McKenna Cup 2024

[BennyHarp]

Armagh take this competition far too seriously with their aggressive tactics. If you want to box, we'll box etc etc blah blah

[Club Rossa]

Part of Peter Donnelly's strength and conditioning programme involves taking them till his oul boy's chippy in the Island.

Dire first half,slightly improved after the break.Tyrones full back line was solid,McCarron had a decent game.Kyle and Shay were very poor.Young McShane looks handy enough,would like to see him get more time the next day.
Very impressed with Armagh's no.11.He won every single ball that was played to him.Is this his first year on the panel?

[yellowcard]

McKeever picking on Cavanagh again, that's 2 games in a row now the poor fella.

[orange]

Seans extra bit of timber must be the reason he kept falling over, or sorry some call it diving,  it really is pityful to watch a man of his stature just falling at every opportunity,  and he wasnt on his own! Then again celtic crosses have been won in the past for falling over to get opposition sent off.

Mckeever got sent off for reputation, how ref picked him out, and he obviously just sent off colm cavanagh cos he hadnt the balls to red card Sean!

As for Findons sending off, Cavanagh spent 5mins complaining to umpires and the ref that Findon was marking him too tightly, embarrassing that the ref actually listened to him!

But as for the game, 2 poor enough teams that played too defensivly, especially armagh in the last 15mins. But good enough run out for alot of new faces, especially young mckenna and Mark mcconville and Sheridan had decent debuts!

The gaps closing, 2pts this year compared to the trounching last year! Progress 

[Club Rossa]

Findon can have no complaints about walking,he had no interest in playing football today.

[orange]

Part of Peter Donnelly's strength and conditioning programme involves taking them till his oul boy's chippy in the Island.

Dire first half,slightly improved after the break.Tyrones full back line was solid,McCarron had a decent game.Kyle and Shay were very poor.Young McShane looks handy enough,would like to see him get more time the next day.
Very impressed with Armagh's no.11.He won every single ball that was played to him.Is this his first year on the panel?

No11 is mckenna from Grange, good wee player but bit small and will be panel player this year, but a good lad! Played very well today. He has a younger brother who is better than him!

I expected more from coney he really is struggling to find his feet at senior level but has buckets of ability so harte has to persevere with him as doesn't look like hes many options. Shay mcguigan looked like a boy that was hiding!!

[Jinxy]

Were Tyrone very rough today lads?

[Westside]

Armagh picking up where they left off last year turning games into boxing matches. Did they manage to at least focus on the Tyrone players or did any of the backroom staff get cleaned out of it too?

[orange]

Findon can have no complaints about walking,he had no interest in playing football today.

Neithor did cavanagh, spent his time whinging to officials, falling to ground when he got his hands on the ball and tapping over soft frees, contributed very little from play! Shadow of his former self (bar the diving, thats never left him) 

[orange]

Were Tyrone very rough today lads?

By rough if you mean instigating a row, then trying to divert blame to Armagh, then falling over at the sllightest contact, then Yes very very rough!!!   

[Jinxy]

Typical.

[Club Rossa]

Ah but those 'soft' frees all count
Big bad Tyrone came into Armagh today,started a row with those wee timid Armagh men and then dived and whinged their way to a win
Settle down Orange,it's only the McKenna cup.

[never kickt a ball]

Dr McKenna Cup: Tyrone fight back to beat 12-man Armagh


Tyrone made a winning start to their McKenna Cup defence as they beat an Armagh side that finished with 12 men.
Crowd congestion led to a delay and the 8,463 spectators saw early dismissals for Ciaran McKeever and Colm Cavanagh.
Armagh led 0-6 to 0-5 at half-time and then moved three ahead before Aidan McCrory's goal levelled the game.
Eugene McVerry's goal restored Armagh's lead but with Finian Moriarty and Aaron Findon dismissed after second yellow cards, Tyrone hit the last five points.
The start at the Athletic Grounds was delayed by nearly half an hour as around half the eventual attendance queued to watch Kieran McGeeney's first match in charge of the Orchard County.
And the spectators witnessed a feisty first half, which was just eight minutes old when Tyrone's Colm Cavanagh and Armagh captain McKeever received straight red cards after several players have been involved in a melee.
Sean Cavanagh hit four Tyrone points, but Micheal McKenna, Eugene McVerry and Gavin McParland were on target at the other end as the home side assumed control, going three points clear.
Tyrone almost had a goal when Peter Hughes and Peter Harte combined to send debutant Padraig McNulty through, but he was denied by a superb Niall Geoghegan save.
Tyrone 'keeper Niall Morgan was also called into action moments later, getting his angles just right to save from Mark Shields.
Darren McCurry and Cavanagh were on target to narrow the gap, and at the break, it was Armagh who led by 0-6 to 0-5.
Finian Moriarty and Aaron Findon were both sent off on second bookings, but Armagh led by three going into the final 10 minutes, after Eugene McVerry's goal had cancelled out an Aidan McCrory strike.
The Red Hands, now with a two man advantage, struck the game's final five points, three of them from Darren McCurry, to take the points.
In addition to the four red cards, 15 other cards were handed out in the Athletic Grounds encounter.
In Sunday's other Section C match, CJ McGourty's late point earned Antrim a narrow 1-7 to 0-9 win over St Mary's University College at Creggan.
James Lavery's goal in first-half injury-time put the Saffrons 1-3 to 0-3 ahead at the interval.
St Mary's fought back to level after 48 minutes and a draw looked on the cards as the match entered its closing moments before McGourty's late free earned victory for the Saffrons, who were being managed for the first time in a competitive fixture by new boss Frank Fitzsimmons.
Bank of Ireland McKenna Cup

[Jinxy]

What was the attendance?

Heard it was around 8500

That's some crowd for this time of year.

[never kickt a ball]

Cavan defeat Down 2-11 to 1-9 in McKenna Cup Section A game


Jim McCorry's reign as Down manager got off to a losing start as Cavan ran out comfortable five-point winners in Sunday's Dr McKenna Cup Section A game.
Down led by 0-4 to 0-1 after 11 minutes but Martin Reilly scored two goals in two minutes late in the first half to help Cavan to a 2-4 to 0-6 advantage.
Cavan hit five unanswered points at the start of the second half to stretch their lead at Pairc Esler.
Conor Laverty's 55th-minute goal was a consolation as Down lost 2-11 to 1-9.
The Mournemen began brightly with points from play from Arthur McConville and newcomer Gerard Collins but Reilly changed the course of the game by converting a dubious penalty on the half hour, and followed that up with a goal a minute later.
The harsh penalty decision was awarded against defender Darren O'Hagan on Cavan's Paul Smith and that swung the momentum firmly in Cavan's favour.

Reilly's cool penalty into the bottom corner of the net put Cavan in front for the first time and he found the net again a minute later when Kevin McKernan lost a short kick-out.
Barry Reilly pounced on the mistake, running through on goal before flicking the ball out to Martin Reilly who sidestepped Down goalkeeper Stephen Kane and buried the ball into the net.
Conor Laverty's point just before the break reduced Cavan's lead to 2-4 to 0-6 at half time.
Cavan midfielder Gearoid McKieran hit two long-range points with Jack Brady and sub Tom Hayes also on target as their side opened up a 2-9 to 0-6 lead after 49 minutes.
Paul Devlin then missed a penalty for Down in the 43rd minute, with James Farrelly diving to his left to make the save.
Laverty did find the net for Down after 55 minutes, toe-poking home the rebound after his initial shot was saved but Cavan comfortably held on for an opening round victory in Section A.

In Saturday's Section A game, Monaghan survived a late comeback from Ulster University Jordanstown to record a 0-20 to 2-10 victory
Malachy O'Rourke's team looked to be coasting when they led by 0-17 to 0-8 with 10 minutes left in Castleblayney.
But two goals in three minutes from Derry forward Caolan O'Boyle helped the students cut the deficit to two points.
However Daniel McKenna and newcomer Brendan McElroy eased the home side's nerves with late points.
Monaghan's full-forward line of Daniel McKenna, Brendan McElroy and Christopher McKenna hit 15 points between them while Tyrone's Ronan O'Neill and Liam Gervin were among the scorers for the students.
Monaghan led by 0-9 to 0-5 at half time with Thomas Kerr and Fintan Kelly registering points for the 2013 Ulster champions.
They stretched their lead further and the game looked to be over when two Daniel McKenna frees put them 0-17 to 0-8 ahead.
Caolan O'Boyle scored what looked a consolation goal for UU when he toe-poked home a rebound after Monaghan goalkeeper Enda Duffy saved the initial shot.
The Derry forward hit another goal two minutes later and Timmy Miskella added a point as UU scored 2-1 in a three minute spell, before a couple of late Monaghan points gave the home side the points.

Down: S Kane; D O'Hagan, L Howard, G Collins (0-1); D Turley, N Madine, B McArdle; K Anderson, C McKay (0-1); P Devlin (0-4, 1f, 1 '45'), C Maginn, K McKernan; C Laverty (1-1), A McConville (0-1), D O'Hare (0-1, f)
Subs: C Crilly for Anderson (34), D McKay for C McKay (HT), M Magee for McConville (46), C Garvey for Maginn (51), C McGovern for O'Hare (68)
Cavan: J Farrelly; J Hayes, R Dunne, J McLoughlin; D McVeety (0-1), D O'Reilly, P Smith; G McKiernan (0-3), K Clarke; C Conroy, B Reilly (0-3, 2f), M Reilly (2-1, one pen, 1 '45'); R Flanagan, B Fitzpatrick, J Brady (0-2, 1f)
Subs: P Tinnelly for Conroy (15), T Hayes (0-1) for Fitzpatrick (26), M McKeever for Tinnelly (45), R Galligan for Farrelly (57), N Murray for Smith (63), D Wright for B Reilly (67)
Referee: Barry Cassidy (Derry)

Bank of Ireland McKenna Cup


Saturday 3 January - Section A
Monaghan 0-20 2-10 Ulster University Jordanstown
Sunday 4 January - Section A
Down 1-09 2-11 Cavan
Section B
Fermanagh 1-13 0-09 Queen's University
Derry 1-16 0-08 Donegal
Section C
Armagh 1-10 1-12 Tyrone
Antrim 1-07 0-09 St Mary's