Messages

They're well fit to tackle but they choose not to. Usual macho shite. Mccabe, mckay and rian O'Neill always certs for the booking.
O'Neill in particular always leaves a bit on the man after the foul. A trailing boot or knee in.

[Kerry]

Kerry v Armagh
Mayo v Tyrone
Donegal v Galway
Monaghan v Roscommon

Dublin v Clare
Kildare v Derry (Draw)
Meath v Louth
Cork v Limerick

Antrim v Fermanagh (Draw)
Down v Westmeath
Offaly v Cavan   
Longford v Tipperary

Laois v Wicklow
Waterford v Wexford
London v Sligo
Leitrim v Carlow

The thing I don't like about him is that he is absolutely desperate to become president, and has been actively positioning himself for almost 2 decades to get there.

And not based on any grand vision or great policy initiatives but just the actual attainment of the post in itself.

People say he's a great GAA man and does all sorts around the club etc but for me that's all part of his man of the people strategy and its all carefully choreographed and publicised. 

As I said on another thread the people who most want to become policemen and politicians are the last people who should be in any position of power over anyone.

THIS RIGHT HERE...ON THE MONEY.
Undoubtedly a great clubman but this has been years in the planning and carefully choreographed, ticking every box as he goes along.
Could teach a few things to marketing gurus about maximum exposure and brand promotion.
If he doesnt get in this time it will be a greek tragedy.

[Mayo]

Mayo v Kerry
Galway v Tyrone
Monaghan v Donegal (Draw)
Roscommon v Armagh

Derry v Meath
Clare v Kildare (Draw)
Louth v Limerick
Cork v Dublin

Fermanagh v Down (Draw)
Cavan v Longford
Westmeath v Offaly
Tipperary v Antrim

Wicklow v London
Sligo v Waterford
Carlow v Laois
Wexford v Leitrim

Serious charm offensive going on at the minute.
In everythin but the crib.

Surprised he wasnt elbowing Rhianna off the stage the other night at Superbowl.

Kerry v Monaghan - Kerry
Galway v Roscommon - Galway
Tyrone v Donegal - Tyrone
Armagh v Mayo - DRAW

Meath v Clare - Meath
Kildare v Cork - Kildare
Louth v Derry - Derry
Limerick v Dublin - Dublin

Down v Antrim - Down
Cavan v Tipperary - Cavan
Offaly v Fermanagh - Offaly
Longford v Westmeath - Longford

Waterford v Carlow - Carlow
London v Leitrim - Leitrim
Wicklow v Sligo - Sligo
Laois v Wexford - Laois

Glen keeper a massive weakness in their team. Big glass invisible.

[Armagh]

Amending one selection - Longford to win against Fermanagh

Monaghan v Armagh
Mayo V Galway
Roscommon v Tyrone
Donegal v Kerry

Derry v Limerick
Dublin v Kildare
Cork v Meath
Clare v Louth

Fermanagh v Longford
Tipperary v Down
Westmeath v Cavan
Antrim v Offaly

Carlow v Wicklow
Wexford v London
Leitrim v Waterford
Sligo v Laois

[Monaghan and Donegal struggled to attract a manager and both counties would bite your hand off to have Laverty in charge rather than what they have ended up with.]

Merry Christmas to all. I enjoy following this forum to keep up to date with things, however I can't believe that people are already trying to drag the new manager down. Roscommon wiped the floor with Down in Div2 last year and while it is only a challenge game, a 15 point win over the same opposition is very encouraging. Monaghan and Donegal struggled to attract a manager and both counties would bite your hand off to have Laverty in charge rather than what they have ended up with. For the first time in a long time there seems to be a lot of positivity in general about how the county setup is going, so maybe some people should put the anti-Kilcoo bias to one side and stop moaning.

Are you delusional? Did the Monaghan players not road Laverty when he was there a couple of years ago? And you think they would love to have them manage them instead of Vinny Corey who is one of the most widely respected figures in Monaghan football this last 10 years? Catch a grip. The pedestal Laverty is put on brinks on hysteria sometimes.
Whether you like it or not, bar one season with Down 20s, Conor Laverty and alot of the men involved with our county teams this season are hugely inexperienced or unproven when it comes to management and coaching, especially at any representative level. Some of these guys haven't even club experience to call upon. There will be detractors galore and knives sharpened everywhere for Laverty for many reasons. It comes with the territory.
Quit wetting your knickers over challenge matches in December ffs.

Can someone translate?

Bit of a nonsense witch hunt going on here with a few fellas with personal axes to grind.

Thoughts on what?

In clones.

It's not on tv

We will win more than we will lose through the way we play. This group may not have the physical approach that we had when I played,  which was a huge factor in Autumn football, but they are technically better footballers. As was said above if Ballybay don't get the lucky penalty early on the game may pan out differently. If we didn't lose our regular goalkeeper during the week before the game the game may pan out differently, if Rian O Neill is not carrying an injury(which he was) the game may pan out differently, but all of the above didn't on out that way. The reality is Ballybay played better than us and we have to learn from this.

There is an extraordinary external expectation on every Cross team that wins a county championship nevermind an internal pressure, albeit not from the club men this year. Every year we win,  irrespective of how bad or good we are, people expect us to win Ulster at least irrespective of how strong we are. Our jersey only pulls us so far. Our history can't kick points. Give us 2-3 years of domination in Armagh and then maybe you could argue that point but not at this stage. This is a young team in transition. Let's see where we are in 2-3 years time focusing on kicking the ball and not playing sweepers....

Problem is BCB, you havent the same quality coming through to replace Kernan, Morgan and Hughes in your defence and thats where most of your problems lie and will continue to lie. Your goalkeeping situation isnt solved yet either and its been an issue for a while. After the above names retire i dont think you can rely on the 2 O'Neills an McConville to carry the whole thing so im not so sure about domination like it was before.

Whilst laudible to an extent, Cross persistance to kick the ball at every opportunity allied with fact they refuse to play sweepers etc, shows a level of stubborness bordering on arrogance at this point. Hats off to them for sticking to principles and playing game they way they think it should be played but when you refuse to mix things up and show a flexibility in how your team plays for periods of the game then for me it smacks of arrogance or incompetence or maybe both. The situation is exasperated all the more when you have a ropey defence that features a small, young goalkeeper(s), no settled No3 and 3 guys the wrong side of 30. Their full-back line has been crying out for more protection for a long time now and it looks like they havent done anything about it.

As for O'Neill performance. Why is it when a marquee player doesnt perform as expected that 'they were most likely carrying an injury'. It seems to be the first thing that rolled out all the time to excuse them. Maybe, just maybe he was bested by his opponents and they were better than him. Or maybe, blasphemous and outrageous as this might sound to some, he just isnt as good as you think he is.