Muineachán V Ard Mhaca USFC

[Maguire01]

I find it difficult to understand why people are annoyed with the ref using his assistants. Surely this should be a good thing?

[seanaglis]

Quote from Armamike...Time to bin fcukin sweeper roles and 2 men full forward lines and the rest. At least go out of the championship with a bit of spirit and and having a go, playing with 6 forwards, not 2.

You never said a truer word Armamike, as the teams who dont take this advice on board, will be floundering come August

This is exactly what i was talking to the brother about last night, for f**k sake just pick 6 forwards from the county and give them their chance. What is the point in playing Malachy Mackin in the half forward line ? Is he going to swing over a point or two from 40 yards ? That said i think the game yesterday hinged on the sending off and the ineptitude of that useless b**tard with the whistle. Compare some of the challenges in Casement with some of what went on in Killarney. If Sludden was in Killarney there wouldnt have been a man on the field after 20 mins FFS. The game is being ruined, how long before people start turning their backs ?
And well done Monaghan - i hope you go on and lift Ulster now.

This sums it up for me.

McKeever booked for fair shoulder hit in Celtic Park.

McDonnell booked for fair shoulder in Casement.

Mallon sent off for a shoulder against a man at least 2.5 stone heavier than him.

The games we have all come to know as "great games" ie. Derry v Down in '94 when Ross Carr nearly took the head off Dermot McNicholl or the Dublin v Meath games of '91 where Colm O'Rourke was sandwiched between Heery and Barr but got up, played and played on. Its part of what makes our game so great, men taking hits and getting on with it.

Will we have to watch All Ireland Gold to see manlieness in football, as it is being taken from our game

[omagh_gael]

Personally I think the most Mallon deserved was a yellow but what sealed his fate was the momentum immediately after he hit the shoulder (which was fractionally high) caused his arm/elbow to fly up in the air (not hitting woods) but with a split second view of it and no chance to watch a replay Coldrick and Sludden probably felt it was the flailing arm that done the damage and so issued a red.

[mountainboii]

I find it difficult to understand why people are annoyed with the ref using his assistants. Surely this should be a good thing?

The most important decision he had to make in the match, and he couldn't get himself into a position to call it. He was constantly too far from the action to make accurate judgements. Not good enough from an intercounty referee.

[Maguire01]

I find it difficult to understand why people are annoyed with the ref using his assistants. Surely this should be a good thing?

The most important decision he had to make in the match, and he couldn't get himself into a position to call it. He was constantly too far from the action to make accurate judgements. Not good enough from an intercounty referee.

He didn't have the best view, so he consulted his linesman. Surely that's better than him making the call on his own?

Strangely the Irish News has concluded that he "refereed well".

[Maguire01]

Personally I think the most Mallon deserved was a yellow but what sealed his fate was the momentum immediately after he hit the shoulder (which was fractionally high) caused his arm/elbow to fly up in the air (not hitting woods)

So how do you explain the nosebleed?

[mountainboii]

I find it difficult to understand why people are annoyed with the ref using his assistants. Surely this should be a good thing?

The most important decision he had to make in the match, and he couldn't get himself into a position to call it. He was constantly too far from the action to make accurate judgements. Not good enough from an intercounty referee.

He didn't have the best view, so he consulted his linesman. Surely that's better than him making the call on his own?

That's the point. Why didn't he have a good view of it? The incident happened on the ball, where else was he looking? What's the point in having referees if they're not there to make the big calls.

[maddog]

Personally I think the most Mallon deserved was a yellow but what sealed his fate was the momentum immediately after he hit the shoulder (which was fractionally high) caused his arm/elbow to fly up in the air (not hitting woods)

So how do you explain the nosebleed?

What omagh gael was saying in my view was 100% correct the arm followed through after the shoulder which made it look much worse than it was. It doesnt take much contact with the nose to trigger it bleeding. If refs are going to send off for that then fine, but at least be consistent.

[OverThePostsAWide]

Jaysus that was some hammering.

How bad must Derry be.

LOL. As many pointed out at the time, there were warning signs for Armagh when they stuggled to beat a very poor Derry side. The same goes for Down and, to a lesser extent, Tyrone.

Mongahan's Ulster Championship to lose now. 

[naka]

. Not good enough from an intercounty referee.
[/quote]
interesting to note that not one armagh player or official shook the refs hand after the game
can armagh object if he is asked to handle any further games

[mackers]

The next move will be to ban the shoulder charge altogether and I'm going to start watching real contact sports like hockey or something!!

Lot of knee jerk reactions going on here, in the cold light of day Monaghan are a more experienced outfit than this Armagh team. They are hell bent on getting an Ulster title that they feel they deserve and were by far the hungrier team. We are clearly a team in transition with a new management in place and we're playing without one of our two class forwards. We got promoted out of a very poor Division and the management need one if not two more years to develop us into a team challenging for honours. Divsion 1 football next spring will bring us on hopefully.

None of our much maligned HF line (the main source of our problems yesterday along with our CHB)  lined out in their positions on a regular basis for us before which especially in the case of Nippy Swift is an indictment of the previous regime. I would persist with Swift and AK in their positions and use Mackin as a sub. Our midfield was made up of two lads of about 23 who came up against a formidable and experienced pairing in Lennon and Clerkin. Vernon and Toner will be an outstanding pairing in a few years, ably assisted by Lavery (aged 23/24) who is a player that I didn't rate but he's much better than I gave him credit for. 

If we can get a handy draw in the qualifiers and get Ronan Clarke fit then we will achieve our aim for the year IMO which is to get to an AIQF. New teams and new management trying to change a style of play will lead to huge swings in performance like we have experienced this year. Hopefully the players will continue to work hard and keep their hunger and the management continue to learn from their mistakes.

[INDIANA]

The next move will be to ban the shoulder charge altogether and I'm going to start watching real contact sports like hockey or something!!

Lot of knee jerk reactions going on here, in the cold light of day Monaghan are a more experienced outfit than this Armagh team. They are hell bent on getting an Ulster title that they feel they deserve and were by far the hungrier team. We are clearly a team in transition with a new management in place and we're playing without one of our two class forwards. We got promoted out of a very poor Division and the management need one if not two more years to develop us into a team challenging for honours. Divsion 1 football next spring will bring us on hopefully.

None of our much maligned HF line (the main source of our problems yesterday along with our CHB)  lined out in their positions on a regular basis for us before which especially in the case of Nippy Swift is an indictment of the previous regime. I would persist with Swift and AK in their positions and use Mackin as a sub. Our midfield was made up of two lads of about 23 who came up against a formidable and experienced pairing in Lennon and Clerkin. Vernon and Toner will be an outstanding pairing in a few years, ably assisted by Lavery (aged 23/24) who is a player that I didn't rate but he's much better than I gave him credit for. 

If we can get a handy draw in the qualifiers and get Ronan Clarke fit then we will achieve our aim for the year IMO which is to get to an AIQF. New teams and new management trying to change a style of play will lead to huge swings in performance like we have experienced this year. Hopefully the players will continue to work hard and keep their hunger and the management continue to learn from their mistakes.

23 is a fully grown senior inter county footballer. Bit old to be playing the youth card.

[Orior]

On the positive side for Armagh:

1. Hearty's kickouts were good, he had no chance with the goal, and he saved a point by catching the ball on top of the crossbar. Well done Paul.
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[omagh_gael]

Personally I think the most Mallon deserved was a yellow but what sealed his fate was the momentum immediately after he hit the shoulder (which was fractionally high) caused his arm/elbow to fly up in the air (not hitting woods)

So how do you explain the nosebleed?

From replays it looked to be caused by Wood's head hitting Mallon's high shoulder as Woods had no time to brace himself for the impact. Mallon's arm/elbow definitely didn't make contact with his face.

[Down South]

On the positive side for Armagh:

1. Hearty's kickouts were good, he had no chance with the goal, and he saved a point by catching the ball on top of the crossbar. Well done Paul.
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Actually Hearty committed himself far too early for the goal. If he had stood his ground he would have had a much better chance. In contrast, the Monaghan keeper stood his ground when he was called in to action and made easy saves. If you look at all the keepers that were easily beaten over the weekend they all committed themselves far too early, leaving the attacker with a much easier job.