McKenna Cup 2024

[Throw ball]

Yes some players play on the edge, most notably McKeever within the Armagh camp, and sometimes he goes over the edge, but bottom line everybody wants players like him in their team, players that the opposition fans love to hate.

i wouldnt have mckeever in my team to be honest. A very very average player at county level, setting aside the obvious dirty stuff he gets involved in.

I am glad you are not picking the Armagh team! He has faults but over the last 10 years he has been one of Armagh's best defenders. He has also nearly been a fixture on the Ulster railway cup team and was vice captain of his country in the International Rules. Average players do not manage that. Unfortunately his best days are probably behind him. As for the dirty stuff he does do some silly things but he is nowhere close to as bad as people think. There are worse in every county including Armagh.

My friend played with cullyhana and said on the underage teams mckeever was as ordinary as they came, but he said he worked his balls off to get a chance at Cavanagh; sorry so to play for Armagh.

[BennyCake]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/gaelic-games/30694797

BBC news report on McKenna Cup. I will let you decide if McKeever deserved sent off for his part.

Sean C instigated it and nearly threw Findon over the hoardings. Did he even get booked?

McKeever was sent off here? Reminds me of Liam McHale in 96.

LOL that was funny McHale got the head beat of him and then got the line.

Nothing funny about it. He was sent off because he was more noticeable than anyone else. It cost Mayo an AI.

[Jinxy]

I'd say McGeeney is teaching the lads all sorts of mma tricks.
How to kill a man without touching him etc.

[ONeill]

Leaked footage of McKeever, Moriarty, Jamie and Findon preparing for Antrim this weekend, in a barn in Forkhill. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad-hjnctZd0

[theticklemister]

Leaked footage of McKeever, Moriarty, Jamie and Findon preparing for Antrim this weekend, in a barn in Forkhill. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad-hjnctZd0

Whose wearing the hat? Cant make him out.

[ONeill]

That's Jamie. Picked up that gear on his travels.

[tonto1888]

"Bully boy tactics"...catch yourself on. What bully boy tactics are obviously being employed by Armagh? Can you point to an example? Yes it got a bit hot & heavy on Sunday, with both teams equally culpable. Findon and Cavanagh should both have been shown the line after the melee at the beginning of the game and it certainly wasn't a case of Cavanagh finally standing up for himself after being pushed about by Findon- both players were at it from the start....are you saying that Tyrone and Sean Cavanagh in particular are a bunch of shrinking violets that decided enough was enough and they needed to stand up to the playground bully? Not a chance.

Same goes for the melee at Healy Park last year and claims from within the Tyrone camp that Armagh engineered the brawl are frankly embarrassing. Colm Cavanagh instigated that as much as anybody else and if I remember correctly Darren McCurry also started a smaller rucus. Donnelly got a second yellow for taking Tony Kernan out during play also, not because he was dragged into a melee by Armagh.

Yes some players play on the edge, most notably McKeever within the Armagh camp, and sometimes he goes over the edge, but bottom line everybody wants players like him in their team, players that the opposition fans love to hate.

Don't want this to sound like a swipe at Tyone, just fed up of all the nonsense about Armagh "bully boy tactis" and engineering fights to get an advantage.

a superb post and well summed up

[never kickt a ball]

McKenna Cup: McGourty comes to Saffrons' rescue
05 January 2015

Antrim 1-7
St Mary's 0-9

CJ McGourty sent over a late point to secure the spoils for Antrim against St Mary's.

New manager Frank Fitzsimons fielded an experimental side but it was the experienced McGourty who came to their rescue.

The Saffrons held a 1-3 to 0-3 advantage at the interval thanks to James Laverty's goal but the students battled back to restore parity with just a minute left on the clock.

Jerome Johnston was on target with five points (four from frees) for St Mary's but they left Creggan empty-handed and, afterwards, Fitzimons told The Irish Independent: "It wasn't pretty but a win's a win.

"We are up and running now and have Armagh next week. I'd imagine they are going to be very physical but hopefully we'll get a good performance."

Antrim - G Walls; M Kane, C Burke, C O'Rawe; J Laverty (1-0), D Lynch, P McAleer; J Carron (0-1), B Hasson; C Murray, CJ McGourty (0-4, 3f), D McAleese; C Johnson, C Fleming (0-1f), E McNeill. Subs: M Magill (0-1) for E McNeill, T Scullion for P McAleer, N O'Neill for D McAleese, N Peoples for C Fleming, B Bradley for C Johnson.

St Mary's - J Deeney; A Beattie, B Og Gilligan, D Morrow; J Morgan, A Forker, C McCoey; C McCann, E Bradley (0-1); P McBride (0-1), C McGeary (0-1), R Johnston; J Johnston (0-5, 4f), M Fitzpatrick, B O'Hagan. Subs: N McNicholl (0-1) for B O'Hagan, H Loughran for D Morrow, P Slane for H Loughran (BC), J Grugan for E Bradley.

Referee R Walsh

http://www.hoganstand.com/Antrim/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=229667

[never kickt a ball]

"For a first round Dr McKenna Cup game you couldn't expect that sort of a turnout"
06 January 2015

Chairman Martin McAviney has defended Ulster Council's decision to delay throw-in at the Athletic Grounds on Sunday.

Provincial chiefs were caught on the hop when double the anticipated crowd flocked to the Armagh county grounds for the opening-round McKenna Cup clash with Tyrone, and throw-in was moved from 2pm to 2:30pm. Orchard County manager Kieran McGeeney branded the move as "extremely stupid" and "beyond belief" but McAviney says starting a match with 4,000 spectators still outside the venue is a no-go:

"We apologise for what happened," he say in The Irish Examiner. "We certainly didn't expect over 8,000 at the Athletics Grounds. For a first round Dr McKenna Cup game you couldn't expect that sort of a turnout.

"There was disappointment among the managers. Kieran said the game should have gone ahead at 2pm but you can't do that anymore. He said the game should have gone ahead because people arrived late, but you can't do that.

"We thought we had enough people there to cater for the crowd. Evidently, we didn't. It was our first day back, that's where we were at. With our entry system there is a double-up on personnel in relation to selling tickets and then collecting tickets.

"We expected a good crowd, just not that crowd. In our defence, we reckon we had over 4,000 in the ground by the original throw-in time of 2pm.

"Those are the people who came on time. We should have been able to cope with the surge that followed after. We should have been a small bit better prepared.

"We did get the message out to people in the queues what the delay was over. Traffic and car parking wasn't an issue, tickets were.

"The initial report from the local authorities present was that the situation and how it unfolded was dealt with adequately by ourselves and the Armagh County Board."

http://www.hoganstand.com/Armagh/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=229721

[never kickt a ball]

Down boss slams Cavan's blanket defence
06 January 2015

Down manager Jim McCorry says "it would be terrible for gaelic football" if other teams followed Cavan's lead.

The Breffni County claimed victory in McCorry's first competitive outing as Mourne County boss at Newry on Sunday and the home manager was not impressed by the negativity shown by the visitors:

"Against Cavan we came up against a sweeper and a double-sweeper at times while we instead wanted to play open football," he notes in The Belfast Telegraph. "I think it would be terrible for gaelic football if this is the way it is to be."

Looking ahead to next weekend's clash with Monaghan, McCorry adds: "This will be another tough test for us. When we played Louth in a challenge game a matter of days before we met Cavan, I thought we showed greater appetite and fluency and we have to get back to this against Monaghan.

"We have a number of players out at the minute but we hope to have them back in the near future."

[never kickt a ball]

McGuckin's McKenna Cup campaign is over
06 January 2015

Emmet McGuckin will play no further part in this season's Dr McKenna Cup.

The Derry full forward produced an influential display as Donegal were put to the sword at Owenbeg on Sunday but won't be available for any more of the Oak Leafers' matches in the winter competition as he attends a third-level college in  Birmngham.

"Every game out on the pitch is a help," the 23-year-old told The Irish News. "It's that different type of fitness.

"At this time of year, that is what you want. You want to be playing good games like that.

"For the McKenna Cup, I would say that would be the end but I hope to be back for the first league game against Donegal, which I would say will be a lot different."

http://www.hoganstand.com/Derry/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=229737

[never kickt a ball]

McKenna Cup: Quigley impresses for Ernesiders
05 January 2015


Fermanagh 1-13
Queen's 0-9

Queens manager James McCartan finished second best in the sideline battle of wits with his former All-Ireland winning Down manager Pete McGrath at Brewster Park.

Stephen Quigley was the star man for the Ernesiders as they finished with seven points to spare.

The full-forward pounced for the game's only goal at the end of the first-half and they held a 1-6 to 0-4 advantage at the break.

An early second-half scoring burst that yielded points from Quigley, Ryan Jones, Aidan Breen and Ruairi Corrigan sealed the win for the hosts.

Fermanagh - C Snow; M Jones, J Allen, B Mulrone (0-2); D McCusker, R McCluskey, J McMahon; R Jones (0-1), C Jones; A Breen (0-1), R Corrigan (0-1), P McCusker (0-2); R Lyons, S Quigley (1-5), E McManus. Subs: C Flaherty (0-1) for R Lyons, D McQuade for E McManus, J Duffy for A Breen, R O'Callaghan for P McCusker, D Kille for R Corrigan, S McManus for R Jones.

Queen's - M Cunningham; B Burns, G McGovern, N Delargy; M Donaghy, R Wells, C Hamill (0-1); S Warnock (0-1), C Cullen; M Monan, C O'Hanlon (0-1), C Daley; R Murray (0-3), D Hughes, T Donnelly (0-2). Subs: G McCabe for M Donaghy, R McGrady (0-1) for C Cullen, P Quinn for B Burns, C McCartan for C Hamill, J Downey for S Warnock, M McCann for M Monan.

Referee - M McNally.

http://www.hoganstand.com/Fermanagh/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=229687

[our_fella]

Armagh team named for Sunday v Antrim

1 Matthew McNeice
2 Mark McConville
3 Brendan Donaghy
4 Michael Murray
5 Mark Shields
6 Finnian Moriarty
7 Jamie Clarke
8 Aaron Findon
9 Stefan Campbell
10 Stefan Forker
11 Míceál McKenna
12 Eugene McVerry
13 Oisín Mac Íomhair
14 Caolán Rafferty
15 Niall McConville

16 Tim Harney
17 Sean Connell
18 Tony Kernan
19 Eoin McArdle
20 Stephen Sheridan
21 Seamus Kelly
22 Feidhlim O'Neill
23 James Donnelly
24 Declan McKenna
25 Paul Courtney
26 Gavin McParland


Clarke @ #7? McGeeney did say he wants Clarke to appreciate what its like further out the field and experience how the ball gets played into him. Interesting

[JoG2]

Clarke @ #7? McGeeney did say he wants Clarke to appreciate what its like further out the field and experience how the ball gets played into him. Interesting

no harm to McGeeney but that is one the most ridiculous things / ideas I've heard a manager say / implement. Playing Clarke in a defensive / providing role, especially as he'll, 100% be playing as a forward come championship time is a waste of time. A halfback with the strength and skills to tackle and win turn over ball, as well as reading the situation as an attack starts  surely merits game time in this position in the lead up to the league. Its actually more mad than Harte playing Penrose as a defender for 5 (maybe more) odd years...the mind blows!

[ck]

Clarke @ #7? McGeeney did say he wants Clarke to appreciate what its like further out the field and experience how the ball gets played into him. Interesting

no harm to McGeeney but that is one the most ridiculous things / ideas I've heard a manager say / implement. Playing Clarke in a defensive / providing role, especially as he'll, 100% be playing as a forward come championship time is a waste of time. A halfback with the strength and skills to tackle and win turn over ball, as well as reading the situation as an attack starts  surely merits game time in this position in the lead up to the league. Its actually more mad than Harte playing Penrose as a defender for 5 (maybe more) odd years...the mind blows!

Maybe that's why your not a manager or coach?