]

This may have been asked before, but what is McGeeney's main managerial achievement in provincial championship football ? While he has had a few decent results in the qualifiers with Kildare and Armagh over the years, significant wins at provincial level
have been rare for his teams. His Kildare side beat a fairly limited Meath in the 2010 AI quarter final, so does that go down as the best day of his coaching career ?

Won the O Byrne Cup.

Far better at Brazilian ju jitsu then management.

Won a Division 2 League Title. His inability to make changes cost us the 2009 Leinster final.  Needs a Mickey Whelan type figure with him, he's tactically sterile.

[INDIANA]

Two hands, I am a fan of stats in their place, but if you think the difference in this game has anything to do with frees conceded or that it's even relevant as a key stat I'm afraid you have the wrong end of the stick completely.

A key fact of the game is how good the Donegal defence has been in the tackle, especially when you consider how much Armagh have run at their defence.

Again I'm going to have to disagree with you. The tackles (both legal and illegal) were symptom rather than cause.

The channels through which Armagh tried to attack and the lack of support to the man leading the channel resulted in Armagh running into tackles with no release path. That left them hanging on to the ball and passing, very often aimlessly, to Donegal directly or into no man's land where Donegal were more often not first to the ball.

The reverse was also true, Donegal had a very patient build up and you could often see 7 men lined across the 65, the forwards runs ahead were made to count (both to create space for the attack from the massed ranks or often directly to create the score) and the channels were co-ordinated, that left the Armagh defenders in a position where they had to foul to prevent the ball release to a 3 on 1, or the momentum of the attacker would have carried the attacker past the static defender and again the foul was often conceded.

Donegal didn't have to do anything attacking wise today.

All they did was draw the Armagh blanket out and Armagh bought it. Long ball into isolated one on one situations.

That's it summed up in one sentence.

That's three sentences.

Jaysus one championship win and Kildare lads are getting brave

[Teo Lurley]

McGeeney knows that you need money to compete at the top level. He got a limited team like Kildare quite far with it and he's only starting with Armagh so he has to be given a chance. It'll be a costly experience though.

[yellowcard]

Abysmal performance from Armagh and the scoreline probably flattered us as Donegal simply played out the game in a very frustrating series of keep ball exercises in the second half. They could even afford to rest McBrearty and Murphy towards the end. Mc Brearty in the first 15 minutes basically won Donegal the game, caused Morgan all sorts of trouble and Armagh looked clueless in trying to chase down the game after a poor start. Turned the ball over far too often. Donegals free concession rate is no fluke and they are a well drilled outfit who are greater than the sum of their parts. No progression from Armagh, too much emphasis on over thinking about the game and over analysing the opposition rather than trying to produce good decision makers on the field.