McKenna Cup 2024

[donegal_abu]

Donegal team v UUJ

              P Boyle,
Witherow, N McGee, McGrath,
M Boyle, A Thompson, McGlynn,
   Gallagher, McManus, 
G McFadden, Bradley, Walsh,
Toye, Griffin, Molloy

Only the 1 debutant. C Mc Manus (kilcar) in midfield

Peter Withrow (st.michaels) and Gary McFadden (glenswilly) are both debutants aswell actually!

[NaomhBridAbú]

I dont know about youse, but when i wnet back to work last week, i was fucked. too much food and drink, and only really getting back to normal now.

Same deal with the first games of the McKenna cup - esp at healy Park. Hard to make a critical comment - new faces, in new positions. Strange seeing  a new No 7 for Tyrone.

Queens had the edge but for some profligate shooting and some saves. Other than that, it was great to kick of the season. Deadly big crowd at Healy park - putting the season ticket aside, £9 for the game was steep, but didnt stop a big turn out.

great crowds across all games too....

and well done to Peter Canavan and the Fermanagh management team - deadly result

[updown9194]

Exactly how there wasn't a red card for a Fermanagh man after that brawl today I will never know. An absolutely piss poor refereeing performance.

[whitegoodman]

Armagh were useless today, Down's margin of victory should have extended into double figures. Shit start to what is likely to be a shit year.

I take it the Charlie Vernon experiment at FB stops here and now!!!

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

Little enough positive to take from that today from an Armagh perspective. Steffan Campbell and Ryan Rafferty showed glimpses, certainly would like to see both starting the next match. Felt the final scoreline flattered Down a little as the missed frees cost us, 3 scoreable frees hit the post and there were other misses. Billy Joe Padden played very deep, disappointing as this isn't going to suit John Murtagh. Felt that withdrawing two debutants mid-way through the first half was a little hasty, bound to affect their confidence. Difficult to get overly enthused but at least it wasn't as cold as usual.

[Maguire01]

Ulster Council boasting of 13,000 at the McKenna Cup games today. How many of those were in Newry? 650 in Clones apparently. £9/€10 just too steep.

Am tempted to go to the Monaghan / Down game next Sunday, but at that price i'd have second thoughts.

[Don Johnson]

Ulster Council boasting of 13,000 at the McKenna Cup games today. How many of those were in Newry? 650 in Clones apparently. £9/€10 just too steep.

Am tempted to go to the Monaghan / Down game next Sunday, but at that price i'd have second thoughts.

There was a massive crowd for a McKenna Cup match at Newry. Stand and terrace were both pretty full.

Good to see a student rate for those of us who have still got ours - £5 in.

Match in itself was pretty poor, hard to take anything from it. Thought Gough did ok in the first half. Dan Gordon got some good catches, shows he is wasted at full back but who to put there in his place? The Down defence gave away far too many frees and if Armagh had a free taker it would have been a different story.

[timmyot501]

Was in clones today. Poor first half and the final score flattered Monaghan as St. Marys hit a lot of wides in a short space of time during the 2nd half especially.  Finlay came into his own in the second half and was the main difference.  Malone had an excellent outting as a corner back and was very composed on the ball.  Turley also but in a great 70 mins around the middle.  Also some of the subs did well when introduced.  The St Marys keeper made 2 excellent saves and also came up and fired over a point.  Monaghan will need to improve for next sunday if they intend to beat down.

[sammymaguire]

Ulster Council boasting of 13,000 at the McKenna Cup games today. How many of those were in Newry? 650 in Clones apparently. £9/€10 just too steep.

Am tempted to go to the Monaghan / Down game next Sunday, but at that price i'd have second thoughts.

Season ticket in Feemanagh, £20 gets you in to their group games and semi I believe...

[Leo]

A Down perspective

Crowd - the stand holds over 4,000 and was full, there was at least 1500 on the town terrace, so 5000+ which will equate to about 2,200 when Ulster Coucil annouvc=ce the attendance.

Carr was mom in first half, so much so that Armagh introduced Mckeever to mark him before half time (and he did leave his mark a couple of times).
Gordon owned the second half at midfield and (AT LAST) the penny should drop with wee James as to his midfield credentials. Good start by Gough until he tired (and Dan took over), gritty performance from Hughes, Doyle cruising back nicely, Miskelly a real prospect, Brady full of endeavour but, sorry lads, just too too small, King worth another go on the square, both Brannigans did well, D Turley shone in patches,  Corkery carried most threat for Armagh but too interested in the niggly stuff.,
Interesting to see AOR go to the back of the stand for the second half for a proper view of the action.... and....
As for ink-run Sludden???
Is this referee appointment lark a complete joke or we all missing something profound?
Armagh were leaderless and disjointed and Grimley appeared to be the man in charge.

[never kickt a ball]

Good start for Fercanavagh!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/northern_ireland/gaelic_games/16463562.stm

[tyroneman]

Very poor from Tyrone for 3/4 of the game. Lucky to be 3 up and not 6 behind at the half with Queens having 3 clear goal chances in the first 35.  Found 3rd gear in last quarter and took a measure of control to pull away. It was only when the students went 1 up that we really looked to have any urgency.

All the failings of last year were evident. Slow build up, lack of pace all over, poor option taking etc etc.

Main positives were Lafferty who looked decent, showed for ball and wasn't afraid to shoot and Harte. For anyone who wondered why Harte was kept with Tyrone and not the ranch - today was the answer. Everything good came through him.

Not sure CHB suits him but Uncle seemed to be trying to use him like a deep sitting Quarterback and playmake from the back.

If this is an attempt to get quicker ball released to the forwards then maybe it might be worthwhile.

Pick of the rest: young Ronans first touch in a senior shirt = goal. Can't ask for more than that.  Mattie got involved but would prefer to see him in FF line. Cass played ok.

On the downside Murphy was very poor. Not sure what he offers now that he hasn't the past few years. McNeice looked like he was out of his depth, but at least he will have time to improve.

Defence is the big worry. The nippy QUB forwards had the run of the place for long stretches.

Anyhow, as an exercise to blow the cobwebs out it did just fine.

[Any craic]

See Tyrone debut boy Johnny Lafferty from Urney kick 3 points from play vs Queens today at Omagh - http://t.co/nzUgArrf

[DuffleKing]

Not working ac

[trileacman]

Keep trying, it'll work sometime. Was the same with me.

Lafferty's last point was a great score. Also Seamus Quigley is a heavy f**ker, reminds me of Rory Woods.