Armagh v Fermanagh

[Sandy Hill]

Are Peadar Toal and young Duffy from the Ogs on or off the panel at the moment?

[bennydorano]

Pedar's out for the year with a broken ankle, think Duffy is in the states on holiday just.

[Candyman]

Duffy was in New York for xmas with his better half he's back now and im sure he'll be in the panel considering some that are already there???

F.A.O HighCatch:

Hopefully Nippy can do the business and if he works hard he's as good as any of the talent Armagh have coming through now.... as my aul mate Pat Molloy would say T.W.T!!! (time will tell )

[Hank Everlast]

Heres a pretty comprehensive report someone else posted on orchard county.... first hand reports are hard to come by!!

Went to Breffni park tonight to watch the game thought I would give you some of my views on it . First of all I take my hat of to Cavan Gaa . what a ground, it looked splendid under 6 huge lighting bars . The pitch was lit brighter than the sunniest day. Small crowd ,maybe only a hundred Armagh Supporters ,outnumberd two to one by a very voiciferous Fermanagh contingent. Well in general it was a better display than Sunday. The half-back line of McKeever Aidan O Rourke and Finnian Moriarity was adequate. Enda went to full back with Mc Coy at corner and I am at a loss to know who the other corner back was. Having said that the full back line and indeed the defence as a whole gave away far to many fres particularly in the first half ,at one stage we were seven points down . One can argue over a few of them as bad decisions but Fermanagh gave a much more controlled dispaly of tackiling. There were no programmes left and the programmes that have been printed for these matches are useless because we only have squads and they were not playing to squad numbers. Hence if u missed the announcements at the start You struggled to come to terms with the team line-up and with so many new faces well you can guess the problem. Aidan O Rourke played a very intelligent game and although not near match fitness did give a much needed physical presence to the centre. Unlike the lights luck did not shine our way as right from the throw-in and I mean literally the throw-in Ronan Austin was carried of on a stretcher with what seemed like a nasty injury. Whether the fermanagh mid-fielder came down on leg I am not sure but I dont suspect anything sinister. Dara Edwards his partner was not at the races . We were cleaned out at mid-field and Ronanns replacement Mark Quinn just isnt up to inter county standard at the moment. But Gareth swift moved out midway and what a difference he made . For me personally I thought Swift was Armagh's man of the match . He ran tackled competed carried the ball and generally gave what I would call a very encouraging display. Again our forwards proved to be the achilles heel. Hard won possesion was not turned into scores by weak forward play. In my opinion Martin O rourke gets more ball than any three men on the pitch but his ball winning ability is destroyed by poor mobility and forward awareness. Time and time again he is bottled up becomes frustarted then involved in afters and booked and tonight was lucky not to be sent of. Its obvious he has great qualities but they need to be more fine tuned and Martin more focused on the game not the talking. Paddy McKeevers introduction tonight for me was another encouraging sign. Only on the field a few minutes he knocked over a peach of a point and showed graet enthusiasm for the game . Mistakes ,yes ,missed frees an odd one ,but overall Paddy I thought showed good leadership qualities . Six points down at half time things could only get better and that they did Armagh quickly pegged Fermanagh back to three points with three well taken scores . Armagh in the second half were most encouraging and outscored them 6-4 . really the goal was the difference. The team played better as a unit but to often free kicks were misplaced and again a silly mistake by our Lisommon goalkeeper and a few dubious frees let Fermanagh of the hook and gave them a victory that seemed to mean more to them than defeat did to us. In defence of our goalkeeper whose name eludes me his kickouts were very good and for good parts of the second half we dominated mid-field. Conor Clarke and Stefan Forker were introduced and this produced a mixed bag. Conor unfortunately just didnt cut it . Made some simple errors kicking was weak and of target and surprisingly didnt seem to hav ethe legs when chasing back on an Fermanagh player in possesion. Pity I rate him highly but the proof of the pudding is in the eating and Conor starved out there. On the other hand Stefan definetly showed well. His first touch was excellent he held possesion well and moved the ball with some good intelligent play . Although only on for a few mins gave a good account. Mc Coy at corner back has got it and with a bit more time to asess I think he will come up trumps. Gregory Loughran gave all he had but I think he ia a limited player.his position at number 11 is much more suited to his style of play. Strong robust I thought he had a decent game .. In all A much more heartning display than Sunday even though at one stage I thought a cricket score was going to be the result and not in our favour. Peter is right to giv ethese fringe players a good opportunityto stake aclaim in the last thirty . Its important they get the chance and die with their boots on rather than sit on the bench hoping waiting and eventually being told to go without getting a fair crack of the whip . Anyway sorry for boring . I hav eonly posted twice before and I am sure u can guess why ..lol anyway up the orchard and role on Sunday

[ardmhaca08]

Was at the game last nite, definately a better team than sunday. Apparently ronan clarke was meant to start up front with k orourke but started to feel unwell right before the game. Thought that pair would have worked nicely up front. Didnt think b.mallon looked fit, last 15 he couldnt run. Dara Edwards had a poor game. Nippy Swift wanted to take the ball home everytime he got it, was taking way too much out of the ball and this was resulting in alot of frees and wasted attempts at scoring. From what i could tell aidan o'rourke was told to sit in the hole and let his marker go but IMO that made him look bad as he was not doing alot of running. K orouke did well up front popping over a few nice scores, M orouke also did well. Mark Quinn just not ready for county level yet but theres potential there. C clarke was poor also but then again how can any man come on the middle of the second half on a night like that and be expected to play well so time will tell for him.
All in all a better performance for armagh and id say will give Peter a better idea for his nfl panel.

[Abble]

Nippy done v well last night....plainly obvious he likes to be in the thick of things and gettin ball in hand. only problem at times for him is when he makes an attacking run....men around him are nowhere to be seen to support him and he's then left to hold the ball longer than necessary (he also has deceptive running ability) ...with clarke coming back for the league you can basically thorw nippy in anywhere between the middle, CHF and FF depending on resources.

he has to be kept on the squad this time....there are of course the uni lads to come back (of nippys size and type of game, you have vernon...yet to see courtney). on a cold bitter night nippy was one of about half a dozen showing the drive needed and although the game turned in our favour after mckeevers introduction, i thought greg loughran and nippy played like they'd been around the block a bit and i think the signs are positive.

[ardmhaca08]

there were numerous occassions when he could have passed the ball. I seen at least three times when m orourke and k orourke were practically screaming for the ball and instead of passing he shot and missed or continued to carry the ball and then lost it. Yes he tried very hard but trying to get your name on the scoreboard isnt going to get you a place on the nfl starting team!

[Abble]

maybe the gameplan didn't help either, for most of the first half there were only 2 men in the whole forward half of the field, thats no good when there's 3 or 4 fermanagh men marking them...in that situation if it aint possible to hit a wonderpass some running with the ball is necessary.

anyway....it was pleasing to see after a poor, slow start and after the performance last sunday that they showed a bit more fight last night. its only 10 Jan !!

fermanagh boy beside me thought it quite funny and he was right....that armagh were gettin sucked into silly tackles last night and giving away real soft frees, they were fallin for it everytime....

[Goats Do Shave]

....there are of course the uni lads to come back (of nippys size and type of game, you have vernon...yet to see courtney).

...& of course there's Big Lavery (My choice for McGrane's partner), Gareth O'Neill & Big McKenna from Cross!

[thebandit]

What's the story with Philly Loughran? Is he injured?

[illdecide]

What's the story with Philly Loughran? Is he injured?

I was asking the same thing last sunday, that guy either has no luck with injury's or he has went backwards something serious The 2003 season he had playing in the middle with McGrane was really good and that was sort of the last (serious) action he has had

[Sandy Hill]

What's the story with Philly Loughran? Is he injured?

I was asking the same thing last sunday, that guy either has no luck with injury's or he has went backwards something serious The 2003 season he had playing in the middle with McGrane was really good and that was sort of the last (serious) action he has had

I think he lacks the "heart" required for inter-county championship football.

[thebandit]

i would agree with that, but i still think that he is a better option than Edwards

[Goats Do Shave]

What's the story with Philly Loughran? Is he injured?

I was chatting to him over Christmas - He has a back injury.