Armagh v Louth AFL Division 3

[Throw ball]

Armagh struggled at home. They had enough chances to win a couple of games. Tony Kernan was great against Clare but awful tonight. Jamie Clarke was great at everything except shooting. I think it took Louth until about 5 minutes to go to get their first score from play. They did feel hard done by because they did not get a goal at the end. The mini melee seemed to start when an Armagh player appeared to be kicked as Louth tried to scramble a goal. Do not think personally that it was deliberate.

Much has been said about the poor state of football. Tonight conditions were terrible for football which undoubtedly contributed to some poor play and shooting. However, the worst performer tonight was the referee. A match that started with both teams playing hard and fair ended with a bit of a melee as players became frustrated with a large number of his decisions.

[smelmoth]

horrible game. The conditions can only be blamed so much. Shocking lack of quality from both sides. With and against the wind Armagh have no clue of how to get a full forward line into the game. Run and run centrally seems to be the extent of the playbook. Least said about Louth, the better. 

[mackers]

The performance of Ciaran O'Hanlon was the only bright spark in Armagh's worst performance  this year to date. Aaron Findon was the only other Armagh player to emerge with any credit. Referee was rank bad.

[Throw ball]

The performance of Ciaran O'Hanlon was the only bright spark in Armagh's worst performance  this year to date. Aaron Findon was the only other Armagh player to emerge with any credit. Referee was rank bad.

Agree totally. Kick outs improved too.

The quality may have been poor but tonight's division one game on the best pitch in the country was hardly a thriller. Weather like that tonight can really lower the spectacle.

[T Fearon]

I didn't think Louth were any worse than Armagh.In fact they could take scores against the wind,and had a game plan Armagh struggled with all night

[Throw ball]

I didn't think Louth were any worse than Armagh.In fact they could take scores against the wind,and had a game plan Armagh struggled with all night

Honestly feel that one another day Armagh would have won quite easy. They missed a bagful early on and then appeared to snatch at everything. Only O'Hanlon's shooting was anywhere near par. Limerick are the only team I have seen this year that were worse than Louth. Armagh have been very, very poor at home all year though.

[smelmoth]

I didn't think Louth were any worse than Armagh.In fact they could take scores against the wind,and had a game plan Armagh struggled with all night

Honestly feel that one another day Armagh would have won quite easy. They missed a bagful early on and then appeared to snatch at everything. Only O'Hanlon's shooting was anywhere near par. Limerick are the only team I have seen this year that were worse than Louth. Armagh have been very, very poor at home all year though.

Are you seeing any grounds fro optimism for the summer?

[Throw ball]

I didn't think Louth were any worse than Armagh.In fact they could take scores against the wind,and had a game plan Armagh struggled with all night

Honestly feel that one another day Armagh would have won quite easy. They missed a bagful early on and then appeared to snatch at everything. Only O'Hanlon's shooting was anywhere near par. Limerick are the only team I have seen this year that were worse than Louth. Armagh have been very, very poor at home all year though.

Are you seeing any grounds fro optimism for the summer?

As much as I did this time last year!

It has been very hard to judge this year. A lot of players have been tried this year presumably with the assumption that we would still get promoted. Which we did. For example, Murray and McConville played well over the last couple of games but did not play tonight. A number of big players are injured too. Still we have now got 2 goal keepers that appear competent with good kick outs. We have a bigger selection of defenders who are very mobile. In McKenna and O 'Hanlon we have blooded a few quality forwards. To do anything in the championship this year though we may need a good bit of luck.

[armaghniac]

Louth were always likely to try against Armagh, conditions and the referee were both awful and changeable. But all of that said, Armagh have a lot of work still to do to be credible for the summer, although perhaps if things had gone differently in the first half they might have won more convincingly. The only bright light is that O'Hanlon is now beginning to show the potential many believed he has and hopefully this also benefits the U-21s.

The famous big screen no longer shows the game, if you are up the city end of the ground it is sometimes useful to see things at the other end on the screen.

[ardchieftain]

Some seriously naive comments on the game tonight. Armagh got the job done, but should have won by 10. The shooting was as bad as i've ever seen. How many penalties has Jamie missed now? Armagh owned the ball but a mixture of sloppiness and the conditions led to moves breaking down at the worst possible time. Great to see young O'Hanlon finally showing his worth at senior level, that lad has a bright future.I'm  heartened also to see Morgan getting a start and also thought Morrison done rightly. As far as i'm concerned there is a lot of positives to take form the season. The competition for places should be intense in the run up to the championship and i'm quietly optimistic about the summer.

[Agent Orange]

2 points was all that mattered tonight. Promotion secured with a game to spare. Onwards and upwards.

[illdecide]

Really poor game tonight, the conditions were terrible but Louth seemed to adopt to them better than Armagh. The shooting from T Kernan was brutal but in his defense he's normally sound, I actually commented during the game that Armagh's record at home since the Athletic Grounds was re-developed is v poor (has someone got stats for that). Div 2 will bring the young lads on in this team next year but as someone stated earlier i think we'll have a decent summer.

[T Fearon]

Match in Croke Park in 25th of April will tell the tale.If Armagh were to lose this if will not bode well for the Championship

[Rufus T Firefly]

Match in Croke Park in 25th of April will tell the tale.If Armagh were to lose this if will not bode well for the Championship

I see a lot of similarities with us and where Cavan were twelve months ago. Cavan had a really good Championship (2013 for them) and followed that up with a good league campaign in Division 3 (100% record I think) before they fell to Roscommon in the final in Croke Park - their Championship turned into a bit of a disaster. I'm hoping that's not an omen for us.

I've only seen our home matches in the league and I'd have to say I've been distinctly underwhelmed. We were lucky to beat Tipp, could not beat Fermanagh and made very hard work of beating Louth. My only hope is that Geezer has his eye on bigger matches ahead which is a reflection on our current performances.

By the way - out of curiosity, is there an episode of the Toughest Trade coming up involving a Louth player? That looked very like Schalk Burger lining out for the Wee County last night!!

[smelmoth]

I've only seen our home matches in the league and I'd have to say I've been distinctly underwhelmed. We were lucky to beat Tipp, could not beat Fermanagh and made very hard work of beating Louth. My only hope is that Geezer has his eye on bigger matches ahead which is a reflection on our current performances.

I think this sums things up quite nicely. Positive expectations for the summer can only be based upon hope, a faith that McGeeney is working on something in the the background that will mature in time for championship or a repeat of last year (where championhip style, performance and results bore no resemblance to a shocker of a league campaign). Positive expectations for 2015 cannot be based on what we are seeing in the league. How many points our performances to date would have accumulated in Division 2. Its a hypothetical but a relegation dog fight would probably have been unavoidable.

The Sligo match may be used to blood a few more but the league final will hopefulyl see much needed championship zip and accuracy.

The other point that probably won't go away for the championship is that we are very poor quality viewing