Laois v Armagh, NFL Div 2, Round 1, Sat 2nd February

[Dont Matter]

Armagh fans obviously don't take defeat too well. I always used to think they were decent supporters but that was back when they used to beat us.
No matter what you think of Billy, it's still an amatuer sport. He has a day job to go to and the story last year did him no favours. Can you blame him for celebrating at the end especially with Armagh fans jeering him and shouting abuse?

He is hardly an amateur at doling out abuse out now is he.

I cant blame him for celebrating though, there is bad blood between him and Armagh, he knows the reason why well enough!

Yes there's bad blood between some Laois players and McKeever since he jumped off the bench to strike a Laois player from behind then jump back over the hoardings in a league match a few years ago.

I might be wrong but I think that was a different player. If it is who I think it was he would try that with his own team mates!

No it was definetly McKeever, it was the game in Armagh where both teams finished with 13. I didn't know much about McKeever at the time and I had to ask an Armagh man who it was. He punched Donie Brennan from behind, if you don't know Donie, he's about 5'6 and weighs nothing.

[yellowcard]

Fully agree with Duffle King, too much is being made of Sheehans antics when we should be focussing on what we have to do to actually win our first game of the season. No point in being too precious about these things,it's not as if McKeever isn't well versed in the darker arts himself.

McNulty has done a fine job with Laois and I suspect they will go on and win the division. As for Armagh I'm still trying to figure out what the gameplan is, there appears to be a certain amount of innocence to our tactics. Sending the 15 men out to play man to man football simply doesn't wash in the modern game and we need to sort out the defence first to give us a platform to build on. Laois could easily have scored 3-25 last night.

[Throw ball]

Armagh fans obviously don't take defeat too well. I always used to think they were decent supporters but that was back when they used to beat us.
No matter what you think of Billy, it's still an amatuer sport. He has a day job to go to and the story last year did him no favours. Can you blame him for celebrating at the end especially with Armagh fans jeering him and shouting abuse?

He is hardly an amateur at doling out abuse out now is he.

I cant blame him for celebrating though, there is bad blood between him and Armagh, he knows the reason why well enough!

Yes there's bad blood between some Laois players and McKeever since he jumped off the bench to strike a Laois player from behind then jump back over the hoardings in a league match a few years ago.

I might be wrong but I think that was a different player. If it is who I think it was he would try that with his own team mates!

No it was definetly McKeever, it was the game in Armagh where both teams finished with 13. I didn't know much about McKeever at the time and I had to ask an Armagh man who it was. He punched Donie Brennan from behind, if you don't know Donie, he's about 5'6 and weighs nothing.

In his younger day he would definitely have done such a thing. I remember that night well. It was a dark night and before the stand was built. The incident started at the far side of the pitch so was hard to see who did what. I still think it was the other fella on that occasion though.

[Dont Matter]

Ah yeah, a lot of messing went on that night. It might have been someone else but I don't think so. Anyway it doesn't matter now. Despite our win I think it will be still tough for us to get promoted so we could be having another rematch next year up in your place.

[mackers]

The match followed the same pattern as our two McKenna Cup matches in a lot of ways, we were basically beat by half time and then showed some guts and determination to get back into the match just to tail off at the end.
For the most part the younger lads acquitted themselves well, it was our more established players that let us down. The lack of mobility in our midfield was shocking but it's something that could have been flagged up by most supporters before the match.  Credit must be given to the Laois midfield, especially Quigley who is a hell of a player.  Justin McNulty knew our problem because he employed a simple tactic of the midfielders crossing over the field for kickouts and our midfielders could not cope with this at all.  I find it very difficult to criticise any of our defenders (except for Finn Mo and his usual poor tackling) with the onslaught they faced for long periods of the game.  James Donnelly was impressive at full back, Gary McCooey and Mark Shields did all that could have been asked of them. Ciaran McKeever spent most of the first half trying to stay out of trouble and this distracted him from his game IMO. 
James Lavery can ONLY be used in the last twenty minutes of a game when others have slowed down to CLOSE to his pace.
The movement in the forward line was poor at times and at other times they suffered from poor distribution into them. Aidan Forker had a good game and worked tirelessly for the team in tracking back on repeated occasions but was rightfully called ashore as he was walking a tightrope after a ticking and a yellow card.  Hopefully he learns to cut this indiscipline from his game as he's a super player.  Ethan Rafferty was a revelation for me.  It would have been easy for a lad just out of minor to hide at times on Saturday night with the way the match was going but he showed great temperament and no little ability on a losing team.  The FF line spluttered and only showed glimpses of their ability. Gavin McParland has a good future in the orange jersey but his shot selection is poor at times.  Not sure why Brian Mallon was taken off as he was having an excellent second half after a poor first.
Away to Laois, missing a glut of players was always going to be a tough one. Next Sunday's game is a very important one as a defeat there and we are in that relegation fight that Paddy Heaney warned us of!

[Applesisapples]

Not withstanding the amount of training some boys may do with the County squad, and I say this as a fan, if there are better players available in Cross and there are, then every effort needs to be made to integrate them. There is not a club in Armagh that doesn't allow players from College/County duty to walk back in and begin playing, with the exception probably of Cross. Armagh needs the Kernans, Cunningham, Hannratty, Mckenna, Clarke, Morgan to be successful. You don't see Kerry turning away Dr Crokes players. Yes Cross probably need to work a bit with the County setup, but this seems to be a perennial argument and other clubs need to get over Cross' success.

[T Fearon]

Surely its time for Cross to "man up" and allow their players to join the County squad in January and partcipate for a full season. Take the risk with injury and test the strength of their own squad if it happens.

[brokencrossbar1]

Surely its time for Cross to "man up" and allow their players to join the County squad in January and partcipate for a full season. Take the risk with injury and test the strength of their own squad if it happens.

No it's not time for Cross to 'man up' and I am fed up to the back teeth of this whole charade.  There are no ST Brigid's players playing with Roscommon, no Crokes players playing with Kerry and both these teams are on the back of 3 provincials in a row.  I would imagine that the Ballymun are not risking their players.  To my mind it is time for the rest of the players there to 'man up',  for long enough the argument has been that the county doesn't need that many Cross players, and that there would be 3 maximum starters.  If that is the case then there should be no problem integrating these players.  It is far too easy for people to point the finger elsewhere when the reality is that the players available have their chance to prove themselves over the last few years and very few have taken that opportunity.

[Mont]

Surely its time for Cross to "man up" and allow their players to join the County squad in January and partcipate for a full season. Take the risk with injury and test the strength of their own squad if it happens.

how naive? cross dont give a shite bout armagh wen they r stil involved in club cship. rightly r wrongly this is how it is.
am sure some universities wud b a lot stronger if they were allowed to play as well for sigerson

goin by reports they may not have made any diference such is rmaghs curent style of play. hope grimley has s job for life.
nathan carter wil be biggest thing to happen in armagh this yr

[DuffleKing]

Surely its time for Cross to "man up" and allow their players to join the County squad in January and partcipate for a full season. Take the risk with injury and test the strength of their own squad if it happens.

No it's not time for Cross to 'man up' and I am fed up to the back teeth of this whole charade.  There are no ST Brigid's players playing with Roscommon, no Crokes players playing with Kerry and both these teams are on the back of 3 provincials in a row.  I would imagine that the Ballymun are not risking their players.  To my mind it is time for the rest of the players there to 'man up',  for long enough the argument has been that the county doesn't need that many Cross players, and that there would be 3 maximum starters.  If that is the case then there should be no problem integrating these players.  It is far too easy for people to point the finger elsewhere when the reality is that the players available have their chance to prove themselves over the last few years and very few have taken that opportunity.

The crokes players - bar gooch - played through January for Kerry in their preseason competition.

Much of the game analysis here has been accurate enough except a couple of people have mentioned Donnelly doing well. i think we are confusing pity and the will we have for him to do well with performance. It was not his fault in the slightest but Clancy destroyed us. Everything went through him. Donnelly made a good block when Clancy was getting over confident and picked up a couple of wayward passes. everything else that went near clancy was a score.

[brokencrossbar1]

Surely its time for Cross to "man up" and allow their players to join the County squad in January and partcipate for a full season. Take the risk with injury and test the strength of their own squad if it happens.

No it's not time for Cross to 'man up' and I am fed up to the back teeth of this whole charade.  There are no ST Brigid's players playing with Roscommon, no Crokes players playing with Kerry and both these teams are on the back of 3 provincials in a row.  I would imagine that the Ballymun are not risking their players.  To my mind it is time for the rest of the players there to 'man up',  for long enough the argument has been that the county doesn't need that many Cross players, and that there would be 3 maximum starters.  If that is the case then there should be no problem integrating these players.  It is far too easy for people to point the finger elsewhere when the reality is that the players available have their chance to prove themselves over the last few years and very few have taken that opportunity.

The crokes players - bar gooch - played through January for Kerry in their preseason competition.

Much of the game analysis here has been accurate enough except a couple of people have mentioned Donnelly doing well. i think we are confusing pity and the will we have for him to do well with performance. It was not his fault in the slightest but Clancy destroyed us. Everything went through him. Donnelly made a good block when Clancy was getting over confident and picked up a couple of wayward passes. everything else that went near clancy was a score.

They're not there now and they won't be.  Also lets not forget that we are looking at possibly making history here and doing something that has never been done and is unlikely to happen again but instead of having the backing of our county colleagues we have a bitching and moaning session that the players are not playing! I want to see Armagh do well but not before my club and the reality is that if any other club in Armagh was in the same boat as us they would do the exact same. 

[DuffleKing]

Well the reality is that no other Armagh club have done what cross have in this regard. I remember McGeeney, Tierney & the McNultys playing constantly through the winter and spring national league games and breaking for the sunday before a championship game the year they won the Ulster club championship. talk at the time was they trained Tuesday with Armagh and Thursday with Mullaghbawn. Pearse Og, Clan na Gael and Carrickcruppen, for example, never withdrew players from the county when they had extended runs in ulster. you may argue that they were different times but that everyone does it doesn't stack up.

If we took the Kerry approach and Armagh had morgan, hanratty & the kernans for a few weeks in January - which was before Cross got going again - they and Grimley would be in a lot better position with regard to their possible contribution to the county this year. No need to see ak and jamie of course. i'd argue they should be available for the first 2 national league games too but at least with that there's a start made and no question about their commitment to their club cause.

[mackers]

Much of the game analysis here has been accurate enough except a couple of people have mentioned Donnelly doing well. i think we are confusing pity and the will we have for him to do well with performance. It was not his fault in the slightest but Clancy destroyed us. Everything went through him. Donnelly made a good block when Clancy was getting over confident and picked up a couple of wayward passes. everything else that went near clancy was a score.

I thought Donnelly broke the ball away from Clancy on repeated occasions when left one on one with him.  Oddly enough I felt he was poor in the McKenna Cup matches when others were praising him but IMO he had a good match on Saturday night.  What destroyed us was our midfield getting wiped out and not being able to track back.

[brokencrossbar1]

Well the reality is that no other Armagh club have done what cross have in this regard.

No other club in the country nevermind Armagh would have done what we have done and continue to do.  At the back of it all though is that the players that are now available to Armagh need to prove their worth.  If they do, well and good, if they don't then there should not be any argument about a number of Cross players coming in at whatever stage they do.

[DuffleKing]

Well the reality is that no other Armagh club have done what cross have in this regard.

No other club in the country nevermind Armagh would have done what we have done and continue to do.  At the back of it all though is that the players that are now available to Armagh need to prove their worth.  If they do, well and good, if they don't then there should not be any argument about a number of Cross players coming in at whatever stage they do.

Well that's a valid point to make but a completely separate one. I was simply pointing out that what you say about every other club in armagh doing the same is not true. Of course Cross will have the overwhelming backing of the county when match day comes but you must remember, and admittedly this must seem odd to a cross man, the club championship pales into the background for every other armagh supporter when compared to a national league and even McKenna Cup game.