Armagh vs Laois

[T Fearon]

Successful counties are those where club football is relegated to the margins and the County side quite rightly is the priority.I agree with the Tyrone approach,whether it be the Mc Kenna Cup or All Ireland,the aim is to win the competition.

[imtommygunn]

You really don't understand the gaa at all do you.

I think I see where this debate is heading. If we moved Cross into Louth then we could get on with discussing how Armagh can stop the rot.

That or ban club football. Should be outlawed

[T Fearon]

If the two performances to date had been overseen by Paddy O'Rourke there'd be riots

[T Fearon]

Also read an interview with Sean Cavanagh,at end of 2008 season.He said after the draw with Down in opening round of Ulster that year,people were telling him the County team would do nothing that season and advised him to concentrate on the club.That sums it up.County Football is the priority in other counties,but not Armagh

[smelmoth]

laois looked by far the better team, ref got a couple of decision wrong especially a black card for a Laois man dragging down the armagh man late on. Armagh to me have got discipline issues, Findon with late hots and forker with too much mouth, bit of discipline is needed as these men would seen the line int he heat of the Ulster championship

Bit of an exaggeration to say that Laois were by far the better team. They had a bit of extra composure and got a bit of the rub of the green with the 3 shots hitting the woodwork. Two evenly poor teams in my opinion with a fair chance that one or both will get relegated.

You do not have to tell anyone in Armagh that they have discipline problems with Findon and Forker. To be fair to Forker he has been improving but is still prone to losing it. Does not help though the amount of times the assistant manager comes on to mouth at the referee.

Armagh were poor once again. Quality performances in the mcgeeney era are like hen' s pension plans. In some respects we don't have the players. We don't have the players to compete in the first division but we do have the players to defeat the likes of Meath and laois who are both poor sides. Vernon, aidan forker, soupy and McKenna are performing. The only players willing to take responsibility. Honourable mentions for shields (doing ok and working his way back to fitness), mcparland and the 2 new defenders. Mcparland makes the runs, nobody hits the pass and management take mcparland off. There isn't great strength on the bench. Quick fire substitutions or selection changes are not the answer. This isn't where management should be looking. Look at themselves. Look at the positioning of the players and the tactics for getting the ball into the full forwards in positions where they score or with support players close on hand. Look at some options for winning break ball in the middle. Look at which players are best suited for the sweeper role. Look at when to play a sweeper and when to push up. Look at player discipline.

The big lie here is that Armagh are in year 2 of a 5 year plan. What is the plan? How are we doing? What are the consequences of failure? But most importantly, McGeeney himself is falling short. Are we to wait 5 years for him to grasp the basics

[redzone]

I'm sure if the cross lads had been playing it would be different. Esp t kernan. Judge mcgeeny when he has a full hand

[T Fearon]

18 months ago we ran Donegal to a point in the AI Quarter final,and drawing with Monaghan and beating Tyrone,Riscommon and Meath,all away from home.Since then the decline has been rapid and alarming with not one truly impressive performance in league or Championship.

[smelmoth]

I'm sure if the cross lads had been playing it would be different. Esp t kernan. Judge mcgeeny when he has a full hand

Which Cross lads?

[redzone]

Tony kernan, hanratty, that defender who always fouls,can't mind his name

[brokencrossbar1]

Tony fishing for a Cross row?  The notion that Cross players not being available is a red herring. If the majority of non-Cross Armagh supporters are to believed only 2-3 Cross players would be playing if available, TK, James Morgan and Jamie. Jamie is gone so he can't be considered. TK and James would obviously add to the team but they are only 2 players. I can't comment on the games as I haven't seen them but the results speak for themselves. From watching club football over the last few years in the county the thing that is apparent to me is that there is simply a lack of talent in the county. Outside of ourselves no club has made any real impact at provincial level. No club has provided a significant challenge to us in the senior in Armagh. I don't know what the quality of coaching that is going on in some clubs but it does not seem to be transferring to quality players coming through to the senior team.
Outside of Clann Eireann and to a lesser extent Cullyhanna no club seems to be making real moves at underage. The next step of bringing that to senior is the difficult one. Pearse Ogs and Harps had possibly as strong underage structures for a number of years and only broke through once. The thing is other clubs were pushing us. Time to stop looking to us to fix your problems and accept that the quality isn't what it was and take responsibility.

[DuffleKing]

Tony fishing for a Cross row?  The notion that Cross players not being available is a red herring. If the majority of non-Cross Armagh supporters are to believed only 2-3 Cross players would be playing if available, TK, James Morgan and Jamie. Jamie is gone so he can't be considered. TK and James would obviously add to the team but they are only 2 players. I can't comment on the games as I haven't seen them but the results speak for themselves. From watching club football over the last few years in the county the thing that is apparent to me is that there is simply a lack of talent in the county. Outside of ourselves no club has made any real impact at provincial level. No club has provided a significant challenge to us in the senior in Armagh. I don't know what the quality of coaching that is going on in some clubs but it does not seem to be transferring to quality players coming through to the senior team.
Outside of Clann Eireann and to a lesser extent Cullyhanna no club seems to be making real moves at underage. The next step of bringing that to senior is the difficult one. Pearse Ogs and Harps had possibly as strong underage structures for a number of years and only broke through once. The thing is other clubs were pushing us. Time to stop looking to us to fix your problems and accept that the quality isn't what it was and take responsibility.

I hope every club man in the county wouldn't use "your" when referring to Armagh.

[brokencrossbar1]

Tony fishing for a Cross row?  The notion that Cross players not being available is a red herring. If the majority of non-Cross Armagh supporters are to believed only 2-3 Cross players would be playing if available, TK, James Morgan and Jamie. Jamie is gone so he can't be considered. TK and James would obviously add to the team but they are only 2 players. I can't comment on the games as I haven't seen them but the results speak for themselves. From watching club football over the last few years in the county the thing that is apparent to me is that there is simply a lack of talent in the county. Outside of ourselves no club has made any real impact at provincial level. No club has provided a significant challenge to us in the senior in Armagh. I don't know what the quality of coaching that is going on in some clubs but it does not seem to be transferring to quality players coming through to the senior team.
Outside of Clann Eireann and to a lesser extent Cullyhanna no club seems to be making real moves at underage. The next step of bringing that to senior is the difficult one. Pearse Ogs and Harps had possibly as strong underage structures for a number of years and only broke through once. The thing is other clubs were pushing us. Time to stop looking to us to fix your problems and accept that the quality isn't what it was and take responsibility.

I hope every club man in the county wouldn't use "your" when referring to Armagh.

Duffleking, Armagh football is where it is because of the lack of quality within the clubs generally which transfers up to a lack of quality in the county team. In the last 4-5 years I have seen the majority of the clubs in action in Armagh and there is a serious low standard in comparison for instance to Monaghan. I can do a direct comparison as I have coached teams in both counties and the difference level is dramatic. Your average Monaghan junior club would beat a high level intermediate club in Armagh. The lie that is being thrown out by people is that there are lots of 'regulars' missing on this Armagh team. There will be 4-5 additions maximum. The thing is that most counties play the early league games with 3-4 regulars missing due to one reason or another. The depth in the Armagh squad is not there and I lay that blame not at the door of the management (who btw are not exempt from criticism for tactical naivety and team preparation) but at the doors of the clubs throughout the county so it, in my opinion, is 'their' problem which then ultimately becomes 'our' problem.

[seafoid]

Laois are a decent team. Meath are less good but Armagh can still win matches

[mackers]

The lie that is being thrown out by people is that there are lots of 'regulars' missing on this Armagh team. There will be 4-5 additions maximum. The thing is that most counties play the early league games with 3-4 regulars missing due to one reason or another. The depth in the Armagh squad is not there and I lay that blame not at the door of the management (who btw are not exempt from criticism for tactical naivety and team preparation) but at the doors of the clubs throughout the county so it, in my opinion, is 'their' problem which then ultimately becomes 'our' problem.

In a previous post on this thread I had listed four backs, Andy Mallon, Mickey Murray, Ciaran McKeever, & James Morgan who were missing.  I actually forgot about Brendan Donaghy, there's five members of our starting team.  The only backs that are playing at the minute that will make (or indeed have made) our championship team will be Vernon and Shields, although young Heffron looks promising in fairness.
Our forwards are missing Dyas, TK, Andrew Murnin, Caolan Rafferty and Jamie Clarke.  Those guys are all starters also, not squad players.  That's two thirds of our team.  Clarke and Rafferty won't be back this year so discount them out of the equation if you want but there are more than 3-4 players missing at the minute, I make that 8 players that we would hope will be playing come championship time.
I wouldn't use this as a get out of jail card for McGeeney but at the same time it can't be ignored.
You are 100% right though when you say we have no depth of squad.  There are lads togging out at the minute who are not the required standard at all.

[Hound]

I was impressed by the Laois forwards. Armagh created more scoring chances, but Laois were more efficient. 4 different Laois lads scored from 40 yards. They played the ref better too