An Mhí v Ard Mhacha

[Armagh Exile]

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE – DIVISION TWO

Results
Saturday 5 April
Cork 0-12
Monaghan 0-10

Dublin 3-20
Roscommon 0-7

Meath 3-7
Armagh 1-6

Table

   P   W   D   L   F   A   +/-   Pts
Dublin   5   4   1   0   6-46   1-32   +29   9
Monaghan   6   4   1   1   5-76   3-60   +22   9
Meath   6   3   1   1   3-55   4-53   -1   7
Westmeath   5   3   0   2   4-49   2-38   +17   6
Cork   6   3   0   3   1-49   0-47   +5   6
Armagh   5   2   0   3   6-50   3-40   +19   4
Cavan   5   1   0   4   1-53   3-62   -15   2
Roscommon   6   0   1   5   2-56   10-101   -69   1


Remaining Fixtures
Sunday 6 April (2.30)
Westmeath v Cavan

Sunday 13 April (2.30)
Armagh v Dublin

Sunday 20 April (2.30)
Armagh v Cork
Dublin v Meath
Roscommon v Cavan
Monaghan v Westmeath

[Owenmoresider]

Westmeath fail to win tomorrow and it'll be more or less Dubs v Monaghan.

[The Claw]

Relief that Meath stayed up. I heard the scoreline flattered them slightly. Shane O Rourke came on and was taken off again, dont like the sound of that. McGill also taken off at half time, not sure if there was an injury there. Happy to hear the lads banged in a few goals, we hadn't scored one in the league yet.

[armaghniac]

Disappointing performance from Armagh in a bitterly cold Navan. Things were fairly even in the first half, we might have had a goal after 30 secs, but the pass didn't quite connect. A O'Rourke slotted a penalty early on. The first Meath goal was well taken. Then a Meath free kick dropped into the square and Hearty and someone (also Aidan??) got their lines crossed, both went for it and neither got the ball, which ended in the net. The goal, which the freetaker should have scored a point from, made up the 2 point difference at half time. In the first part of the second half Armagh had a fair bit of play but got only a point from it, while Meath didn't score. As the half went on Meath came into it and Armagh seemed to give up. Oisin came on the scored one good free, but not much else. Francie came on, but seemed slow. Indeed most Armagh players, except AK as usual, were slower than the Meathmen. One bit of excitement was MOR getting what seemed to be a second yellow, but no red was shown. Oddly enough he was quickly substituted by Mallon.

Not encouraging, Monaghan and Roscommon games had positives, this doesn't. Midfield wasn't winning much and we were conceding goals, 3 goals will alway beat you. The Dubs won't even be too worried about Meath, never mind Armagh.

[orangeman]

Disappointing performance from Armagh in a bitterly cold Navan. Things were fairly even in the first half, we might have had a goal after 30 secs, but the pass didn't quite connect. A O'Rourke slotted a penalty early on. The first Meath goal was well taken. Then a Meath free kick dropped into the square and Hearty and someone (also Aidan??) got their lines crossed, both went for it and neither got the ball, which ended in the net. The goal, which the freetaker should have scored a point from, made up the 2 point difference at half time. In the first part of the second half Armagh had a fair bit of play but got only a point from it, while Meath didn't score. As the half went on Meath came into it and Armagh seemed to give up. Oisin came on the scored one good free, but not much else. Francie came on, but seemed slow. Indeed most Armagh players, except AK as usual, were slower than the Meathmen. One bit of excitement was MOR getting what seemed to be a second yellow, but no red was shown. Oddly enough he was quickly substituted by Mallon.

Not encouraging, Monaghan and Roscommon games had positives, this doesn't. Midfield wasn't winning much and we were conceding goals, 3 goals will alway beat you. The Dubs won't even be too worried about Meath, never mind Armagh.

Did he get two yellows ? Nothing can be done about this now ?

[David McKeown]

I suppose Meath could appeal the result if they wanted not that there be much point. That would have been Orourke second sending off of the cimpetition which I believe would bring a ban. To be honest I thought the ref was horribly inconsistent tonight with most things. Mind you he was consistent with striking now being only a yellow card offence. That being said Meath were easily the better team tonight and lorded it over Armagh at midfield as a result the ball going into the Armagh full forward line was soo poor as to make them ineffective. Thought Hearty was at fault for the first  two goals and that Armagh and McDonnell on the line looked devoid of ideas as to how to change things. Also I thought it was quite a mild night in Navan but given that its snowing here it shows what I know. Roll on the start of the league tomorrow.

[Smokin Joe]

It's a long time since I seen a midfield cleaned as much as we were last night.  McGrane seemed rusty as hell (hopefully a few games will see him a bit better oiled), and as usual Nippy Swift just appears lost when he doesn't start in the middle of the field.

To be honest, it was hard to take many positives from the game.  Barry Shannon had a nightmare and Finnian Mo started off badly, but came into it well.  Donaghy is good surging forward, but I'm not keen on him as the last man minding the house.
As usual the half back line was our best line.
Midfield was non existant.

The half forward line was back to the "Joe Kernan school of football" in that we didn't have one, and up top Tony Kernan's free taking was awful (that's what he is supposedly there for).
There seems to be something wrong with McDonnell.  He won some ball but just absolutely refused to try to beat his man all night, despite the fact that he was one on one with him several times.  He somehow looked low on confidence, but are scoring 3-4 (or whatever) the last day that shouldn't have been the case.
And Clarke came off second best to Fay, but he'll probably not meet many better full backs this year.

All in all, it was just an awful performance.  I guess it shows just how poor Roscomon were.

[corn02]

I have never seen Armagh's midfield outclassed like I did last night. An awful perofromance last night with very few positives.

I was keeping an eye on MOR all night, I am pretty sure he only got the one yellow but I could be wrong.

Positives:

-Ak and McKeever well be fearsome when the ground hardens. The speed of both of them was immense and Armagh's summer will depend on how they perform.
-Donaghy was very steady at full-back.

Negatives:

too many to mention.

[Hound]

I have never seen Armagh's midfield outclassed like I did last night.

What was the Meath pairing?

[heganboy]

any of the subs for Armagh do well?

[Orior]

I'm liking this. I dont want to have any expectations this year. If we get more than 2 matches then thats a bonus.

[Throw ball]

Have went to watch Armagh two weeks in a row have yet to see a match! Yesterday Meath were brutal and Armagh were worse. The Refereegot booed off at half time and it could have been either sets of supporters. For Armagh I thought Ak and Mckeever played well. Donaghy was the best in the full back line. We had no midfield at all and was disappointed Swift was not moved there in the first half. then we might have found out if he has it or not. Could not understand why O'Rourke was taken off for Meath. Thought he was doing ok. Worst match I have seen in a long time. Navan was freezing and there were no lights in the loo!

[Smokin Joe]

I have never seen Armagh's midfield outclassed like I did last night.

What was the Meath pairing?

The 2 big tall fellas - Crawford & Ward (I think)

[Tyrone Dreamer]

There seems to be something wrong with McDonnell.  He won some ball but just absolutely refused to try to beat his man all night, despite the fact that he was one on one with him several times.  He somehow looked low on confidence, but are scoring 3-4 (or whatever) the last day that shouldn't have been the case.

Watch what your saying. You Armagh boys have got websites closed down for less.

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

Would agree with a lot of the above. We were utterly destroyed at midfield, particularly in the second half. I think we only got 0-4 from play throughout the whole match (T and A Kernan, M OROurke and McDonnell if my memory's right).

The second Meath goal was a disaster, Moriarty dropped the ball into the net after being challenged by his own goalkeeper. A real shambles. I thought the whole full back line was shaky enough all evening to be honest. The big problem was similar to the game against Westmeath, too many inaccurate long hopeful balls into the full forward line who didn't do well but were badly let down by the poor service in the second half. We simply didn't seem to have players supporting the man in possession out the field in the second half which is disappointing as we have two of best attacking half backs in Ulster. Ronan Clarke didn't seem to playing with much confidence but hopefully the more games he plays, the more he'll come into it.

He won some ball but just absolutely refused to try to beat his man all night, despite the fact that he was one on one with him several times.  He somehow looked low on confidence, but are scoring 3-4 (or whatever) the last day that shouldn't have been the case.

In fairness Joe he skinned his man before fisting a point in the first half but its probably a fair enough criticism overall. I'd still think that the quality of ball was more at fault than the performance of Clarke and McDonnell.

Basically in the second half absolutely nothing happened for us in the forward line. Neither Mallon or vernon (or perhaps I should call him Verón) made any impact. Francie was also a bit off the pace when he came on but I suppose that's to be expected.

All in all, the worst performance of the league so far. Don't think Meath are anything wonderful either though they thoroughly deserved their win last night.