Kildare vs. Armagh Sun. March 22

[Onion Bag]

Leave Newbridge alone it's a kip but it's our kip. No one knows what's going to happen were supposing to moving to a new stadium but planning delays over a relief road and economic uncertainty have let a cloud over this.

By the way whoever brought the loud mouthed Armagh woman on the 45 on the open terrace please leave her at home the next day I was bloody deaf after the game, seemingly we are a dirty shower and god forbid anyone who attempts a tackle on an oranage jersey.

Just to add to his plaudits Ronan Clarke is a fantastic footballer, pure pleasue watching him yesterday, definitely the difference between both sides.

No woman should have been near the place, especially on Mothers Day, i had the same experience with a woman at the Armagh Fermangh ulster final last year, f**k she was doing everyones head in

[mountainboii]

barnesy did rightly again up front but i still think he's a bit short. maybe he's the best option we have though? stevie was poor for me. he operated around centre forward but was largely anonymous and ponderous in posession, leading to a lot of turn overs. mallon was even more anonymous and is really worrying me. ak was decent and there were enough green shoots to suggest he can make the half forward role work. armagh badly need him to. martin o'rourke had his best game in a while. along with his usual work rate he was the only man delivering quality passes into the forward line. clarke was living off his service all day.

Cant understand how people are still stating that his size is an issue. He's been our most consistent player so far and continues to impress. Was surprised not to see ryan henderson getting a run out yesterday, someone in the crowd had said he wasn't even named in the 24. Surely has to be very disheartening for the lad? Clarke was first class. Stevie still looked slow and aaron kernan looked a bit lost in his position. However, good win for Armagh.  

Because it is an issue at times. As much as he scored 2 great points, he was also knocked off the ball and nudged out of the way on several occasions yesterday. I'm not having a go at him because there's nothing he can do about it, but his size will always limit how good a footballer he can be. That said, he's scored some great points for us this year and is well worth his place on the panel. I think he might be better employed as an 'impact' sub later in the year though, cuz I'd rather have Stevie back up alongside Clarke.

[ardmhaca08]

I wouldn't go as far as to say its gonna limit how good of a footballer he is going to be. I cant see too many doing as good as he has but only time will tell. Who would you have in your half forward and full forward line?

Small Players:
Peter Canavan
James McCartan
Gooch cooper
Mark Little
Tommy freeman etc....

[stew]

What about playing McGrane in FF and having Clarke and Stevie playing off of him, he is a fantastic fielder of the ball and has shown he is capable of taking great scores, to me it would be worth trying and would probably extend his career by a year or so.

[mountainboii]

At the minute I'd have:

MOR   AN Other   AK

         Mallon

    Stevie   Clarke

The AN Other could be Stephen Kernan, Tony Kernan, Peadar Toal, David McKenna or Paul McGrane. Wouldn't play Barnsey or Henderson in there though, I think they'd be wasted anywhere other than up alongside Clarke. Kevin is a good option to have to bring on with 15-20 mins left, he'd be very dangerous around a tiring, slowing defence.

[mountainboii]

I wouldn't go as far as to say its gonna limit how good of a footballer he is going to be. I cant see too many doing as good as he has but only time will tell. Who would you have in your half forward and full forward line?

Small Players:
Peter Canavan
James McCartan
Gooch cooper
Mark Little
Tommy freeman etc....

Kevin is at most 5'7", most of those guys are a couple of inches taller than that. Gooch in particular is deceptively tall, I'd say he's 5'10" maybe 5'11". Tommy Freeman wouldn't be a kick in the arse off 6 foot, he's not small. Canavan is 5'9" - 5'10".

[ardmhaca08]

At the minute I'd have:

MOR   AN Other   AK

         Mallon

    Stevie   Clarke

The AN Other could be Stephen Kernan, Tony Kernan, Peadar Toal, David McKenna or Paul McGrane. Wouldn't play Barnsey or Henderson in there though, I think they'd be wasted anywhere other than up alongside Clarke. Kevin is a good option to have to bring on with 15-20 mins left, he'd be very dangerous around a tiring, slowing defence.

Armagh would be better with me stripped out and thats saying something. He can't get starting for cross and your going to start him for armagh. We need to be realistic.

[mountainboii]

What about playing McGrane in FF and having Clarke and Stevie playing off of him, he is a fantastic fielder of the ball and has shown he is capable of taking great scores, to me it would be worth trying and would probably extend his career by a year or so.

Don't think it would work. Clarke and McDonnell have demonstrated time and time again that they are big enough and ugly enough to win their own ball, sticking a lumbering McGrane in there would only restrict space. Going by the way the team has been playing recently it looks like there's only going to be 2 men in the FF line at any stage anyway, so its not going to happen. Although, if anything were to happen to Clarke I reckon McGrane would be the best replacement that we have at our disposal.

[Our Nail Loney]

team for sunday is as follows

Armagh: P McEvoy; A Mallon, F Moriarty, B Shannon; T McClelland, A O'Rourke, C McKeever; J Lavery, C Vernon; M O'Rourke, B Mallon, R Clarke; S McDonnell, S Kernan, T Kernan.

Don't know what yous were expecting lads, there 10 porbable Championship starters there and four possible Championship players either as starter or sub.

Uladh, Vernon has been impressive to date. As TAC says, Lavery is just back from injury, would be unfair to expect him to be dominating yet.

was thinking that myself.  would imagine the only certain starters to come in would be donaghy/toner, mcgrane, hearty and ak.  more of a transitional year i would expect this is echoed by the bookies 25/1 for sam

Youse were 25/1 last year as well, two transitional years then?

how long down been in transition??losing the top scorer in ulster championship ever and probably our all ireland winning full back will be big losses

Justy McNulty hasnt played for armagh for a while now Charles... 

Plus I don't think Oisin was up to much last year do you?

[mountainboii]

At the minute I'd have:

MOR   AN Other   AK

         Mallon

    Stevie   Clarke

The AN Other could be Stephen Kernan, Tony Kernan, Peadar Toal, David McKenna or Paul McGrane. Wouldn't play Barnsey or Henderson in there though, I think they'd be wasted anywhere other than up alongside Clarke. Kevin is a good option to have to bring on with 15-20 mins left, he'd be very dangerous around a tiring, slowing defence.

Armagh would be better with me stripped out and thats saying something. He can't get starting for cross and your going to start him for armagh. We need to be realistic.

At times last year he showed that he has a lot of potential. Cross play a different way than Armagh, just because he doesn't fit into their plans doesn't mean he won't fit into ours. Cross also have 2 retired county men in their forward line ahead of him, both are still probably capable of offering Armagh something but have chosen not to. Its worth bearing in mind that Cross are not your average club side, there are dozens of county players from across the country that wouldn't make their team. That said I'd rather have his brother, or one of the midfielders in that spot.

[Armamike]

What about playing McGrane in FF and having Clarke and Stevie playing off of him, he is a fantastic fielder of the ball and has shown he is capable of taking great scores, to me it would be worth trying and would probably extend his career by a year or so.

Don't think it would work. Clarke and McDonnell have demonstrated time and time again that they are big enough and ugly enough to win their own ball, sticking a lumbering McGrane in there would only restrict space. Going by the way the team has been playing recently it looks like there's only going to be 2 men in the FF line at any stage anyway, so its not going to happen. Although, if anything were to happen to Clarke I reckon McGrane would be the best replacement that we have at our disposal.

As AFS says, ball winning isn't the problem in the ff line.  The problem is the lack of support for McDonnell and Clarke when they do win the ball. Hit the ball into those 2 and they will win it. We know that by now. Problem is that they're expected to win it and then beat 2 men hanging off them. They need support men breaking through to make space for them or to take the ball.

[naka]

are armagh going to unveil a new jersey this year ?

[mountainboii]

are armagh going to unveil a new jersey this year ?

Doubt it. If they were they would've had it out months ago, probably in time for Christmas.

[David McKeown]

are armagh going to unveil a new jersey this year ?

Doubt it. If they were they would've had it out months ago, probably in time for Christmas.

I havent seen the current jersey with the new gaa logo on it yet.  I also thought we were due a new one this year?

[fitzroyalty]

are armagh going to unveil a new jersey this year ?

Doubt it. If they were they would've had it out months ago, probably in time for Christmas.

I havent seen the current jersey with the new gaa logo on it yet.  I also thought we were due a new one this year?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/northern_ireland/gaelic_games/7958195.stm
Jersey's are a rip off anyway. They should hold onto the current one for another while at least