USFC Armagh v Derry, St Tiernach's Park, Clones, 19th June 2pm

[goh4205]

he played on the left he played on the right that boy skinner made armagh look shit

On another day he could have got the line for the cowardly stunt on andy Mallon   Again Brennan saw this and took him off

He kicked the ball of his shins, hardly a cowardly stunt.  Mallon looked to be going for the windpipe
pincer movement which seemed a bit more of a cowardly stunt to be honest.

Maybe he couldn't  make him out so decided to tweak his voice box a little

[mackers]

he played on the left he played on the right that boy skinner made armagh look shit

On another day he could have got the line for the cowardly stunt on andy Mallon   Again Brennan saw this and took him off

He kicked the ball of his shins, hardly a cowardly stunt.  Mallon looked to be going for the windpipe pincer movement which seemed a bit more of a cowardly stunt to be honest.

+1

Agreed. A total over reaction by Mallon. Those sort of scenes should not be witnessed. I would have been happy to see Mallon being sent off for that.

Neither man deserved lads. But it's typical Bradley.....why get involved after running rings round the Armagh defence? Laugh in Mallon's face if you want.....but if you're that easy wound up in that situation what will it be like when you are getting the verbals in a tight Ulster final from Ricey, Gormley and friends??

[tbrick18]

I can't understand why some people believe Derry will be set up defensively on Sunday. John Brennan hasn't put a defensive-minded side out at any stage this year, so it's hard to fathom why he would do so against a team that really only contains two scoring forwards.

People seem to have got it into their heads that Armagh are playing some sort of new attacking style of football. I don't believe this to be the case, I think it was something they stumbled across against Down. Down's forward line was totally ineffective, and the expertise of Armagh's defenders enabled them to get the ball in hand and set up attacks relatively quickly with Down on the back foot.

Padden and Mackin certainly weren't on the field for their scoring ability, and that half-forward line will struggle to score six points again for the whole remainder of the season. 

Anyway, the Down Armagh game is irrelevant. If you want a barometer then a closer one is probably last year's preliminary game. Armagh won by three points, while Derry missed a late penalty and had Eoin Bradley harshly sent off. In other words there was very little between the teams. In fact, I thought Armagh were a poor enough outfit as Monaghan confirmed a few weeks later. I don't think they've changed that much to be honest.

The only problem from a Derry perspective is that we're worse! And we're missing Fergal Doherty/Paddy Bradley/Gerard O'Kane. Arguably our three best/most effective players.

I expect Armagh to lean heavily on their defence. It's easily their strongest area, and Brendan Donaghy is an excellent full-back. So, Derry's attacking approach may not necessarily reap dividends and the packed defence is something we've always struggled with. Between Clarke, McDonnell, and maybe Aaron Kernan, Armagh should get enough scores to win the game.

Armagh aren't great, but all-round they're better than this Derry team.

Unfortunately I agree!
BUT....I think Armagh's defence are what they were either. I think if you run at them....which Derry will do, they will struggle.
Armagh arent great, but they are probably still better than us

Derry by 1point.

See yous Sunday....

I was kinda right.....the secret to beating Armagh is to run at them but you have to get posession to do that. I didnt think we'd get anywhere near that amount of ball around the middle but we did...and Armagh defence couldnt cope.

A lot of people saying Armagh should have played a sweeper...I honestly dont think it would have made a difference. A few teams tried that against derry in the league, and when the did Brennan still played it man to man marking which means yous still couldnt have double marked bradley/lynch/gilligan. Derry are also capable of score from long range and if Armagh had been playing a sweeper we'd have had more time on the ball outfield to take the long range scores.
Armagh didnt lose today because of not playing a sweeper, they lost because they lost the middle third battle completely. If it had even been 50-50 in the middle i think yous could have won, but as it happens I think derry must have won 80% of the midfield ball. We could have had 2 more goals and skinner also had a point signalled wide which I thought was over....add to that 10 wides it shows how dominant we were.

Armagh are not as good as some people made out. Derry are not as good as some people might think after today either. But today was a great step for Derry, an excellent team performance and a fantastic result. I have a sneaky feeling Donegal will beat Tyrone but that depends on how much Tyrone improve from their last game. They usually improve a lot each game. I have to say I'd love a Derry v Tyrone final but I think both of them are much better than Armagh and we would have to step it up again if we were to win our first Ulster in over a decade.

Really looking forward to it and I now think we could do it. then next year when we have Paddy Bradley, James Conway, Fergal Doherty, Patsy Bradley and Gerard O'Kane all available again we'll win the all-ireland.

Doire abu!

[screenmachine]

God forbid if he kicked the ball at one of the inbreds...I think a two year ban could be on the cards from the CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC.

[winsamsoon]

Armagh were simply shocking today and were second best all over the pitch. A blatant observation should have seen Mallon on Bradley after ten mins. Armagh were cleaned out at midfield, Derry managed to isolate their full forward line and fed quick quality ball in which the slower Armagh defence couldn't cope with. Derry all dropped men back and strangled the Armagh attack as there simply wasn't any space and no one good enough to pick the perfect pass. Best team tactically and performance wise won on the day. Good luck to Derry.

[Jinxy]

Armagh should have dropped McKeever back in front of the FB line early doors and brought Padden back around midfield/centre back.

[Gold]

Derry wont count v Tyrone. Bradley may well strike Ricey/AN Other and get the line within 5 mins

[Jinxy]

Just read the Mike McGurn article on the Indo website.
Brolly will love the fact that the Armagh players spend so much time thinking about him.

[screenexile]

Just read the Mike McGurn article on the Indo website.
Brolly will love the fact that the Armagh players spend so much time thinking about him.

In fairness to Brolly and Spillane they made a good point . . . start mouthing about pundits and how wrong they are once you've won something!!

[tonto1888]

fair play to derry they were the better team but i dont think there was 9 points betwen the team. A mallon slip led to bradleys goal and a stupid error when two men went to one derry attacker leaving gilligan with a free run on goal led to the third goal. But like i said, the derry lads took their goals well and I hope they go on and win ulster now.

[naka]

he played on the left he played on the right that boy skinner made armagh look shit

On another day he could have got the line for the cowardly stunt on andy Mallon   Again Brennan saw this and took him off

He kicked the ball of his shins, hardly a cowardly stunt.  Mallon looked to be going for the windpipe pincer movement which seemed a bit more of a cowardly stunt to be honest.

+1

Agreed. A total over reaction by Mallon. Those sort of scenes should not be witnessed. I would have been happy to see Mallon being sent off for that.

feck off boys
mallon had won a free kick and bradley decided to lift the ball and whack it against him,the game was over at that stage there was no need to do it by bradley( 

[RealSpiritof98]

Armagh were very naive in not dropping someone back. Dropping Duffy, what was that about?? Totally destroyed in the middle plus the derry balls in to Bradley and gilligan were uncontested and any defender would find it hard to make them two guys when the supply was so good and plentiful. The better team won on the day and I hope they go on and win Ulster.

Andy Mallon needs to be congratulated for not planting his fist in Bradleys gub, every single play Bradley made he was in his ear telling him about it, even at 8 points up, I know I wanted him to dig him.

[HiMucker]

Armagh were very naive in not dropping someone back. Dropping Duffy, what was that about?? Totally destroyed in the middle plus the derry balls in to Bradley and gilligan were uncontested and any defender would find it hard to make them two guys when the supply was so good and plentiful. The better team won on the day and I hope they go on and win Ulster.

Andy Mallon needs to be congratulated for not planting his fist in Bradleys gub, every single play Bradley made he was in his ear telling him about it, even at 8 points up, I know I wanted him to dig him.

Balls!

[Overthebar!]

Yeah RealSpiritof98 no point going down that route, plenty of players at it all day... did you not hear your own keeper hearty at it? It is part and parcel of the game now so no point singling one individual out as if he was the only one at it!

[HiMucker]

I heard from a reliable source that the reason Michael O Rourke was taken off was that Osin was heard saying "Get O rourke out of there" so paddy took him off.  He didnt realise he was talking about Paddy!