Down V Armagh - Newry 26th Feb

[fitzroyalty]

Last time I checked it was a discussion board...

[Final Whistle]

is there anybody disputing that?

[BerfArmagh]

I'll dispute that for the sake of dispution

[guevara]

Duffleking wise yourself up! Armagh have 6 defenders who are average enough. In McKeever they have a guy who has proven to be an excellent man marker at times & a leader among his team but on Saturday night he didnt seem to like being dragged all over the field by Clarke. Mallon got roasted & Donaghy who in your opinion is the best in his position in Ulster got the run around from a guy who couldnt make Downs starting 15 consistently laste year.
Outside of them 3 you have Moriarty who is a ticking time bomb, Duffy who normally is very good but was very poor & Dyas who in my opinion has shown nothing to justify the hype since his return from Oz.
So for a defence as good as you claim them to be they seem pretty average to me.
Down havent got the best defenders in Ireland....we all know that but we have guys playing in there who at the minute are having more good days than bad & that will do for me!!
But then again its probably POR fault these 6 guys arent living up to the tag of having "better defenders than anyone"

[mackers]

There may be a load of chest beating and boasting on this forum over the rest of the week but the fact is that these two sides are of a very close standard and the game will not be easy for either one.

For a man that appeared to be taking a sensible approach at the start of the thread you have been sucked into a chest beating and boasting match yourself.
After some of the lectures being handed out by some of our Down posters you'd swear we got a hiding from you lot. You seem to forget that we overturned the tables last year and I'd refrain from many more lectures until after the 28th of May if I were you.

[whitegoodman]

For all the domination that Down had and for all the faults that Armagh supporters appear to have with their manager, Down did indeed only beat Armagh by a point.  I put this down til 2 things;

Armagh will always fight to the end like they did against Dublin last year as they are generally hard to break down and have a great team spirit.  I honestly believe if they were not behind their manager this would not be the case.

Secondly Down wastefulness was infuriating and could of cost us the game but hopefully this will improve over the course of the league and we usually improve when the ground gets a bit harder.  The pleasing thing is that we have not played well in 3 games and we have 5 points.  I just hope we play well at the end of may or we will end up on our holes.

The championship could come down to whether either team have inspirational players in clarke and rodgers back and whether they come back the same players.  Armagh put a huge emphasis on the return of clarke and rightly so as he is a class player but dont underestimate the influence of rodgers for down not only as a midfielder but as a leader.

For all the bragging and boasting, the match at the Athletic grounds will be skintight with it going right to the wire, the atmosphere under the lights will be electric and it could prove to be the game of the championship.  I cant wait!!!!

[PAULD123]

There may be a load of chest beating and boasting on this forum over the rest of the week but the fact is that these two sides are of a very close standard and the game will not be easy for either one.

For a man that appeared to be taking a sensible approach at the start of the thread you have been sucked into a chest beating and boasting match yourself.
After some of the lectures being handed out by some of our Down posters you'd swear we got a hiding from you lot. You seem to forget that we overturned the tables last year and I'd refrain from many more lectures until after the 28th of May if I were you.

l


Mackers, I stand by my previous posts. I don't think I've been doing chest beating. The main thread of my argument is that Down have an average defence and Armagh do too. That was my opinion in my pre-match posts and is the same now. Down played far better football but Armagh dug in and fought for the game. It was tight like I said it would be.

The only lecture I was giving was that Armagh's defence is not that much better than ours and that our defenders are not "Laughably bad". I have never said our's is great or better than "Anyone".

My comments may have been harsh on Duffleking but he made some very arrogant remarks to me accusing me of being newsround to his newsnight and accusing me of being remedial. he said the stupid comments I only quoted them back.

But I predicted a tight game, it was a tight game. Before the game I said I thought the teams were of simliar skill levels but now I know we are better. However Armagh will have better forwards by Suummer and will never give up. And even if we are better we are not fantastically better. I am satisfied we are a bit better. But who knows it is a long time till summer things could change. After saturday I don't feel it is chest beating to say that I would be confident of a Down win in May because I will also say I still think it will be tight and I wouldn't expect to win by more than a couple of points

[DuffleKing]

The lord jaysus.

You are making my point for me chap.

[PAULD123]

The lord jaysus.

You are making my point for me chap.

More complete tosh from you DK, do you never learn. So I'm making your point for you that Down's average defence is no worse than Armagh's is that so?

DK - McKernan and Gordan are laughably bad defenders
DK - We could actually ship you a load of defenders from beyond our panel who would start for down.
DK - Gordon is filling a hole at full back for down...we prefer our full backs to be able to tackle and stay with a forward when he turns
DK - Armagh have the players. they have better defenders than anyone

Exactly how is that you making the point that your defence is no better than ours? Once again you don't even think before you write something. Everyone can see that you have continually made idle boasts and unsubstantiated claims that Down's defence is "Laughbly bad" while Armagh's is "Better than Anyone". Catch a grip you look like a fool more and more with each post. Best you go away and hide, come back in May when the dust has settled and people have forgotten your ridiculous posts (most of which came afer you lost, yes LOST)

[Banana Man]

match might not be on the saturday now, i see the armagh PRO (Jordan is it?) is talking of having it moved due to a band parade in Markethill that night and says it could cause a lot of trouble especially on the return journey after the game... It was in the paper on Monday there

[DuffleKing]

Simple terms:

Armagh have better individual defenders than most.

They are not playing / defending as a unit

Some of them are worryingly out of form

Down's mediocre defence outperforming them (they didn't really given they had much less threat to deal with but we'll keep it simple for you) is evidence enough of how poorly they are playing.

The lack of confidence, performance and unity is the management's responsibility given the ability in that defence.

[rionach 4]

For all the bragging and boasting, the match at the Athletic grounds will be skintight with it going right to the wire, the atmosphere under the lights will be electric and it could prove to be the game of the championship.  I cant wait!!!!

I would hardly think the lights will be on on the 28th May( however good points made )

[Radda bout yeee]

Duffleking or PaulD do you's have any work to do?? 

[DuffleKing]

Duffleking or PaulD do you's have any work to do?? 

Certainly haven't time to be reading other counties' threads...

[Radda bout yeee]

Duffleking or PaulD do you's have any work to do?? 

Certainly haven't time to be reading other counties' threads...

Touche! lol