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Unbelievable Jeff!

Long, long overdue that bit of luck.

Difficult to get too excited about any of it.

We all know what we currently have is temporary. We all know it's just another intermediate phase on the road to where we inevitably end up.

Eventually, we'll land on a three-tiered system, with full integration of League and Championship, and the compete depreciation of the provincial championship. This will be a roaring success and we'll all wonder why it took so long.

It's just a shame we have to spend these years pissing about to prove concepts and bring enough traditionalists onboard.

But what will be different in this new system? Will there only a league? Or will there be a league and something like what we have now and how will that be better than what we have this year?

After 20 years of tinkering with the championship, we have eventually landed on an abbreviated model of the 'regular' league season followed by knockout 'play-offs' that most other team sports (outside of soccer) have long since adopted. This model makes sense for the AFL, NRL, URC, all the yank sports, etc. - and it'll make sense for the GAA too.

We just have to go through another couple of format iterations before our stand alone leagues and provincial championships can be ditched to give us the consolidated, simplified, standardised intercounty season that Gaelic Football deserves. It's the inevitable and obvious conclusion to all this messing around.

Difficult to get too excited about any of it.

We all know what we currently have is temporary. We all know it's just another intermediate phase on the road to where we inevitably end up.

Eventually, we'll land on a three-tiered system, with full integration of League and Championship, and the compete depreciation of the provincial championship. This will be a roaring success and we'll all wonder why it took so long.

It's just a shame we have to spend these years pissing about to prove concepts and bring enough traditionalists onboard.

Posted this elsewhere, but it took 25 mins to type to it's going here too. Some random thoughts on that game:

There seemed to be a consensus around me in the stand that we were all watching two poor teams. Some basic skill execution was shocking - balls kicked over the sideline, misplaced 5 yard hand passes, dodgy kick outs, really poor wides. While other contenders have been underwhelming in these group games, it's still difficult to see either Armagh or Tyrone going further than the quarter finals without huge improvement.

We're 13 proper games into this season, and it still doesn't look like Armagh are close to finding a winning balance in their brand of football. They remain fine defensively, but I have yet to get a sense that there's any sort of structure or plan going forward. It's all very pedestrian and off the cuff, get the ball to O'Neill in the 'shooting pocket', or take a pot shot, or run down a blind alley. This has been the biggest disappointment of the year.

That red card was in the post all year. Rian has been running around like a grumpy heure giving sneaky digs in pretty much every game to date. He gets an awful lot of abuse himself of course, but that doesn't excuse his own behaviour. This has been his poorest year in an Armagh jersey, and he has capped that by letting everyone down yesterday evening. Someone needs to have a word.

It was a bit mad that Armagh were a desperate fly-hacked clearance away from nicking a draw, despite being largely woeful, and despite playing for about 50 mins with 14 men. A lot of that is down to how nervous a very mediocre Tyrone were on the night, but some of it is also due to the valiant efforts of a few Armagh men. Duffy, Murnin and Grugan put in serious shifts for fellas that must have known they were probably chasing a lost cause.

Would love to know what the plan was on that last 50. Only a goal would do, so why was the ball tipped over the bar? Why was it Rafferty collecting it short, instead of making a nuisance of himself around the square? Tyrone were jittery as shite at that stage, who knows what might have happened with a decent high ball landed in.

Poor enough evening for Aiden Forker in the FB line. Perhaps it's time to give him a swansong back in the forward line? It feels like he is no longer a better defensive solution than bench options like Paddy Burns or Barry McCambridge, and I'd like to think he could add some creativity to the misfiring forward line. Soupy Campbell confirmed again this evening that he provides much more impact off the bench, so there is probably an open spot in the HF line. I think it's worth a try.

Understandable that Armagh dropped off the Tyrone kick-outs when a man down (at least until they went for broke in the last 10 mins). But I didn't understand the plan before that. Some kick-outs were fully pressed, others were sort of pressed with one/two Tyrone man left free, and yet others weren't really pressed at all. It almost looks like some weird hybrid system to keep the opponent guessing - either that, or the intention actually is to fully press but it's just really poorly executed by the players. It's definitely frustrating to watch.

Hard to see where Armagh's season sparks from here. They've looked really flat the last two weeks. Energy levels, concentration, discipline all way down on the Ulster final performance. The optimist in me wants to believe that these group stage games have been sacrificed so that the knock out games can be hit with renewed focus, but that's looking a hard sell right now. It feels like things are just drifting a bit, and a feeble ending to the year is just around the corner. We continue to live in hope though, there's still something there if it all clicked properly.

Finally, any chat about the management is futile at this stage of the year. Sure they could probably be doing some things better, and I'm certain there will be a thorough evaluation of the situation at the end of the season. But I'd caution those in Armagh baying for replacement to be careful what you wish for...

The current group of players didn't just land into McGeeney's lap - over many, many years he has crafted a team that has now reached a level where they are consistently competitive with the best in the country (nowhere near a given for a county like Armagh). In the absence of any sort of conveyor belt of underage talent over the last decade, resources have had to maximised and intercounty players have had to be moulded from what was available. There are men putting in good shifts for Armagh at the top level who probably wouldn't be near intercounty football under any other management - it's from these efforts that the county has its modest amount of squad depth. When the current management team does depart, which may be soon enough, it will very likely precipitate the retirement of up to half a dozen playing stalwarts. Armagh will then enter a rebuilding phase, and with little to shout about recently at underage, school, or club level, it looks not at all unlikely that the only way for the county will be down (or, Down - like in languishing in Div 3 and going nowhere fast). Anyone that thinks Armagh hit the next level just by landing Oisin McConville, or Tony McEntee, or Malachy O'Rourke in on top of the current playing group isn't living in the real world.

Mayo v Dublin in 2006 wasn't bad.

[Re game, think Hall not starting is significant.If we push up on the kickout when he's playing I've seen teams isolate him 1 on 1 and ping kickouts to his man. His physical size puts him at an immediate disadvantage.His exclusion leads me to think we will press more than might have been expected.]

Finding it very difficult to have an interest in the game at all to be honest.
Don't want to bring up the Gallagher thing again but it is the elephant in the room.

Re game, think Hall not starting is significant.
If we push up on the kickout when he's playing I've seen teams isolate him 1 on 1 and ping kickouts to his man. His physical size puts him at an immediate disadvantage.
His exclusion leads me to think we will press more than might have been expected.

Tome will tell

All makes sense. But he's not even on the bench, which would lead you to believe that he has picked up a knock.

There should be another one of these in 20 or so years. I don't see Charles going on like Liz.

Unlikely to make it to 143, alright.

[Literally any other season this Utd team wouldn't be sniffing 4th]

League has been poor overall City have only shaken themselves in the last month and they're going to cruise it again with 90+ points.

Literally any other season this Utd team wouldn't be sniffing 4th Spurs/Liverpool/Chelsea have been an absolute disgrace

United have averaged 1.9 points per game this season. Should that follow through their final five games they will hit ~72 points.

72 points was comfortably enough for a top 4 spot in every one of the last four seasons.

Your statement is shite.

Been a few years since Real properly went for it in the transfer market. Looks like they've taken in more than they paid out over the last three seasons. Run with a relatively small squad too, smaller than Liverpool's for instance. I'd say Mbappe depends on getting Hazard's huge wages off the books.

If the DUP go in to stormont in the morning, are things likely to change? Would the wee 6 have access to any more finances? Genuinely interested to hear?

Open to correction on any of this, but, as I understood it, last year Stormont took an advance from Westminster of a few hundred million to cover costs. Things like covid and inflation were blamed for this need. They then wanted to pay the few hundred million back over ~5 years, so that any cuts necessary to square things up would be more manageable.

Westminster, maybe because the Brits are broke, or because they don't give a shite about the north, or because they want to stick it to the DUP, said nah, you're paying it all back this year. Add in inflation and the hole in the budget jumps another few hundred million.

Health accounts for a massive proportion of all spending and it's already fucked, so can't be cut at all. Education is the other big ticket item and you can't cut too much there either, because kids have to go to school. So the ~£600 million hole gets plugged with deeper cuts in all the other Departments - and with a lot of things just getting axed altogether. 

Completely dysfunctional way to run things, but dysfunction is our specialty up here. Even if funding is restored next year, it will take years to work back from the damages of the 2023 cuts. Some previously funded areas will just have died off altogether, never to return. These are the things that leave us behind our neighbours in the south or elsewhere in western Europe on most important metrics.

Dunno who will start on Sunday but McPartlan deserves another dig at it for his two previous performances. I wouldn't be a big J Hall fan TBH but he has done much better the last few games too and them two probably will start again. I would bench O'Neill and introduce him to the action for the second half or earlier if needed. J Og Burns for me does not deserve to start, he's been injured and was poor enough last week. One thing we do know for starters is the following players will start and fill in the blanks after that...

Rafferty
McKay
Forker
Mackin
McCambridge (injury doubt)
McCabe
Crealey
Grugan
Campbell
Turbitt
Murnin

From the 11 above i expect to see...

McPartlan
Hall
Morgan or J Og Burns (Morgan was out for last weeks game)
O'Neill or Nugent

I think Conor O'Neill is pretty much nailed on when fit these days. Along with Forker, Mackin & JOB in defence.

When all other options are fit, I think it's two max from McKay, McCabe, McCambridge & Morgan. Maybe not quite enough transitional pace and threat going forward to carry too many of those four.

Conor O'Neill nailed on but McKay isn't, are you serious? McKay is one of the first names on the teamsheet.

I think Morgan has to start if fit, he looked really good last year and it would be good to set the tone against Down.

McKay is good no question, and will likely start every game he's fit for this year.

My point is more that O'Neill (and Forker, and Mackin, and Burns) carry with them another dimension going forward. That ability to be a genuine threat at pace on the transition is vital for a team that wants to play like this Armagh team wants to play.

I'm not sure how much of that sort of threat you get from McKay, Morgan, McCambridge, etc. - so I reckon there's a limit to the number of these guys you can carry and still play the type of football you want to play.

Dunno who will start on Sunday but McPartlan deserves another dig at it for his two previous performances. I wouldn't be a big J Hall fan TBH but he has done much better the last few games too and them two probably will start again. I would bench O'Neill and introduce him to the action for the second half or earlier if needed. J Og Burns for me does not deserve to start, he's been injured and was poor enough last week. One thing we do know for starters is the following players will start and fill in the blanks after that...

Rafferty
McKay
Forker
Mackin
McCambridge (injury doubt)
McCabe
Crealey
Grugan
Campbell
Turbitt
Murnin

From the 11 above i expect to see...

McPartlan
Hall
Morgan or J Og Burns (Morgan was out for last weeks game)
O'Neill or Nugent

I think Conor O'Neill is pretty much nailed on when fit these days. Along with Forker, Mackin & JOB in defence.

When all other options are fit, I think it's two max from McKay, McCabe, McCambridge & Morgan. Maybe not quite enough transitional pace and threat going forward to carry too many of those four.

Anything that looks obvious here, Donegal don't look fit enough compared to last year.

They looked like they couldn't give a shite. Perhaps they can hand over their Sam spot to a county that might try.

Decent evening for Armagh. Game won after half an hour. Could afford to drift to the end and give a few men some minutes. Lots to work on, but no point hitting full pace at this stage. Donegal will be another step up.

I'm not sure that the process being hoped for here has anything to do with the DUP. To my mind, the original £62 million is sitting there for this stadium and I'm assuming the GAA will stump up their £15 million. The planning approval is in place.

The extra money is never going to come from Stormont but possibly from another body who are pushing for the Euro bid.

What is it you think the DUP could object to? The release of the £62 million?

Speaking of money ,  I Just heard that  Biden was in the north 17 hours  and it cost £17 million .  Who's paying  for that?   At the same time,  police  numbers are to be reduced . That's a lot of police officers salaries there

17m is   about a  seventh of the 120m (so I hear) of casement cost

It's   funny   That money can be found when  it's  needed , yet they can't give  nurses a raise , nor find money for  kids meals

Madness. Assume that comes from Stormonts budget? Madness.

The figure widely quoted was £7million, not £17million.

That's £7million out of ~£14billion. Or, about 0.05% of annual spend. Some would say that's fairly cheap for getting the leader of the world's largest economy into town for the night.

That's great   

£7m or £17m , it hardly matters. An  absurd amount  of money, and  for what?  So  that some people can stand in the  rain  to wave  at a man in a car with blacked out  windows?

Would love to see a break down of that spend, can't get my head around how you could spend so much for so little time.

Apparently, there were 3000 cops involved. And they didn't just land in Tuesday morning and start throwing a plan together. Very easy to see how costs add up with that number of people involved over a period of weeks (including over a couple of O/T accruing bank holidays).

Anyone so focussed on (relatively minute) cost that they can't see the potential upside of such a visit is either being deliberately contrary, or is just a bit obtuse.

Anyway, the cops will probably get most of the money back from Westminster through some convoluted funding mechanism for visits by foreign dignitaries.