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So Much media coverage over a handbag incident... And that is what it was apart from Jamie being kicked on the ground and that was disgraceful.

I was at the match and to be honest Armagh bossed it:

I was in the stand but seeing videos on Armaghh GAA forum the Cavan players came in pushing and shoving and started the scuffle ( and that is all it was)..... Please excuse the PC brigade

If anything it did add to the pre match tension and while the teams paraded the noise from both supporters was great to hear.

Despite the scuffle at the start I watched and every player at the end - man for man- shuck their opponents hands. How does this comapre with rugby spear man tackles and soccers over-hyped divers....... They stood toe to toe representing their jersey and wanting to win and indeed played hard..... But this was a great GAA contest

Armagh Player per player

On other boards there have been some critics of MCEvoy but he did really well I thought under pressure and with great varied kickouts.

FBL -  Morgan and andy were excedllent. Charlie had slow start but was great after 20 mins and cleared the line for the goal

HBL - Bremdy. CMK and MShields did brilliant. We couldn't keep Aaron on bench all day so Mark was shepherd crooked but did nothing wrong.... Great defensive disply

MF - Toner was IMMENSE and for me MOTM..... Findon did ok but Ethan Showed that he should be there in 2nd half

HFL.  I have been a critic of Dyas but today he showed up everywhere... Eating my hat as he was an outlet and didn't give a stray pass. McVerry put in a hell of a shift and must have been dead on his legs when taken off as OPTA STATS would show him covering everywhere i would say.  Caoloan was just brilliant too. His defender was so cocky pre- match but is he now -NO........ And to score the goal from that angle.... SUPERB

FFL.....

Jamie was beaten, shirt pulled and sttod upon but showed why in top 3 fwds in Ireland. Only downside is he tried to get goal of season by beating ever back while goal at mercy...... but who am i to criticise
Soupy - not best days as missed two golden goal chances. He is a confidence player and on another day he could have scored 2-5... Wouldn't it be worse if we didn't have a p[layer to get into these spaces.... Always works his socks off and will give everything. His day will come

Ethan..... FF not his position. When moved to MF he was immense. He is strong, young, athletic and his 45 showed he can point them from 60 yards out.... He is the future and could be better than Mr McGrane..... His catch to set up Aaron for goal chance was something else.


To think - if best 15 start we can have Harold, McKeown, Shields, Mallon, Soupy and much much more talent on bench is sending good vibes

The future is bright the future is orange

To those saying the caveat we only beat Cavan..... We didn't beat them we destroyed them... If we took scores we would have won by 10 - 15

Although betaen by double scores it does not tell the story of the Match.

The first 20 mins Armagh were not at the races. Defenders second to every ball and Monaghan finding space and much sharper.

In saying that during that time Armagh missed a peno and 2 great goal opportunities where a different bounce would have left the forward clear.... Soupy actually got the bounce but couldn't hold onto it.. In saying that the Monagahan goalie was excellent....

Am not greatly concerned as this was a big match for a lot of inexperinced players... A few of the backs are getting a run out whereas up until now they haven't and the experience will do no harm...... Shields looked great the last day and tonight seems to do a hamstring.... To think that by the end Caolan Raffterty was having to play full back and Brian Mallon centre half shows how depleted the squad is.

After 20 mins we cam alive and started to play - B Mallon made a big difference and we got back to within a point after the break and controlled the game for 20 mins. During this time we missed a number of clear pointing chances and Ethan a good goal chance ....

Tonight midfield was hot and cold but see a good partnership developing.... Great experience for both Ethan and stephen and they are putting in a bucketful of work and getting stuck in.

In forwards tonight showed that some of them are not there yet. Jamie has to get his sparkle back after his break. Caolan put in a good shift before moving back and made some great runs while employed at centre half. Soupie didn't fire like last week but lets not give up yet.

Brian Mallon seems to work much better as an impact sub

In all - by the scoreboard we were trounced -  but for a bit of luck, better finishing and a less cat ref we didn't perform as badly  as the score suggests... For the last 15 of the 1st half  and first 20  of the 2nd half we dominated IMVHO....... The first 20 minutes were terrible though.

Laois man booed off?

It was all very Pantomimish......

It was done in jest and he even gave us a wink and a smile

I forgot to add that Mark Shields is proving to be a very able deputy for Aaron Kernan. Is there room for both in the team?

Yes - Ethan is like a young Paul MCGrane and is still only 20 I think.... The more game time the better and hope he stars the championship to get the big game experiences....

If Championship was in 3 weeks time - from tonight the following players have nailed down their starting places

McEvoy
Andy Mallon
Mark Shields
Ethan and Mr Harold
Tony K
Caolan
Jamie
Stefan

Still a good few players vying for a starting berth to come back from injury:

Ciaran McK
Charlie
Brendy
Paul McKeown
James Morgan
Aaron
et al....

Up until tonight I was a bit dubious about Stefan campbell and in the first 5 mins he wasn't great. And then he came to life.

Was for me clearly MOTM. His scoring was brilliant especially the one over the left shoulder. His work rate was immense and he bursted a gut up until the very end. At one stage he tracked back 70 yards at full sprint to get a tackle in and won the ball. When he moved out the field for the last 10 his passing was top notch too......

Glad to hold my hands up and say Stefan proved me very wrong tonight.

Harold was having a great game before he got the clip on the ankle and Andy marshalled the defence superbly.

Still some silly mistakes and turnovers and we won so easily despite wining a lot less of the break ball in the middle of the park. We still need a terrier type player to get stuck in to the mix and win the breaking ball.... One obvious player in the half forward line tonight ran his halfcircles, once again, to avoid having to try to make a tackle -Je despair

A few players tonight who once again showed they are off the mark. Caolan Rafferty may have gave the ball away a few times but he is not one of them as he showed once again that he is a great outlet and has real potential.

McVerry showed well when he came on too I thought - would like to see him given a longer cameo.

All in all a great win......... But as one other poster said - was there even 100 Laois supporters there.

Unlaois the Orange Indeed

0h and Leitrim beat a team that it took us a replay and extra time to beat last year.

Paddy, thanks indeed for your services to Armagh football.

Armagh lose to Tyrone   --- fair enough

But asides

Galway beat Roscommon by something like 14 pts

Armagh play Roscommon and lose

Antrim play Galway and win

Armagh county board thank POR for services to football in our county (is this a JOKE)



FFS is there any pride in the jersey.. The whole picture is a scandal.

Seriously disheartened tonight after seeing what Antrim can do to a team that knocked out our conquerers so easily

Where did it all go wrong George?

You obviously weren't there on the 20th July 2003.

Think that was the date

Fcuk, fcuk & double fcuk

In a spirit of total annoyance I can't go now ..... so


#(hashtag)# ................. hope it thunderstorms again like the last time with heavy rain and lightening and ye all get soaked

Tyrone 13 had MOTM by far. Must have scored 1-5 alone and set up every other score.

How Armagh management did  not get someone else on this lad is unbelievable. And to to think he is only 5-6 and run the show. Is he the new canavan?

sorry duffleking but thats how i saw it. Opinions are purely subjective and that's why we have a forum.

 dyas was bloody brilliant today, i think even maybe the best i've seen him play for county. he was central in a lot of stuff today [/quote]

If you really watched the game. there are so many tackles that he could go in for like McKeever and put in a tackle but does not. He is not physical enough for this standard IMVHO. Doesn't bring enough to the table.

I could go on but thats not what i'm here for

For what it is worth - my Armagh ratings for the Match

McEvoy..... 7 - solid. Decent kick outs. No mistakes. From what i can remember no real crunching saves to make. Did well

Andy..... 6.5 - Did ok but Penrose was maybe their moist dangerous forward. Forrayed forward a few times and two bad wides. Had his hands full for the game.

B. Donaghy - 6.5 - He marked I think 3 different players during the game. At two stages was fantastic at getting the ball out when harried by 3 Tyrone men.  Never noticed him as prominent as usual but maybe that is a good thing for a back not to be noticed

Decky.... - 6 -  Taken off early. Didn't notice that his man was running rampant but management made the decision to take him off after 20 mins.

Aaron. - 6.5-  Was doing ok but came off early with injury. We missed 2 left handed frees in second half he would have kicked over. Missed when gone.

C. McK - 7- Never noticed him much. he kept Mulligan quiet when moved onto him. Felt he was a bit wasted today.

Finn Mo - 7.5-  Yeah a good score but Harte was anonymous until Finn went off and only after that exerted his influence. Was he yellow carded (can't rememebr) and taken off before he was sent off. Felt he did really well keeping their danger man quiet. was surprised.

Mal. - 5.5 - Not his best day in the office. Lost possession a few times and didn't stamp his mark on the game. Didn't really feature in midfield

Toner - 7.5 - 8  - Was brilliant. best day in a long time in the Armagh shirt. he won midfield out of all the midfielders despite cavanagh having a good game there. Put in some ground work ... Excellent display.

Forker - 7 - Brilliant first half and took goal well. Seemed to go missing in second half

Dyas - 5 - Don't get this at all. Went in for 0 50/50 tackles. Sent off stupidly. Give away 2 really bad passes. Yes he made 2 interceptions but not county standard IMHO

Anto..- 7- grew into the game. Made some great tackles and passes in the second half. Fantastic work rate and deserves his game for the next day

Rafferty - 7 - Good strong hands and won some great balls. Delivered well but don't think he took many scores which we need our forwards to do. Strong lad and showed great potential.

Mallon - 7.5 -  A good game. His best championship game for a long time. Won a lot of balls and delivered well. Took a few scores. demanded balls played into him and looked like a leader in the forward line

Jamie - 8 - Won every ball that came in and took some great scores from impossible angles. He was unmarkable and a breath of fresh air to watch. Would be higher only he missed a few shots from impossible angles to when the ball could have been worked into a better scoring position. But when he scores them from there too - who am i to argue?


Subs------

P.Duff - 7.5 - Really good game. Roved all over the field. Made 3 telling interceptions. 2 of them dispossesing as Tyrone man when running with the ball. Good game

McParland. - 7- showed well and looks strong on the ball. Kicked 2 bad wides but scored too. Great potential

Kingham - 5- For a big man didn't win one ball that went in. yes was double marked but did he even touch the ball? Not at this level for me.

Charles - 7- Showed brilliantly when came on and won over two telling interceptions. Strong and should have been on from the start unless he was unfit to play the 70. Major influence when on. His should, dispossession and launch of attack with 10 minutes to go was warrior like. Score much higher but he was only on for 15 mins

Hanratty - 7 -  Some previous poster said in review that he is not to this standard. What planes does this person live on. In 15 minutes he got hold of the ball more than Dyas and had a considerably big say in the proceedings. he gets about and does much needful donkey work. Surley a place for him on the team

You could do worse than Brendy Donaghy for MOTM at 33/1.

Been best player for Armagh this year and if he does a stight job on Stephen O'Neill that'll bound to be noticed. Also he breaks forward well and i think he is one on the shortlist to be noticed by the pundits.

was in the Chinese in the Moy tonight and your big lad with all the tattoos was taking the orders like  be damned.....

Anyway in walks Plunkett donaghy with his lovely curls flowing behind him. He asked for a chip butty and when tattoo man said they don't do chip butty's he asked for a fish supper with curry. Anyway, he told me that Micky Harte was on the phone looking to know if he would come out of retirement for next week. He said he might but would check if Eugene McKenna was free first of all.

 


P.S. Chris.....  just put in the garden (Lawn) has made himself available for selection.....

Tyrone for Sam 2012 (PMSLROFSMFHOIMHO)