The Armagh Harps Thread

Started by Rufus T Firefly, November 10, 2006, 11:11:04 PM

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Oraisteach


T Fearon

Good to see a famous name back among the honours.Brought back poignant memories for me of their last win against the same opponents 26 years ago

Rufus T Firefly

Thanks to all who have posted their congratulations. Much appreciated folks

I was very nervous ahead of the game but thought we would win, as I felt Maghery may have played their final in the second win over Cross. I don't mind telling you though that just after half time, I thought a win was a forlorn hope, as Maghery won the ball from the throw in and went down the pitch to extend their lead with a point.

At that moment we were down 6-2, and I had visions of another of our nightmare 1980s no shows in the final, going down in a low scoring game.

All that changed inside a minute when we scored two goals. The first, a brilliant team move from our kickout and ending with a great Minnie McShane finish. The second, a high ball in, batted down into his own path by Ultan Lennon, and crashed to the net from fourteen yards.

To be fair, Maghery responded well and got the next three scores to lead 0-9 to 2-2 but at that stage our tails were up. Ultan Lennon in particular was playing with confidence and his three second half points were all top drawer. However for me the driving force behind our second half display was Charlie Vernon, who gave a performance for the ages. His performance around the middle was one of skill, drive, determination, energy and most important of all leadership. It was like he had a moment to himself where he thought, 'this is my time'. Sensational!!

We could never finish the game off and were guilty of butchering several golden opportunities. That meant that Maghery were always dangerous. Crealey was now 'in around the house' and Aidan Forker was putting bombs into our square from about seventy yards out. It took an absolutely brilliant Paddy Morrison save to keep Maghery out and from there we held on for a deserved victory.

The emotional scenes and celebrations at the end and throughout the rest of the weekend will live long in the memory.

Can I also pay tribute to the Maghery folk who, despite a painful defeat, showed their true class by offering congratulations. Martin Toye, Joe Fox, Brian Nugent, Rocky, John Robinson - not just great Gaels, but great people as well. Respect.

Rufus T Firefly

Should have added, it was a great team performance. Great performances all over the field for me, with worthy mention of Ultan Lennon, Decky McKenna, Paddy Morrison, Sean Farry, Mark McConville and for me the man of the match, the immense Charlie Vernon.

Congratulations to all of our players and management, along with a heartfelt 'thank-you'.

stew

Quote from: Rufus T Firefly on October 20, 2017, 12:12:01 PM
Should have added, it was a great team performance. Great performances all over the field for me, with worthy mention of Ultan Lennon, Decky McKenna, Paddy Morrison, Sean Farry, Mark McConville and for me the man of the match, the immense Charlie Vernon.

Congratulations to all of our players and management, along with a heartfelt 'thank-you'.

Well said Rufus, correct on all fronts, I and indeed your good self played soccer with John Toner and apart from being a great footballer, more importantly, he is and was a gentleman, I was extremely happy to see him in the club afterwards.

Charlie Vernon was tremendous, young Morrisons save I will never forget and his kickouts were world class, he must have been in the 90th percentile for accuracy, all in all a tremendous day but just like the county team, nothing ever comes easy for us Harpsmen, a colleague was slobbering that we are not the best team in the county, me being me challenged him to name a better one, Crossmaglen came out of his mouth, I reminded him and to those who were there that they had two bites of the cherry to get to the final and took neither, only one team was fit to win the county final in 2017 and that was Armagh Harps, up the Harps, long live the Harps!
Armagh, the one true love of a mans life.

Mikhailov

Quote from: Rufus T Firefly on October 20, 2017, 12:12:01 PM
Should have added, it was a great team performance. Great performances all over the field for me, with worthy mention of Ultan Lennon, Decky McKenna, Paddy Morrison, Sean Farry, Mark McConville and for me the man of the match, the immense Charlie Vernon.

Congratulations to all of our players and management, along with a heartfelt 'thank-you'.

Lads, as a neutral at the game I thought the Harps no.3 (think he is Loughran) was superb and surprised he is not mentioned here in the reviews of the game. His pass set up first goal and he had his hands full with Stefan Forker but coped more than admirably and had a strong game.

Rufus T Firefly

Quote from: Mikhailov on October 20, 2017, 02:03:35 PM
Quote from: Rufus T Firefly on October 20, 2017, 12:12:01 PM
Should have added, it was a great team performance. Great performances all over the field for me, with worthy mention of Ultan Lennon, Decky McKenna, Paddy Morrison, Sean Farry, Mark McConville and for me the man of the match, the immense Charlie Vernon.

Congratulations to all of our players and management, along with a heartfelt 'thank-you'.

Lads, as a neutral at the game I thought the Harps no.3 (think he is Loughran) was superb and surprised he is not mentioned here in the reviews of the game. His pass set up first goal and he had his hands full with Stefan Forker but coped more than admirably and had a strong game.

Karol Loughran is the player you refer to. I thought him and his brother Josh were both excellent and could easily have been mentioned in my last post - indeed I know one Harps' man who felt he was our man of the match. The official MOTM was Ultan Lennon, for me it was CV and others have mentioned Paddy Mo as a possible MOTM. It reflects what was an excellent team performance.

Karol is a brilliant footballer and in my opinion is a county player in all but name. He consisstently excels, so maybe I have done the lad a disservice by accepting his excellence last Sunday as 'normal' and not giving him a shout out.

Armamike

Quote from: stew on October 20, 2017, 01:02:54 PM
Quote from: Rufus T Firefly on October 20, 2017, 12:12:01 PM
Should have added, it was a great team performance. Great performances all over the field for me, with worthy mention of Ultan Lennon, Decky McKenna, Paddy Morrison, Sean Farry, Mark McConville and for me the man of the match, the immense Charlie Vernon.

Congratulations to all of our players and management, along with a heartfelt 'thank-you'.

Well said Rufus, correct on all fronts, I and indeed your good self played soccer with John Toner and apart from being a great footballer, more importantly, he is and was a gentleman, I was extremely happy to see him in the club afterwards.

Charlie Vernon was tremendous, young Morrisons save I will never forget and his kickouts were world class, he must have been in the 90th percentile for accuracy, all in all a tremendous day but just like the county team, nothing ever comes easy for us Harpsmen, a colleague was slobbering that we are not the best team in the county, me being me challenged him to name a better one, Crossmaglen came out of his mouth, I reminded him and to those who were there that they had two bites of the cherry to get to the final and took neither, only one team was fit to win the county final in 2017 and that was Armagh Harps, up the Harps, long live the Harps!

The Harps are the best in the county this year. Don't let anyone tell you any different.
That's just, like your opinion man.

Orior

Thought Harps would have done better yesterday
Cover me in chocolate and feed me to the lesbians

armaghniac

If at first you don't succeed, then goto Plan B