Messages

I think on Sunday Kerry did a number on Crealey, he got the treatment, plus I think he gassed easily in the heat. Grimley was just poor. So Rafferty's options weren't great anywhere, but he wasn't good either.

I think Crealey was carrying an injury. He was one of the players rested against Galway. Kerry were ready for our normal plan B of going to Murnin too.

Well yesterday was a big disappointment. Sometimes you have to hold your hands up and say you were beaten by a much better team in the day. It was a pleasure to watch Sean O'Shea yesterday. Well done Kerry

That would be my feeling too. As Peter Canavan said last night no team would have been able to live with Kerry during that 15 minute spell yesterday. I wouldn't want to have been in Ethan's boots during that period. He made his mistakes of course but I would put it down to a complete system meltdown rather than putting it completely at his door.  Momentum always was an important commodity in football but it's off the scales now.  If you lose it then it is very hard to get back.
A Kerry team with a chip on its' shoulder is a dangerous beast especially with that wasp Jack O'Connor in charge.  You can just hear him using all the negative comments in the dressing room.
I'd have concerns over what some of our older players might do now.  Hopefully they take their time and arrive at what's best for them.

Is the following correct

If Meath and Armagh win then it's basically an open draw.

If Galway and either Armagh or Kerry win then Galway will play either Donegal or Tyrone and Armagh/Kerry winner will play the other.

If Meath and Kerry win then Meath will play either Tyrone or Donegal and Kerry will play the other?

David. Relax. We've plenty to be getting on with tomorrow.

A good thing in Armagh's favour is the bullying and skelping we got in Kerry in the league, Kerry played like it was championship while Armagh played like it was the league. I remember thinking that one will be stored in the memory locker. I think Armagh will hit Kerry with a ferocious intensity that they sure as shite haven't experienced this championship. I'd really hope to see Grimley in MF with Crealey, some big calls to he made in defence, We're more tactically astute with Gilligan & Donaghy bending McGeeney's ear, so we'll hopefully have a plan for Dave.

This is exactly what I think. Kerry acted the big men that night and Paudie Clifford in particular was a complete bellend to the point he got a yellow card. This Armagh squad should be using that as an additional motivation on Sunday.  As others have said we have had concerns in some of our defending but a lot of that is down to the new rules and looking at the Kerry defence there's nothing there to strike fear into the Armagh attack.  A lot depends on the midfield battle and the fitness of some of our key players in that area.  The ability of Soupy to lift the crowd and the play when he comes on will be a massive miss.

What was the point of that statement?

It's so that should Donegal lose in this championship, it won't be because Jimmy demands his players to run constantly at full speed for 70 minutes, but instead because the GAA hierarchy won't give his teams suitable breaks between games to make his masterplan unbeatable.

He's already ruined football once. f**k him.

This. Perfectly put.

Special word for David Clifford - got a lot of old yap and verbal bullshit off Cavan players today and it all slid off him, and he sportingly shook everyone's hand at the end. A role model for all.

Completely agree. There's a notable difference between himself and Paudie. David is a real sportsman and role model. Paudie is a different story.

David making a rallying call to the Kerry supporters to come out next week.

Paudie Clifford on to referee the match.....

The games at the weekend show that the teams that have been training for a few weeks away from the limelight and provincial finals are doing very well in the first round. I'd be very worried about Saturday evening.

Listening to the GAA social this morning and McGeeney's comments after the Ulster final, I agree 100% that this is the best format of a championship that it is possible to get. This is our third year of it and there have been exciting final rounds in each year. This year there have been big shocks in the opening weekend leaving the groups wide open probably until the last game.

There is loads of jeopardy in every game as it's very difficult to get to an AI final unless you top your group. Of the 4 AI finalist only Galway last year didn't top their group but they had the eventual AI winners in their group. Galway and Mayo are under serious pressure in their final two games now.

Why are we changing it?

I think they are changing it to open up the calendar a bit with one less game but I agree, it's complete madness to change it.
Numpties were saying there was little jeopardy in the games but there was!!
You had to win one game to get out of the group, you had to win a second game to guarantee a "home" preliminary qf and if you won your third game you were guaranteed a qf place and a week's rest. One of the most important results for us last year was the draw against Galway in Sligo.

How about a supporter puts the blame on their team for what happened. Ever comment on here is, it's out of line BUT!!!

Donegal boy shouldn't have done what he done. Armagh ones shouldn't have reacted the way they did. But he did and they did. It'll be dealt with and we will move on. Sin é

It's very clear there's little or no sympathy for McFadden Ferry bar from his own. He fucked around and found out, tighten him. There might be suspensions but there'll be few regrets imo - and 2 well motivated teams.

There's definitely shades of 2005 around all of this. We won the Ulster title against Tyrone and properly over-celebrated a win after a match that had its fair share of spite and nastiness. It came back to bite us in the AI semi.  Will history repeat itself??

We don't want to lose the passion but certainly goading is wrong and needs stamped out, but starting a riot over it is over the top

A riot????FFS

I was at the match, disappointing result, Armagh did not get the rub of the green, that said the second Donegal goal, failure to push up on Donegal sickouts in the first 20 and their own dire sickouts in that same period put them on the back foot. Some harsh calls from the ref undoubtedly but I'm not sure that it took the game out of Armagh's hands, I'm not neutral so difficult to assess. The row at the end was all down to the Donegal player goading. In Rugby the ref will cite the player causing the fracas. I'm not condoning in anyway what the Armagh bench did, but I imagine it was hard to take. Not much between the two but both need to improve to go further. What concerned me more than the players going at it was the number of Donegal fans on the pitch surrounding the majority of Armagh players who weren't involved it could have been nasty if one ejit hits a player. I love Donegal as a county and as a team, I was a big fan of McGuiness as a player it is disappointing to see this rancour.

Two wrongs don't make a right. Are the Armagh lads that sensitive that they couldn't have enough restraint at the end of the game, not to go flying in all guns blazing? It comes across as poorly on them as it does on the Donegal lad who should have had more cop on. Disappointing in the context of it being a good game.

I am not a fan of the goading or screaming at opposition however Armagh does plenty of this at every tight game. For me its case of if you can give it you can take it. When Armagh does it the opposition does not start a mass brawl. Armagh have been at it now with Galway, Tyrone, Donegal. Its almost as if they are trying to show how hard they are. I have said it for a number of years that this hard man attitude has held Armagh back.

It's incredible that no one on here from Armagh seems to think responsibility should be taken for the violence we saw on Saturday. Again, justifying assaulting someone because of something verbal is utter madness.

I'm no fan of Armagh but the intensity of that game, players devastated by defeat you celebrate with your team-mates. Was inevitable he'd get thumped. To do that after the game was the utter madness. However the whole thing is being overcooked. No-one was injured wasn't that bad...

Common sense post

[publicly involved]

would say given its a live criminal matter the GAA lawyers would be telling him to keep well away from the matter until after the trial has concluded for fear of undue influence.
as a counter balance my view ( altho not my mrs view) is that he shouldn`t have gotten so publicly involved in rg.

Was he not thrown under the bus by the club in question? He sent an email to the club chairman which became public from their side? I don't believe he wanted to go public but rather wanted to keep it in-house? I'd say, in any case, if he had it all to do again he would have done it differently as it has left him open to accusations of hypocrisy.

[What the difference on McFerry acting the p***k to McQuillan on the goalkeeper?]

What the difference on McFerry acting the p***k to McQuillan on the goalkeeper? No need for it in the game. As far as I can see, 2 Armagh men striking plus 1 rugby tackling u man to the ground. This craic has never went out of Armagh going bck to Kierans tenure at the start, with the Cavan parade.leading on to Tyrone league game, Galway couple yrs ago and sats game. Where the overall team Displince at?

The answer to that is staring you in the face. Your obvious dislike for Armagh is blinding you here. You post more on Armagh than you do Derry FFS.

On suspensions it will be both sides getting them and if videos are correct it should be Armagh reserves and mc faddrn  ferry ( his choice language if what is being said is quite the comment )
Tyrone and Derry will be content

I only saw a video that I couldn't make out players from but seemed to be all Armagh doing the punching. What did Donegal players do to warrant suspension? Genuine question by the way....only saw some videos doing the rounds and what was on tv.

What was said is the usual shite that comes from a 26 county team playing a 6 county team. Given he run in front of a defeated opposition dugout he run the risk of getting what he got.  I've been told that the player in question is a member of the Irish Armed Forces and I know for a fact that he was heavily involved in similar verbals in the row in Letterkenny a few years back.

was obvious that when mc  fadden ferry was calling them british ....... that  a guy from south armagh would correct him

How was that obvious? Seems unlikely a native speaker from the Gaeltacht would say something like that.

Does this claim have any basis whatsoever or is it just further deflection from the violence?

There'll be stewards that can act as independent witnesses. We'll see what comes out in the investigation. If correct he should get a suspension that matches any given to anyone throwing digs.