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Who's Conor McGinley?

I was very happy with the Armagh performance today, given that the line up was unrecognisable as an Armagh team. It's not meant to be disrespectful to Donegal posters on here but that WAS our third string!  I thought Armagh's best performers were Toal, McClelland, Donnelly and Swift.  The McCreeshs did well at the back too.  Toal has that bit of class and scoring potential about him that we could really do with in the forward line this year and if he keeps the level of workrate up that he has shown in the last couple of games then he should be able to nail a starting spot. If he had got a better supply of ball in the second half he would have been able to do a lot more damage.  I don't think there are too many individual star performers among those lads but in the last few games they have shown a remarkable level of composure, confidence and maturity in their play for guys who are mostly in the 19/20 age bracket. Played well as a unit too. 

Armagh's line up for the first few league games is going to be interesting! The university players will be back but none of those lads are regulars themselves.  The growing injury list and the absence of the Cross contingent will mean another experimental line up for the early games. I hope we can salvage some points early on and hang in there until the cavalry arrives later on.

A few points from yesterday's match. A solid, if unspectacular Armagh performance.  Well organised and sound at the back, strong around midfield (during the first half in particular) but lightweight in the full forward line, with McDonnell the only real threat here.  As mentioned, the two Granemore lads did well, particularly McClelland. The Harps lads likewise. Paedar Toal covered a lot of ground, scoring a couple of nice points.  JP Donnelly put the recent transfer speculation behind him with a good performance from the back, roving forward quite a lot.  Swift did quite well in patches.  McKinney continues to be a very assuring presence in goals.  The forward division is going to be a big worry for us this year.  If Toal keeps putting in the effort he'll be in with a shout, but we need more in the full forward line. Kevin O'Rourke looks a lively player, but as someone else has said here, he lacks an end product at the minute. We have to plan to be without Clarke and Mallon (if either or both come back it will be a bonus) and look at the options up front.

As a footnote, Armagh seem to keep producing big lads from underage level who aren't the quickest, whereas the opposite is the case in Tyrone! Bit of a generalisation i suppose , but it struck me again yesterday.