Tyrone v Armagh

[Throw ball]

Which armagh poster was it who said about clarke making hay against old man gormley  

Anyone who watches errigal regularly will know what peter harte is capable of.  For a long time there has been as much excitement about his potential as there was about canavan.  He will undoubtedly go on to become one of the finest footballers in ireland.

Any word on whether Mc Keever, Toner or Swift will be back?

The most likely would be Swift, he was togged out last night and had his football gloves at the ready so he must be close. I'd throw him in for Lavery myself. Looked like Ciaran was still limping last night and I'd be surprised if he plays. Don't so sure about Toner.

The tactics: Block shall take the dangerman Clarke. Sad to think that in 8 years of success we can't find a top class man-marking corner back but anyhow.

As an Armagh man I really hope that Gormley marks Clarke. There's joy to be had there.

I've highlighted the bit of YOUR quote that I agreed with by saying what I said.  In fairness, Gormley beat Clarke to a couple of high balls that wouldn't be Jamie's strong point. When Jamie got the proper ball in he wasn't just faced by Gormley who he rounded on a few occasions but by a number of defenders who he couldn't shake off.
The players that I said I hoped would stand up, didn't. CV had a poor game for me and deserved to be taken off. Dyas was injured so we missed out there. MOR had a good first half and was called ashore AGAIN when others could have been called off before him.
Our lack of mobility in midfield was cruelly exposed as I was worried it would. Ciaran McKeever and AK were plugging holes as Tyrone's midfield and half backs poured through. Joe McMahon was awesome at FB.
The first goal was a square ball and I thought the ref was poor especially in dishing out soft yellow cards in the first half with Jamie Clarke's particularly strange. But Tyrone were easily the better team on the night and deserved their win.

Heard yesterday that he was doubtful to start because he had picked up a groin injury in Aughrim. Would suggest that this was why he was taken off rather than his form if other substitutions are considered! 

[maddog]

Deserved victory for Mickey Harte and his squad. I think they will get better again if getting past the rossies which they will be massive favourites to do. Harte, Colm Kavanagh, probably stood out for Tyrone most with the 2 mcguigans excellent in patches as well. For us McKeever, Stevie, Vernon emerged with credit. On reflection this stage was about as far as i expected us to get. As far as management changes go im sure there will be plenty of calls for a clear out.

What game were you at mate?? Both were terrible

I was at Premier sports on Sky, obviously you only see so much on tv but sure enlighten me as to why they were terrible.

[muppet]

Was BJP playing at FF?

[orangeman]

Will their be match fixing by the Gaa tonight? What I mean is can Mayo not meet the winners of Roscommon v Tyrone (incase it's Ros) but all other games be open draw?

Another glitch in the system ?.

[mountainboii]

Frustrating end to the year, but not that disappointing in the greater scheme of things. We're so far off the top table that a knock out was coming sooner or later. Ideally it wouldn't have come from Tyrone, but that's how it goes.

It's amazing how everything always seems rosier in light of a win, from reading this thread there seems to be no exception in Tyrone. I thought they looked very average for huge swathes of this game. The five minutes before half time killed Armagh, and we largely have ourselves to blame for this with Hearty's head staggers. It was criminal to cough up three points so easily in a game that we needed to keep errors to minimum. This gifted cushion was what made Tyrone's second goal a game finisher, when it shouldn't have been. Aye Tyrone hit wides, so did Armagh. Aye Tyrone missed goal chances, so did Armagh. It's easy to only remember certain events if you want to convince yourself of something. Tyrone need to up it again to compete with genuine contenders, although they're a decent outside bet.

For ourselves, I thought our FB line was left very exposed again. Donegal restricted that Tyrone team to just nine points because Tyrone faced twelve defenders every time they tried to score. Too often we left them in one on one or two on two situations. That's kamikaze football at this level, all it takes is one slip or one misjudged ball and you are punished. Would hesitate to be too critical of any of this line in light of how hung out to dry they have been all year, but they weren't great last night.

The HB line was poor. Kernan was far too loose on Harte, who was hugely influential for Tyrone. McKeever had a decent first half off the ball with some big hits, but kicked some poor passes and faded towards the end as his injury took it's toll. Duffy has had a poor championship, hasn't looked fit since the Down match.

Toner was very good in the middle, especially for someone only coming back from injury. Lavery has been one of the biggest disappointments of the year. Offers very little other than his fielding, which hasn't been up to much either. That injury sustained a few years ago has robbed him of whatever mobility he had, and it's evidently not coming back. Sad to see a lad who dominated his peers at U21 level reduced to a little more than a passenger just a few years later. Could find half a dozen men ahead of him in the queue next year.

McDonnell was excellent in the HF line, penalty miss aside. Hopefully he gives it another couple of years because he can still deliver at this level. A typical Vernon game from Vernon. Some good, some bad. More bad last night. Mackin did alright again, he can hold his head high after this year.

O'Rourke scored a couple of good points, but faded a bit later on. Maybe replaced too soon. Has something to offer at county level and can hopefully push on next year. Padden hasn't much football in him. He's a big man with decent hands, but doesn't have enough of a cutting edge to play FF on a team with any sort of ambition. McMahon ate him up. Clarke had a tough game, probably his poorest in his short Armagh career. Gormley has excellent on him, although it must be said that the ball into the pair was perfect for the Tyrone man. Clarke thrives on fast low ball and ball into space. Too often last night he was expected to win speculative garryowens, that's not his game. Must be added that he still won a few converted frees and would've goaled but for an outstanding save from McConnell.

Would be great to be able to pin everything on the management, but the problems are a lot more widespread. There are just too many weak links on the pitch to compete with the top sides, and there's not a lot a manager can do about goalkeeping c**k ups or penalty misses. This said, criticism of our defensive set up is merited. Just like in the second of half of the Derry game, the arse fell out of it in the second half last night. The whole thing was utterly shapeless. Donnelly pulled Donaghy away out the field creating an ocean of room in the middle for Tyrone players to bomb into from deep. This is how the second Tyrone goal was scored, and there had been two or three identical attacks just proceeding it. Better management would've seen this danger developing and remedied things before it was too late.

Looking ahead, I believe there's a good Armagh team there somewhere. They need to be better organised though, with more emphasis on defense. We simply don't have the players to play that type of pure six and six football. We're just losing shoot outs at the minute. We need a couple more quality forwards to come through too. The progress of the 2009 minors has been frustratingly slow. Hoping Grugan sets up camp in the gym the next six months, and McParland gets given a decent opportunity to establish himself next spring.

[CK_Redhand]

Will their be match fixing by the Gaa tonight? What I mean is can Mayo not meet the winners of Roscommon v Tyrone (incase it's Ros) but all other games be open draw?

Kerry can't meet Cork either I think.  The draw will be a mess.

[orangeman]

Will their be match fixing by the Gaa tonight? What I mean is can Mayo not meet the winners of Roscommon v Tyrone (incase it's Ros) but all other games be open draw?

Kerry can't meet Cork either I think.  The draw will be a mess.

Not if they can engineer a Kerry v Dublin final !!

[Rois]

I was sure that the first goal was a square ball.

My dad thought that too.

Satisfying is how I view the result. We punished the turnovers, of which there were just too many from Armagh.

[Armaghtothebone]

I was sure that the first goal was a square ball.

Someone said that the ref consistently allowed both teams to over carry, but tell that to Charlie Vernon who was blew up after about 4 steps for one of Tyrone's early points.

We were well outclassed, but the ref certainly didn't have a great game.

At long last!!!

Marty Duffy had an absolute shocker last night.
He blew Vernon for an iffy over carry resulting in a sored free and then never blew a Tyrone forward as they carried for miles.
The game turned on the square ball goal.

Saying that, the best team won.
Good luck to them.

[mackers]

Frustrating end to the year, but not that disappointing in the greater scheme of things. We're so far off the top table that a knock out was coming sooner or later. Ideally it wouldn't have come from Tyrone, but that's how it goes.

It's amazing how everything always seems rosier in light of a win, from reading this thread there seems to be no exception in Tyrone. I thought they looked very average for huge swathes of this game. The five minutes before half time killed Armagh, and we largely have ourselves to blame for this with Hearty's head staggers. It was criminal to cough up three points so easily in a game that we needed to keep errors to minimum. This gifted cushion was what made Tyrone's second goal a game finisher, when it shouldn't have been. Aye Tyrone hit wides, so did Armagh. Aye Tyrone missed goal chances, so did Armagh. It's easy to only remember certain events if you want to convince yourself of something. Tyrone need to up it again to compete with genuine contenders, although they're a decent outside bet.

For ourselves, I thought our FB line was left very exposed again. Donegal restricted that Tyrone team to just nine points because Tyrone faced twelve defenders every time they tried to score. Too often we left them in one on one or two on two situations. That's kamikaze football at this level, all it takes is one slip or one misjudged ball and you are punished. Would hesitate to be too critical of any of this line in light of how hung out to dry they have been all year, but they weren't great last night.

The HB line was poor. Kernan was far too loose on Harte, who was hugely influential for Tyrone. McKeever had a decent first half off the ball with some big hits, but kicked some poor passes and faded towards the end as his injury took it's toll. Duffy has had a poor championship, hasn't looked fit since the Down match.

Toner was very good in the middle, especially for someone only coming back from injury. Lavery has been one of the biggest disappointments of the year. Offers very little other than his fielding, which hasn't been up to much either. That injury sustained a few years ago has robbed him of whatever mobility he had, and it's evidently not coming back. Sad to see a lad who dominated his peers at U21 level reduced to a little more than a passenger just a few years later. Could find half a dozen men ahead of him in the queue next year.

McDonnell was excellent in the HF line, penalty miss aside. Hopefully he gives it another couple of years because he can still deliver at this level. A typical Vernon game from Vernon. Some good, some bad. More bad last night. Mackin did alright again, he can hold his head high after this year.

O'Rourke scored a couple of good points, but faded a bit later on. Maybe replaced too soon. Has something to offer at county level and can hopefully push on next year. Padden hasn't much football in him. He's a big man with decent hands, but doesn't have enough of a cutting edge to play FF on a team with any sort of ambition. McMahon ate him up. Clarke had a tough game, probably his poorest in his short Armagh career. Gormley has excellent on him, although it must be said that the ball into the pair was perfect for the Tyrone man. Clarke thrives on fast low ball and ball into space. Too often last night he was expected to win speculative garryowens, that's not his game. Must be added that he still won a few converted frees and would've goaled but for an outstanding save from McConnell.

Would be great to be able to pin everything on the management, but the problems are a lot more widespread. There are just too many weak links on the pitch to compete with the top sides, and there's not a lot a manager can do about goalkeeping c**k ups or penalty misses. This said, criticism of our defensive set up is merited. Just like in the second of half of the Derry game, the arse fell out of it in the second half last night. The whole thing was utterly shapeless. Donnelly pulled Donaghy away out the field creating an ocean of room in the middle for Tyrone players to bomb into from deep. This is how the second Tyrone goal was scored, and there had been two or three identical attacks just proceeding it. Better management would've seen this danger developing and remedied things before it was too late.

Looking ahead, I believe there's a good Armagh team there somewhere. They need to be better organised though, with more emphasis on defense. We simply don't have the players to play that type of pure six and six football. We're just losing shoot outs at the minute. We need a couple more quality forwards to come through too. The progress of the 2009 minors has been frustratingly slow. Hoping Grugan sets up camp in the gym the next six months, and McParland gets given a decent opportunity to establish himself next spring.

Great post AFS. As usual spot on the money for me, especially the last two paragraphs.  If, as I expect, POR does resign or is pushed, I would have a certain amount of sympathy for him.  We are carrying four passengers on our team. He has us playing football again after the crap that our previous manager had us playing. He has swung the pendulum too far unfortunately and we looked to have played off the cuff too often.  When things started to go wrong we became too ragged and as you say a lack of a cohesive game plan cost us.
On your point regarding the minors the best forward on the minor team was Robbie Tasker and it looks doubtful whether he will play inter county football which is a major disappointment to me. I have heard that POR went to great lengths to get him on board last year but was unsuccessful. At least Grugan, McParland and McKenna have had a taste this year and more will be drafted in.
Your point on the POR out thread is well made also regarding the guys who have had 4 or 5 years on the panel and failed to impress, the four passengers that I referred to above are in this age group. These guys should be dropped and the younger guys given their chance.

[Armaghgael]

Deserved victory for Mickey Harte and his squad. I think they will get better again if getting past the rossies which they will be massive favourites to do. Harte, Colm Kavanagh, probably stood out for Tyrone most with the 2 mcguigans excellent in patches as well. For us McKeever, Stevie, Vernon emerged with credit. On reflection this stage was about as far as i expected us to get. As far as management changes go im sure there will be plenty of calls for a clear out.

What game were you at mate?? Both were terrible

I was at Premier sports on Sky, obviously you only see so much on tv but sure enlighten me as to why they were terrible.

Its not hard to know why you thought Vernon played well (And anyone who was at the game would tel ye he was useless)

McKeever couldnt find an Armagh jersey in the o`neills shop that how bad his passing was

[lawnseed]

defo square ball there lads for the goal but disallowing it wouldn't have made any difference Tyrone simply ran through us. too many defenders wanting to play football - on our team. we've a great team there all have all irl medals of some description but some of them are off the boil. we just need someone to mold them and see if they can be redeemed. we need a new manager and a trawl of the clubs at all levels paul mc granes and geezers dont grow on trees but we are missing something

[Radda bout yeee]

Just in the door. Great performance tonight but still need to improve our shooting. Ban hub from passing the 45 line.

Awesome display from Petey Harte, has followed up his Longford performance with an even better display tonight. It had everything, winning mountains of dirty ball round the middle, setting up and involved in at least 70% of scores and chipped in with 4 (I think) points himself. He can also really hold his own in the physical stakes and has wonderful vision, rarely looses possession. A real gem.

On any other night Joe mcMahon would have been MOTM. Such a reliable defender, has really safe hands and always uses the ball well. Plucked a sublime ball out of the sky in the second half that was worth the admission price alone.
Roll on the Rossies.

That catch from McMahon got some roar from the stand. Celebrated like it was a goal! As everyone said McMahon was superb, Peter Harte worked his b**ls off. I thought Mark Donnelly played very well too when he came into the half forward zones.

Besides those, Sean O'Neill had an excellent game, and I thought that outside McMahon, Marty Swift was the stand out performer. Was disapointed - in a way- with Jamie Clarke. He'd nothing to offer!

Tyrone missed some serious goal chances, when you consider Sean O'Neill's drive wide in the first half, McGuigan (I think it was) hitting the post in the first half, Hub's miss and I think there were a couple of other big chances in the second half.

Onwards and upwards...

Did anyone see the wee fella doing what can only be described as a mix between the shuffle and an Irish dance in front of the stand at half time? F**k that boy could move!

IMO I thought swift scored a great point and had an okay game but don't think he handled young inexperienced o'rourke very well at all. He kicked some good points off him and I would be worried come bigger guns later in the championship!!! Better defenders on the bench I think!

[Orangemac]

Frustrating end to the year, but not that disappointing in the greater scheme of things. We're so far off the top table that a knock out was coming sooner or later. Ideally it wouldn't have come from Tyrone, but that's how it goes.

Would be great to be able to pin everything on the management, but the problems are a lot more widespread. There are just too many weak links on the pitch to compete with the top sides, and there's not a lot a manager can do about goalkeeping c**k ups or penalty misses. This said, criticism of our defensive set up is merited. Just like in the second of half of the Derry game, the arse fell out of it in the second half last night. The whole thing was utterly shapeless. Donnelly pulled Donaghy away out the field creating an ocean of room in the middle for Tyrone players to bomb into from deep. This is how the second Tyrone goal was scored, and there had been two or three identical attacks just proceeding it. Better management would've seen this danger developing and remedied things before it was too late.

A lot of good points here particularly blaming all ills on management. HF line has often been cited as main area for concern over the last few years but whoever is in charge next year needs to concentrate on shoring up the defence. During 2002 to 2005 we rarely conceded 2 goals in any 1 game.McDonnell needs to be persuaded to stay on also.

[David McKeown]

Will their be match fixing by the Gaa tonight? What I mean is can Mayo not meet the winners of Roscommon v Tyrone (incase it's Ros) but all other games be open draw?

Kerry can't meet Cork either I think.  The draw will be a mess.

Not if they can engineer a Kerry v Dublin final !!

I know the draw has now been done so this makes no difference but again this shambolic from the GAA who change the rules as they go along. We can't have a refixture of a provincial final but because two other teams drew, weeks ago we have now also decided that we can't have a Tyrone v Mayo match either. In essence increasing Dublin, Kerry and Donegals chances of meeting Tyrone.