Armagh Club football & hurling

[Onion Bag]

When was the draw made,

is there another for the semis?

Last night, and as far as I know there is.

For what it's worth I reckon the winners will be

Maghery v Crossmaglen - Tie of the round. Maghery have beat Cross convincingly in the league and will be confident of beating them in champ. That said I think Cross mgmt will have sounded out Maghery as potential threats to them retaining their crown and may have fielded a weakened side in that game. Even if it is close I'd expect the 50/50 calls to go the way of Cross.

Dromintee/St Pat's v Culloville - Whoever wins Dromintee/Pats should account for Culloville, who by all accounts were awful against an even worse Clann Eireann side. Be a close game nonetheless however I feel those two teams have too much for Culloville.

Pearse Og v Ballymacnab - Ogs will win this hands down. Ballymacnab's MF and FB line are suspect in my opinion and won't be able to cope with the power Pearse Og have all over the pitch. (and on the bench). Ballymacnab when they got going against Clans were outstanding but I can't see them getting that same freedom afforded to them against the Ogs.

Carrickcruppen v Sarsfields - Tough enough call but I feel if Sarsfield's continue their league form they should beat a Cruppen side who laboured to a facile win over Junior League candidates Newtown. Sarsfield's in attack always seem to score plenty of goals which should swing this tie in their favour.

I reckon you have that about right Fitzroyalty, but there is always a surprise somewhere in the championship

[Cold tea]

Simplyfruit.com Armagh Senior Football Championship Quarter-finals

Maghery v Crossmaglen Rangers

Dromintee or St Patrick's v Culloville

Pearse Og v Ballymacnab

Carrickcruppen v Sarsfields

These games will take place over the weekend of Friday 31st August,
Saturday 1st September and Sunday 2nd September 2012

Any venues, or are they all at athletic grounds?

[naka]

When was the draw made,

is there another for the semis?

Last night, and as far as I know there is.

For what it's worth I reckon the winners will be

Maghery v Crossmaglen - Tie of the round. Maghery have beat Cross convincingly in the league and will be confident of beating them in champ. That said I think Cross mgmt will have sounded out Maghery as potential threats to them retaining their crown and may have fielded a weakened side in that game. Even if it is close I'd expect the 50/50 calls to go the way of Cross.

Dromintee/St Pat's v Culloville - Whoever wins Dromintee/Pats should account for Culloville, who by all accounts were awful against an even worse Clann Eireann side. Be a close game nonetheless however I feel those two teams have too much for Culloville.

Pearse Og v Ballymacnab - Ogs will win this hands down. Ballymacnab's MF and FB line are suspect in my opinion and won't be able to cope with the power Pearse Og have all over the pitch. (and on the bench). Ballymacnab when they got going against Clans were outstanding but I can't see them getting that same freedom afforded to them against the Ogs.

Carrickcruppen v Sarsfields - Tough enough call but I feel if Sarsfield's continue their league form they should beat a Cruppen side who laboured to a facile win over Junior League candidates Newtown. Sarsfield's in attack always seem to score plenty of goals which should swing this tie in their favour.

I reckon you have that about right Fitzroyalty, but there is always a surprise somewhere in the championship

fancy Cross/ogs/St Pats/Cruppen
cruppen wouldnt fear sarsfields so it was a good draw for them.

[Applesisapples]

Is Jamie Clarke still in the states? Is he going to play for Cross this year?

[Onion Bag]

Nab v Ogs Fri 07/09/12 @ 07:30pm Athletic Grounds

[armaghniac]

Senior Football Championship 1st Round Replay
TEAM    V    TEAM            VENUE                     DATE           TIME
Dromintee    V    St Patrick's    Crossmaglen    Sunday 19th August    6.30pm

Senior Football Championship Quarter-finals
TEAM    V    TEAM           VENUE                                    DATE               TIME
Maghery    V    Crossmaglen    Morgan Athletic Grounds    Friday 31st August    7.30pm
Culloville    V    Dromintee/St Patrick's    Crossmaglen    Sunday 2nd September    5.30pm
Carrickcruppen    V    Sarsfields    Morgan Athletic Grounds    Monday 3rd September    7.30pm
Ballymacnab    V    Pearse Og    Morgan Athletic Grounds    Friday 7th September    7.30pm

[Applesisapples]

The Senior and Junior Club SF's took place last weekend, no mention on this board and even on the County Forum there was only a few posts. Derrynoose seemed to have an easy win over Lurgan and having done likewise to Portadown in the previous round it would appear that hurling in North Armagh is in trouble. That said Keady and Middletown fought out a draw in the Senior and replay this Friday. Is noone interested in the small ball any more?

[nrico2006]

Hurling has been hit hard this year, a lot of the clubs in Armagh have only played a few league games.  This is as a result of the restructuring of the leagues for one, which split the two divisions into three.  Each team got maybe 12 to 14 games previously but with 3 leagues of maybe 5 teams it doesn't make any sense as to why they split them.  Lurgan have only played one league game at the start of June and one about 2 weeks ago.  Lost in the championship due to a lot of players missing due to travelling/emigration, probably missing about 7 starting players from last years team.

[RealSpiritof98]

Where you at the semi-final?

I have just come home from the Cuchulainn Hurling Club Summer Camp, where Ken McGrath was quoted as saying it was the biggest Camp he had seen in years, fyi 180+ kids.


A bit of an over reaction, there was never any great discussion on this board regarding Hurling and the state of Armagh hurling does not equate to the amount of debate on a GAA discussion forum which has overall been down in activity. Also I know a few lads who would've from time to time piped in with their 2 cents worth have now evolved from student to Professional, thus one would feel cutting down their ''surfing''.

One thing I do believe is that a lot of work is still needed behind the scenes re. Armagh hurling, but I know a few lads working their utmost and they do be pissing against the wind sometimes. Armagh Hurling has and as far as I can see always will struggle against our status as a footballing county, BUT DEAD, NO!!!

[Applesisapples]

Yeah I was at the semi-finals Keady Middletown was an exciting game, the Derrynoose game was poor and the goals for the winners put a gloss on a poor spectacle. Mickey Johnson in todays IN named 5 South Armagh teams as the top teams in the County, which seems to support my contention that hurling is in bother in the north of the county. I would dearly love to see it emulate the county teams success but with only five teams considered to be making the grade the County Board need to weigh in with some sort of help...but what is the question given the strength of football?

[nrico2006]

There only is the two teams in the North of the County, and I know Portadown have been struggling this past few years but Lurgan would be on a par with Derrynoose and ahead of Killeavey and Camlough.  From a senior perspective, things have gotten worse this past two seasons due to the league split I mentioned as well as the County Board now postponing games due to the senior, minor or u-21 Coutny team playing.

[downtown]

it was reborn tonight in the athletic grounds!! 

[Eamonnca1]

Last time I went along with the Treacy's (and this was a long time ago, about 20 years or more) the attitude seemed to be that they were expecting to lose, they lost their game, and afterwards the speech on the bus back to Lurgan was about how that's what they expected to happen and all the players seemed to just laugh the whole thing off.  I don't know what the ethos of the club is like now but in them days the attitude was very lackadaisical.  Has a bit of local competition with Portadown helped to get some rivalry going and encouraged them to try harder?  I know they always had a decent underage setup, so the future existence of the club shouldn't be in doubt. The only question is will the youngsters grow to be cynical about their chances when they get older and will the rot set in?

And before anybody jumps at me for blaming the club, I'm not saying that's the only problem.  I also remember a national league inter-county hurling match being moved to a different pitch with less then 24 hours notice because of a scheduling conflict with some club football match in Davitt Park. 

Anyroad.  What happened tonight in the Athletic Grounds?

[RealSpiritof98]

it was reborn tonight in the athletic grounds!! 

It certainly was, I think both teams will be glad the the Cuchulianns had last week video recorded and not this week. Long time since I seen such a barny like that.

[RealSpiritof98]

Any word or repercussions on the Battle of the Athletic Grounds, funny if there was a camera at the match the BBC execs would had salivated at the thought.