Messages

[Crossmaglen becoming like the UUP]

Crossmaglen becoming like the UUP, a once powerful institution in terminal decline with a new leader every year.

Cross want an All Ireland

[What happens when the Kernans retire]

Kilcoo won fair and square over the 2 games they whadthe strongest squad available and that was the key.  Yesterday it was clear that the last 4 years really took their toll on a lot of bodies. Outside of the players unavailable there were a few playing with injuries and they were hampered.  Anyway best of luck to Kilcoo. Ballinderry will be hard to beat and are really focused.  Glenswilly are the one's who are really laughing here.  They should beat roslea and will face a team who has played exceptionally physical games and the body can only do so much.

For us next year is next year.  We will have players back and maybe players gone but we will be there and I have a feeling that we will have a big focus.  Defeat hurts hard.

Are you running out of talent? What happens when the Kernans retire? It is still a sad fact that the rest of Armagh football has some way to go to catch you up.

The same question was asked about the Mc Entees

I'm asking a serious question, who are the players to watch for? Or will Cross be in the Ulster doldrums for a few years?

Watch out for the O'Neills, currently playing under 14 and under 16.

[What happens when the Kernans retire]

Kilcoo won fair and square over the 2 games they whadthe strongest squad available and that was the key.  Yesterday it was clear that the last 4 years really took their toll on a lot of bodies. Outside of the players unavailable there were a few playing with injuries and they were hampered.  Anyway best of luck to Kilcoo. Ballinderry will be hard to beat and are really focused.  Glenswilly are the one's who are really laughing here.  They should beat roslea and will face a team who has played exceptionally physical games and the body can only do so much.

For us next year is next year.  We will have players back and maybe players gone but we will be there and I have a feeling that we will have a big focus.  Defeat hurts hard.

Are you running out of talent? What happens when the Kernans retire? It is still a sad fact that the rest of Armagh football has some way to go to catch you up.

The same question was asked about the Mc Entees

 I am aware that Kevin Heffernan, St Vincents, won 15 SFC medals in Football and 6 in Hurling which is amazing, but Paul lifted his 17th  Armagh SFC medal with Crossmaglen last sunday which could be a record in the one code.

Anyone know of someone who has surpassed that.?

[a stones throw]

The same Rosetta area where you see kids carrying hurls & wearing GAA tops every day?

Maybe it has changed since I lived there
There was no way I was gonna wear my Tyrone shirt down here despite the red hand symbol they all love.
http://goo.gl/maps/1UFc0

what ground would the floodlights in the distance be as a matter of interest

Ravenhill. You'll also notice that area is a stones throw from cherryvale which is where Bredagh play.

Hmmm

Crossmaglens championship record since1996 is as follows.

Played  142.

Won      118.

Drew        13.

Lost          11.

[must be only a handfull of teams in Ireland that have actually beat this Cross team, who are they?]

Would have had the Down final as a 50/50 game so not that big a shock, though I had fancied Burren myself, so fair play to Kilcoo.

Agree that it should be another formality for Cross but Kilcoo will probably pose a lot more problems than last time round; can't see Cross getting another 11 point lead.

As already mentioned Cross have the ability to rack up a big score in games very quickly. The key to competing with that is to limit their big scores during that dominance they always get in a game. Easier said that done, must be only a handfull of teams in Ireland that have actually beat this Cross team, who are they?

We were beat in Armagh by Pearse Ogs in 2009.

In Ulster by Errigal Ciaran in 97 and 02, Blayney in 2000, Enniskillen Gaels in 01, Loup in 03, and Bellaghy in 05,

In the All Ireland series by Portlaoise in 2005, St Vincents in 2008, Kilmacud Crokes in 2009, and St Brigids in 2013.

RIP Niall.
Very sad news.
Condolences to his family, friends, and hurling colleagues.

Offaly in 1960 and 1961.

Down were reputed to be the greatest team of all time to that point and proved it by handing heavy defeats to Kerry in those years.  Down had the innovative roving forwards, overlapping half-backs and they 'broke' the ball at midfield. 

Offaly held those Down forwards to 1-10 (1960 semi-final drawn game), 1-7 (1960 replay) and 3-6 (1961 Final, when losing by a single point).

Agree.. That was a brilliant Offaly team and would have won an all Ireland in any other era apart from the mid/late 70's

Dermot Early was not Roscommon's first all star

[63 years of failure]

In fairness to James Horano he has built a bomb proof Mayo team.  They are driven by 63 years of failure culminating in todays power show versus Donegal. Not only do I see them beating Dublin in the final well, I think we would all love to see them hammering Kerry if the Kingdom can get there.  The next two months Mayo will be living the dream and as Tyrone supporters we wish them well.  Yes its a shame the way they treated Mortimer but just a few months on I dont think they are missing him, they are delivering some of the greatest performances ever seen in Croke Park.  Well done!

62!

61

What was the final score.?

This debate has gone off course.

The fact remains that some Kerry players "over celebrated" a qualifier win over Tyrone, so obviously previous defeats hurt them badly.

[Joe is like an Armagh version of Art Mc Rory]

What's the betting he'll return in a year or two to manager Armagh.Joe is like an Armagh version of Art Mc Rory.

Can't remember Art Mc Rory winning an all Ireland title with Tyrone.

I can only repeat what I said the last time we debated this:

I couldn't agree more, Ard-Rí. The Mary Poppins movement within the game, and especially within the media, has chipped away at the ethos of the game for decades, until it has reached the point where it is accepted without question that the game needs to be made more "attractive", that the only legitimate footballers are forwards, that defenders are some sort of criminal underclass whose excesses need to be curbed and that physical clashes are to be eliminated completely.

There is a widespread assumption that the biggest problem in the game is "cynical" fouling. You can't listen to a sports bulletin or read any news report on gaelic football without coming across the awful "cynical" cliché. This rules-revision circus has now institutionalised this nonsensical concept, with proposals emerging to penalise "deliberate and cynical" fouling with a different set of sanctions to those applied to other fouls.

A foul is a foul. The penalty is a free. Repeated fouling attracts a series of heavier sanctions. That's how it stands now. What, exactly, is wrong with that? Only two things, in my opinion – the failure or refusal of referees to apply the rules as written and their failure to recognise or punish the real cynicism - the cynical diving and cheating that seeks to mislead them. The solution to that is not to rewrite the rules, it is to fix the refereeing problem.

What is a cynical foul? Does the definition depend on the attitude of the fouler? How is this to be determined? Or is it to be based on the position on the pitch, or the time of the game, or the reaction of the player fouled (and we all know how that influences referees)? To illustrate the nonsense of this – try to define a non-cynical foul.

The biggest problem with this is not that it's addressing the wrong problem, but that it will worsen the biggest problem in the game – diving, cheating and injury-feigning. It is a diver's charter.

Not only that, but a proposal is now emerging to penalise the famous, imaginary "third man tackle", which, as we have shown here before, does not exist in the rules. There is nothing in the rules that says I must move out of the path of any player, whether he is in possession or not. (There is also nothing that says I may not move into his path, as long as I don't charge him, even though referees have been penalising this in a freelance capacity for decades now). And that's for good reason in (what was) a physical contact game.

If this proposal is approved, we will not only see misinterpretation, as players are penalised for standing their ground, but we'll see players altering course to ensure they are "fouled" (see players chasing the garryowen in rugby) and, of course, more diving.

These people are going to ruin our game. We need to fix the real problems of the game – diving, cheating and the growing namby-pambification of it – not make them worse in some sort of misguided, media-appeasing, hotch-potch of populist claptrap disguised as serious analysis and reform.

I would add two things:

1. My solution to the problem of the score-preventing rugby tackle in the last minute is a refinement of Ard-Rí's, that eliminates the need for the referee to judge the likelihood of a score. I'd penalise that type of foul (which is easily definable - two arms/hands on the opponent or a deliberate trip) with a 13m free in front of the posts or, if it happens anywhere inside the 13m line, with a penalty. This to apply no matter where on the field the foul occurs and, of course, no matter what stage of the game. I am always conscious of the danger of further encouraging diving (the biggest problem in the game - did I mention that?) but I think if you put two arms on the opponent, knowing the penalty, you deserve to be penalised, dive or not. The simulated-trip type of dive is more of a problem but, ultimately, referees have to referee.

2. I do think dissent and disrespect for referees is a problem. Of course, many referees richly earn that disrespect. Nevertheless, the games can't function without a culture of acceptance of refereeing decisions and this problem won't just persist – it will continually worsen if it's not tackled. We've learned that from observing soccer – the level of abuse and backchat to referees has escalated from zero thirty years ago to what we see now. We have to learn the solution from rugby.

Great post, Hardy