Armagh v Down- 29th June-Ulster Semi Final Thread

[corn02]

We expecting a full house?

Armagh 15k
Down 14k
Tyrone  5/600
Cavan  3/400
nuetrals 1k

Just scraping 30k or so.

[passedit]

as arma's backline is as dodgy as down's

Now your surely on the wind-up?

corn there's serious question marks over every armawan from MF back and the Cavan match didn't resolve any of them. Now for a bit of fun imagine the arma team is a garage and i'm round kicking tyres, heres my take on the back nine.

Hearty - fck me where do you start, might get something for scrap,  i'd take the other one over there though.

Mallon - hasn't been on the road much recently has it?
Bellew -up on blocks for a year and still a lot of miles on the clock
Moriarty - hmmm, acceleration isn't great is it? has it been properly road tested yet?

Kernan - No reverse gear
O'Rourke - Lot of miles on the clock, can it still get into fifth?
McKeever - Great engine, likely to end up in the ditch though

McGrane - a classic but how would it stand up against one of those new sporty models?
Toner - hasnt been out of second yet, give it a good spin till we see.

[nutsy--1]

armagh have one the strongest backline's in ulster if not the best. Theres three allstars in there. they'l be well capable of handling downs forwards. what about downs backline do you think they'l cope with the deadly duo???

[brokencrossbar1]

What about the fowards passedit?

Vernon - New motor on the forecourt, runs smoothly albeit with some small technical cliches
McKeever - a bit unreliable, sometimes load bearing can be a problem, but when is running well is delightful to enjoy
Kernan - a slow mover at the start as was carrying a heavy weight.  Has shed some baggage and now developing into a nice runner with lots of style and panache
O'Rourke - a bit like an army jeep, not the easiest on the eye but does a lot of dirty jobs
McDonnell - the Ferrari of the forward line, quick, stylish, flashy but has substance behind the glitz.
Clarke - "O Lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz" - strong, fast, classy and reliable

[BerfArmagh]

RE D4S:
My are'nt we touchy. Down have not been there, get off your high horse... Micky Linden & the Blaneys of this world are long gone & that was when you last contested anything. Minor titles mean feck all, we are talking senior champioship football here. The Armagh team is littered with Club & inter county honours.

Its good to see you down folk come out of the shadows again, I missed your arrogance  One win does'nt mean you are back! Enjoy the qualifiers

[Travis T O Justice]

These are hardly words of wisdom but was it not Ricey that won the game for Down? I don't understand why so much is being made about a Down team that has done nothing for the last 10 years.

Beating Tyrone, in my opinion is nothing this year, they are severly underperforming - Laois beat them a couple of years ago when Tyrone were in the same position, everyone lauded Laois's return they they got mauled by Mayo!!

On any given day things can go a teams way so I'm not saying that Down will be making up the numbers next week, I just think they should manage they're own expectations - Armagh have been dominating Ulster for nearly a decade, Down have a bit of fizz about themselves but it's more than likely that Armaghs experience and apathy to what's going on outside of the pitch will secure a win.

I hope it's a good game, I think Down will throw caution to the wind (and should do) and play the way Fermanagh did in 2004.

[haveaharp]

as arma's backline is as dodgy as down's

Now your surely on the wind-up?

corn there's serious question marks over every armawan from MF back and the Cavan match didn't resolve any of them. Now for a bit of fun imagine the arma team is a garage and i'm round kicking tyres, heres my take on the back nine.

Hearty - fck me where do you start, might get something for scrap,  i'd take the other one over there though.

Mallon - hasn't been on the road much recently has it?
Bellew -up on blocks for a year and still a lot of miles on the clock
Moriarty - hmmm, acceleration isn't great is it? has it been properly road tested yet?

Kernan - No reverse gear
O'Rourke - Lot of miles on the clock, can it still get into fifth?
McKeever - Great engine, likely to end up in the ditch though

McGrane - a classic but how would it stand up against one of those new sporty models?
Toner - hasnt been out of second yet, give it a good spin till we see.

You can sum up that Down team with (i hope im still under warranty, will some of ye lads give me a push)

[stpauls]

Could some of the Armagh lads give me directions for Clones please. I'll be travelling from Belfast. Thanks.

Lecale, your best bet is to take the M1 to Dungannon, then on to Ballygawley, up to Fivemiletown, Brookeborough, Lisnaskea, Newtownbutler,Clones.  A bit longer than through Armagh and Monaghan but it avoids all of the traffic from Armagh and Down and without the traffic the AA reckons it should take only 20 minutes more. 

At Broadway Roundabout take the 2nd exit onto the M1 (signposted The West, Dublin, Craigavon)  M1 1.53
37.57 Continue forward onto the A4 (signposted Enniskillen, Omagh)  A4 39.10
2.72 At roundabout take the 2nd exit onto Woodlough Road - A4 A4 41.82
10.68 At Ballygawley Roundabout take the 1st exit onto Annaghilla Road - A4 A4 52.50
4.60 Continue forward onto Annaghilla Road - A4. Entering Augher  A4 57.10
1.44 Continue forward onto Crossowen Road - A4. Entering Clogher  A4 58.54
6.89 Continue forward onto Ballagh Road - A4. Entering Fivemiletown  A4 65.43
0.10 Arrive at Fivemiletown,Dungannon A4 65.53
- Section time 1:17, Total time 1:17 - -
0.00 Start out at Fivemiletown,Dungannon A4 65.53
8.64 Branch left, then merge onto Brookeborough Road Brookeborough Road 74.16
0.22 Continue forward onto Brookeborough Road. Entering Maguiresbridge  Brookeborough Road 74.38
0.31 Turn left onto Lisnagole Road - A34 A34 74.69
2.38 Continue forward onto Lisnagole Road - A34. Entering Lisnaskea  A34 77.07
0.07 At roundabout take the 2nd exit onto Lisnagole Road - A34 A34 77.14
0.69 Continue forward onto Main Street - B127 B127 77.83
0.25 Continue forward onto Moorlough Road - A34 A34 78.08
5.59 Continue forward onto High Street - A34. Entering Newtownbutler  A34 83.67
4.77 Continue forward onto Newtownbutler Road (You are entering the Republic of Ireland)  Newtownbutler Road 88.45
0.32 Continue forward onto Newtownbutler Road. Entering Clones  Newtownbutler Road 88.76
0.65 Bear left onto Fermanagh Street Fermanagh Street 89.41
0.03 Turn left onto Lower Fermanagh Street Lower Fermanagh Street 89.44
0.06 Turn right onto Roslea Road Roslea Road 89.49
0.09 Arrive at Clones,Monaghan Unclassified  89.59

TYP, there is a shorter route from Fivemiletown, but it can be daunding as it takes you over the hills to the south of Fivemiletown.

take a left when going through the town, on the one way street shortly before the roundabout on the far side of the town.
follow this road straight until you come right into Clones.
the road to travel can be narrow and windy, with a few staggered crossroads, but basically it is one straight road.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=54.314921,-7.279129&spn=0.284783,0.598755&z=11

click this link and just zoom in. Clones is at the bottom where the Orange road joins the green one right at the bottom of the screen.

[D4S]

RE D4S:
My are'nt we touchy. Down have not been there, get off your high horse... Micky Linden & the Blaneys of this world are long gone & that was when you last contested anything. Minor titles mean feck all, we are talking senior champioship football here. The Armagh team is littered with Club & inter county honours.

Its good to see you down folk come out of the shadows again, I missed your arrogance  One win does'nt mean you are back! Enjoy the qualifiers

Jaysus BerfArmagh you call me touchy  What I said was intended to also be taken with a pinch of salt I said you were patronising! Yes we haven't anything to shout about in recent years regards our senior team, but I for one have attended as many mckenna cup and national league games in the past few seasons as I could possibly get to, and knew that with a bit of belief this current down setup could progress!  Key word is progress  That is all we want in Down we know we are no worldbeaters, but at least we are competing now and showing a bit of pride, passion and belief...So I am happy with that for now, if we're beaten next week and play the shirts off our backs like we did against tyrone I'll be disappointed yet satisfied that things are on the up as we now have a team willing to fight! Cya in CLones for a pint after the match Down 1-12 Armagh 0-13 Take it easy, good luck, slán slán!

[Lazer]

"I don't understand why so much is being made about a Down team that has done nothing for the last 10 years."

Did you even watch the match last week and the week before?? The Down team have a fighting spirit! They believe thay can do it, their fans believe thay can do it.

And as for the last ten years, we've made a lot of progress in the last few years, including winning the McKenna cup this year!

Ross Carr and DJ Kane deserve a lot of credit for what they've done with the Down team.

[passedit]

why do you think i stopped at nine BC? 

No arguement about the last three, but questions enough about the first three.


Both teams will know a whole lot more about themselves after this game, but Down have already had a thorough road testing agin Tyrone, Armagh haven't really bin outta the garage yet.

[D4S]

Before you negative people come back and say 'Who cares about the McKenna Cup!!'   

Well if it was good enough for Mickey Harte and Tyrone....then it's good enough for us
It's a stepping stone hopefully to move on to something better...and if it instills confidence and belief in players then it can only be a good thing!

[corn02]

Did you even watch the match last week and the week before?? The Down team have a fighting spirit! They believe thay can do it, their fans believe thay can do it.

Kilkenny footballers might have a fighting spirit too.

[D4S]

Very good!! They probably do but I don't think Kilkenny footballers would beat Tyrone though

[BerfArmagh]

Fair enough D4S.

Actually one pace I think Down do have an advantage over Armagh is on the sideline (I have been very impressed with DJ & Ross carrs decision making so far) Mc DOnnell for me is still very much untested...