DUBLIN V ARMAGH sat 17th @ 5.00pm croke park

[Smokin Joe]

I thought that the reason that we carried so much ball into contact today was that time and again they had no half forward to play the ball to.

It was a decision to either kick it aimlessly or at least try to beat a man, unfortuantely the Dubs were way too strong for Duffy, Vernon & co today.

[wats that 4 ref]

well done the dubs better team on the day and showed more hunger for the win but must be said (again) 2 bad teams who had/have no chance of winning sam. on armagh we bring in POR and i was thinking good an outsider with fresh ideas and a fresh start for the team and all players and who does he take as part of backroom only donal murtagh who only has time for the cross lads as shown again 2day got as many as he could a run out. while stevie is the main man why can he not hold his hands up when not on it and let some1 else like arron kernan hit the frees from distance,after all he is the captain and should put the team first.armagh dont deserve to win anything as long as they pack the defence and leave the forward line outnumbered,its ok turning over the ball in defence but when we go forward there no1 there only 2 forwards against 6 defenders. that was ok a few years back but the game has moved on its time to open up and play the game ie kerry,tyrone.   its better getting beat having had a go than getting beat by sitting back trying to win by a point.

[lawnseed]

ffs every time they ended up on top of the ball i was waiting for them to hand it out through their legs like rugby league brutal stuff.

jez how bad are donegal    

[Zulu]

happy with the result. Haven't beaten armagh for 30 years in the championship and we were owed one today.

An awful game though. Armagh are going nowhere really. Certainly thats the worst armagh team I've seen since the mid-90's. Its truly diffciult to put into words how bad armagh are. I can't find the right adjective they are so poor.

O Carroll had a fine game for dublin. Mc auley as well. Cullen played well at WF and B Brogan- well where would we be without him? A poor game though. the skills deficit on display though for senior inter county players was truly unbelievable.

Take the win anyway. But its the last 8 at best unless we get a really soft draw. Wouldn't mind a road trip. Only 25k in Croker. So no justification for having it on there.

Indiana, you have been way too hard on the Dub footballers and way too soft on the hurlers. The Dublin hurlers lost to a poor Antrim team and the footballers beat a decent Armagh team, they deserve some credit. I thought they defended with tenacity and courage and in Bernard Brogan you have a better footballer than your likely to ever have a hurler, the man is a genius. Dublin won't win the AI but they are as good as most teams in Ireland and it is about time Gilroy got a small bit of slack.

[armaghniac]

I thought that the reason that we carried so much ball into contact today was that time and again they had no half forward to play the ball to.

When Armagh had the ball there weren't the runs to provide an outlet for the pass, so the man tended to carry the ball. Like my avatar you need players there to take the pass and so often there is nobody there. I am a bit disappointed with McGurns contribution, we are as ponderous as we were last year. There is none of the zip that characterises the likes of Tyrone who are capable of breaking at speed, even the likes of Aaron seems to have slowed down.

[Jinxy]

McAuley looks like he could be a massive player for Dublin over the next few years.
He has plenty to work on such as his kicking and the fact that he looks to be carrying a few pounds but the most important thing is that he has a bit of swagger and never drops his head.
Every time he got the ball today he looked to do something positive with it.
It's a pity for Dublin that Whelo didn't stick around for another year.

[INDIANA]

happy with the result. Haven't beaten armagh for 30 years in the championship and we were owed one today.

An awful game though. Armagh are going nowhere really. Certainly thats the worst armagh team I've seen since the mid-90's. Its truly diffciult to put into words how bad armagh are. I can't find the right adjective they are so poor.

O Carroll had a fine game for dublin. Mc auley as well. Cullen played well at WF and B Brogan- well where would we be without him? A poor game though. the skills deficit on display though for senior inter county players was truly unbelievable.

Take the win anyway. But its the last 8 at best unless we get a really soft draw. Wouldn't mind a road trip. Only 25k in Croker. So no justification for having it on there.

Indiana, you have been way too hard on the Dub footballers and way too soft on the hurlers. The Dublin hurlers lost to a poor Antrim team and the footballers beat a decent Armagh team, they deserve some credit. I thought they defended with tenacity and courage and in Bernard Brogan you have a better footballer than your likely to ever have a hurler, the man is a genius. Dublin won't win the AI but they are as good as most teams in Ireland and it is about time Gilroy got a small bit of slack.

1- Zulu I haven't even started with the hurlers yet. I'm giving myself a day to cool off because If i posted what I think about them this evening I'll   be permanently banned. But rest assured my thoughts are in the offing.

2- What happens if Bernard is marked? Are you telling me that was a good standard game today. We won thats what made it worthwhile. It was a very poor game of football though. We judge ourselves by the highest standards in Dublin. Thats the way we've always been. When we beat a good side I'll be happy. Note the emphasis on " good". That does not mean the top 3. It would be cruelty for us to face Cork or Kerry this year.
A good year for us would be beating Monaghan/Sligo/Tyrone etc in a knockout game.

[lawnseed]

the only team who hand pass the ball more than we do out of defence are donegal. we don't have Andrew mccann or keiran hughes tearing up the wings putting loads of diagonal balls into the forwards we have Vernon running into a wall of opposition jerseys and spilling the ball, even when hes got a clear run he runs toward defenders so he can bounce off them. then if he finally makes it through he'll either blaze it wide or pass to kernan who'll run back down the field out of the scoring zone and lay it off. in the meantime the hole opposition team have walked up the field and are now packing their defence. we are happy enough to conseed the ground between our full forwards and our mid field because our hf line is on our own 45, in the mistaken idea that because we don't have anyone willing to have a punt that our opposition are the same. this method of play is hiding the the undeniable truth that we have players who are not at the top level. if we are ever to discover who they are we must go man to man in what games are left this year and before the start of next years championship then we'll get a better idea what our best team is and take it from there

[Zulu]

But in fairness Indiana what is a good team? Outside of the big three I think Dublin are there or thereabouts. Everybody keeps saying if they meet a good team they'll get beat but other than the big 3 I think they'd have a chance, don't you?

Daly has got a way too easy ride from Dub supports, who are just glad Dublin aren't getting hammered any more. The man has the easiest job in sport.

[Frank Casey]

Well done Dublin but I wouldn't get carried away just yet. Brogan had a great day but there were two others in the full forward line that didn't trouble the scoreboard attendants. Shut him down and you shut the Dublin attack out.

One very big rant - this whistling and booing of the free takers is sickening and to be fair not just a Dublin issue. Heard it last week also at the Leinster Fiasco Final.

[Zulu]

It happened at the Munster final too, it isn't a big deal IMO.

[armaghniac]

We don't have the players of the quality of 99 to 05 and those that we have are regressing under the current regime.

The only possible exception to this is that Jamie Clark has shown a lot of potential. But under this system the ball will never reach him.

It is astonishing that having taken Donegal apart, Armagh have borrowed most of the same tactics.

[lawnseed]

totally agree typ. as i said theyve just stole peter mcdonnells game plan. but in fairness to the team its cabbage and bacon every day, weights tackle bags rowing machines and defending as if your life depended on it but dont fowl.. blah blah. these players have natural ability mal mackin didnt score that fantastic point through anything that mcgurn taught him, but the flare and creativity is being drummed out of them by coaches who are being picked themselves by panelists on our county board who are stuck in 2002. the clean out must be root and branch.

[mountainboii]

Armagh have not moved forward in the last year.

Maybe I'm too optimistic, but I see at least a couple of signs of progression. Promotion to the top division is a positive, and we will benefit from the exposure to better teams next spring. In Jamie Clarke and Gareth Swift, we may have filled two of the open slots in our forward line for the foreseeable future. Several of the promising U21s and minors from the last couple of years have been introduced to the panel, no doubt in advance of larger roles next year. And we've won championship games, which is not to be sniffed at. This year we've equalled our win tally for the three previous years combined. I wonder if those that say this year was not an improvement really appreciated how far we had fallen by the end of McDonnell's reign.

[anportmorforjfc]

Terrible performance today. The simple fact is a number of them players are good enough to be starting that team (Martin, Mackin, Moriarty). And some players aren't played in the right positions (Kernan and Vernon)negative tactics, playing the half forward line in the half back line hence the reason why Dublin could double up on Clarke and McDonnell. TBH armagh were given a couple of handy frees which lead to them getting back into the game. With that second half performance there should have been 6 or 7 in it, we were lucky to be still in the game come the last 5 mins. Swift went down very easily to win a couple of them frees. And whats with bringing in hanratty when chasing the game in the last 5 mins? Didn't understand that one at all!!