Down v Armagh - Newry - 20 March 2010

[behind the wire]

Sitting in traffic in greenbank but couldn't care less right now. Great performance. Did well to keep the discipline, poor referee.

Is there any level ciaran mckeever won't stoop to?

[downgirl]

Sitting in traffic in greenbank but couldn't care less right now. Great performance. Did well to keep the discipline, poor referee.

Is there any level ciaran mckeever won't stoop to?

What did he do was it something he did that injured Marty Clarke?  Couldn't quite catch it from the commentary on the radio but he was being booed a lot when he was taken off?

[behind the wire]

Marty was given a bit of personal treatment by Paul keenan, he was down receiving treatment to injured ribs. Mckeever came and stood over him and as Clarke got up he hit him in the ribs. Marty had to go off shortly after.

[Pearse og]

It was bad but does not compare to Sean Ward stamping on Oisin's jaw in 2001.

[In the Onion Bag]

Down will win Ulster this year and who knows what else.

Lets not get carried away now Ted, sure its only a win against Arma.  Things do look positive and the Trojan Donkey strategy seems to be working well. 

[behind the wire]

It was bad but does not compare to Sean Ward stamping on Oisin's jaw in 2001.

in reply to your question no it wasnt as bad as wards kick in 2001.

What does that have to do with mckeevers behaviour tonight?

[Pearse og]

I said it was bad, but I remember clearly that Wards stamp in 2001 was brushed under the carpet and was not mentioned in the media, just reminding all Down fans of what some of their own have done in the past before they start complaining about McKeever.

[guevara]

First & foremost great win by Down......few years ago we would've lost that game after Armagh closed the gap.
McKeever had no answer to Clarke, he got the run around & wasn't able to use his usual bully boy tactics to diminish Clarke's influence on the game so he had to resort to underhand tactics (same ones that resulted in him breaking Benny's hand)

Armagh were slow out of the blocks & seemed to spend more time trying to take boys out with third tackles & play the big fellas off the ball.
They have some fine footballers & initially were n top around the middle but Kalum King for all his critics upped the anti & tore them to shreds for the remainder of the game. He must've caught 6/7 great fetches & this provided the platform for a lot of Down's quick attacks.
Benny was causing serious problems for the full back lines & probably was starved of ball for too long of a period after halftime.
But as Armagh thought they were pegging Down back but they continuously seemed to have ball turned over & waste opportunities.

One point to note some very strange calls from the ref tonight ......McDonald rolled McArdle beautifully for a point in the first half .........Benny does same in second & gets blown up???
Also if linesman saw McKeever strike then surely its a red?......admittedly McKernan seemed to get away with similar in the 2nd half & also only got a yellow!
He also must've blown 6/7 times for what he deemed incorrect fist passes which seemed to be over fussy refereeing as this upset both sides.

Wee James definitely the happier manager, but Down must build on this & transfer this league form into Championship results

[behind the wire]

A poor attempt at excusing bad behavior. I think the fact that you had to go back 9 years to find an example says alot about your argument.

[T Fearon]

Disastrous start, you can't even give teams just out of the third division an 8 point start and expect to win, though we could have got back on level terms by half time if it weren't for Moriarity's ridiculous sending off.

Stew we actually managed two points in the second half (though we had enough of the ball to score a lot more but wasted it), but really the only part of the team that played anywhere near their ability was the fullback line.

Would have been an entirely different second half had we a full complement, but sure we wont begrudge Down their first victory over us since 1995. (Before Boyzone, Westlife,Princess Di's death etc)

Deserved standing ovation for the legendary Bull Mc Keever when he was subsituted in the second half,and you're right the referee was a complete tool. Then again he does come from Tyrone

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

That was fairly horrible to watch. The fundamental principle of Gaelic football, and sport in general, is that you have to match your opponents for heart and desire before you can expect to win anything. Armagh simply didn't do that tonight, they were out-fought by a Down team who seemed to want the win more. The sending-off was a hammer blow when it looked like developing into a great game. Didn't see the 2nd booking but the first was very harsh, thought the free should have been the other way. That said, these things happen in football and Down were much the better side over the 70 minutes.

Thought Kieran's clash with Clarke was a fairly harmless tap to the chest. Yellow card alright but hardly deserving of the vile abuse with rained down from the Down crowd in the stand. You see regularly see worse in matches every week.

Couldn't understand O'Rourke putting Vernon on to play full forward. Has he ever played there in his life? Either he's fit to be on in his proper position or he's not. There was very little sign of a gameplay from Armagh other than hoisting high balls reminiscint of Down's old tactics under our manager. You need a bit more guile to be successful in Gaelic football and the running game which Armagh had appearred to be developing was nowhere to be seen tonight.

Hopefully that result will be a shock to the system. A performance like that needs a reaction and at least they should be motivated to get redemption by winning their next two matches which should give us a chance to meet Down again in the final.

[ONeill]

Some blow for Armagh. It's between them, Fermanagh and Cavan for the wooden spoon label in Ulster.

[Pearse og]

How is it a poor attempt?

Yes that incident happened nine years ago but there are other examples of dirty, cynical Down play such as wee James assaulting the Westmeath player. 

I think Wards actions 9 years ago were alot worse than McKeevers, I do think that standing on someones jaws is a lot worse that a hit on the ribs.

[Pearse og]

Armagh are better than Antrim, and I would not classify Monaghan, Derry or Down above Armagh until they win some championship silverware.

[naka]

Best team won Armagh management made
some poor calls but sending off was the game changer
what did he do
with Armagh down to 14 it allowed down to drop a
defender in front of stevie
young laverty came on and played well for down
but ffs if a game degenerates to the referee with his stupid pernickyness
being the
main talking point then the gaa may get used to smaller crowds
he spoiled the game