Armagh Club football & hurling

[BenDover]

Cuchulainns beat middletown 2nite in the intermediate play off. They play gort na mona on sunday at casement at the same time the harps and ogs are playing in armagh, leaving 6 lads a choice of ulster hurling semi or club football semi, surely this could be avoided.

Whos the six lads i know of coulter, turley barton and gribben who's the other two??

Excellent win last nite for cuchulainns, a nice wee scrap in the middle!!

Joe Quigley and Apple Gribben. Think the hurling is def going ahead on Sunday - disgraceful

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

Cuchulainns beat middletown 2nite in the intermediate play off. They play gort na mona on sunday at casement at the same time the harps and ogs are playing in armagh, leaving 6 lads a choice of ulster hurling semi or club football semi, surely this could be avoided.

Whos the six lads i know of coulter, turley barton and gribben who's the other two??

Excellent win last nite for cuchulainns, a nice wee scrap in the middle!!

Joe Quigley and Apple Gribben. Think the hurling is def going ahead on Sunday - disgraceful

Is that the Ulster club intermediate championship? Do Armagh have a team in the intermediate and the senior then?

[gander]

Armagh have teams in Ulster Senior, Intermediate and Junior now.  I'd say the ulster championship match has been fixed for that date from early in the year, they'll never change it.

[IVEDECIDED]

I do son - and they wont be either!!

[bennydorano]

Very well written 

is there anywhere giving the handicap on the cross match?

Is that a piece from the boul Corn then?  Nice piece but I hate to see articles like that when we should be going in under the radar. 

Yis don't have a hope Benny. That better?

On a serious note, what's this Harps minor team like? Has there been a lot expected of them all year?

Minors are good but not great,  We had a few very tight games with Granemore this year - that we came out the wrong side of on each ocassion, so that would give you some indication (I hear you were lucky enough to get past them?) I would have thought next year would have been more realistic for us as all but 2 starters are eligible again, but sure now we're there we might as well give it a go!  Gives a shocker of a day tomorrow so it could be anybody's game.

[Our Nail Loney]

From The Irish News

Harps capable of an upset against Cross Lucozade Armagh Senior Football Championship
By Niall McCoy
03/10/08

THE Athletic Grounds will have a new look for

Sunday's Armagh Senior Football Championship semi-finals and Charlie Vernon is hoping that Armagh Harps can prevent the same old story on the pitch.

Crossmaglen Rangers, the dominant force of Armagh football, are aiming for their 13th consecutive final and are odds-on favourites to overcome a side who were relegated from Division One this season.

But the City side have shown a different pedigree in this year's Championship and a seven-point victory over an improving

Carrickcruppen side in the first round was followed by a gritty, hard-working two-point victory over Mullaghabawn in the quarter-final.

Vernon missed that game through injury, but should be fit to take the field on Sunday and, after a successful first season in the Armagh starting 15, he is sure to have a pivotal role in proceedings.

"I missed the match because I went over on my ankle two nights before the game, but the guys showed character, especially when Mullaghbawn got their goal.

"We finished the game well and we are hopeful for Sunday. There is no point going on to the field if you don't give yourself a chance."

Collie Holmes also missed the Mullaghbawn match, but for different reasons. The midfielder was on county duty and went on to claim All-Ireland glory with Tyrone.

His return to the team is significant, because Crossmaglen's midfield performances have been slightly shy of their own extremely high standards in the odd League match and also in their first round Championship match against Dromintee.

If Holmes, Vernon and Gareth Swift can win enough possession to feed into their dangerous

full-forward line, they may have a chance.

"Having Collie back is a great boost; he is a leader and a great motivator. Obviously, like all games, the middle is going to be important.

"If we can win enough ball there the forwards will have a chance – but, against Cross, you need to take all your chances."

One of the most prominent forwards for Harps this year has been Kevin Kelly.

The full-forward is an injury concern for the match and is rated 50/50 to feature in their first semi-final since 2004 and, if he was unable to play, it would be a massive blow for the side.

"Kevin has been in excellent form this year. We really need him fit, because his free taking is

always good as well.

"We have good players throughout the team and we all need to play well."

The club are celebrating their 120th anniversary this year and relegation was not a part of the

celebratory plans, but Vernon is hoping there may be a celebration for a different anniversary – 50 years ago they won the Championship and they defeated Crossmaglen along the way.

"Obviously, it was tough going down when we were celebrating 120 years.

"The boys will hopefully re-group and we can get back up where we feel we belong.

"Cross's record speaks for itself and everything has to go right for us, but, if we take our chances, we will be in with a shout."

Crossmaglen are still without Brendan McKeown, but David McKenna may play some part after missing the Dromintee match and the rout of Clann na Gael in the quarter-final with a hand injury.

Vernon knows that, even with injuries, Crossmaglen will still field a formidable 15.

"The grounds may be done up and it is nice to be at the Athletic Grounds, because it was the scene of many Harps' triumphs, but, at the end of the day, it is just a pitch and we have to go out there and be the better team."

Great article, very well written

[BenDover]

Armagh have teams in Ulster Senior, Intermediate and Junior now.  I'd say the ulster championship match has been fixed for that date from early in the year, they'll never change it.

sure what harm is there in re-fixing if for middle of next week under lights either at Casement or the gaelic field?

[nutsy--1]

just been confirmed that the cuchulainn game is still on this sunday, its been scheldued since last november.
Just a bit of bad luck players having to choose what game to play.

[gander]

I dont think theres any harm in it at all, but I just know what the ulster council are like when it comes to refixing championship matches.

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

We had a few very tight games with Granemore this year - that we came out the wrong side of on each ocassion, so that would give you some indication (I hear you were lucky enough to get past them?)

Well I missed the first half because I was at another match but I suppose we could have been described as slightly fortunate in that Granemore didn't make best use of a lot of their possession and failed to deal with fairly basic long range frees into the goal area from which we got 2 goals in the 2nd half and another point which bounced over the bar. Thought they were two evenly match teams which would suggest tomorrow could be close as well. Certainly we'd be very hopeful.

[bennydorano]

Harps beat Cullyhanna in the minor semi 2-8 to 1-9   Delighted but frustrated as I couldn't get (and mightn't get tomorrow due to getting my tonsils out last week and have picked up an infection - f**king agony)

[inthemaking]

bridge and culloville match has been called off. pitch unplayable

[crossfire]

Cross minors beat St Peters 3-10 to 1-9.

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

Harps beat Cullyhanna in the minor semi 2-8 to 1-9   Delighted but frustrated as I couldn't get (and mightn't get tomorrow due to getting my tonsils out last week and have picked up an infection - f**king agony)

Fair play to Harps, probably just about deserved it in the end. Very enjoyable game though it was shockin disappointing to lose. The game was dominated by the conditions and it was probably the team which made the fewest mistakes that won. Both team got a goal from long high balls into the danger area but St Pat's will probably feel they should have cleared prior to Harps' second goal. When we went 1-4 to 0-2 after about 15 minutes we should have gone on to press home the advantage but instead we didn't score again until 5 minutes into the second half by which stage Harps were 2 ahead.

The quality was probably as high as you could expect in the circumstances. Two fully committed teams going out to do their best. It was just a pity we couldn't get the late score to force it to extra time (I think?).  The only sour note in the whole game was a shameful piece of diving with about 5 minutes to go in an attempt to get a Cullyhanna man sent off. Apart from that the game was played in an excellent spirit. All the best to Harps and hopefully they'll go on to win the championship. The final result was tough on St Pat's but hopefully a lot of the lads can bounce back next year.

Bit of a disaster with the intermediate semi final being called off. Its a pity the decision wasn't made a bit earlier so that the game could have been switched to somewhere like Cruppen. There's word of it being re-fixed for tomorrow though there was no decision by the time I left the club. The final is fixed for next week and this date needs to be kept as one of the players involved in the final is likely to be headed out with the Ireland side to Australia the following Friday.

[Armagh Exile]

ARMAGH SFC SEMI-FINALS BROADCAST LIVE ON SUNDAY

Both the Armagh Senior Football Championship semi-finals will be broadcast live on Radio FIVE FM on Sunday.

Killeavey and Pearse Og begins at 2.00pm followed by commentary of the Crossmaglen and Armagh Harps tie which gets underway at 4.00pm.
Commentator for both games will be Damian McCullough with analysis by Martin Watters.

www.orchardcounty.com