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As an Armagh Ive no real complaints with the ref. Yeah there were a couple of decisions I felt were wrong, but thats football. Dyas was daft and probably deserved to be sent off which was a shame as he was having a good game. Mallon was very good, his best yet I think. Clarke is unreal, Id have loved him to have been about 8/9 years ago. Some of Toners fielding was sensational. Finnian was good but he doesnt half give away some silly frees. Overall, although we lost, Im quite optimistic about the future of Armagh football

Living in England I didnt get to see much football this year, but from what I have read and heard from parents in Lurgan, I cant see Armagh winning this one sadly. A 5/6 point loss is what Im predicting

Form is temporary, class is permanent.
S Cav, S O'Neill, E Mulligan etc etc have still got it.  One bad day and all yous think is doom and gloom.
Get yer heads out of yer arses, Tyrone will have more of a say than Kildare this year come business end of the season.  Would Kerry, Dublin, Cork rather face Tyrone or Kildare?  Division 2 finals mean nothing, Tyrone are still the most feared team in Ireland.  Mickey Harte has more management skill in his little finger than any other manager full-stop.  We'll walk Ulster and Sam is ours if we get the breaks.

and youre telling others to get their head out their arses? Agood team yes, potentially very good. The most feared team in Irealnd? Not by a long shot

A great player he was. Unfortunately, he'll be remembered for this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDLHctNelXo

Much the same way in that Stephen O'Neill is remembered for ending John Toal's career.

a good comeback, though I dont think either should be remembered for these two things

Celtic had the title won on merit, there's no sane argument against that and they're playing the best football in the SPL.
The 2 cups have been thrown away.

I agree with you that Celtic won the title on merit and I don't see how anybody could deny that.  However the SPL is always a straight battle between Celtic and Rangers. When one of them goes into administration (losing 10 points and seeing their form totally deteriorate post admin) then the other simply has to win the title. Not winning the league in such circumstances would be an incredible failure. I regard it as rather meaningless, winning a 1 horse race is hardly worth crowing about. And yes, I do think Rangers titles won by financial cheating were tainted, no question.

Celtic had the league handed to them on a plate and should have won the treble. They didn't even have to beat Rangers to win either cup and yet they still couldn't manage it. It's not been a good season for Celtic and the antics of Lennon have done the club no favours either. Don't just take my word for it, I have heard and read many Celtic supporters saying the guys behaviour is an embarrasment. I didn't see the Wenger incident you mentioned earlier but it wouldn't be the first time he has behaved poorly. Then again I don't recall Wenger marching onto parks to shout abuse at refs or use a website to re tweet an opinion that the officials are "crooked" against his club and that they should move to another league. Not that a lot of us Scotland would be against such a move.

Lennon could learn a lot from somebody like Mickey Harte, a man who always handles himself in a dignified manner post match.

lennon is not the first, nor will he be the last manager in scotland to act in such a way. Pressley done it last year and walter smith has previous for it also. The reason the press are so up in arms about it is because he is who he is. Simple. As for celtic fans saying he is an embarrassment. Myself and many others support him to the hilt. I dont see you talking about people with that opinion

Id agree that 2005 was our best year. Ive never yet watched that gam,e again though, how we managed to grasp defeat from the jaws of victory is beyond me

I can understand why lads might have no interest in celtic or SPL, but what annoys me more is the irish fellas who love to put the boot into celtic, saying how shite they are, etc etc. Most of my mates have no interest in celtic, yet they 'support' chelsea, man u, liverpool. Fair enough if you like a club, but most of these people run around in jerseys, talking about 'we' won today, what ties have they got with these clubs really?I' love to see the day that the whole Sky TV and other deals fall down around the EPL and watch it all go bust, as it will happen. Over priced tickets, over priced players, crazy transfer deals, players diving everywhere.

Yes the SPL is dung, no doubt. What i would say is that the EPL is also shite. It has plenty of top class players, big stadiums, big crowds and it looks good in highlights. I gave up watching full EPL games years ago, it would put me to sleep. But then again I don't support any EPL team, I love GAA and i think soccer is generally pish to watch. I love champions league finals and big world cup games, especially with ireland involved, but apart from the tension provided by big games, its dire to watch.

I'm a huge celtic fan, but i'm different than most. Have been to maybe 25 games in scotland, but very few in recent years. I've read loads of books on their history and certain players who played long before i was, jimmy mcgrory, jimmy quinn, the john thompson story etc. I happened to be teaching the irish famine to a first year class a while back and I couldn't resist adding in the celtic story when we started to talk about what happened with emigration afterwards.
I generally only watch the bbc highlights every wkend of their games and i'm happy, it's all i need to see. I suppose i'm more an avid fan of the club and what it stands for, more so than a soccer mad follower of the team.

This was no tainted title, i'm proud of lenny and the lads, the had the league won long before rangers shite their load. Yes they fucked up in not getting the treble, but i think a hearts-hibs final will add good hype to the game, and I look forward to hibs hopefully breaking their 110 year duck.

a great post mate

a true great. He will be missed

people who say the title is tainted are pandering to the bullshit being presented as reporting by the likes of craig burley and mark hately. What they fail to realsie is that celtic went on a 20 game win streak overturning a 15 point deficit into a 4 point lead BEFORE they got a deduction. That is league winning form by anyones standards.

that armagh relegated then?

I think lennon got the lineup wrong. That said the ref had a shocker, oir was he just doing his job. I cant believe I, along with many others, was naieve enough to believe we would actually win the title at ipox

will the game be televised

I know a lot is said on the football field and in the stands that is banter and meant to wind people up, but the whole british, go back up north rubbish has become increasingly noticable since the demise of the celtic tiger. I work mainly in the south and the number of times i've been told to go back home or what are you doing down here taking our jobs has increased dramatically in the last 4 years. I wouldn't mind but i only live 15 minutes from Dundalk.

I don't think some people quite understand the sacrifices some players and clubs have had to endure in the last 40 years across the border just to play the game and keep clubs in existence. To some it may seem trivial to be called a British B******d but after years of harrassment and finally now, after gaining some parity and acceptance from both sides of the community in the north as to our Irishness, culture and sporting heritage, ignorant or ill-educated individuals feel it is acceptable to casually mouth off what they like just because we are from certain counties.

Maybe if they as a child going to school in Armagh like me, on my first day were told not to take a GAA bag for fear of getting a kicking at the mall they might think differently. Or if they were held regularly for over an hour at a checkpoint on the way to a game just because the local police knew it was on. Never mind all the clubs that have been vandalised or burnt only for insurance companies to turn round and say its not covered. Not to mention gaa members that have been killed solely because they were an easy target and identifiable.

I'm not jumping to the defence of McKeever and I certainly think the county board should have dealt with it differently, but too many people on here are trying to belittle the significance of what is happening within the GAA society and the clear division between the north and south that has escalated in recent years. This matter needs to be dealt with urgently before it causes serious disharmony within the GAA as a whole.

After what the GAA community have endured to help the games survive and flourish in the north all we ask from the rest of the country is a bit of respect and to be treated and looked upon equally.

excellent post. I can certainly relate to the dont take a GAA bag as I come form a very divided town

Just seen this, so sad. I was still at Clann Eireann when Kieran was manager, great guy. Incidentally I was at that League Final, sat in the nally stand

6 of Dublin's 8 scores came from frees how many would you say were actually fouls?

None (couldn't see the last free decision though).

Barry Cahill should have got red for that challenge on Karl Lacey.

To be honest, the game wasn't as bad as people are making out.  It wasn't the greatest AI semi, but it was intense and tough.  Donegal's amount of hand-passing and their defensive game wasn't any worse than what alot of other teams do.  It worked until the last few minutes, but it was their failure to get quick ball into their forward line that was their downfall in the end. 

Tyrone v Kerry in 2003 was 10 times worse than this game.

what have you got against dublin? Every post has has been antidublin