Armagh v Kerry 20/3/11 2.30pm Athletic Grounds

[Orangemac]

Agree with most posters that around the middle we did ok today but constantly no options up front.

If we are going to play a 2 man FF line Stevie cannot be 1 of those as he is constantly coming out the field looking for the ball. For large periods Brian Mallon was the only forward in the Kerry half.This has been happening more and more over the years (look at Stevies goals per season figures).

Jamie Clarke will provide a bit of movement and scoring threat but we need someone else in there who can take a man on and hit a score.

[mackers]

I actually think there is a style of play there.  It's all about support play when defending, moving the ball out of defence with short hand passing, getting into MF area and then longish balls into the FF line, this could make our Hf line look worse than it actually is as they are all back defending.  We look to be playing a system along the lines of:

Keeper
3x FB
4xHB
3 in MF
2 HF
2 FF

Thought there were a few decent passages of play from us today but it can be hard to watch.  If we had a fit Ronan Clarke and jamie Clarke in the FF line along with Stevie roaming, the current tactics that seem so woeful could be ideal.  The personnel isn't there at the minute.

To be competitive in the Championship we badly need a fit Ronan Clarke and Jamie Clarke. What today showed is that we have no strength in depth whatsovever. We are carrying 3/4 passengers on the starting 15 and absolutely nothing on the bench. Compare what Kerry could bring on to us. If we can beat Galway then it will be as much as we could have expected out of league with the personnel at hand. That's not to absolve the management from any blame, our forward play is very poor. We are not moving off the ball and the man in possession isn't being supported, everything looks off the cuff. POR can't magic scoring forwards out of the air alright but we'd like to see some semblance of a gameplan so that when we do get a couple of forwards coming back to help Stevie we have a plan to get them into space.
When the Cross players come back and we have (fingers crossed) even a half fit Ronan Clarke then we're down to 1/2 passengers and nothing on the bench.

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

Two things obvious today

1. We have no prospect of any success without the return to form and fitness of Ronan and Jamie Clarke

2. In defence and midfield we have a fairly capable unit which is able to compete with the best.

3. The decisions of our management are uninspiring to say the least and often stray into the baffling category.

We knew all of the above already.

Thought Brookie was superb today, robbed Kerry men of possession at least 6 times. We simply have to hold our shape better as a unit, disappointingly this was also the major failure of our u21 team against Derry.

[mackers]

Two things obvious today

1. We have no prospect of any success without the return to form and fitness of Ronan and Jamie Clarke

2. In defence and midfield we have a fairly capable unit which is able to compete with the best.

3. The decisions of our management are uninspiring to say the least and often stray into the baffling category.

We knew all of the above already.

Thought Brookie was superb today, robbed Kerry men of possession at least 6 times. We simply have to hold our shape better as a unit, disappointingly this was also the major failure of our u21 team against Derry.

First class, when we needed a bit of inspiration at the start when we were on the ropes he provided it. Made up for a poor performance by his own high standards last week. His shooting has come leaps and bounds also.

[David McKeown]

Two things obvious today

1. We have no prospect of any success without the return to form and fitness of Ronan and Jamie Clarke

2. In defence and midfield we have a fairly capable unit which is able to compete with the best.

3. The decisions of our management are uninspiring to say the least and often stray into the baffling category.

We knew all of the above already.

Thought Brookie was superb today, robbed Kerry men of possession at least 6 times. We simply have to hold our shape better as a unit, disappointingly this was also the major failure of our u21 team against Derry.

Should that not be 4 things, those 3 listed and the fact you cant count? 

[naka]

disappointing display yesterday from the majority of Armagh players, felt sorry fro brendan donaghy and young grugan as they were under pressure from the start and things only got worse for them,
mc keever had a great game  and midfield functioned well but forward line didnt function at all( save for swift and stevie),
kerry should have put us away by a far bigger amount and always seemed to play within themselves, two great saves from the keeper and a great block from Andy, also noticed Ref was going to give a free against Armagh in second half and realised he would have to give a penaltyas was in the box so chickened out.( ref has really gone downhill in the last two years)
Management poor again today altho i hope he was jusy emptying the bench to give guys who may not feature in the championship squad some game time but am not so sure
thinking about the cross guys
mc keown, heart, AK and clarke should start against GALWAY AND Stevie in the irish daily mail says that R clarke is now training on the pitch with the team and ready ito play in about 4 weeks( i would say the whole of the GAA fraternity in the orchard is praying that this is true as he need  gametime and to feel a few hits )   

[Brick Tamlin]

Watched the game yesterday and thought that Armagh competed well with (and lets be honest) one of the top teams about, albeit they had a few changes in personnel. The two teams are at two completely different development stages and to compare them is ridiculous.
To be fair there are a few of those front 6 for Armagh that just arent up to it. Its not personal on Mal Mackin but i just dont think he is county standard among others.

Im not sure of the final statistics but id be interested to see what the foul count was for both teams. It just seemed that with all Armaghs fantastic work rate in defence, harrying, takling and chasing, they just undid all that good work by giving up easy or sloppy fouls that led to scores or bookings. I wouldnt be blaming ref either, thats just the easy way out.
Im sure that the crossmaglen contingent will make some sort of difference to that team and come championship time they will have an excellent/every chance of defeating Down.

[Joxer]

Watched it on TV yesterday.  Thought O'Leary done some amount of damage in the first half to Armagh,  He had acres of space everytime he got the ball. I'm right in saying Moriaty was marking him?

Will be see Dyas moved into the HF line and AK back to 5? 

[BerfArmagh]

Enjoyable gamme yesterday. I must say I was very impressed with Kerry. Reading the comments, suprised no one has commented on the size fo that Kerry side, physically they are a huge side & will be hard to beat this year.

Armagh did quite well in the first half, however we were lucky to get away with a 4 point defeat. Kerry could have had 3/4 goals only for some fabulous goal keeping. Defence dy & large did very well. Moriarity did v well on gooch, mallon played well as did the half backs. Dyas was quiet. B Donaghy really struggeled yesterday on Donaghy (Who would'nt!) POR did him a real dis-service by keeping him on him so long. 65 minutes it took o rourke to cop on than donaghy was winning every ball and was destroying us with every attack. Toner should have been moved onto him at the start of the second half (If not earlier)

Mid field I feel has been our best sector all season. Vernon and toner have been absolutely outstanding. Mal Mackin actually played very well yesterday. Up front at the minute we only have stevie & nippy who are capable of taking a score (The laters confidence has been shook of late) The thing that really annoyed meyesterday was the lack of support play or movement. When donaghy caught a ball he had 3-4 forwards running at pace to lay off to. Swift made a great catch, turned and there was'nt an armagh player for 30 yards, & he was being double marked.

Pointers

• Mc evoy is a real option to hearty
  Am concerned about B Donaghys form this season
  Ciaran mc keever is out best player
  Mid field is our strongest sector
  Up front we are clueless
  I'd play AK & Duffy in the half forward line with swift in the centre
  Stevie & Clarke in a 2 man FF line (I would be suprised if ronan gets anyway near back the stardard or fitness required)

[gander]

Watched it on TV yesterday.  Thought O'Leary done some amount of damage in the first half to Armagh,  He had acres of space everytime he got the ball. I'm right in saying Moriaty was marking him?

Will be see Dyas moved into the HF line and AK back to 5? 

No, Moriarty was marking cooper, mallon was marking O'Leary

[INDIANA]

Thought Killian Young was excellent for Kerry yesterday.

Kerry are motoring nicely in my view.

[Kerry Mike]

The two points from yesterday will ease our position, we were always looking at 3 tough last games against Ulster teams and the next game will be no different with Monaghan fighting for their survival, but thats the type of game you need to push you on into the summer. Kerry did impress yesterday and there were many positives , the main thing is getting so many lads back into the jersey after the winter.  Young and Brosnan have done well in recent outings in the pivatal back roles and will hopefully get another run out against Monaghan. Marc O'Se will be back too so he will have to be fitted in one of the corners. But there is good competition for places shaping up.

Midfield is still not settled but Moran just might have nailed down one of those spots and finally start taking Darragh's mantle and I expect him to have a big influence this year. It will be between Maher and Scanlon for the other jersey.

Upfront is where the real fun for selection will be, Cooper and Donaghy are playing well and the great addition of Declan and Galvin will cause a few headaches to Jack O'C as he also has Darran, Donnacha Walsh who have both had good spells this spring and will be hard to drop,  Bryan Sheehan too is in the mix and Kieran O'leary is starting to show well, so yes we are happy enough at the moment. And there are other fringe players like Geaney, O'Connell, who have been given their chance and a bit of experience this spring.

Question: are their semi finals in the leagues this year , I remember hearing of some changes from last year's format but can't find it on the GAA site ?

[BerfArmagh]

Kerry looked in good nick yesterday Mike... I was well impressed with them, particulary young moran when he came on...

Whats the craic with Jack O Connor, does he go out to antagonise the crowd at every available opportunity?

[Kerry Mike]

Whats the craic with Jack O Connor, does he go out to antagonise the crowd at every available opportunity?

Not sure only caught the game on radio , what was he up to ?

[BerfArmagh]

Usual craic, trying to influence the referee (Which hes entitled to do) but he was getting into verbals with Armagh players such as Moriarity etc.. when there was no call for it...