Messages

Don't think the 7 quid should have been a major surprise, sure that was the cost last year.

Saffron sam, you're really reaching there! We'll forgive him for one typo in an article as he is quoting Kernan at the time.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it's a learning curve for McDonnell as well, don't want to be over critical, and I don't give a stuff if we lost all three McKenna Cup games but you have to be fair to the guys that are being tried out.
You have three group games, in each of those games you play eight or nine untested players, alongside the more established stars. That would give you a chance to see maybe ten to fifteen new players over say two games each in a fairer environment. It would also give the more established stars some game time before the League.

Read this yesterday, another brilliant article by a well-informed and articulate journalist. Compare and contrast this with that tube Liam Hayes's article.

BC1, if that had of happened to you in your playing career, how would you have felt? I mean would you have felt happy making your county debut on that team? Would you have felt that you had been given a chance to show management how well you could play? (i'm not looking to argue, just looking your informed opinion).

I'm not criticising McDonnell for playing young players, just for throwing too many of them in the deep end at the one time.

Ciaran McKeever is Armagh's best back by a country mile, think his distribution is top notch along with his tackling and man-to-man marking, but he HAS to cut the dirt out, he now has been playing senior inter-county football for two full years and should have got sense by now.

For me Indiana's post on the first page hits the nail on the head, it's very unfair on a lot of the new Armagh players yesterday. Derry played the perfect McKenna cup team for me, with about 5 or 6 established stars mixed in through the new breed to give them a chance. G Loughran and B Mallon were the only ones to take anything out of the game yesterday. Gerard McCoy showed some potential but wasn't his man the MOTM? Worth another look though.
As stated by other posters the lack of a scoring threat undid us last year and nothing that happened yesterday (aside from the return of B Mallon) lifts the gloom. I was hanging a lot of my hopes on Peadar Toal but he seems cursed with injuries.

Dunno whether somebody has mentioned him before, but Jim McDonald in Cornation Street does my head in "so he does", with his big broad accent and the way he finishes his sentences "so I do". Glad to see the back of the balax!! 

Minder, you're entitled to your opinion, but I think you're on a loser here, Finnan is one of the more consistent performers and indeed, with all the talk of the rotation policy, he was one of the few players not to be rotated up to his injury.
Chrisowc, I would gladly sacrifice the players you have listed to keep Mascherano!
One phrase sums up Momo for me, "his second touch is always a tackle".

Good man Minder, have a dig at the player who actually created our only goal, certainly Torres finished well but only for Finnan getting in behind the defence it wouldn't have been scored. Very disappointinmg result and Premier League is gone for the season.

Surprised to see A O'Rourke back in the panel but McDonnell did say that anyone who was playing to a high standard in club football would be given a chance. Jury's out though, a very good footballer, would he still have the pace for the inter-county football? He never was the quickest.

I hear Pints' two Cullyhanna "friends", Mackin and McKeever are unavailable through injury. A reliable source told me that Ronan Clarke has been tried out in midfield in a couple of unofficial warm-up matches, interesting to see whether McDonnell will persist with this on Sunday.

The setlists are listed on www.backstreets.com for anybody going tomorrow night. "Waiting on a sunny day" has made it onto the list the last two nights, hope it makes it to Belfast. Bruce has recovered from a heavy cold and the shows are going down very well. Can't wait!!

It's an argument that will go on and on.............and it's absolutely pointless. Sunday will show who the better team is and really that's all that matters.....

You would think the fact that she was female would influence her decision, but a couple of years back I had the misfortune of doing jury service on a case against a guy who indecently assaulted three girls in his locality. The jury was made up of six men and six women. Upon hearing the evidence I decided that this guy was guilty as charged and assumed the six women would agree and send him down the line. To my amazement, five of the women argued his case when we were debating what verdict to give. We had to give an undecided verdict, as foreman of the jury I had to get up and announce the verdict and the victims went into hysterics, he was found guilty in a subsequent court.