Messages

I hear 'Skea have laid on a free bar in the Donn Carragh for all the Milltown lads.

Don't think St Galls men should have much to say on the attitude of county players.

Marked Aaron one day when he was being tried as a half forward for Cross in his early senior days. Must say it was pretty handy as he hardly ever crossed the half way line so I simply marked the space in our defence. He is a half back and we must accept his weaknesses in defence with his strengths on the ball. Armagh pretty much have there strongest players on. Three wins on the bounce is a good confidence boost. Lets concentrate on the strengths of the boys we have than wishing for something that just isn't available. The likes of B. Mallon, S. Kernan, F. Morrarity have a few medals in there back pockets from there U21 days. They have a good belief in there own abilities and will always try there best in an Armagh jersey. Hope the U21s can win Ulster this year and get another half a dozen senior county players out of that team. Success breeds success. You need winners and a winners mentality.

I agree with Uladh about Aidan O'Rourke. A centre half back will tend to drop back in front of his full back line, that is the nature of the position. His reading of the game is superb as is his distribution, who else has the same vision. Ok his pace is not the best but lets keep C. McKeever where he is most effective ie marking the oppositions best player.

Although he did a lot of hard grafting MOR had the most crucial miss of the day when he ballooned one wide from 20yds instead of chipping it over. This would have put Armagh 3 up when they were in control. This along with free-kicks missed by Oisin & Aaron gave Derry the heart to keep pegging away through Bradley's frees. Its a thin line between victory & defeat think of all the teams who Armagh turned over in the last 5 minutes to snatch draws or wins eg Cavan, Monaghan, Fermanagh. Manys the time Cathal O'Rourke, John McEntee, Brian Mallon, Ronan Clarke or Oisin got the late crucial scores. Steven Kernan got 2 chances and put them over in the 2nd half. Others had chances and missed.

it certainly is Uladh.

Well done Tir na nOg!
Nerve wrecking match. Boys could have dropped  their heads at several times eg the goals, late equaliser (Marsden 5mins in injury time), a couple of missed chances. But credit to mgt for keeping them focused on the next ball. The work done with Jim McGinness over the last couple of weeks seems to have given the boys a lot of confidence.

Nothing of note in the match until Dromintee sent on Martin O'Rourke & No.31 in the last 5 mins they were very aggressive stirring it up. Also Cathal O'Rourke punched the Tir na nOg cornerback in the back of the head & Jimmy McKee consulted the 2 umpires & then did nothing.
If Dromintee had of got a late goal & won the match like they did last year then it would have been a smile & a wink & a thank you very much, 'youse are great lads for keeping the game going up here in Portydown'. The truth is they couldn't take getting beat decided to throw a few punches at the final whistle & it was ginger haired Dromintee mentor or whatever he was , who kept the whole thing going.

Armagh U - 21s should go with a fully fit team & have a strong enough squad to cope with injuries.
I 'd go with
Rodgers
McKeown
Donaghy
Ferris
McClelland
Kernan
Vernon
McKenna
O'Neill
O'Rourke
McSherry
Courtney
Forker
Hanratty
Conlon

Armagh ratings:
Hearty 9  excellent saves
Enda 9 reading of game superb
Francie 7 steady
Finnian 6 average
Donaghy 6 average
Mcgeeney 7 good distribution
Aaron 8 good going forward
McGrane 9 some inspirational play
Toner 8 good fetching in middle
O' Rourke 6 won some breaking ball
Marsden 7 showed well
Lavery 7 good fielding
Paddy 6 quiet
Loughran 5 Poor
Stevie 9 class act

Heard James Lavery got a knock in a challenge game with his club. 

Were Ballymacnab not forced to play all their home games away this year as a result of an incident involving a referee last year?