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Flemenstar very likely to miss the festival now it seems 

Declan Browne.

Was reading a decent article there about the controversy regarding Paul Carberry's ride on Harchibald in the 2005 Champion Hurdle. I wasn't particularly into racing at the time but do any of our resident experts have any stromg views?

http://betting.betfair.com/horse-racing/timeform-debate/big-meeting-memories/cheltenham-memories-hardy-fends-off-harchibald-in-champion-hurdle-050213-548.html

The evidence;

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XigT5dQg8TY

There was a danger of the Champion Chase being so bereft of quality that it would amount to little more than a schooling session for Sprinter Sacre. Hopefully Flemenstar, Sizing Europe and Finian's Rainbow line up so that Srinter Sacre can earn his crown.

Can't have Silviniaco Conti for the Gold Cup and given that Bob's Worth missed the Argento with a setback, I'd rather Sir Des Champs at the prices.

Last year in Tralee I thought Armagh had a good chance of staying up, having played decently and secured 3 points, rather unexpectedly, in the first two games. There wasn't much cause for optimism after that though.

We've lost 9 of our 10 matches since.

Sligo reg?

The Crossmaglen issue is fairly tedious at this stage. The only way for this issue to be dealt with fairly and effectively is by a badly needed restructuring of the GAA season with the All Ireland club played off before Christmas.

[arguably also our most talented midfielder]

Jesus. I've never come across such pessimism as I've seen from the Ard Mhachians on this thread!

There's simply very little to be positive about. We've lost 8 of our last nine matches, replaced a floundering manager with a selection of the previous two regimes and enter into Saturday's match without our star forward, missing our best corner back, full back and arguably also our most talented midfielder. We field without a recognised man marker in the starting XV.

That said, 15/8 about an Armagh victory is probably big enough.

Who`s that?

It must be a Paul McGrane comeback?

Thought the same myself

To clarify I was referring to Charlie Vernon. Full strength team at home beats side without around half our likely strongest XV was the moral of last night's story. Ethan Rafferty was a positive, could have added another couple of points to his tally. The defence were under huge pressure given our struggles at midfield but given the circumstances i thought James Donnelly did reasonably well. At least there was a bit of spirit in the second half and this was probably our toughest fixture but I suspect we're unlikely to mount much of a promotion challenge.

As for Mr Sheehan, I'm sure growing up as a young fella in Kerry, his dream was to be able to gesture to a Portlaoise crowd after a couple of points in a run of the mill league match in February.

It's very easy to get watching the programmes. Can only imagine you haven't got it linked up properly to your sky account yet somehow.

Jesus. I've never come across such pessimism as I've seen from the Ard Mhachians on this thread!

There's simply very little to be positive about. We've lost 8 of our last nine matches, replaced a floundering manager with a selection of the previous two regimes and enter into Saturday's match without our star forward, missing our best corner back, full back and arguably also our most talented midfielder. We field without a recognised man marker in the starting XV.

That said, 15/8 about an Armagh victory is probably big enough.

Is Billy Sheeman playing for Laois.  That should spice it up...

Will you Tyronies leave the Kerry lads alone?

The Hurricane did it as he liked there. It's a hell of an ask to regain a Champion Hurdle at the age of 9 but if anything can do it, its this horse.

Here's my effort;

Team name: Naomh Padraig Abu
Manager: MON - Malachy O'Rourke
Captain: TYR - Peter Harte

Goalkeeper: ANT - Chris Kerr
Full back1: TYR - Justin McMahon
Full back2: MON - Vinny Corey
Full back3: DON - Frank McGlynn
Half back1: MON - Darren Hughes
Half back2: DER - Mark Lynch
Half back3: ARM - Ciaran McKeever
Midfield1: TYR - Sean Cavanagh
Midfield2: TYR - Colm Cavanagh
Half forward1: MON - Paul Finlay
Half forward2: TYR - Peter Harte
Half forward3: FER - Daryl Keenan
Full forward1: DON - Colm McFadden
Full forward2: DER - Eoin Bradley
Full forward3: DOW - Benny Coulter

Have heard word for The Tally Ho Kid in the 8 20 at Dundalk tonight. Not sure how strong the information is so go easy each way.

Ulster Council have vetoed the idea it seems.

http://armaghgaa.net/forum/threads/armagh-tv.2548/page-2

No I don't think so. The Armagh forum moderator (who runs Armagh tv) suggested the final might be if its in the Athletic Grounds.