AIQF 2017 Tír Eoghain vs Ard Macha, Sat. August 5th @4pm

[punt kick]

Ehhhhh 2 lol

Brokencrossbar take note unless it's one endorsed by Tyrone - no other all-ireland competitions exist!

[punt kick]

You'll be listing your medal haul StGalls?

It's longer than yours........

You'd know kid, we'll see when he posts the list.

[BennyHarp]

Ehhhhh 2 lol

Brokencrossbar take note unless it's one endorsed by Tyrone - no other all-ireland competitions exist!

Ah right so McKeever has an All Ireland senior club medal then? You should have said.

[Fuzzman]

Ahh lads the thread was good banter earlier but it's gone to the dogs now with yer McKeever chat.
Can we get back talking about the match.

Good point Mackers and Donegal nearly scored a goal that one time that the ball broke away from Colm Cavanagh and he was out of position and the Donegal man ran through untouched.

I'd say the Monaghan and Dublin fans will all be cheering for ye on Sat.

[armaghniac]

Ahh lads the thread was good banter earlier but it's gone to the dogs now with yer McKeever chat.
Can we get back talking about the match.

Good point Mackers and Donegal nearly scored a goal that one time that the ball broke away from Colm Cavanagh and he was out of position and the Donegal man ran through untouched.

I'd say the Monaghan and Dublin fans will all be cheering for ye on Sat.

We wouldn't want to wait on the Dublin fans to arrive to get ahead.

[punt kick]

Ahh lads the thread was good banter earlier but it's gone to the dogs now with yer McKeever chat.
Can we get back talking about the match.

Good point Mackers and Donegal nearly scored a goal that one time that the ball broke away from Colm Cavanagh and he was out of position and the Donegal man ran through untouched.

I'd say the Monaghan and Dublin fans will all be cheering for ye on Sat.

Agree Fuzzman, some of your county men would do well to listen instead of wishing harm on current county players.

[Wildweasel74]

Numerous posters on both sides making fools of themselves comparing medal hauls and fball ability when the men u talking about would never bring up such things!  You look real dicks having the same conversation with kerry or dublin men and their medal hauls! What B Brogan got 4-all stars? 4 all-ireland 9/ 10 lenister; 4/5 national league? That conversation loks a tad foolish

[omagh_gael]

Back to football chat, Conor McAliskey is back in full training. He was really coming on last year and would have been a great man to have in the FF line on Saturday.

According to his Twitter post he had his first team training session 28 weeks after ACL reconstruction and MCL repair, some going.

[ONeill]

Yous Armagh ones are losing the run of yourselves.

Just be glad you're sharing the same stage as your illustrious neighbours and pray you don't get obliterated.

Far from it, but you might live to regret these intemperate comments. Most Armagh fans know that Tyrone are red hot favourites and at a further stage of development than we are. Anything less than a 4 point win for Tyrone will be a failure for you, that or better is progress for Armagh.

Nonsense. Anything less than an 8 point win is a failure. Armagh are a team that couldn't get out of divison three, rely on a flat-track bully like Clarke who goes missing against decent teams and then heads off on holidays, and McKeever who comes off the field with grazed knuckles.

[WT4E]

all I'm saying is that punt kick is wrong trying to put Cavanagh and mckeever on same level by insinuating that Sean is scared of him so therefore is less of a player!

As regards the game tyrone will beat armagh by how much I'm not sure but there not in the same league.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

From Gavin Cummiskey in the Irish Times:

Time for another Armagh and Tyrone death embrace

Tyrone seem miles ahead of their fierce Ulster rivals in the hunt for the Sam Maguire

Revisiting the labyrinth of this 2005 trilogy has little to do with Saturday's reprise. On Saturday, every able man, woman and child will migrate south, returning to Croke Park 12 years on to witness Kieran McGeeney stranded on the same sideline – this time by choice – a few feet adrift of Mickey Harte's sturdier life raft.
Some appetiser: Armagh and Tyrone in another death embrace.
A small mercy for the Orchard County is Peter Canavan hidden away in the Sky Sports studio with McGeeney a silent stature, as he's been all summer, for Tyrone's expected drive deeper into August.
The Ulster champions this and last year seem miles ahead in the hunt for Sam Maguire. Armagh will labour their progress via Jamie Clarke and a wily backroom from the previous generation. John Toal, Paddy McKeever, Justin McNulty and Paul McGrane – heroic figures denied more All-Irelands.
Medals that ended up in Tyrone.
We begin where these parallel paths diverged, perhaps forever. In the booming summers of 2004 and 2005, Croke Park welcomed in the Ulster football finals. The 2005 version needed a replay between Armagh and Tyrone.
The second most famous Michael Collins was referee. He incorrectly sent off Peter Canavan and Stephen O'Neill, yet letting Ryan McMenamin's knee drop on John McEntee's face and chest away with a yellow card.
"The replay was probably a wee bit heated," remembers former Armagh mentor Paul Grimley.
Five suspensions were eventually overturned as lawyers exposed flaws in the GAA disciplinary system.

Unwise decision

"But the All-Ireland semi-final was a great game, probably goes down as one of the top 10 games ever," Grimley continued.

Armagh had it sown up until an "unwise" decision coupled with Tyrone's unbridled desire halted clean strides towards a dynastic era.
"The 2003 final and that semi-final hurt Armagh people a hell of a lot. When it came down to the crunch in both years Tyrone won those battles."

Looking only at Ulster results from 1999 to 2009 and this was the Armagh period of dominance. Seven provincial titles and the 2002 All-Ireland is eclipsed by Tyrone's three All-Irelands in 2003, 2005 and 2008.
"From 2002 to 2006 the feeling would be that we, Armagh, left a lot behind us," said Grimley. "We all have to take responsibility for that.
"In fairness to Tyrone they went from 2003 to 2008 winning their three, and they continue to compete in the latter stages of the All-Ireland series."
Greatness abandoned Joe Kernan's team during those astonishing minutes after he withdrew his captain and now successor as Armagh manager.
It was Seán Cavanagh, McGeeney's marker, that grabbed the ball after McKeever (still going from the Armagh bench this weekend) tugged the shirt sleeve of Stephen O'Neill in sight of Hill 16's towering posts as time ticked towards nothingness.
"Please, please, Peter. Take that," a young Cavanagh implored. "And he said, 'No, Muggsy is all right for the job'. And I said 'No, you take it Peter, it's the last kick of the game. There's no one else better to take it.'"

Over the bar

Canavan offered glory to Owen Mulligan but the peroxide blonde free-taker responded with a broad smile: "I don't mind, I don't mind," he informed his former school teacher.
Canavan swung the free over the bar.
Armagh were two points ahead with seven minutes to go when Kernan sent Enda McNulty in for McGeeney.
"There has been a lot of talk over the years about the decision that was made," said Grimley, Kernan's right-hand man that day. "The decision was made and as part of the management I would never turn around and try to run away from that responsibility but it proved an unwise decision.
"Seán Cavanagh has since said he couldn't believe it. But I remember Armagh went in front just after Kieran came off when John McEntee put over a fantastic long-range score.
"Whenever a decision like that happens, and obviously Kieran was the captain and an iconic figure, whenever you lose the game, that decision becomes the reason you lost the game. I don't think it was wise to do that at that time, as Kieran was playing on Seán Cavanagh, but personally speaking I don't think it was the decision that lost the game.
"It's hard to put your finger on it. We missed a lot of scores that day. I'm not going to hang anyone."

Finished stronger

But it mattered. Tyrone, with their iconic figure on the field, finished stronger. They progressed to the All-Ireland final where they dethroned Kerry, and have kept Armagh in their rear-view mirror ever since.
"I don't really look back," said Grimley, "We all know what we left behind us. We know we were capable of achieving a lot more. Be that complacency [when losing to Fermanagh] in 2004 or the great Conor Gormley block [on Steven McDonnell] in 2003. God doesn't make any more yesterdays, only tomorrows."
The value of the early century Armagh team being part of McGeeney's backroom this Saturday evening is not lost on Grimley.
"Kieran has opinions from four very strong individuals. They are humble guys, it would be Armagh first them second. I'd say the bond between those guys is noticed by the players and that has reflected onto them."

[ONeill]

It's hard not to look back on that period and think Armagh were fairly shit upon by Tyrone and nothing can make up for that.

Armagh won it first but subsequent games saw it meant nothing. People now talk about the Tyrone-Kerry years; Armagh were default winners in a bad year.

[seafoid]

It's hard not to look back on that period and think Armagh were fairly shit upon by Tyrone and nothing can make up for that.

Armagh won it first but subsequent games saw it meant nothing. People now talk about the Tyrone-Kerry years; Armagh were default winners in a bad year.

It was a great year on the board all the same. You couldn't shut Fearon up for love or money. Armagh had one and Tyrone had nothing.
No amount of Sams later could  really make up for that shame at the time.
Peter Canavans speech in 2003 channelled the feeling.

[LCohen]

It's hard not to look back on that period and think Armagh were fairly shit upon by Tyrone and nothing can make up for that.

Armagh won it first but subsequent games saw it meant nothing. People now talk about the Tyrone-Kerry years; Armagh were default winners in a bad year.

Hope the game is more interesting than this thread.

The contributions of either side are idiotic.

It's absolutely true that every Armagh fan would exchange being the first of the 2 counties to win an AI for winning 3. It's phoney to claim that we showed Tyrone the way to win an AI.

That aside the points you make and your manner of doing so have the ring of a backward child

[tonto1888]

And things have certainly gone down hill now. Can we have the sensible posters back please