Armagh v Laois (Sat 8th March - 19:00)

[Main Street]

Well done Armagh, sorry I missed this one. Roll on the Farneymen next week!

It sure will be a privilege to be on the same pitch as this year's tv stars.

[bigpaul]

It does in terms of how punters see the relative strengths of the team.
I think Laois will win and Armagh will be back in the danger zone.

Meath, Armagh, Louth and Galway are the weakest teams in the division.  The only points any of these 4 teams have came from playing the other weak teams.
Galway vs Armagh is going to be a 4 pointer.

Who did Laois get their points against?

[Throw ball]

Did the Laois support get lost today or think the match was tomorrow. The smallest away support I have seen in the Athletic Grounds in a long time.

[ardchieftain]

Delighted with the result and a lot of positives to be taken from the performance tonight. We must have done alright, even BCB has something positive to say about our County team! Stefan Campbell was top class tonight. Who got man of the match on Setanta?

[ONeill]

Laois man booed off?

[Throw ball]

Laois man booed off?

Just the one. I wonder who that could have been?

[Armaghgeddon]

Ethan Rafferty has the makings of a top player. Great result, surprised by the win myself but Laois had plenty of opportunities, on another day the outcome could have been different. Armagh look good going forward, but when it breaks down it becomes a defensive horror show. A lot of positives, Campbell & Findon catching my eye.

Thought Findon should have kept the ball secure, but lost in the middle of the field and lead to Laois goal, but also Armagh defender completely missed a kick and left an open space in defence. However other than that thought he had a good game, played well against Meath to before black card.

[Zulu]

Ethan Rafferty has the makings of a top player. Great result, surprised by the win myself but Laois had plenty of opportunities, on another day the outcome could have been different. Armagh look good going forward, but when it breaks down it becomes a defensive horror show. A lot of positives, Campbell & Findon catching my eye.

Wouldn't agree the outcome could have been different, yes, Laois had a few chances they should have taken but I thought Armagh were far superior for most of the match.

[eriugaMS]

Up until tonight I was a bit dubious about Stefan campbell and in the first 5 mins he wasn't great. And then he came to life.

Was for me clearly MOTM. His scoring was brilliant especially the one over the left shoulder. His work rate was immense and he bursted a gut up until the very end. At one stage he tracked back 70 yards at full sprint to get a tackle in and won the ball. When he moved out the field for the last 10 his passing was top notch too......

Glad to hold my hands up and say Stefan proved me very wrong tonight.

Harold was having a great game before he got the clip on the ankle and Andy marshalled the defence superbly.

Still some silly mistakes and turnovers and we won so easily despite wining a lot less of the break ball in the middle of the park. We still need a terrier type player to get stuck in to the mix and win the breaking ball.... One obvious player in the half forward line tonight ran his halfcircles, once again, to avoid having to try to make a tackle -Je despair

A few players tonight who once again showed they are off the mark. Caolan Rafferty may have gave the ball away a few times but he is not one of them as he showed once again that he is a great outlet and has real potential.

McVerry showed well when he came on too I thought - would like to see him given a longer cameo.

All in all a great win......... But as one other poster said - was there even 100 Laois supporters there.

Unlaois the Orange Indeed

[Rufus T Firefly]

Ethan Rafferty has the makings of a top player. Great result, surprised by the win myself but Laois had plenty of opportunities, on another day the outcome could have been different. Armagh look good going forward, but when it breaks down it becomes a defensive horror show. A lot of positives, Campbell & Findon catching my eye.

Wouldn't agree the outcome could have been different, yes, Laois had a few chances they should have taken but I thought Armagh were far superior for most of the match.

Agreed Zulu. For Laois to have won that would have meant them taking every single chance they had, and that is a rarity for any team. The better team unquestionably won although maybe the nine point gap flattered us. I thought Stefan Campbell, the Raffertys and Andy Mallon showed best for me.

[Armamike]

Very good performance. There's been a good improvement the past few games.  The support play is much better and the work rate is good. A few of the younger, newer players have done well today again and if they continue like that then it's going to be hard for a lot of the players who are out missing to get back into the team.  We're looking more mobile around the middle than's been the case for a while and racking up big scores with the half forward line chipping in well.  A bit more tightening up at the back and we're on the right road.

[eriugaMS]

I forgot to add that Mark Shields is proving to be a very able deputy for Aaron Kernan. Is there room for both in the team?

Yes - Ethan is like a young Paul MCGrane and is still only 20 I think.... The more game time the better and hope he stars the championship to get the big game experiences....

If Championship was in 3 weeks time - from tonight the following players have nailed down their starting places

McEvoy
Andy Mallon
Mark Shields
Ethan and Mr Harold
Tony K
Caolan
Jamie
Stefan

Still a good few players vying for a starting berth to come back from injury:

Ciaran McK
Charlie
Brendy
Paul McKeown
James Morgan
Aaron
et al....

[eriugaMS]

Laois man booed off?

It was all very Pantomimish......

It was done in jest and he even gave us a wink and a smile

[T Fearon]

Good win,and I thought the concession of the silly goal just before half time was leaving us with an insufficient three point lead at half time.

Still the next three games,more than the last two,will show us where we're at

[macdanger2]

If you can draw a line of form (and obviously you can't) then you should pile on Down to beat Galway @ 4/7