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The nine year split was over a parish league sending off?

Or is that where Humphries skims over the details?

Losing their GAA-mad father so close to finally winning the All Ireland must have been very hard for the Canavans.

Some of you are very easily offended.

A very competitive game for the time of year, but the refereeing was absolutely atrocious. 

Despite the result, I still think Joe Kernan will be much happier than Brian McIver.  Most of Donegal's big guns appeared on the field of play at some stage in this contest but they still struggled to beat a barely recognisable Armagh outfit.  Peadar Toal looks as if he could certainly be one of the new faces who could command a regular place on the Armagh starting fifteen this season and that big ginger fella (McClelland, I think you call him) could well be the next Francie Bellew. 

If Donegal had great difficulty beating Armagh's second string side today, what chance do they have overturning a full strength Armagh team in the summer?

As with last year against Down, I don't think we should bother turning up!

Seriously though, and obviously we'll know a little more after the league, in Ballybofey I'd say we've a good chance. McGrane's goal and Hearty's late save were all that separated the teams last season. Apart from the 2004 Ulster Final (when the players got carried away after beating Tyrone) and the 2005 replay indiscipline disgrace, the games have usually been fairly tight, although Armagh have generally looked like they're just that wee bit too good for Donegal. Despite the appearance of a few veteran Donegal players today, I don't know how many of them will play against Armagh in the championship. The likes of Roper and Adrian Sweeney didn't feature too much last year, while Hegarty and Toye didn't cover themselves in glory last year either, so the opportunities may be there for others. McIver went with a lot of youth last season, so I can't see him completely reverting back to the boys who were coasting a bit in the last days under McEniff. Finding a midfield partner for Neil Gallagher and reasonably settled forward six should the main aim for the league, along with avoiding relegation to Division 3. We said the same things this time last year though!

Anyway, I think Donegal were in a no-win situation today given Armagh's experimentation. Avoiding defeat and getting decent games from the likes of McMenamin, Donoghue and Cassidy (at midfield) were probably the main aims. Its was a scrappy McKenna Cup game in January with a shite referee, and it will be forgotten in a few days. And maybe Armagh's "third-string" players are not that bad!

I could only listen on Highland, but it sounded like Donegal made hard work of that! Will many of those Armagh players be close to a starting spot?

On the bright side, McMenamin did well.

Was Cassidy's tackle that bad?

They were a fair bad buch all the same i wouldn't be as generous as you in my opinions of any of them
Any views on this american takeover bid?

Didn't think I was particularly generous to any of them, although some may disagree with my opinion of Diouf!

I don't know very much about the American takeover, except the little bit on the BBC website, so I don't really have an opinion. We'll see how it plays out.

Who do ye think was the worst Liverpool player over the last decade or so

Traore?


Bruno Cheyrou?


Phill Babb?



Diouf?


Kromkamp?


or does anyone remember

Erik Meijer

There's been far far worse than that bunch. I think Douff, apart from being a bit of a p***k, is an excellent player, but he just never showed it for Liverpool. The only really great game I remember him having was when he destroyed Silvestre in the 2003 League Cup Final.

Traore has some good qualities, but the overall package just isn't good enough for top class football. He had a decent runs of matches, but a disastrous mistake was never far off. I thought similarly of Westerveld, although in his position, he was better than Traore. A lot of days he was brilliant, but he didn't seem to have the concentration to be a top-class keeper.

Babb threw his career away. Meijer seemed to be thrilled just to be at a club like Liverpool, and although he was very limited, he always gave everything. I remember him having a very good game at Old Trafford one year when Fowler and Owen were both injured (the day Patrik Berger scored the 35 yard free kick).

Cheyrou was always injured, but never seemed to get to grips with the speed and physicality of the English game. Kromkamp was probably mainly bought to cover Finnan and Gerrard, but didn't do too badly in a lot of the games, IMO.

As for really poor players over the last decade, how about Jean Michel Ferri or Sean Dundee? Vladimir Smicer, for a very skillful player,  was disappointing overall.

Biggest waste of undoubted talent - Jari Litmanen (through no fault of his own) or Stan Collymore.

He was bilge for 117 minutes - can there be any more humiliating experience than having to be bailed out by Djimi Traore? Then . . .

I remember Dudek spilling the one that hit his knees early in the second half, just before Gerrard's goal, but I don't Dudek had much to do with the fact that Liverpool were three down.

We're all highly amused when Fowler holds up the five fingers to United fans. Steven Gerrard has admitted in his autobiography to a deep-seated antipathy to United (although he is nothing but highly complementary about the vast majority of individual United players and staff, including Neville). This stuff goes both ways.

I always loved this picture though...

Signs of decline at Stamford Bridge mean even if the Reds are able to shrug the Londoners aside, their ultimate target is still way in the distance.

It think it says more about Chelsea that a decline is when we are still challanging for 4 trophies!

Mourinho afterwards tried to explain away his side's slump by labelling Liverpool route one. Hmm. Potenciometro, chaleira and preto, Jose. That's Portuguese for pot, kettle and black.

Completly out of context. He stated that Rafa wasn't stupid, that he knew Chelsea's weakness in the air at the back and exploited it.

`
They were all predicting last week after the Arsenal games that Liverpool's progress had reached an impasse under Rafa. Now they're probably blowing Mourinho's problems up out of all proportion. One or two players back, a good win or two, and this shite will blow over for Chelsea as well.

FFS

Free header from eight yards in the third minute of injury time! Where the hell was the marking?

Online coverage:  http://www.myp2p.eu/Matches/Match2.htm

You'll have to download the relevant programme for whichever choice you make e.g. PPMate, PPLive, Sopcast etc

all quite on the liverpool jokes aren't we

Yes we are 'quite'.

Edited to suggest that that was probably a crap joke, and want I really want to say but can't think of a witty way of putting it is that Liverpool's season highlight was probably today. Out of 3 competitions already, and very unlikely in the 4th...and it's only January.

Meeowwww!

Don't know if its been posted already, but the Donegal V Down game has been moved from McCumhaill Park to Ballyshannon.

http://www.sportsmanager.ie/t2.php?county_id=9&sport_id=1&countyid=9&sportid=1&newsstory=1&ID=798

Great result today didn't see it live was working but looking forward to match of the day i hear Riise had a cracker hit the cross bar

He was very unlucky. Hit it from about 40 yards!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bifdp0mRsww

Nice to finally take some points off Chelsea and it shows the hysteria after the Arsenal games up for what it was. 

Chelsea look to have some big problems though. If United beat Arsenal tomorrow, I'd say its over. I can't see them letting a nine point lead slip over 14 games given the form they're in.