Armagh v Dublin - NFL 05/02/11

[emainmacha]

Thought that too Maguire, wondered how many didn't travel for game because of it, even though could buy tickets on night wouldn't have known if any available

[INDIANA]

like benny i predicted a tanking, so the result was a relief, didnt get the substitutions none of them made much difference. young grugan not quiet ready for this level a bit nervous prehaps. stadium looks good. i must have missed something because i dont remember the athletic grounds ever being a 'fortress'. so i suppose thats something to look forward to

Certainly ws in the 80s/early 90s

I think we'd have won by a bit more Heffo with our defence from last year. That said Armagh look far more like a team going in the right direction now then last season. But will take a few years.

Jaysus. Where we're at now is being happy with losing at home to a poor dublin team and being patronised with it.

Hardly patronising.

Dublin had one player from last years defence playing. But i wouldnt describe it as a poor Dublin team. Armagh are near enough starting from scratch again trying to rebuild a team.

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

I'm not sure it is a poor Dublin team. Arguably they should have won the All Ireland last year and they mightn't be too far from it this year again. I don't think we are that far behind them, both last night's match and the game last July were tight heading into the final few minutes with key turning points (Mallon's miss in Croke Park and Brogan's goal last night) going Dublin's way.

Try to build a team this year then convince Geezer to come home is Armagh's best hope for the future. When we were talking about the goalkeeping situation last night, someone posed the question of whether McKinney would still be in retirement if McGeeney was in charge. Figures like Geezer inspire players.

[lawnseed]

aayy maguire the fortress would have held a few more. that sort of crowd wouldnt make much of an impact on 4.5 million. might need the IMF soon

[Orangemac]

Would seem to be more positives than negatives from last night's game. Couple of mistakes for the goals ultimately the diference.

With Hearty, A Kernan, J Clarke and possibly McKeown/Morgan coming back from Cross and Ronan Clarke also there is the makings of a decent team there.

A win against Monaghan in 2 weeks is a must otherwise it would be hard to avoid relegation.

[heffo]

like benny i predicted a tanking, so the result was a relief, didnt get the substitutions none of them made much difference. young grugan not quiet ready for this level a bit nervous prehaps. stadium looks good. i must have missed something because i dont remember the athletic grounds ever being a 'fortress'. so i suppose thats something to look forward to

Certainly ws in the 80s/early 90s

I think we'd have won by a bit more Heffo with our defence from last year. That said Armagh look far more like a team going in the right direction now then last season. But will take a few years.

Jaysus. Where we're at now is being happy with losing at home to a poor dublin team and being patronised with it.

I wouldn't call it patronising - Dublin won comfortably in the end and are a year or two ahead of their development that Armagh.

I wouldn't call Dublin a poor team unless you're referring to the fact that we were without 17 of last years championship panel including 5 of last years six defenders and when Griffin returns to fitness will probably replace Fitzsimons to make it six first choice defenders unavailable.

[Applesisapples]

Mixed feelings regarding tonight, gifted Dublin the early lead and if you take that first (joke of a) goal out of the game our prospects in this division seem a lot more positive. That said I am still disappointed that we lost, especially with about ten mins to go we had made a great comeback and seemed to have the momentum. Dublin are probably the fitest team in the country so for us to match them in that department was promising. Some good individual displays, CV my MOTM. I have criticised him before but he got through a mountain of work tonight. Likewise Nippy, wasn't convinced with him at FF but after tonight he has more than proved his worth in that position. BJP was good for when he was on and C McKeever also played very well.

I felt our biggest problem tonight was fannying about in defence, especially full back line and also the quality of ball going into the FF line - granted the second half was much improved as McDonnell stroked some classy points. Feel McEvoy needs to up his game, although I was at the opposite end in the stand I felt he could have done more for the second goal and feel he is at fault. Had it been big Hearty he'd have taken man and ball.

Hearty would probably have stopped both, that said the defending wasn't good in the runup to both.

[BerfArmagh]

Very enjoyable game on saturday night, the new stand is a credit to the county, absolutely fantastic. I was very impressed with Dublin, they were very effeicient with the ball and kicked very few wides. Looking at the match, they are certainly a year further down the road than Armagh, they were very fit & worryingly much physically stronger and bigger than armagh. The big fella up front for them was excellent as was brogan and i thought their full back did very well. Cluxton made a fabulous save from stevie. For Armagh, I would take a lot of positives, Andy Mallon was great, a return to form after a disappointing season last year. Vernon was terrific, he really creates mayhem when he runs with the ball at defences and his goal was top drawer. I though swift was Armaghs best player 4 great points from play. The goal keeper had a good game but was badly at fault for the goal, dublin just seemed to have an extra gear, but its early in the season. If ARmagh are to progress this year we needto forget about mackin & padden as starters....

[gander]

I

Very enjoyable game on saturday night, the new stand is a credit to the county, absolutely fantastic. I was very impressed with Dublin, they were very effeicient with the ball and kicked very few wides. Looking at the match, they are certainly a year further down the road than Armagh, they were very fit & worryingly much physically stronger and bigger than armagh. The big fella up front for them was excellent as was brogan and i thought their full back did very well. Cluxton made a fabulous save from stevie. For Armagh, I would take a lot of positives, Andy Mallon was great, a return to form after a disappointing season last year. Vernon was terrific, he really creates mayhem when he runs with the ball at defences and his goal was top drawer. I though swift was Armaghs best player 4 great points from play. The goal keeper had a good game but was badly at fault for the goal, dublin just seemed to have an extra gear, but its early in the season. If ARmagh are to progress this year we needto forget about mackin & padden as starters....

Agree about Mackin but I though Padden done OK, only his first start so I'd like to see him get more time. 

[mackers]

If ARmagh are to progress this year we needto forget about mackin & padden as starters....

Problem in the short term is we have no one to replace them with. Once we are picking from a full panel then Malachy and B Mallon will be replaced IMO. I'd give Padden another few games to prove himself.
It was noticeable that we didn't play with a sweeper on Saturday night and just went man for man. Alright we shipped 2.12 but the two goals could be put down to individual errors rather than a problem with our defensive formation. Hopefully it is a sign of things to come.

[illdecide]

Some players have been tried by Joe Kernan, Peter McDonnell and now POR. Is it going to take another 3 managers to work out these lad's are not going to make it, Jesus H can we not bring in a few young lads and get them a year or two's experience on the panel and see what they're made of instead of trying lads who have had their chance and have failed...

Dublin are training twice a day and were def sharper and fitter but you have to ask yourself why they are doing that type of training in Jan/Feb? Will they peak too soon? will they have fatigue in July/Aug? If Armagh start to peak in summer I'll be happy enough, we are not that far off as people think. Jamie and Ronan Clarke in the forwards, Hearty in nets and another few Crossmaglen men and we'll be a lot stronger. Don't forget lads on Sat night we had 3 or 4 players playing their first action of the new year and were no way expected to be anywhere near the level of the rest of the lads.

To leave on a negative note POR and his puppet are not the men to lead Armagh

[emainmacha]

Noticed on the night and then reminded when looking at photos, the Ref threw the ball in for start of game from new stand side, and then from other side for second half, most games ref throws in from same side in both half.
Made me wonder is there any convention on this, as if both players naturally right handed one would be at a disadvantage at both starts.
I know a bit pedantic but just wondering what the story is.

[brokencrossbar1]

Decent performance and a lot of positives.  i thought the defence did ok with Duffy, Donaghy and Mallon being the pick.  MF worked hard but need to win more first time ball.  Swift was excellent, Stevie played well but he should not be playing anywhere outside of the 30m infront of the goal.  He is need there to get scores.  Come champioship I would like to see the team line out,

Hearty

Mallon  Donaghy  Mckeown/Morgan

AK  McKeever  Duffy

Vernon  Toner

Dyas  R Clarke  Padden

Stevie  Nippy Jamie

[Goats Do Shave]

In my opinion, the difference between the teams was the goal-keepers.

Cluxton was excellent (proved he's the best!). 2 fantastic saves from goal bound efforts & also saved a point. His kick outs were varied & superb!

McEvoy on the other hand, although obviously a fine shot stopper, dithered when it mattered for the 2nd goal - he was certainly favourite for that ball but stopped. His kick outs had Armagh under pressure (reminded me of an underage match).

Vernon brought fantastic intensity to the game, some great clashes with Bastic. Donaghy was excellent.
Nippy was superb.

[brokencrossbar1]

In my opinion, the difference between the teams was the goal-keepers.

Cluxton was excellent (proved he's the best!). 2 fantastic saves from goal bound efforts & also saved a point. His kick outs were varied & superb!

McEvoy on the other hand, although obviously a fine shot stopper, dithered when it mattered for the 2nd goal - he was certainly favourite for that ball but stopped. His kick outs had Armagh under pressure (reminded me of an underage match).
Vernon brought fantastic intensity to the game, some great clashes with Bastic. Donaghy was excellent.
Nippy was superb.

He can get lenght in them but they hang up.  Hearty can be erratic too but he drives his kicks more than hanging them and that makes a difference.  McEvoy is a good keeper but doesn't inspire confidence, he doesn't command his back line and could have saved both goals.  he did pull off one good save but it was also a tad fortunate.  I would give the McCullough lad his turn in the next game to see what he is made of.