Down V Armagh - Newry 26th Feb

[lawnseed]

whats up with mallon hes had some serious roastings lately

[Dubh driocht]

Satisfying victory but we made it hard,
Must have had 5 serious goal chances versus Armagh's 1 while I would guess our wide total was twice theirs.However, it's hard to beat a point victory in the derby and at times this was championship pitch. Brendy's injury looked bad - possibly knee ligaments- our man close to the action felt it was a double foul on him. Howard's a great man for this sort of game, the dual between Stevie and Dan was worth the entry fee- Stevie was out in front every time but Dan's blocks and reading of the game is special. How Swift stayed on the fiield for his elbow in the Dan's face in the second half is a mystery, Hats off to Gerard Mc Cartan who has a great football brain to compensate for a light build and his burst up the field in the last 10 showed he had plenty in the tank. Mc Kernan was super- class is permanent- and his point before half-time was critical as Down were way better in the first half. Rooney was good, Brannigan average. I thought Kalum had his best game to date although yet again Colgan brought plenty to the party and his high-field at the end finished Armagh- are you there Bennydorano ?
Pete was VG then too lackidasical and after a fantastic move I don't know how he missed the goal. Danny our skipper put in an unbelievable shift although a point in the 68th minute would have calmed our nerves to make it 4 ahead. Poly was super and came off too soon. Maginn did serious work a, a lot of it off the ball, and he's maturing perfectly.Murtagh was quiet for 60 but sparkled in the last 10, Lavery was much better than previous games against Armagh and Marty was Marty. Mc Keever is hateful but effective but Marty was yet again in the middle of all that was good for Down. An education to watch him. All the subs brought something to it- Murdoch made a great block and his kick-outs were good- I think he will be the keeper for the rest of the league. Garvey brought the cut we needed, Mc Comiskey not as effective as last week but is a class act and Sexton got tore in and was clever in possession. Colgan, as stated, doesn't put a foot wrong, seems fitter and must start in Cork- in place of Brannigan IMO.
Armagh are still a fair side- big, strong and dirty. The much talked about Grogan is still raw and they will clearly benefit from the Cross men. Marty was the difference.

[bennydorano]

I dont feel too dispondent after that for some reason. A game that could have gone any way a serious amount of misses on both sides.

A few positives, I thought we bossed MF from start to finish, Toner and Vernon had great games and look to be settling in as a formidable pairing, some top drawer defending (and some woeful defending). I was in the stand on Armagh's 50 for the first half and I have to say i've never seen Paul Duffy play a worse half of football, totally cleaned by Danny Hughes, to be fair to him he bucked up in the second half. I said last week that i thought Armagh's HB line was our weakest line, a bit of an improvement but still watery looking and porous at times.

Some poor decision making again form the line, I've read there posters giving off about not making changes quick enough, but I was of the opinion that there shouldn't have been any changes bar Lavery coming on - every other subsitution weakened us. It's a year (or 2) too early for Grugan - far too light. Would never have took Brian Mallon off, i thought he looked very dangerous. Stevie missed a few chances as well but gave Dan Gordon all sorts of headaches.

Very apparent that Down have so much more speed in their team, but they also seem sharper and more aware, Armagh were very laboured looking at times, no speed of thought.

Championship will be interesting, certainly both teams will hold no fear of the other. If we could get Jamie and Ronan Clarke in that forward line we'd be well fit for most teams, Still work to be done in the HB line and still a need for a CHF, thought MOR did very little this evening.

Marty Clarke was very good, thought McKeever on him did well too thou.

[bennydorano]

Satisfying victory but we made it hard,
Must have had 5 serious goal chances versus Armagh's 1 while I would guess our wide total was twice theirs.However, it's hard to beat a point victory in the derby and at times this was championship pitch. Brendy's injury looked bad - possibly knee ligaments- our man close to the action felt it was a double foul on him. Howard's a great man for this sort of game, the dual between Stevie and Dan was worth the entry fee- Stevie was out in front every time but Dan's blocks and reading of the game is special. How Swift stayed on the fiield for his elbow in the Dan's face in the second half is a mystery, Hats off to Gerard Mc Cartan who has a great football brain to compensate for a light build and his burst up the field in the last 10 showed he had plenty in the tank. Mc Kernan was super- class is permanent- and his point before half-time was critical as Down were way better in the first half. Rooney was good, Brannigan average. I thought Kalum had his best game to date although yet again Colgan brought plenty to the party and his high-field at the end finished Armagh- are you there Bennydorano ?
Pete was VG then too lackidasical and after a fantastic move I don't know how he missed the goal. Danny our skipper put in an unbelievable shift although a point in the 68th minute would have calmed our nerves to make it 4 ahead. Poly was super and came off too soon. Maginn did serious work a, a lot of it off the ball, and he's maturing perfectly.Murtagh was quiet for 60 but sparkled in the last 10, Lavery was much better than previous games against Armagh and Marty was Marty. Mc Keever is hateful but effective but Marty was yet again in the middle of all that was good for Down. An education to watch him. All the subs brought something to it- Murdoch made a great block and his kick-outs were good- I think he will be the keeper for the rest of the league. Garvey brought the cut we needed, Mc Comiskey not as effective as last week but is a class act and Sexton got tore in and was clever in possession. Colgan, as stated, doesn't put a foot wrong, seems fitter and must start in Cork- in place of Brannigan IMO.
Armagh are still a fair side- big, strong and dirty. The much talked about Grogan is still raw and they will clearly benefit from the Cross men. Marty was the difference.

The master of the 3 foot fist pass Down caught 2 balls in MF all night from my reckoning, unfortunately they were both in the last few minutes when we needed them.

[naka]

Was the wide for armagh a point
Also thought blatant push for last kickout
Down better side but seriously Happy with armaghs potential for may
All we need to change is POR

[Dubh driocht]

The master of the 3 foot fist pass Down caught 2 balls in MF all night from my reckoning, unfortunately they were both in the last few minutes when we needed them.
[/quote]
Will do me everytime .30 foot more like !Your analysis is fair enough although I think it was a close battle in MF, probably shaded by Armagh. If Pete had been on his game he could have had 2-3 as Toner ( I think) wasn't near him. Kalum doesn't play like Vernon but is very clever and economical although not flashy.Good hard game and two good teams.
We had a perfect view of the wide for Armagh and despite the presence of Mr Sluden in front of us I can assure you it was wide.

[fitzroyalty]

I was standing right under the tricolour, I thought it was over 

[orchard 8195]

Not overly dispondent after tonight, we are a long way off our championship team and a 1 point loss is nothing to be ashamed of considering Down had everyone playing except coulter. Our forwards tho were atrocious, totally dependant on stevey yet. Grugan was devoid of aggresion and mor could not make the ball stick. Billy Joe was v unfortunate to be taken off first as i think he was playing ok. Brian Mallon showed some good things in the first half but disappeared in 2nd. Think our midfield won the sector hands down with vernon in particular having an excellant game. Duff got the runaround from danny hughes, mckeever did well on clarke and dyas had a decent game (IMO his best yet). Down full forward line got the better of the 3 boys though finn mo had a good 2nd half. Mcevoy had a v good game though his kickouts are still v ropey. Our worst performance though was on the line. POR is CAT!! Yes he doesnt have a whole lot to bring on but he's the 1 that picked these men and should make changes quicker how grugan and mor (who had a great game at chf last week but i wasnt able to work out where he was meant to be playing tonight) got so long on the pitch is beyond me.

[whitegoodman]

Anyone who was in the stand would have seen that it was NOT a point, it was close but wide.

Orchard Down were missing 3 starters from last years all ireland defence and ambrose rodgers so yes only coulter was missing!!!!

DD u thought murtagh was quiet for 60 mins, i thought he gave he was close to MOM, gave donaghy a torrid time, won every ball that went in to him.   Apparantly Ross Carr gave him MOM on setanta.  Agreed with u on gerrard mccartan and mckernan who were great although Rooney had a bit of trouble from Swift.

Armagh are a strong side and i give it to Mckeever, he is hateful as they come if ur not from armagh but he is a good a player and a leader.  Unfortunately for us he IMO has the indian sign over marty.  Fortunately up front they have absolutley no threat outside of stevie and swift.  That will change with the 2 clarkes back and the athletic grounds in may is going to be tight as a ducks arse.

[John o connor]

Some strange posts on here tonight , IMO thought we were very comfortable biggest 1 point win I've seen in a while . Armagh tried to play football in the first half but reverted to type in second turning up the physical stakes which in the past we would have been unable to cope with. We hit 3/4 uprights , post , and created 3/4 goal chances . A glance at the benches was the biggest difference however , I wonder how Armagh would have dealt with stevie pulling out minutes before throw in . Others have pointed to cross players and R Clarke missing , true but we started the match missing benny , ambrose , d raff , dan mc cartan and p mc comiskey. Lastly I thought c mc keever was the biggest w**nker on the Armagh but I think he has a rival in g swift .

[naka]

Mc kernann is no angel either,
Swift took a lot of abuse from his man
As I said I look forward to may because armagh if they can sort POR out will
Improve don't see down improving as much

[AnDun]

Good team performance and important win tonight.  Another win guarantees safety.  A real method in our play and a purpose with each pass.  Had Down taken half their chances the win would have been much easier.

Championship will be tougher.  In the Athletic Grounds and with Jamie Clarke up front everything does not have to go through Stevie.

[Dubh driocht]

I though Pat had to retire ? He didn't give us much tonight but I would never criticise the man as he's still the best around. Maybe it's only the championship he has to retire from ? Anyone watching it on Setanta give us a bit of information on some of the big calls?Mc Veigh's injury and Pete hitting the post in particular ?Find it hard to believe Ross went for Rony Murtagh for MoM but ,like Pat, I respect his judgement so maybe he saw stuff I didn't see.
Reckon there was 10-12,00 there and must complement all concerned for the match arrangements - quality throughout the Down set-up these days.

[machaman]

some of the posts from the Down people are a little far fetched.  Some of the boasting coming out of the ground was unbelievable too.  That was a good game which Down probably on balance deserved, but catch yourselve on if you think that was an easy 1 point win.  Armagh hit 5 wides in a row after going one up and then went on to miss a goal chance one on one.  While ye were missing players some of those mentioned came off the bench.  None of our "missing" players came off the bench.  Waken up!

IMO Armagh easily won the battle of the Midfielders, though Down easily won 90% of breaking ball and fair pay to them for that.  We don't have foragers in that area.  While I am not a fan, Martin O'Rourke was great at that aspect of the game and is a loss for this ONLY. 

Billy Joe Started well but unlike other posters I was glad to see him go off as his work rate dropped and passing faltered.  Grugan does look like a real prospect but I agree that he is light and lacks a wee bit of confidence in the physical stakes (which is fair enough at 19/20 in the modern game).  MOR looks a little out of his depth at times and I am a little concerned with the HF line generally.  Never was I so glad to see Mal Mackin not start.  He is a disaster.  FULL STOP. 

There are prospects and much to be happy with but unless Armagh are (like Down tonight and Tyrone have been) more considerate of their shot selection and passing out of defence (how many fist passes went astray?) anddevelop a means to win dirty ball then it is gong to be another disappointing championship.  ARD MMHACHA GO DEO!!

[Mourne Rover]

It's early in the season, so the most important outcome from the Marshes was a win which will come very close to keeping us in division one. Five points, which we have on the board, has kept most team up over the last decade, six would be nearly there and seven makes it practically safe.

There's no sense in looking any further, as three of our last four games are away to Cork, Dublin and Kerry, where anything we get will be a bonus, and Monaghan in our only remaining home fixture is always a tough one.

Having said that, there are few sweeter scorelines for Down people than a one-point home win against Armagh in Newry. We should have had more to spare, we could easily have lost it, but these are good days for our boys and they might just get better.

Armagh were missing the Cross squad, but we started without Rafferty, Dan McCartan, Doyle, Garvey, Ambrose, McComiskey and Benny, and really should have been home and dry by the break. We put 3/4 into the keeper's arms, missed another 3/4 sitters, Laverty's shot beat the keeper but not the corner back and Marty missed two 45s. Armagh barely had a wide but were surviving on very limited possesion.

The third quarter was a different story, as they largely took over at midfield and we looked edgy and uncertain for a while, but we still managed to finish like a train and there was a huge contrast in the options available from the bench between the two sides.

McVeigh's kick-outs have been steadily improving, and his injury was a blow and seemed as though he had been fouled twice. Hopefully it was not ligaments. Still, Murdoch is also steady, hit decent kicks and made a fine and crucial save.

Howard gave nothing away, and may be getting back to his best, while Gerard McCartan was impressive again and made a couple of decisive runs late on. Dan was marking one of the best forwards in the game, and was unlikely to get in front of him, but won everything in the air, produced a fantastic block and almost pushed up to get an inspirational point. Hopefully, he will be our full back for years to come.

Brannigan had a decent first half, but, like last week, weakened later and should have been replaced sooner. Rooney was solid, and has the pace required, while McKernan, thankfully, was back to his best, and proved a crucial figure when the match was up for grabs.

Big Kalum was excellent in spells, even if he is a little short of fitness, and he might have been replaced a little early, while Fitzpatrick is an unusual footballer. He only took a couple of catches, and found himself chasing Vernon on a couple of occasions after losing concentration, but he gets up and down the field impressively and might have had two goals.

Maginn took a while to get going but was brilliant in the last quarter, and Poland is a classy player who is also invaluable for his frees. Hughes, as we know, is among the best forwards in Ireland, and, apart from a couple of misses, was again outstanding,

Laverty won almost every ball down his wing, and deserved the goal that was stopped on the line, but it will always be tough for someone of his size to play championship football. Murtagh could not get into the play for most of the game, and was only still there because we had use all five subs. In fairness, he was tremendous in the last ten, won everything which came his way and kicked two vital points.

Marty was in and out, up and down, but remains as good a footballer as we can hope to see. There is little point in going  shoulder to shoulder with someone like McKeever, but just a little space produced everything we needed. Amazingly, he is still on an upward curve. He missed a couple of 45s,  went for a goal instead of an easy point from an important free, but his quality is there for all to see.

Of the subs, Murdoch did well and has a fine clearance. Garvey was also solid, Sexton is always sound, and McComiskey really should start against Cork.  The pick of them was Colgan, who was brilliant in the air and effective on the ground.

We are second in the table on merit, but there is a long way to go.