2018 NFL Division 3

[Itchy]

What is happening in Derry. Joe Brolly reckoned they'd be ditching the negative football and attacking strongly this year. Very poor start for a county with some great players.

[Smokin Joe]

Armagh 1/10 to be promoted (PaddyPower).
I know we are playing well, but unsure that we have a 90% chance of being promoted (which is what those odds imply).

To be Promoted    

Armagh 1/10
Fermanagh evens
Longford 11/8
Westmeath 5/2
Sligo 13/2
Derry 14/1
Offaly 25/1
Wexford 50/1

[T Fearon]

I think it's a certainty if we beat Longford.Derry,Offaly and Wexford are incapable of beating us,and it would take a bad day at the office for Fermanagh to do so.

[twohands!!!]

Armagh 1/10 to be promoted (PaddyPower).
I know we are playing well, but unsure that we have a 90% chance of being promoted (which is what those odds imply).

To be Promoted    

Armagh 1/10
Fermanagh evens
Longford 11/8
Westmeath 5/2
Sligo 13/2
Derry 14/1
Offaly 25/1
Wexford 50/1

2 to get promoted.

The two teams that Armagh beat so far both won their other game (Sligo beat Wexford and Westmeath beat Derry)

As a comparison the other 2 teams on 4 points, Longford and Fermanagh, won games against sides who lost their other game.

Combine this with last year's form and it's not that shocking. IIRC Armagh were short enough odds to get promoted even before the first league game, so it's not shocking they have tightened as much as they have.

[FermGael]

I think it's a certainty if we beat Longford.Derry,Offaly and Wexford are incapable of beating us,and it would take a bad day at the office for Fermanagh to do so.

It's been nearly 15 years Tony.
Time to move on.....

[T Fearon]

I know.Fermanagh beat once us every 100 years.

[Rufus T Firefly]

It's been nearly 15 years Tony.
Time to move on.....

Not quite fourteen years actually. Don't know about anyone else, but it still haunts me.

[T Fearon]

It will haunt every Armagh player and supporter who played or was there that day.Due to over confidence we threw away a place in the Final at the very least.Inexcusable

[regal]

Does anyone know what was wrong with andy murnin today?

Good win for Armagh, clearly learning from last years mistakes. Derry appear to be in self destruct mode

[Wildweasel74]

Derry worryingly in free fall, don't think we end up in divisions 4 but i think there are only 2 teams i think we can beat at the minute in this division,, too many good players not on the county panel, and a very inexperienced team been played at the minute.

[Throw ball]

Does anyone know what was wrong with andy murnin today?

Good win for Armagh, clearly learning from last years mistakes. Derry appear to be in self destruct mode

Not sure but he did warm up with other subs in second half

[magpie seanie]

I really enjoyed today and it was a pretty good win. Yes there's lots to work on but there were loads of positives for me. It was much better than I expected. I think having Ross in the FB was absolutely crucial. Even if he's not fully up to speed he's just so good and a true leader.....he continues to do amazing things. We were physically much smaller in the middle of the field but worked hard to overcome that disadvantage. I liked that lads role their sleeves up and were happy to do the dirty work which often goes unnoticed. That's crucial. Defensively we mostly had a good shape when we got set up but if Wexford got forward quickly we were a little porous. Also at times in the second half when we were well set we seemed to let them in too easily for scores. I saw enough though to suggest this is a work in progress and will get better as we go along. Certainly looked better than anything I saw in the last few years....lads clearly knew their roles.

In attack we did some good work but some of the players mentioned were disappointing. Coen had an excellent game and will be very important for us as the year progresses. Murf started well spraying a lot of good ball into the FF line and got a cracking goal but as the game went on he made a few uncharacteristic mistakes. I feel he's not being helped by being moved around the formation so much. Personally I feel he should be left inside.....he's at his most effective in there relative to who'd replace him. I certainly think he put in a decent shift all told though. Wouldn't say he was poor by any means. Hughes didn't have one of his better days, strangely losing his footing very often when getting set to challenge for high balls. Marren got on a lot of ball but with the exception of one really excellent quick transfer to Carrabine seemed intent on going for his own score or coming back out to where the pass came from. I suppose he has learned the lesson that points after your name makes it hard for you to be dropped!

The two wing forwards as mentioned and Luke Nicholson were notable performers for me. Also one of Eoin McHugh's better games, still has a lot to offer. Ewing has really developed into a first class player for us, he's just a lynchpin. To be fair though it was decent all over. Lots to build on. We'll need to improve for tougher tests ahead but I'm encouraged.

[Croí na hÉireann]

Very disappointing showing from Westmeath yesterday, apart from Heslin & Luke at times the lads never got into the game at all. We gave Armagh the platform to dominate the game by having no plan for the kickouts apart from kick it out to Heslin. Heslin is a wonderful fielder but can't be expected to dominate midfield single handily and when he did win the mark we had no plan for moving the ball on. John Egan going off early seemed to unsettle us but we got back into it in the second half before immediately making a hames of it and giving away a penalty. Wexford away next weekend where we will hopefully pick up the pieces, the lads should be stewing after that all week and put in a performance. Needs to be a couple of changes in the middle 8 too, all those substituted should be looking over their shoulder.

[Shamrock Shore]

Div 3 bubbling up nicely.

Happy with our performances so far but massive test come this Sunday. Not sure we will come out of Armagh with less than a spanking but we'll give it a lash. This game will tell us where we really are as, with all due respect to Offaly and Derry, they didn't really put it up to us.

Wildweasel - did you travel to the game? Sorry there were no seats and the shelter behind the town goal was rudimentary (at best).

We'll have semi-decent facilities back before the Meath match in the Leinster.

Did Derry play ultra-defensive. I got the impression they did.

If so, why???

[Wildweasel74]

Yes was down; Longford won in 2nd gear to be honest!  Longford would be better than Westmeath team wise! Played ultra defendive as they shipped serious scores to westmeath last week! Problem is; if u play like that u got to break quickly into attack; we cant seem to do that@