Round 4 Qualfier: Armagh v Meath

[armaghniac]

We have been playing a tough defensive style of football that transits to counter attack very quickly, half backs push up to run off the shoulder of the man with the ball while there are plenty of willing runners up front giving an option for a kickpass. Ciaran McKeever is playing like a hybrid sweeper/quarter back.

We could be quite difficult for you to play against.

Do your defenders leave the field once your forwards get the ball. That could give us some opportunities.

They usually head off for a smoke behind the goal.

[brokencrossbar1]

We have been playing a tough defensive style of football that transits to counter attack very quickly, half backs push up to run off the shoulder of the man with the ball while there are plenty of willing runners up front giving an option for a kickpass. Ciaran McKeever is playing like a hybrid sweeper/quarter back.

We could be quite difficult for you to play against.

Do your defenders leave the field once your forwards get the ball. That could give us some opportunities.

I have to say that this 'term' really fucks my nut!!!!!  Its like he sits behind the breaking ball and sprays wonderful 40 yeard passes around at his leisure!!!!  Why do we persist with the constant infestation of terminology from other games.  Off the shoulder etc!  I watched the game the other day and Peter Canavan spoke about players in terms of '15 possession' and I thought I was watching an Aussie rules game!!!!  AHHHHHHHHHHH....curmudgeonary rant over!!! 

PS we don't do good rant anymore btw,  do you remember Hardy back in the good old days of real rants...ah the memories!

[Jinxy]

McKeever is more of a linebacker anyway.

[Dinny Breen]

Meath won't fear Armagh!

Will you be heading in early to support your Leinster brethren Dinny?

I will of course, I think we'll have two good games as well, Meath won't be as naive as Roscommon and try to run through Armagh and will move the ball into the forwards a lot quicker. Armagh aren't quick starters more of a grinding team and I think as the game progresses Meath will start to regain their confidence and if they have enough of that with 20 to go and it's still tight they should be able to exploit the space. On one level I'd like to see Meath win but the consequences of that is a potential q/f for Kildare against Dublin and to be honest Kildare aren't ready to play Dublin this year so on a functional level potentially it would be better for Kildare for Armagh to win.

I hope and expect to see a big row though. McGeeney no doubt will be doing his moving statue impression on the sideline if things go wrong for Armagh.

[joemamas]

I'd put Shane O'Rourke full forward and use him as a target man.
It's pointless carrying a midfielder his size just for the sake of one or two clean catches a game.
I'd bring Menton into the middle with Brian Meade.
Bring Graham Reilly out as a '3rd midfielder' and go with O'Rourke and Newman as a two man FF line and bring Bray out to the HF line as well.
Have Bray following the ball in to pick up breaks off Shane.

1. P. O'Rourke
2. E. Harrington
3. K. Reilly
4. D. Tobin
5. P. Harnan
6. D. Keoghan
7. M. Burke
8. B. Meade
9. B. Menton
10. A. Tormey
11. D. Carroll
12. S. Bray
13. M. Newman
14. S. O'Rourke
15. G. Reilly

Agreed, Shane O Rourke looked shagged after 20 mins, he is an incredibly talented footballer when on the ball.
Meath were avoiding midfield like a dose of (well you know what), I was shocked that they did not want to even contest the area from kickouts, It was like akin to Dublin's tactics v Mayo in the all-Ireland final.

Heading back for my annual fill of football at beginning of August, and will go to games on Saturday eve. I wonder what is the mentality like within the squad, a lot of teams often throw the towel in after a loss like they experienced, this stage of the qualifiers have almost always favoured the momentum teams that have come through the qualifiers. Armagh are decent, not world beaters and I was surprised how easily Roscommon controlled midfield for first 25 mins last Saturday. If Meath can somehow get a decent start they could beat Armagh, on the other hand if Armagh get ahead,........

[Jinxy]

It's go hard or go home time.

[thejuice]

"G'wan or g'way will ya" time

[Jinxy]

Does Ger Houlihan still play for Armagh?

[BennyCake]

Does Ger Houlihan still play for Armagh?

Aye.

[Jinxy]

He'll take watching.

[our_fella]

McEvoy
Morgan
Vernon
Mallon
Shields
Donaghy
McKeever
Findon
Harold
T.Kernan
Dyas
Campbell
Carragher
Clarke
A.Kernan (too good not to be starting esp v Meath)

[drici]

Meath's master scavengers thrive in barren Orchard

MEATH 0-15  ARMAGH 2-05

CHAMPAGNE football, it wasn't. More like a cheap, deadly poitín, the sort of stuff concocted on islands off the west coast, available only to those who know the wrong people, household detergent for a bit of kick, a hangover to last for days.

When negativity infects the minds of football men, the results can be horrific. Armagh's tactical plan to a) combat Meath's notoriously sticky defence, and b) release their own danger-men Oisín McConville and Diarmuid Marsden signalled nought but dread: and dread inevitably came to pass in the form of a grinding, attritional affair that lends grist to those mills churning out the view that Gaelic football is an unpretty and unloved game. (Little did he know then)

NON-SPECTACLE

Even for those who know the true beauty occasionally achieved by Gaelic football Galway's All Ireland second-half last year, Offaly's Leinster final display the year before it is difficult to gainsay the above perception now enhanced by yesterday's non-spectacle.

Between the 60,589 who attended the game, and the 500,000 or so more who watched it on the box, there can be few sports followers left in the nation who haven't heard tell of this drab encounter by now.

For those who haven't, think of Heuston Station shortly after 5.0 on Friday evening, people rushing here and there; into that congestion lob the concept of a game of Gaelic football and you get the idea.

Armagh will argue their best chance of victory lay in pulling half the county down into their half of the field, leaving Oisín McConville, Paddy McKeever and Diarmuid Marsden to work the other end.


And they can equally point to the fact that they hold no responsibility for putting on a show; they might even encourage those interested in entertainment to buy tickets for the Tivoli Theatre where they can be sure of a stageload of people paid to make you laugh or cry.

No, the problem with yesterday's match is the uncomfortable truth it tells us about Gaelic football; it is a game that can be choked up and with the best will in the world, opponents can't lift the standard above the mediocre when one team is committed to bunching.

If over half of the 30 players on the field flock like sheep to the middle third, from where they chase around after the bag of wind like we all did as kids in the schoolyard, then there will inevitably be untold spillage of ball, misdirected passes, and blocked kicks.

Anyone in the mood to revive the dormant argument for football to be reduced to 13-a-side, or even less?

Meath won because Meath nearly always win games like this. They have the best scavengers in town. They tackle with greater zeal than anyone else, and they dive on loose ball without a second thought.

And when their opponents kick away good chances during their period of dominance, Meath almost smell victory. No team lives off the mistakes of others better than Meath.

And after 15 minutes of the second-half yesterday, when Armagh had kicked six wides on the trot, you could almost chalk it down that Meath would win, even though they were two points in arrears.

Meath didn't hit the high spots yesterday, but they did more than enough to win. They are now the only team to contest four All Ireland finals (1990, '91, '96 and '99) in the 1990s.

Their opponents in a month's time, Cork, and Dublin are second in line with three final appearances apiece; we're counting the 1996 draw and replay between Mayo and Meath as one final.

Cork will not be discouraged by what they saw yesterday. The game confirmed that Meath can be beaten if faced with a well-ordered, confident team that keeps its errors to a minimum.

Armagh were in a match-winning situation at half-time, and they never capitalised. Their return of just one point in the second-half and that from a free is scandalously short of the required standard, particularly from a team which got into scoring positions.

CRIPPLING BLOW

The wides after the break Marsden, Jarlath Burns, McConville (2), John Donaldson and Tony McEntee were a crippling blow.

They came out of a 15-minute spell of dominance no further ahead than they were at half-time, and the 53rd minute point by Raymond Magee was of symbolic significance.

Trevor Giles, the orchestrator of the Meath revival, came back behind his own half-way line to take control of a free. Meath, too, had fallen into the trap of trying to solo their way through the overcrowded middle of the field, and it invariably ended in one more powerful shoulder charge, or a flailing arm, and the mini-move would come to nothing.

Giles, drawing on his celebrated awareness of what's happening on the field, recognised the free as an opportunity to re-align the Meath approach. He kicked it long and straight to full-forward Graham Geraghty, by now almost dying of starvation. Geraghty broke it down to Raymond Magee and, without any fuss, Meath scored a point. On a day of great waste, it was a master class in economy.

From this position, Meath cantered home, each point driving a spear even further through Armagh's heart. This is Meath at their most wicked, profiting from the misfortune of others, punishing to the maximum.

They even had two goal chances in the final few minutes, one saved by Brendan Tierney from Hank Traynor and the other intercepted by Tierney from Geraghty. By game's end, Armagh were beaten by a good deal more than the four points in the scoreline.

Armagh's contribution to their own demise was immense. McConville played the game under the almost intolerable pressure of his father being seriously ill. In the circumstances, he must be excused his six wides.

The tactic of isolating the front-runners came acropper in the second-half. Impatience set in and Marsden drifted out-field when he should have waited inside for the half-chance.

The 54th minute sending-off of Ger Reid was coming for ages. Reid ran into foul trouble early on, and would have been skating on wafer-thin ice if referee Paddy Russell had spotted all of his indiscretions, which included two hand-trips on Geraghty.

He was booked in the 17th minute and he was so addled by Geraghty's blinding pace that he continued to foul. The one that sent him packing could have been avoided; he was in control of the situation but failed to gather the ball, and in the panic he brought Geraghty down again.

Armagh co-manager Brian McAlinden was critical of referee Russell. ``He didn't seem to penalise Meath for anything,'' he said.

It looked a two-way thing. Russell did not have a good game. His decision-making was impossible to fathom. For instance, in the 35th minute, Kieran McGeeney clearly fouled Giles but the free went the other way.

Three minutes earlier, Reid had Geraghty by the leg but it was ignored and eventually Geraghty was penalised for a foul-pick. It wasn't an easy game to referee he still didn't do a good job.

Two first-half goals might have been the platform for an Armagh win, but it advertised a breadth which simply didn't exist in their attack.

BURROWED THROUGH

The first was created by a McGeeney ball inside the defence, where Marsden gathered and finished to the net. The second was a McConville piece of work. He fed Kieran Hughes galloping up the right wing and he burrowed through for a goal.

Meath full-back Darren Fay was at this time chasing John McEntee out the field, and minutes later his calming influence was restored to the edge of the square; there would be no more streaking runs inside the defence.

If Giles was the man who turned the screw, the consistency of John McDermott was unrivalled. Somehow rising above the mediocrity all around him, McDermott caught some great balls and also linked play up and down the field.

The defence, as usual, was uncompromising. The full-back line, when restored to conventional positions, put the squeeze on the Armagh full-forward line and from there the impetus swept up through the Meath team.

Scorers:
Meath T. Giles 0 5 (0 4 frees, 0 1 fifty); E. Kelly 0 3; R. Magee and D. Curtis 0 2 each; E. McManus, N. Nestor and G. Geraghty 0 1 each.

Armagh: D. Marsden 1 1; K. Hughes 1 0; P. McKeever 0 4 (0 1 free).


MEATH: C. O'Sullivan; M. O'Reilly, D. Fay, C. Murphy; P. Reynolds, E. McManus, H. Traynor; N. Crawford, J. McDermott; E. Kelly, T. Giles, N. Nestor; O. Murphy, G. Geraghty (capt.), D. Curtis.. Sub: R. Magee for Murphy, (injured 22nd minute).


ARMAGH: B. Tierney; E. McNulty, G. Reid, J. McNulty; K. Hughes, K. McGeeney, A. McCann; J. Burns (capt.), P. McGrane; T. McEntee, J. Donaldson, D. Marsden; P. McKeever, J. McEntee, O. McConville. Subs: C. O'Rourke for J. McEntee (60th minute); A. O'Neill for McGrane (66th).

Referee: P. Russell (Tipperary).

Attendance: 60,589.

[seafoid]

I'd well believe it.
If mentally the lads haven't let go of the Dublin game, we'll be beat.

After 2 minutes they'll realise it's division 2 shite , fuball purgatory. 

[Syferus]

I'd well believe it.
If mentally the lads haven't let go of the Dublin game, we'll be beat.

After 2 minutes they'll realise it's division 2 shite , fuball purgatory.

Ye need a nice ould trip to D3 before you throw around big words like that, Seaeen.

[T Fearon]

Remember that game well in 1999.It was our first championship appearance in Croker in 17 years,and in truth we lacked experience and were still in a state of euphoria after winning our first provincial title in 17 years ( they actually meant a lot in those pre qualifier days).

Our cause wasn't helped by the subdued performance of Oisin owing to his father being on his deathbed at that time, and it's only now,looking back,that you realise that we were well capable of winning that game (Meath went on to win Sam that year) but we gave Meath far too much respect.

Still 10 or 11 of the team that day captured Sam a mere three years later