Messages

Adams won that hands down.

Kenny exposed on cronyism.  Adams nailed him on it.

Martin had a meltdown when Celia Larkin was mentioned and didn't know what to say - nailed on cronyism.

Thought Adams completely bossed it on the housing situation, pointing out the government's role in NAMA. Not only did Adams destroy the 3 other leaders, he utterly destroyed Miriam O'Callaghan on her salary and her fabrications.

Burton was probably the second best on the night as she didn't make as big an idiot of herself as previously.

You would have to be an absolute simpleton to think Martin came out of that at all well, he had the worst showing of all.

The Ulster side of the draw is very lopsided.

Tyrone last year's U21 AI champs.
Cavan who won the three previous and were on the Ulster minor final last year.
Derry who won an Ulster minor title last year.
Donegal who have been in the last two Ulster u21 finals and contested an AI minor final 2 years ago.

Monaghan should make the final on their side of the draw but you would suspect they would start underdogs against any of the other four teams in the final.

Tyrone are a team suited to dry football and dry underfoot conditions. If the wet, wintery conditions suit any team then it won't be Tyrone.

No dobut it will be sweep sweep on the timewasting and cynicism here.

The sheer irony of a Tyrone fan complaining about this!

If you have no interest in this competition (which you clearly don't) then don't watch it and don't bore us with your snide  comments.

The irony ain't on this side of the table.

The irony is on the people who want to sweep away the suggestion or notion of cynicism when there isn't really a tangible Ulster presence they can blame it on.

As an aside, Kerry are probably an even more cynical side than Tyrone if the last two seasons are anything to go by.

No dobut it will be sweep sweep on the timewasting and cynicism here.

UCD kicked another 3/4 wides after kicking their 2 late points. They kept going. Only one being cynical is you.

Best team won. It was a poor spectacle, but the conditions were never going to allow anything else.

Sweep, sweep.

No dobut it will be sweep sweep on the timewasting and cynicism here.

Martin Penrose served a ban in the 2013 AI semi-final.

It seems that the Free State media are giving Noonan a free pass on ignoring sexual child abuse allegation.

Has Senator Mairia Cahill any comment to make on a Government Minister ignoring child sex abuse claims?

Amazing the free state media's contrast in reporting between the IRA's handling of a dissident republican's claim of sexual abuse in a state where security forces and juducial system were not trusted by the nationalist community in an area out of the jurisdiction of the 26.

And Michael Noonan not wanting to do anything about child sex abuse claims.

Fine Gael - the party willing to empower dodgy business men like Dennis O'Brien and child sex offenders in whichever way it can.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/michael-noonan-didnt-want-to-know-about-sex-abuse-claims-382178.html

Personally think the aura of Crossmaglen Rangers invinvibility  which imo carried them over the line in some tight games may not be what it was. Don't think clubs are terrified of  them (and are mentally beaten before game) as much anymore which maybe is the difference between winning and losing in tight games. Imo of course.

A great club all the same.

They are round long enough to know that some days you get the refereeing decisions going your way  (AISF some years ago in Navan versus Kilmacud) and days you don't.

Whatever about teams being like that in Armagh to an extent I would not think that teams in the provincial or AI series would be beaten before the game has started.  We lost an AI semi final by a point to a team who were in the final 2 years ago and have 4-5 seasoned county players.  They only went ahead of us with 7 minutes to go and we would have been out of sight if we had taken our chances in the first half that we created. There's a fair good chance they will win the final. They played very well and got their tactics spot on in the second half but if a few things had been different we would be in the AI final now and people would be eulogizing about us and making us red hot favourites to win it out. 

This group is an evolving one.  There are 7 players who played Saturday played championship with me and I quit playing in 2005.  The young lads coming through had added an extra pep to the step of the older players.  The one thing the young lads have that a few recent additions to the squad don't have is size,  3-4 of them a 6 ft plus and they are all good ball players. Give these lads a season at senior league football and we will know if they have the cajones for the battle.  If they do great,  if they don't well the next group up will have to show their credentials.  I don't know if teams where ever 'terrified' of us but we simply have an extraordinary level of self belief that we will not give up and Saturday once again showed that.  We will be back and we will win our 7th and we will beat Nemo's record but when I'm not sure.

Why did it take them so long to introduce McKenna when Moran was lording midfield for the whole of the second half?

Do you think that if a Cross man was in charge of the county team that they would get a much bigger commitment from the Crossmaglen players?

The Cross contender to manage is Tony McEntee. If he was the Armagh manager the Cross players and a few more would be upping their commitment.

In a way you can understand that players who aren't getting regular playing time would rather be with their clubs and would be feeling a lot of pressure from them to ditch the county, particularly when they are down so many first choice players through being unavailable

True of all clubs - i accept that might be the point you are making

If every Cross player made himself available for Armagh at the minute, I would speculate that they would have 11 on the county panel - Hearty, Hughes, Rushe, McKeown, Morgan, Aaron Kernan, Hanratty, Oisin O'Neill, Tony Kernan, Clarke and Carragher. Of those players I would say Hearty, Morgan, two Kernans and Clarke would be definite starters and I think Carragher, Hughes and O'Neill would be pushing hard for places as well and would see involvement. The likes of Rushe, McKeown and Hanratty would probably be more squad depth and would struggle to get minutes. Now, I know Hearty and Aaron Kernan have retired so fair enough but I do think that the success and dedication to the club has serious repercussions for the county team in Armagh.

I think we are struggling for a top flight keeper. The most convincing contender since Hearty was Geohegan but I am not sure if he is available. But Hearty was creaking in his last days in the Armagh jersey. Too many mistakes and bad decisions. Cannot see how you would make him a starter.
I agree that Rushe and O'Neill should be called up. It might be a bit early for them, especially O'Neill but being around the set up can't do any harm as long as they are allowed to play for the clubs when the club season gets going.
Aaron is retired. Get used to it. Clarke is not in the running for the time being. 
Hanratty is tried and tested but at county level, failed the test.
Hughes, McKeown & Carragher are worth a call especially the first 2 when we are light on defenders.
Morgan is a cert but Tony is at a stage where he might decide to let it go

I still don't think there is a better keeper in Armagh than Hearty. If Armagh had a decent keeper they would have made an All Ireland semi-final in 2014. It's not a position that requires any real fitness, his save against Douglas in the first half was very good on Saturday. Maybe it's more of the malaise of goalkeeping options in Armagh but I would think he is the best option still available having seen the incumbents since he retired.

Hanratty might be tried and tested but from the squads and team lists I've seen from Armagh this year, they only seem to have two actual midfielders int he squad - Findon and Rafferty.

As for the club thing, I think a lot more pressure would be exerted on the Cross lads than say for any other club team with county players. If they have 10-11 key players away from their clubs for the guts of 7-8 months with the county side, then they are going to be exerting a lot more pressure on the lads who are maybe not guaranteed starters. It seems that some of those lads just aren't prepared to bide their time.

I think we saw it to a degree last season with Tyrone when Dwayne Quinn and PJ Lavery left the squad, there was clearly some pressure on these lads from the club I feel. Lavery had actually been involved in most of the league games but I don't think he started any of them, Quinn only played against Cork but he was the first choice reserve corner back and was only an injury of suspension away from getting in. These two lads weren't willing to bide their time and at the end of the day it's up to the individual. Tyrone can withstand these kind of withdrawals but I don't think Armagh can.

In recent years, Armagh seem to have had a lot of the better players in the county not giving the commitment. I do think the potential is there for them to do much better than they have been. I don't think 2014 was a fluke run for them at all, they just happened to have the vast bulk of the best players fit and committed and were sticking to a good gameplan.

When I look at the Ulster teams over the last 5/6 years I feel that Derry, Armagh and Down should have been doing an awful lot better with the players in the county. There has been something wrong with these counties in terms of players not putting the commitment in that the other Ulster counties have got. You can point to Down and say that some of those players were getting on which they were and I think the future for them looks bleak as the players aren't there for them now.

Look at Down after 2010 for instance, it was probably that team's peak but they still had another window of 3-4 years where they could have got an Ulster Championship but a lot of those lads just seemed to pack it in after that, some of them with injury and others like they just had given the ghost up.

Guys like Rodgers, Gordon, McComiskey, King, Hughes, Rafferty (all top players)played very little county football after 2010 and as well as losing Marty Clarke it really put an end to them. Some of them were injuries but others seemed to just be commitment. Maybe it's harder for Ulster teams to see the light at the end of the tunnel because to win an Ulster title is so difficult. Down, Fermanagh, Donegal and Derry all made All Ireland semi-finals in the 2001-2010 period yet were never able to win a provincial title during that time. I think that might be a reason why some of these guys downed tools and called an early day on it.

Thought the Cross Castlebar game was superb.

Barry Moran lorded it for Castlebar in the middle of the park for Castlebar and they just dominated Cross in the second half. For me, the game was lost on the line for Cross, why did they leave it until injury time to introduce McKenna when Moran was so influential. He's the only player in the entire Cross squad with the size to match or negate Moran. If Cross could have broken an even or even 40% of the primary ball then they would have won such was the joy Clarke was having inside when the ball was going in.

Once again the old start a melee proved the surefire way to effectively run down the clock, that's not a slant on Castlebar either. Any team that has a serious notion of being successful at that level have to know how to bend the rules to their advantage, but when are referees going to clamp down on it and add the time on? It's the only way to combat and deter this which is becoming all the more commonplace.

How many of those Cross boys will join up with the Armagh panel now? Young O'Neill looks a big talent and Rushe at full back is definitely one to look out for. Actually felt sorry for Rushe today, very much a victim of the Cross arrogance/virtuousness in that he was left one on one on the edge of the square today with a guy who had a 3 or 4 inch advantage of him, maybe that's more of an indication of the modern game that I'm bemoaning that but I felt he did well under the circumstances.

Castlebar should win the final comfortably.

Ballyboden looked really average in the other semi.

Ballyboden have more better players then Castebar in my opinion. They played as bady as could yesterday with 14 men and won.

They have a former inter county footballer of the year, multiple formerDublin minors and u21s , former Dublin senior footballers ,and a number of senior inter county hurlers who are very good footballers with inter county levels of fitness to call on. Boden will have someone to shut down Durkan.

They will win the final in my opinion. I wasn't massively impressed with the quality of either game. I thought both of them were largely crap.

I don't think so, Ballyboden have been blessed to get past both Portlaoise and Clonmel to date. They seem to have a complete lack of players who can put the ball over the bar.

Well said ziggy. No better feeling than winning a championship with your club.

Although Tony is on the wind up, he represents a section of Armagh fans who follow the county team but have next to nothing to do with their clubs. This is probably because armagh club football isn't the most enticing and with the success of late 90s-late 00s there has been an emergence of Armagh fan who don't follow the club scene at all (not that you can blame them). Go to any club championship match in armagh you will see feck all compared to other counties but when the county side are playing you'll always get a fair sized crowd home or away. A lot of those people take for granted the importance of the club

I don't believe I am doing this but Tony is different from a lot of the New Age Armagh fans in that he has a history of supporting the county and his club in Tir na nOg.  The one thing I would say though is he is opinions are reflective of many of the New Age fans as well.  The thing is that we are streets ahead of the rest of the clubs in what we are doing and the players, no doubt, see that at first hand.  It is very difficult for some of them to commit when they don't see the level of preparation, coaching etc that they expect.  The one thing I would say though is that history has shown that Cross players have been the bedrock of most of the successful Armagh teams throughout history and to doubt our clubs commitment to the Armagh cause is false and insulting.  Every team that has won a national title for Armagh has had a minimum 2 Cross men.  We have provided more county All Stars than any other cub.  We have provided our facilities for the use of the county on many occasions and when they had no ground we were the club that were able to keep that side of the thing running.  We are no different in many ways than any other club who would do that if they were able to but to suggest that we don't support the county is wrong.

Do you think that if a Cross man was in charge of the county team that they would get a much bigger commitment from the Crossmaglen players?

In a way you can understand that players who aren't getting regular playing time would rather be with their clubs and would be feeling a lot of pressure from them to ditch the county, particularly when they are down so many first choice players through being unavailable.

If every Cross player made himself available for Armagh at the minute, I would speculate that they would have 11 on the county panel - Hearty, Hughes, Rushe, McKeown, Morgan, Aaron Kernan, Hanratty, Oisin O'Neill, Tony Kernan, Clarke and Carragher. Of those players I would say Hearty, Morgan, two Kernans and Clarke would be definite starters and I think Carragher, Hughes and O'Neill would be pushing hard for places as well and would see involvement. The likes of Rushe, McKeown and Hanratty would probably be more squad depth and would struggle to get minutes. Now, I know Hearty and Aaron Kernan have retired so fair enough but I do think that the success and dedication to the club has serious repercussions for the county team in Armagh.

How cynical were the Connaught team and management. Unbelievable. Pulling, mouthing and scummy behaviour. Shame. Good side.

Is a win at all costs mantra acceptable as long as it's not a team from the black north?

I don't have an issue with the tactics employed, the team who is serious about winning is going to do what it takes to win and will take advantage of the rules or a weak match official in doing so.

However I do have a problem with the blatant double standards afforded by commentators, media and fans which only wish to associate these tactics and incidents with Ulster sides. There would be a completely different reaction of hysteria on here tonight I'm sure if it was Cross who were the perpetrators.

Cross will be mightily disappointed. A goal in the first half and that would have been game over. Dunno what cbar did to Clarke in the second half but he hardly touched leather.
Referee did his best to drag cbar back into it. No consistency in his calls. One call for over carrying when it was all square stands out. Also young fella penalised for lifting off the ground when he clearly had his boot under the ball.

The over carrying was a correct call. 7 steps when the ref blew

If you are talking about the no3 towards the sideline for the pickup - then the ref got it spot on. The full back did great to win the ball, but it was pretty stupid of him to then pick it clean off the ground.

I only saw the 2nd half. Jamie Clarke got less than 3 touches

The pickup one I think was Paul Hughes who had his foot under the ball and the Mayo lad came in and kicked the ball as he was going down on it. Kinsella gave the free in when really it should have been a free out.

I don't think Kinsella was too bad, Cross had a few minor decisions go against them which in the end did prove telling but I think they should have more questions to ask of their management team in some of the decisions made.

Did Carragher go off injured early today?