Armagh Club football & hurling

[billy the kid]

Im a Derry man. But I work in Armagh and do alot of coaching down here thats why I be at alot of Armagh league and championship games. Always an experience being there as a neutral any hearing the views from the stand from opposing fans and wondering if they are watching the same game as Im watching. When your a neural you see very few "definite red cards" or "joke of a f**king ref" and you realise the majority of GAA fans turn into some sort of mentalist for the duration of their teams game.

Cross were the better team yesterday but in truth I dont rate that Ogs team that highly overall and they had a relatively easy run to the final. Thought they were found out yesterday when it really mattered. Still think cross have another gear.

As I mentioned earlier the harps minors really impressed me yesterday and their fitness levels were very high.  Had only seen Cross minors once this year and thought they were a strong outfit although very young so I dont think Armagh Harps beat a poor team yesterday, they just played very well from start to finish. 

[corn02]

You make it to Dromintee Billy?

[billy the kid]

Didnt get corn got held up at training session and by the time I got showered and changed it was near seven wouldve been bout 7:20 before I could be there so didnt bother. Pity was looking forward to seeing the game and it was def a very good cause. How did it go? much of a turnout?

[corn02]

Onionbag/Billy

Went very well. Crowd is hard to judge. did not look overly full but I would say around 1500, which is good.  Very generous donations. The match finished 15-15 and was quite competitive. MOR got a couple, Kevin O Rourke got a few and Forker pointed one or two, only got to see half so couldn't tell you the rest. Ross Carr won the free-kick contest.

Auction very well supported. Maradonna and Pele jersies fethched just under 8k. Word of thanks for all the support.

[back off the net]

cullyhanna play greenlough from Derry now in the intermid c ship does anyone know much about this team?I Hope ciaran mc keever comes home injury free from Australia so he can play against greenlough he would be a big loss if he got injuryed

[Smokin Joe]

I Hope ciaran mc keever comes home injury free from Australia so he can play against greenlough he would be a big loss if he got injuryed

(Time until Pints replies to that sentence...............)

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

I see fromt he back of today's Irish news that Aaron Kernan's under the impression that the Ulster Council are going to postpone Cross' match with Donagh until he comes back from Australia. If that's the case, I assume our match against Greenlough would also be put back a week.

[David McKeown]

Benny i would actually agree with you on Robinson who i thought did fairly well. A few posters are complaining about how Oisin should have walked, I personally didn't see the incident but i did see the Number 30 for the og's strike a dig to the stomach of Mc Conville i think it was. One of the two that were umpiring the bottom end put his hand up and the other guy seen he was doing it and then put his hand up. The ref went over to both of them and after a discussion he produced a yellow card. Oh and by the way the number 30 was also trying to dig at the physio when he came on to treat the player he struck. Now if the umpires told the ref that this lad lifted his hand it should have been a straight red card. So both them decisions would have evened each other out. Granted that young lad wouldn't have had the same impact as mc Conville. But i have been highlighting these inconsistencies on this board for some time and some folk accused me of being bias. I guess it changes when it is your own team on the other end of it. I thought the umpires could have been doing a hell of a lot more yesterday. They are in a better position to see incidents occuring in the full back line ie Francie constantly pulling at Ronan Clarke. They should have been putting the hand up everytime it happened and they never once it was only when the ref saw it that Francie was booked.

As for the actual game i thought it was a typical Cross performance where they just done enough in the first 45 minutes and then stepped it for 10 and the game was over. Donaldson even had time for a fist salute to the crowd with about 5 minutes to go. Cross looked the more direct team. The ogs tended to try and play almost too much football which allowed the Cross to get in and spoil them. This is meat and drink to the Cross. The Og's should have been getting the early ball in particulary in the second half with the wind at their backs. They failed to do this and this is where the game was lost. They could have played till today and they would have won it . All in all though it has to be said it was a galiant effort by some of the lads on the Og's side. Well done to the Cross and harps minors great achievement for both.

I was at the game as a Neutral and It was Tony Kernan he hit and it was a sly dig that Kernan didnt even see coming. It should def have been a straight red.

100% agree but as Robinson had already let it be known that he was only going to book for striking, he had no option but to book number 30.  I dont agree the two decision evened themselves out as for me Oisin had a big impact on the game and Anto (cant remember surname) had nowhere near this.  Moreover and this is only speculation I dont think the second strike would have come had the first decision been made correctly.  As I have said before on here it is very very poor refereeing as far as im concerned to book for striking,

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

As I have said before on here it is very very poor refereeing as far as im concerned to book for striking,

There was a yellow card for a punch by Johnny McGeeney on Saturday as well.

[David McKeown]

As I have said before on here it is very very poor refereeing as far as im concerned to book for striking,

There was a yellow card for a punch by Johnny McGeeney on Saturday as well.

Becoming more and more common these days TAC unfortunately

[goh4205]

As I have said before on here it is very very poor refereeing as far as im concerned to book for striking,

There was a yellow card for a punch by Johnny McGeeney on Saturday as well.

I was standing right beside that incident on the stand side & he slapped him, which tactally is a strike, but this was after no.10 for St Pat's slapped him and he fell to the ground as if he was shot.

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

As I have said before on here it is very very poor refereeing as far as im concerned to book for striking,

There was a yellow card for a punch by Johnny McGeeney on Saturday as well.

I was standing right beside that incident on the stand side & he slapped him, which tactally is a strike, but this was after no.10 for St Pat's slapped him and he fell to the ground as if he was shot.

Looked like a punch to me Goh and I wasn't too far away from it myself.

[bennydorano]

Will be very interesting to monitor this Harps team. Alot of yous Harps' men have highlighted the problems of successful minor teams in the past, I am sure yous will be keeping an eye on this team, hopefully it is a different outcome.

Yous would surely be able to give Ulster a rattle, seem quite a small team physically from the one team photo I did see? Fair assumption or deceptive camera?

Could be something in that Corn, I remember saying during the semi final that our lads seemed the bigger side, which I felt would auger well given the conditions. COngrats to Harps yesterday but their ease for victory only heightens the regreat that we missed out on a double this weekend.

In reality there was probably very little between Harps, Granemore, Cullyhanna and perhaps Ballymacnab, who all ended up in one half of a very lopsided draw - which ultimately did Cross no favours at all.

[winsamsoon]

A strike is a strike lads. The force with which it is delivered doesn't matter. The rules are clear and simple, you lift your hand and you walk. Robinson got this wrong on teo occassion and this was a mistake on his behalf and you could say then it is bad refereing. But i will agree that certain teams tend to get away with this more than others.

[billy the kid]

cullyhanna play greenlough from Derry now in the intermid c ship does anyone know much about this team?I Hope ciaran mc keever comes home injury free from Australia so he can play against greenlough he would be a big loss if he got injuryed

Greenlough are a mid table Div 3 side in Derry football.  Would be a long way of the top 2 divisions in Derry at the moment and it would be hard to say where they would come in Armagh football leagues as Derry leagues are much stronger (no offence)  Going by last year where Wolf tones or Whitecross (cant remember which) were Armagh Intermediate champions and were Div 1 Armagh, although relegated and they were hammered by Newbridge from Derry who were Bottom of Div 3 at the time, although they avoided relegation on last day of the season, Greenlough would prob be top 3/4 of Div 2 in Armagh but that is just an estimate. Greenlough would prob be slightly weaker than newbridge were and Im aware Cullyhanna are a good bit stronger than Wolf tones or Whitecross. 

Greenlough are a young side with a few handy players as far as I know the only County man is a Derry U21.  Having watched both teams this year I would have to say Cullyhanna are favourites and as they have the home draw Greenlough would appear to have alot to do to progress but sure you never know.