Laois v Armagh - Portlaoise - Sat 6 March 2010

[Sandy Hill]

Armagh 0-11 v Laois 0-09 after 17 mins

[el_cuervo_fc]

Both down to 14 men.  Any word on who was sent off?

[Sandy Hill]

Armagh 0.12 v Laois 0.09.

Not sure who is off for Armagh; I thought the commentator said someone called ? Martin got a straight red???

[ArmaghGAAforum]

Both down to 14 men.  Any word on who was sent off?

vinnie martin was sent off after just on for 4 minutes replacing the injured Dyas.

currently Laois 11 - 12 Armagh 9 minutes to go!

[PatDaly]

Armagh 0-12 Laois 0-11 and only 10 mins or so left. Vincie Martin sent off for Armagh. Kevin Meaney sent off for Laois

[Sandy Hill]

Anyone know the team that started?

[Sandy Hill]

Armagh 0.13;   Laois 0.12 with last kick of the game!

[McMonkfish]

great win, not easily to get out of portlaoise with anything

[ArmaghGAAforum]

Armagh's Paddy O'Rourke reaction to win over Laois

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3Vvenq7cVY

[ardmhachaabu]

Happy days, I love Armagh getting a win down there and the third game is always important, all the better that it was Laois

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

Good win to get away from home. For a few years there we had a terrible record outside Crossmaglen but we've improved our away form a brave bit in the last year or so.

Didn't think the match was that wonderful a spectacle but we did just enough to deserve the victory I felt. Ironically our best spell and the winning of the match was the period in the first half when we were a man down but reeled off 4 or 5 unanswered points without reply to lead by 5 at half time when Loais centre half foward got his 2nd yellow.

Henderson will be a relieved man to have kicked the winner after missing 3 or 4 very scorable 2nd half chances. Stevie was very good again, its fantastic to see him approaching his best again. Our build up play was frustrating pedestrian at times int he second half. There seems to be an emphasis on short passing and attempting to bring players into the game who are running at pace. Its a bit strange because under O'Rourke Down did nothing other than horse the ball into Coulter. Ronan Clarke was fairly rusty and didn't get into the game at all but that's to be expected I suppose, hopefully the 60 minutes or so will stand to him. The ball was going in a lot to be fair.

Thought my clubmate Mal mackin did very well, played very deep at times but made a few good surging runs. Very disappointing to see Dyas off so early, he needs the games and there's only 4 left until Derry. Seemed to be a shoulder injury.

I suspect a lot of the comments will focus on the refereeing. I hate going on about officials after matches but some of the decisions tonight were strange to say the least!

[mackers]

It's good to get into a habit of winning these tight matches. It definitely was a game of two halves for Armagh last night, we built on the encouraging signs of the first couple of games in the first half with some great movement throughout the field setting up some fantastic scores. The second half, however, we were poor with the build up play very ponderous. I was glad to see Henderson taking the last score because it'll give him a big boost. I wouldn't be too hard on him as the chances were tough enough except for a glaring miss near the end when he was through for a tap over. I thought he was caught in three minds myself as he had Stevie up with him and he didn't know whether to go on for goal himself, pass to Stevie or take a simple point, of course he did none of them.
McEvoy's kickouts were very mixed in the first half but he steadied himself as the game went on, our FB line did OK with Mallon and Duffy bombing forward to great effect in the first half. They coped well with Tierney who looks a great player. Ciaran McKeever is getting back to his best although I think it was a bad pass from him that caused Dyas's injury. Kieran Toner played poorly and Lavery had some good moments including a great point but overall we missed Vernon's mobility in this sector.
AK was responsible for some of the ponderous build up play in the second half but as TAM says Malachy Mackin played very well, it's good to see our HFs being allowed to play a bit of football instead of being auxiliary backs.
Henderson offers a scoring threat along with Stevie and Clarke will be better for the 60 mins he got last night.
I didn't see the sending off incident as I was on the terrace but the fans in the stand seemed particularly annoyed at it.

[lemallon]

Unbelievable the change in philosophy this year from the Armagh team.  At one stage Brendan Donaghy and Paul Duffy were both in the opposition full forawrd line.  Great to watch no doubt but will it be too cavalier when it comes to the heat of championship football.  I wouldnt be so sure about Mackin.  He drives me crazy with his inability to release the ball first time.  Always has to carry the ball into traffic. 
                 Aaron Kernan experiment didnt work nearly as well this week.  He was marked very tightly and also was too fond of a solo when we needed the ball in quicker.  Midfield was very poor.  Toner almost non existant.  If Vernon is injured which seems to be a regular occurance we are in trouble.  Great pity to see Dyas get injured.  He was looking sharp and was passing the ball tremendously early on. 
                 I hope the rumours about Martin O Rourke not being asked back are totally untrue.  He is badly needed.  Feeney while an honest tolier is not in O Rourkes class when it comes to winning break ball.  Clarke needs games.  Very much off the pace last night.  You knew almost straight away it wasnt going to be his night.  Very sluggish and didnt even have one shot all night.  Great for Henderson.  The man has serious ability and has a turn as good as anyone in football.  Next week against a hard tough team like Kildare will be very interesting for him.  All in all a great win.  Lots to work on but a lot to be encouraged about.

[T Fearon]

Good win but how did we let a poor enough Laois team nearly snatch it when we had a four point lead at half time and were coasting? We went to sleep for a long period at the start of the second half, when a couple of points after the interval and we could have had a very comfortable win. Also Laois missed some very scorable chances. Stevie is certainly keeping us alive these days and Henderson had his best game since the opener last year against Wexford. Good also to see Donaghy back to his best though I thought Ciaran Mc Keever was uncharactertistically poor, and Clarke needs to buid up his fitness. Good also to see Brian Mallon back in the fray but like Clarke he needs to build up fitness.

Super Armagh support last night, we must have had nearly as many there as Laois, super stadium and ccess route. Was home in Poyntzpass exactly two hours after the final whistle a journey of some 130 miles

[lemallon]

I would have said we had twice as many supporters as Laois.  Big disillusionment in that county at the minute over the state of their football team.  One thing I would notice about our support tremendous though it was is the age profile.  Vast majority 50+.  Are we losing the 25 to 35 demographic ?