Armagh Club football & hurling

[illdecide]

Well i can see what they're trying to do and some teams may well be up for it but i suspect teams will not want to show their hand to teams they're gonna meet 2 maybe 3 more times that season. Personally i'm not sure what to make of it!!! i can see the positives from it and as BC says i can see some negatives too.

The reserve set up is a good step but to me it's set up to help the bigger clubs and the smaller clubs may well suffer

Is it true too that U21 championship is being played August to September

[Goats Do Shave]

Yeah... it's going to be an end of season run off.

[illdecide]

Armagh match off tonight

[crossfire]

Cross beat Cullyhanna 2-8 to 0-8 in under 21 final in Killeavy.
Cullyhanna didn't score from play.

[centrefield]

was the match any good??cross at full strength..ie clarke playing etc meant to get down to it however the occasion completly slipped my mind!

[crossfire]

was the match any good??cross at full strength..ie clarke playing etc meant to get down to it however the occasion completly slipped my mind!

It was quite a good competive game with Cross only pulling away in the last 10 to 15 minutes.
Cross fielded a very strong team with 6 of them, including Jamie, having played senior championship football this season.
Another 6 are in the senior panel.
There was a vey big crowd at it, probably 3 to 4 hundred.

[bigfrank]

any reports on the armagh v antrim game 2day??? poor start to the great new set up at the athletic grounds.....

[CountyMan]

Grugan had a very good game once again in the HF line seems to be cementing a name for himself there, the MOTM for me was Dyas, had a fantastic game probaly one of the best he's had in an armagh jersey. The HB line was probably the best functioning unit of the team, Deckie McKenna played a solid game, Charlie Vernon played in CH and was solid enough too with a fantastic point in the first half. Paul duffy was playing in Corner Back and was bombing forward alot that helped armagh but he forgot about his defensive duties for most of the game and was struggling to stay with his man alot. MF had its moments Lavery mainly. A lot of the forwards were very quiet with Murtagh having a stinker, mcparland couldnt really get into the game and niether could  O' Rourke.

[charlie stubbs]

Grugan had a very good game once again in the HF line seems to be cementing a name for himself there, the MOTM for me was Dyas, had a fantastic game probaly one of the best he's had in an armagh jersey. The HB line was probably the best functioning unit of the team, Deckie McKenna played a solid game, Charlie Vernon played in CH and was solid enough too with a fantastic point in the first half. Paul duffy was playing in Corner Back and was bombing forward alot that helped armagh but he forgot about his defensive duties for most of the game and was struggling to stay with his man alot. MF had its moments Lavery mainly. A lot of the forwards were very quiet with Murtagh having a stinker, mcparland couldnt really get into the game and niether could  O' Rourke.

thought vernon was very loose marking and everything good antrim did went through niblock.  Though a big fan of grugan, thought he was quiet enough in 2nd half?

[CountyMan]

thought vernon was very loose marking and everything good antrim did went through niblock.  Though a big fan of grugan, thought he was quiet enough in 2nd half?

Well that would be true at times he did fall lose from his man but so did paul duffy. Grugan was abit quiter in the second half but the scores he hit made up for it.

[The Kid]

Agree with most written on here about the game today, thought dyas and grugan were the two standout performers with duffy and mc kenna showing well at times also. Antrim seemed to get their scores alot easier than we did but then again they had a near full strength team on display. Murtagh had a bit of a nightmare and michéal o'rourke wasnt much better, and as for feeney at the end when armagh were a goal down with a min left and he tries to score a point himself instead of putting the ball in, what was going through his head? if I'm correct we still have a chance of making the semi's if we rack up a decent score against st marys on wed night, hopefully that would give a few regulars , ie mc donnell and mc keever a bit more game time before the league

[usa07]

I hear that clown murtagh was way out of his depth today!!

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

Under 21 Championship final - St Patrick's 0-8 Crossmaglen Rangers 2-8

The under 21 championship which commenced in April 2010 finally reached its conclusion on Sunday last however there was to be no fairytale ending for the Cullyhanna side who were defeated by a well drilled Crossmaglen outfit at Killeavy. After a somewhat tempestuous opening with tackles flying, it was Crossmaglen who drew first blood when a lobbing effort dropped beyond the reach of the St Pat's netminder for a goal. Despite this horrific opening, St Pat's soon responded and a foul on Tony Donnelly allowed Kieran Hoey to open the Cullyhanna scoring after 5 minutes. A minute later an inspirational run from full back Colm Hoey ended in a Crossmaglen player dragging the former county minor to the ground only for Robbie Tasker to strike the ball perfectly over the bar from all of 40 yards. Kieran Hoey and Jamie Clarke exchanged further frees to leave the score 1-1 to 0-3. After 17 minutes, St Pat's finally managed to supply Robbie Tasker with quality ball however he was immediately fouled on gaining possession. Kieran Hoey made no mistake with the resultant free kick to draw the sides level and Cullyhanna went ahead soon after from a Robbie Tasker free. Although Cullyhanna had managed to gain a stranglehold on the match at this stage, their dominance was soon broken as Cross swept forward in a bright attacking movement. Despite some dubious handpasses in the build-up, a penalty was awarded following a clear foul and Armagh star Jamie Clarke made no mistake in dispatching the ball to the net from 11 metres. Cross forged 3 ahead with a Jamie Clarke point but in  first half injury time, a Gary McCooey free kick found Tasker well. Unsurprisingly given what had been happening throughout the half, Robbie was again unceremiously fouled but dusted himself down to score the free.

With the halftime score standing at St Pat's 0-6 Crossmaglen 2-2, the Cullyhanna faithful had every right to feel that they were well in the match. Although the quality of the match had not been high, Cullyhanna had slightly the better of the exchanges but trailed due to the clinical manner in which Crossmaglen made each attack count.

As so often happens, the opening minutes of the second half were to prove crucial and it was in this period that Crossmaglen laid the foundations for their victory. In the 10 minutes following half-time the Rangers achieved almost total dominance of possession and displayed remarkable accuracy to kick 5 unanswered points, 2 of which were from play. Having extended their advantage to seven, Crossmaglen were never likely to falter and so it proved as Cullyhanna never really looked like reducing their deficit by a significant margin. However it might all have been so difficult had Kieran Hoey not seen his powerful shot ricochet off the Crossmaglen post following a superb driving run while there were only four points between the teams. To be fair to the St Pat's side, they did put their opponents under pressure in the final quarter however Crossmaglen defended superbly to ensure that their goal remained in tact. Two Robbie Tasker pointed frees were all Cullyhanna could muster in reply as Crossmaglen ran out worthy victors by 2-8 to 0-8 and we warmly congratulate them on their success.

Although this was not to be Cullyhanna's day, they can take pride in their efforts throughout the competition. Given the haphazard manner in which fixtures arrived it was difficult for the side to build up any momentum. While no doubt the entire team will be disappointed in the second half performance, Pearse Casey, Colm Hoey and Kieran Hoey can take great pride in their individual displays.

Starting XV: D McArdle; E McArdle, C Hoey, S O'Neill; G McCooey, N McShane, M Murray; G McCooey, P Casey; K Nugent, T Donnelly, K Hoey (0-3), T Donnelly, K Nugent; K McEvoy, R Tasker (0-5), R McMahon. Subs Used: K McCooey, A McCooey, R O'Neill

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

was the match any good??cross at full strength..ie clarke playing etc meant to get down to it however the occasion completly slipped my mind!

It was quite a good competive game with Cross only pulling away in the last 10 to 15 minutes.
Cross fielded a very strong team with 6 of them, including Jamie, having played senior championship football this season.
Another 6 are in the senior panel.
There was a vey big crowd at it, probably 3 to 4 hundred.

It was a brutally poor match I thought. Cross didn't score in the last 15 minutes, it was their 6 unanswered points in the 3rd quarter which won them the match. Rangers were much the better team on the day, our lads didn't do themselves justice at all.

[Applesisapples]

I hear that clown murtagh was way out of his depth today!!

A bit unfair to call him a clown. It was surprising though that he wasn't taken off until 60/65 minutes. Full back line was a disaster. Paul Duffy was nowhere to be seen as McGourty pulled the strings and Toner was too slow always behind his man and didn't look like a full back. I don't think too many of the absentees have much to worry about. Grugan was the shining star and Clarke and McParland deserved longer on the pitch than some others. Dyas played well. We had had noone to win the dirty ball around the middle. Lavery was up against three men all the time. McEvoy in goals was poor, the goal seemed to shatter any confidence he had. Having said all that the quality of ball O'Rourke and Murtagh were getting was also poor.