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Marty Morrisey is a hamster

Denis Stevenson was a hell of a corner back

Colm McKinstry?

Whilst agreeing with the broad stream of opinion that the last 15 years have seen the greatest Armagh players we need at least to acknowledge there were occasional gems from the grim past.

Speaking from personal memory only;  surely Peter Loughran was a figure of Allstar standing? I personally rate him higher than Marsden. Armagh's greatest forward. In a different era the better of Oisin Mc Conville



I  also like a triumverate of great unfulfilled geniuses, especially for a county unburdened with natural talent

John Corvan; well documented
Noel Marley; forgotten now but possessed of relentless running power and skill
Jim McKerr; It is enough to say that if he had been switched onto Frank McGuigan that terrible day in Clones would have been curtailed at least

Mark Cavendish. Cheeky Dub? He's from the IoM more or less within the Pale.

Maguire 1, to back to an earlier point, yes Armagh does have a bigger population but half of them were out practising how to walk up a road last weekend and couldnt make it, despite the fact that they wont actually get to walk up the road after all lol

I know Paedar Toal left the panel but was there that many at the bullets?

Here's an aisy wan. Using which geographical technique will events unfold, they will be mapped.

There's a PhD thesis in the catechism there. I'm rendered horizontal by a spherical sporting object at the title alone ... "Kidney Transplant" ... (truly) masterful.

Entertaining game and great lift for the football year ahead. Still like to see  a bit of defensive  and tackling though but Tyrone will probably carry on with this novelty football until serious championship time. O'Neill was excellent and I was particularly impressed by his strength both winning and holding onto the ball. Coupled with the apparent high level conditioning and fitness levels  of the entire team this suggests they are up for it this year. Dublin too, looked strong and mobile. Ofcourse if the match had been played on a heavy pitch we may not have seen such an open game. I thought McCullough's score with the outside of the boot even better than ONeill's end line effort.

Congratulations Tyrone. It's hard to say it, but they really are a great team. When you start to have a sneaking admiration for Ryan McMennamin it's time to raise your hands, get past the natural (familial in my case) antipathy and say well done. A series of excellent total football performances make them deserving champs. They set the standard now.
Now that that's out of my system I'm away off to a bush like mad Sweeny to mutter and pick at myself for a few weeks.

Bc you make a good point about giving the a manager a chance. But nevertheless he will have to look at his own and his backroom team's performance and reassess their approach. Tactics, personnel, team fitness and in-match changes have not been great. Those criticising Oisin McConville for speaking out may want to look at the managers comments after the game. To my mind these are overly critical of the players and any manager with a long term plan to develop a serious team ethic needs to be careful.

I saw Cross earlier in the year in Ruislip and was impressed with Brendan (I think that was his name) McKeown. Would he not be county material?

Huge disappointment yesterday as after first 10 minutes I felt we would go on to overpower Wexford. But fair play the best team won. Some of the early going to ground was annoying but we have a player or two who do the same.
However, and this is no excuse for Armagh as it made no difference to the outcome, the referee should not be allowed anywhere near a major championship game in the future. He clearly has no feel for tackling, foul play or how allowing a game of football to develop and flow. There was no anti-Armagh bias, simply incompetence.

I thought the game was lost for Armagh on the line and after initial enthusiasm for the new management I am disappointed at how they handled this campaign after the Down game.

Yesterday some of the simplest glaring problems were not addressed.

1. Forcing  Clarke and and McDonnell to forage and fight against 3 men throughout. Clarke clearly suffered a knock in the first half as a result of being double teamed. His scores in the game where really quite superb. In my view if you are in the lucky position of having not one but two of the 10 best forwards in football you do not leave them hanging out to dry without support. A simple expedient against the Wexford sweeper would have been to stick in a big man (Swift, McKenna, even Vernon) and disrupt the Wexford back three for  10-15 minutes. Even the aristocratic Galway used this ploy against Kerry.

2. The selections since Down have become increasingly conservative. Peter Canavan made a very astute point about the Armagh manager during commentary on the Ulster final saying he was surprised by his lack of confidence. The manager himself praised the old hands after the first game and  also said while the  young lads were good you couldn't trust them in the tight spots. I feel this fear of failure has been transmitted to the players and the system the team has used since the Down game. We are like Italy in soccer withdrawing crablike into our shell hoping to avoid disaster.

3. The total failure to address Wexfords short and intelligent kickouts. This handed the possession to them time and time again. I think this was sysptomatic of a failure on the line to react to many things during the game.

3. Breaking ball. This has been a recurrent problem throughout the campaign. But I feel this is also a failure of the current system we set the players to play. Instead of attacking our half forwards are foraging around the half back line. We need a clear plan of action where athletic fast half backs are going forward with breaking ball rather than recycling and then going forward in a slow and deliberate fashion. The success of MOR is a double edged sword as he slows the play down, often moves sideways or back and is a terrible defender (stretches out arm and lets faster player ease past).

4. Fitness and conditioning. I am amazed to be even raising this issue and may be entirely wrong but  the team has looked less fit and to have  less endurance than any since 2000. I suspect we need to lose a few pounds of muscle and increase speed and endurance.

Although this all sounds like griping I have enjoyed the best 10 years in Armagh football history. Some of these players have transcended county and become greats in the All Ireland sphere. That is no small accomplishment for a county like Armagh. I fully expect us to regroup and build again as there are plenty of very good footballers on the panel. I hope the current manager throws off the shackles of the past and sets his own system in place but have serious doubt after this year. Clearly needs another year at it though.

The second game was a treat to watch,  the journey to and from the match the worst I have ever undertaken. (planes, trains and a horribly  long, wet walk left 6 am got back 2 am the next day.

To all those dimwitted clowns slagging off Armagh. If you can't at least introduce a modicum of wit as O'Neill does then f**k Off. Dolts.

Aidan O'Mahoney is a truly great footballer. Small dive in first half, no doubt, but my vote for best player in the country.

Westmeath
Monaghan
Limerick
Down

Bennydorano hit the nail on the head as regards midfield problems. Toner and  McGrane (though he tired in 2nd half)  were competitive but Fermanagh were able to deflect  the ball toward the vacant centre half back line or to our half forward line with impunity. Fermanagh players then picked up  uncontested loose ball. While McDonnell was good on the line against Down he failed to address this problem yesterday. I would consider moving A O'Rourke to centre half forward and allow him to drop back from there and play Donaghy in the middle of a conventional half back line.

I would also change Hearty as when the going gets tough he seems to add to the air of panic with kickouts over the sideline and becomes dodgy under the high ball (especially if there is traffic in and around the square)

What exactly is the evidence supporting Paul Grimley's case as a successor?