Armagh vs Galway Athletic Grounds 03.04.2011

[mackers]

After all our pre match concerns about our forward line they go and score 18 points...............in fairness Colm Watters, Kevin Dyas, and Malachy Mackin along with Clarke and McDonnell all had very good performances.
That, however, is where the good news ends.
McEvoy took the head staggers again and that, I assume, will be the end of his season in the Armagh colours. Andy Mallon was well improved from recent performances. Brendan Donaghy and Finn Mo were badly exposed, Donaghy is having a very poor season by his own standards.
Paul Duffy was very poor again and I wasn't surprised to see him taken off, Nippy also.
I have noticed Galway posters saying previously on the board how poor they feel their midfield is, but IMO that is where this victory came from. They dominated for large parts of the game. Kieran Toner was another Armagh man who played poorly.
Clarke and McDonnell look like if they get any ball they will cut defences to ribbons but they fed off scraps today.
The second quarter of today's game was as poor as I have seen from any Armagh team. Horrendous.

[Throw ball]

After all our pre match concerns about our forward line they go and score 18 points...............in fairness Colm Watters, Kevin Dyas, and Malachy Mackin along with Clarke and McDonnell all had very good performances.
That, however, is where the good news ends.
McEvoy took the head staggers again and that, I assume, will be the end of his season in the Armagh colours. Andy Mallon was well improved from recent performances. Brendan Donaghy and Finn Mo were badly exposed, Donaghy is having a very poor season by his own standards.
Paul Duffy was very poor again and I wasn't surprised to see him taken off, Nippy also.
I have noticed Galway posters saying previously on the board how poor they feel their midfield is, but IMO that is where this victory came from. They dominated for large parts of the game. Kieran Toner was another Armagh man who played poorly.
Clarke and McDonnell look like if they get any ball they will cut defences to ribbons but they fed off scraps today.
The second quarter of today's game was as poor as I have seen from any Armagh team. Horrendous.

A lot of them look as if their confidence is shot. Never mind tactics this is a basic which needs urgent remedy!

[naka]

sorry guys por is too naive , he cant adapt to situations, ffs i would take joe back for the down match rather than remain with POR, why take lavery on( should we not be trying mc kenna as a wing half) why not switch finniam mo, why not take ak on earlier, Mor was not the subsitution to be making at half time it was either TK or AK,
I cant understand what donal  murtagh brings to the party
have never seen as poor an armagh set up since the morrison/mc corry debacle in the early nineties( but at least then we didnt have the players then) really am annoyed tonite

[GalwayBayBoy]

I have noticed Galway posters saying previously on the board how poor they feel their midfield is, but IMO that is where this victory came from. They dominated for large parts of the game.

It said on RTE radio alright that Galway were on top in midfield for much of the game. I thought I was hearing things. With young Colin Forde doing well at full-back maybe Finian Hanley is going to find his new calling as a midfielder after all. Having PJ back as well probably made a big difference.

[pearseog]

Tony McEntee...

[ross4life]

I have noticed Galway posters saying previously on the board how poor they feel their midfield is, but IMO that is where this victory came from. They dominated for large parts of the game.

It said on RTE radio alright that Galway were on top in midfield for much of the game. I thought I was hearing things. With young Colin Forde doing well at full-back maybe Finian Hanley is going to find his new calling as a midfielder after all. Having PJ back as well probably made a big difference.

Saw him play yesterday was well impressed he'll certainly sort out any problems Galway had at FB.

[bennydorano]

I'd like to think I've given POR a fair crack of the whip thus far, but I'd lay the blame for this one square at his door, firstly he must be listening too much to DM, how else can you explain the presence of johnny Murtagh anywhere next or near that panel never mind team?  The line out of the team in itself sent out the wrong message, as in we're safe and we'll try a few things - 2 games from the Championship and he decides to experiment wtih 2 fellas who'd be lucky to be carrying water in late May - absolutely abysmal mangement.

On the game itself I thought getting wiped out in MF was the main reason for our defeat and believe it or not the abandoment of the sweeper system (sad but true - we really cant have it every way).  I actually think it's the first time I've seen Toner be really outplayed in MF, Bergin cleaned him, Mal Mackin got through a Trojan amount of work for about 45 minutes and then disappeared, Charlie just didn't get involved, very poor show. 

I think Mackers said he thought Watters did rightly, I would have to disagree very strongly, for such an important position he was anonymus, very poor, I couldn't believe it when they took Nippy of ahead of him.  Jamie and Stevie were fantastic, with 4 or 5 men trying to cover them would it not have made more sense to give them a bit of support?

Defensively it was poor, but i thought a lot of it came from being over run in MF and not playing a Sweeper, but Donaghy's run of form should be a concern, Andy Mallon had a fine game, thought Duffy was very good in the first half and I'd imagine he wasn't impressed being shunted into the HF line - AK did zip when he came on, nothing.  Dyas i would say played like a lot of others not interested.  McKeever wsa solid as usual.  I'd have to save the most vitriol for Fin Mo, I've always been a big fan and he's in every team i would pick, but I've never seen him worse, and not because Joyce cleaned him, but because he fumbled more balls, give it away and generally looked clueless, he played like a minor making his debut, terrible.

[ardchieftain]

Get o'rourke out before we're embarrassed even more
McEntee in - good call pearseog

A blind man could see what need fixing during the game today - it's staggering that the management couldn't

[galwayman]

Did Joyce start the game? He wasn't listed in the team on the Galway GAA website. Very pleased with the win.The way we have been performing up front I'm amazed we kicked 1-20.I only caught the last few mins on the radio and think Bane got 1-4,Conroy 0-4 and PJ 0-5.
Conceding 0-18 is a worry but we'll happily take the win.
Any Galway lads on here at the game that could give us a view on how our own lads fared?
Was at the u-21 final yesterday so it was a positive weekend all round for Galway football.
The 6 backs for the u-21s were outstanding - I believe Forde and Duane also started for the seniors today.Tomas Fahy looked like he could definitely be a contender for a wing back spot also after a man of the match display yesterday.

[mackers]

Did Joyce start the game? He wasn't listed in the team on the Galway GAA website.

He did and played very well.

Charlie just didn't get involved, very poor show. 

I think Mackers said he thought Watters did rightly, I would have to disagree very strongly, for such an important position he was anonymus, very poor, I couldn't believe it when they took Nippy of ahead of him.

In fairness to Charlie he was settling into the midfield role he clearly prefers this year but POR shifted him out to the wing today.......baffling decision.
I thought that Watters played well in the second half, he linked the play fairly well and sprayed a good number of passes in to Clarke and Stevie.

[Orangemac]

So sack Paddy and then what?? who do you bring in at this stage?

He does seem to be naive from a tactical perspective but ffs changing managers at this stage is stupid and I think will have us ready for the only game that matters, the Down game.

When I first heard POR got the job I thought it was a joke. He has had 2 years and there is no sign of progress, however he is going to be there for the Championship this year at least. I doubt Tony McEntee would take the job.

Listening to the game on Radio Ulster it seemed Galway scored every time they went forward. There have been signs of gaps opening up in defence  when teams run at us in previous games but it seemed to have been atrocious today.On the playing side

1) Does Finn Moriarty play corner back for his club? He has previously played as wing back for Armagh.

2) When Vernon/Toner seemed to be forming a decent pairing in midfield why was this broken up today?

3) Has Swift been given a free ride because of how well he played v Dublin?

4) Why was Hearty not playing today?

I fear for us v Cork. Our only hope is that Galway don't beat Dublin.In reality we are not a Div 1 team but it would be a shame to throw it away when we were in such a good position.

[naka]

interesting thing today was that every supporter i spoke to had the same issues with the baffling tactics or lack of them from the sideline, I have never heard so may people annoyed at the present set-up, surely the county board must be aware of this, no one likes to criticise the manager but he exclaims to all after the kerry game that we will be ok when the cross guys come back and then starts one against Galway
the closer we get to May the more worried i become,
dubs, kerry, down, galway all were worthy winners against us, monaghan should have beaten us,
its a dismal year which i hope cant get any worse

[PAULD123]

Good luck againts Cork. Hope you win. I'm sure that the players will want to prove themselves. It was a bad result for you today but I think you will have a chance against Cork. If you can avoid giving them easy frees for Goulding to put over then you will seriously have a chance. Good luck.

[deargdoom]

1) Does Finn Moriarty play corner back for his club? He has previously played as wing back for Armagh.

Nope, have a feeling he plays mid for the tones. He was corner back at u21, but based on last years league is far far better suited to wing back. Like many other Armagh players it seems his confidence is critically low...

[drici]

Did Joyce start the game?

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