Messages

News headline there- "new legislation means it will soon be illegal to assault shop staff in England and Wales, shop owners want the same here"

Didn't know it was legal at the minute....

may get the assaults in asap

Strong Armagh team named, glad to see Rian back starting where he belongs.

McCabe injured?

Ready for another?

Suggestions welcome

Queen?

Springsteen would be timely

do people seriously ant to test players before letting them play?

Could be counterproductive. Imagine the rows and fallouts that might develop with players having to remind referees of the rules or pointing out every mistake or inadvertent error they make. They're only human at the end of the day and sometimes prone to making the odd gaffe.

Its a sure fire way to drive people away from the game. I can see an argument for coaches though but if you tell 16 years olds they cant play until they do a test theyll go to another sport

do people seriously ant to test players before letting them play?

Blaine let in two goals in a dead rubber game, until then 6 clean sheets including a penalty save, very savvy with his kickouts, done very well when he roamed out and about albeit he doesn't do a Lynch, Beggan, Morgan or Rafferty but maybe that's how pundits judge keepers now.

The term "let in" is not appropriate, he had little chance to stop those, the first one in particular as the back passed the ball to a Cork forward.

its a term that is generally used. Nobody actually thinks he just let them in ffs

[the imbalance of Ulster v Leinster teams in Division 1 being the prime example.]

You still can't answer why Meath and Kildare are broken but not other teams who are much closer to dublin - i.e. Derry and Kerry and Tyrone when they get themselves in gear will be there or thereabouts.

Teams get a huge confidence boost by winning their provincial championship and are much more primed for a crack at the Dubs than Leinster counties who have been crushed by the Dubs for over a decade. The demoralising effect of Dublin's dominance in Leinster also has a knock-on effect in the League - the imbalance of Ulster v Leinster teams in Division 1 being the prime example.

The provincial system exacerbates the problem with Leinster football. The Ulster Championship is the model for a proper Provincial competition. Connacht has Mayo, Galway & Roscommon in regular contention. Munster has Kerry, Cork and at times Clare or Tipperary. If Kildare and Meath were in Connacht or Munster I would say they would be quite competitive and in the shake-up quite regularly.

or maybe Ulster teams are just better?

It's a tight Championship and always is.

Only 2 of the big 3 of Derry, Donegal and Armagh are going to make the Ulster final.

Not even a good wind up that.

There'll be a kick in Tyrone yet and Cavan will fear no one with the way they played at the weekend.

what exactly have tyrone shown for you to day there will be a kick from them

Not looking forward to another dog fight on Sunday, if Armagh get a good lead early Fermanagh will leave holes all over chasing, if it is tight like the league another borefest to sit through.

unless we get an early lead like the league game a few years ago itll be tight, and as you say, boring

Celtic need to call out Beaton and his officiatating.  Very poor but not unexpected. A no penalty given to get them in the game. I knew he'd give them a gift of a penalty. Celtic need to call that out.

In saying that, Celtic being 2-0 up and 3-2 up in injury time and giving up the draw is poor.

Disappointing but league still in Celtic's hands. No more slip ups. Know what is at stake now in terms of winning all the games.

You got a penalty and a rangers goal disallowed yet the conspiracy is against Celtic?
Why are SPL fans always so paranoid

and those decision were the right calls. Others were not

While I'd have taken a point beforehand, that feels like a loss

Hamas has allowed Fatah protest and rallies in Gaza so what you suspect is wrong.

Fair enough, some protest have taken place.

Yes, I doubt very much they like Israelis and especially zionists after 75 years of occupation but that does lead to the points outlined in the graphic.

Let's say that it is easier to go to a mosque in Israel than to a synagogue in Gaza.

There is only one side committing a genocide, occupying, expanding settlements, creating an apartheid system and its not the Palestinians.

This reflects capacity more than attitude.

How many Jewish people live in Gaza? How many synagogues are there?

Definition is in the oul TO

Could I ask Refs to read the advanced mark rule....15 seconds from whistle to play the ball.

and dont forget about gettig them to enforce the steps rule

Donegal deserved to win but Armagh were awful. Falling back in to all the old habits I thought they had moved away from this year (Louth match excepted).

The manner of the defeat against a Donegal who will get much better is hard to take. I'd no longer be confident of an Ulster final let alone hoping for something more. 

having saw down Fermanagh and antrim they should be making it with bit to spare.

In fairness I was maybe a little raw after the match but I am not as confident as I was before yesterday

Not saying you are one of them, but Armagh fans have unrealistic expectations for this crop of players. The team is in a better place than it was but there's  still a way to go to get to Derry's level. Is McGeeney the man, I'm not sure but I don't think there is a queue for the job.  Rian O'Neill I understand has had issues outside of the game and is being eased back in. Talking of unrealistic expectations though the fans have placed too much on his shoulders and indeed Oisin's before him. Maybe just let them play football they both are class acts on their day. It was strange I'd say that the best club team in the county didn't have one starter.

this is it in a nutshell. Our fans think we are a top 4/5 team when in reality we are far from it

How exactly are we far from a top 4/5 team. We've proven against Galway and Derry in the last 2 seasons that we are on a par with those 2 sides. Arguably should have beaten Derry last season and beat Galway in the group game. Last Sunday was undoubtedly a blow and would make you reevaluate whether we have learned anything from other recent close defeats. I think we are outside the top 3 at the minute but that can easily change on the basis of one result. Our season will be defined by the Ulster championship this year as I don't think many are realistically expecting us to win the All Ireland.

In my view it would be nice to see us just throw off the shackles and give it a go. Irrespective of whether we actually win anything if we can produce football like the 2022 back door campaign I'd be more than satisfied with that. Plus it actually suits our best players to take this approach anyway as the reality is that we've been losing tight games playing the cautious, cagey stuff anyway. 

your laast paragragh sums it up. If we played to our capabilites and threw off the shackles then we could reach the AISF. As it is, despite recent QF results we arent close. We dont play good football. We cannot close out games or win big games at CP. We dont have a midfield and we lack that real top quality forward who can guarantee you at least 5/6 points in the big big games a la Clifford or McGuigan

I couldn't argue with any of that but if we opened up and kicked the ball inside more regularly to 2 inside forwards I think we would be closer. And if not then at least we would have something to get behind. We have enough good kickers of the ball to play this style and make us less predictable. 

Clifford is a generational player so we don't need to have one of those as long as we have enough other good forwards which I firmly believe that we do. The obsession with risk free football and making every game an arm wrestle might help make us competitive but it won't actually help us win anything.   

for me Rian ONeill is a problem. First up, we wont win anything without him playing but the question is where does he play best??? He could be our forward to score 6/7/8 a game but you lose what he can bring out the field. Turbo is decent but in big games he doesnt have it. Or at least he hasnt shown it yet anyway

I personally think Armagh don't have enough scoring threat, even though there seems to be a belief that they have great forwards.
Rian ONeill has the potential to be that marquee forward, but he's a confidence player and focuses too much on the physical side of the game rather than the football side. In saying all of that, for me he could be best suited to a half forward type role and given the freedom of the park. Winning ball, running at defences, taking long range frees and scores. But the temperament needs to be right.

The tell tale sign on the true level of this Armagh side is the Ulster Final last year imo. Derry were a bit of a shambles, didn't play well, had the worst possible week leading up to an Ulster final and Armagh still couldn't beat us. Derry won that game on penalties, but it should never have got to that stage. Derry still had the mental strength to keep it together for penalties even given everything that had gone on....it really was set up for Armagh and they couldn't take advantage.
So say what you want about McGeeney, but that comes down to the quality of the players in my view.
I have a feeling that when ever McGeeney does go, Armagh might only then realise that he over-achieved with the players available. But all of that is and outside view in, so I could well be wrong.

I think Armagh are a top 8/10 side - just teetering on that line between Div 1/2. Could give anyone a game, but ultimately dont have enough to seriously challenge Dublin/Kerry and hopefully Derry.
They are in that Tyrone/Monaghan/Mayo/Roscommon bracket of teams imo.

Hard to disagree in all that you said. Hopefully rian has his head screwed on and concentrates on playing as that's what we need him doing

Donegal deserved to win but Armagh were awful. Falling back in to all the old habits I thought they had moved away from this year (Louth match excepted).

The manner of the defeat against a Donegal who will get much better is hard to take. I'd no longer be confident of an Ulster final let alone hoping for something more. 

having saw down Fermanagh and antrim they should be making it with bit to spare.

In fairness I was maybe a little raw after the match but I am not as confident as I was before yesterday

Not saying you are one of them, but Armagh fans have unrealistic expectations for this crop of players. The team is in a better place than it was but there's  still a way to go to get to Derry's level. Is McGeeney the man, I'm not sure but I don't think there is a queue for the job.  Rian O'Neill I understand has had issues outside of the game and is being eased back in. Talking of unrealistic expectations though the fans have placed too much on his shoulders and indeed Oisin's before him. Maybe just let them play football they both are class acts on their day. It was strange I'd say that the best club team in the county didn't have one starter.

this is it in a nutshell. Our fans think we are a top 4/5 team when in reality we are far from it

How exactly are we far from a top 4/5 team. We've proven against Galway and Derry in the last 2 seasons that we are on a par with those 2 sides. Arguably should have beaten Derry last season and beat Galway in the group game. Last Sunday was undoubtedly a blow and would make you reevaluate whether we have learned anything from other recent close defeats. I think we are outside the top 3 at the minute but that can easily change on the basis of one result. Our season will be defined by the Ulster championship this year as I don't think many are realistically expecting us to win the All Ireland.

In my view it would be nice to see us just throw off the shackles and give it a go. Irrespective of whether we actually win anything if we can produce football like the 2022 back door campaign I'd be more than satisfied with that. Plus it actually suits our best players to take this approach anyway as the reality is that we've been losing tight games playing the cautious, cagey stuff anyway.   

your laast paragragh sums it up. If we played to our capabilites and threw off the shackles then we could reach the AISF. As it is, despite recent QF results we arent close. We dont play good football. We cannot close out games or win big games at CP. We dont have a midfield and we lack that real top quality forward who can guarantee you at least 5/6 points in the big big games a la Clifford or McGuigan

I couldn't argue with any of that but if we opened up and kicked the ball inside more regularly to 2 inside forwards I think we would be closer. And if not then at least we would have something to get behind. We have enough good kickers of the ball to play this style and make us less predictable. 

Clifford is a generational player so we don't need to have one of those as long as we have enough other good forwards which I firmly believe that we do. The obsession with risk free football and making every game an arm wrestle might help make us competitive but it won't actually help us win anything.     

for me Rian ONeill is a problem. First up, we wont win anything without him playing but the question is where does he play best??? He could be our forward to score 6/7/8 a game but you lose what he can bring out the field. Turbo is decent but in big games he doesnt have it. Or at least he hasnt shown it yet anyway