Ulster Championship 2025

[ONeill]

I think it's an Armagh thing in big games. But McGeeney seems to have mastered it now.

[tyroneman]

Game was pretty dull first half. Neither side playing with much intensity. Armagh dominating kickouts and finding it much easier to score.

Tyrone upped a gear in second half, subs made a difference.

Armagh overall prob shaded the game however D Canavan not getting a shot away to keep the 2 point gap at the end was  a big blow.

Not sure there was much (or anything) in the foul at the end. Soft as you like.

Bad day for Morgan to have one of his worst days out. His last kick in particular was dreadful but he'd been poor all day.

That being said he is normally excellent so can't be too harsh.

Some progress from Tyrone, still a ways to go.

MoR needs to tell the two Canavans it's not compulsory to do a dummy solo every time they have the ball. Ran into trouble far too much.

Armagh have serious depth in thier panel.

Between Armagh, Donegal, Galway and Kerry for Sam this year

Clones still a total f**king nightmare for parking and getting home afterwards.

[Armamike]

Fair points.

Crazy to think that game wasn't on tv or even the radio.

[The Bearded One]

Armagh started with 2 out of 3 of the 2024 full back line.

Burns went to Darragh
McCambridge to Ruairi
McCormack (weakest, accordingly) to McCurry

I'd fully expect Dazzler to reap the reward of being picked up by the their weakest man marker.

Tyrone were destroyed on kickouts, I'd love to see stats on how many shots Armagh got off from their own kickouts, must be a high %. Tyrone played poorly and were still within a kick of Armagh. Substitutes added value (particularly McElholm).

Armagh will strengthen personnel as the summer rolls on, Tyrone will improve. Would expect to see them both down the line and would welcome a rematch 😬

[Blowitupref]

Not sure there was much (or anything) in the foul at the end. Soft as you like.

While Gough made some debatable calls that was one he got right.

https://x.com/CahairOKane1/status/1916237689369629138/mediaViewer?

[balladmaker]

Not sure there was much (or anything) in the foul at the end. Soft as you like.

While Gough made some debatable calls that was one he got right.

https://x.com/CahairOKane1/status/1916237689369629138/mediaViewer?

It was a free all day long.  Soupy's equaliser, I thought it should have been a 2 pointer at the time, haven't seen a replay of it yet though.

[Blowitupref]

Not sure there was much (or anything) in the foul at the end. Soft as you like.

While Gough made some debatable calls that was one he got right.

https://x.com/CahairOKane1/status/1916237689369629138/mediaViewer?

It was a free all day long.  Soupy's equaliser, I thought it should have been a 2 pointer at the time, haven't seen a replay of it yet though.

Was a one pointer.

[Armagh18]

Armagh started with 2 out of 3 of the 2024 full back line.

Burns went to Darragh
McCambridge to Ruairi
McCormack (weakest, accordingly) to McCurry

I'd fully expect Dazzler to reap the reward of being picked up by the their weakest man marker.

Tyrone were destroyed on kickouts, I'd love to see stats on how many shots Armagh got off from their own kickouts, must be a high %. Tyrone played poorly and were still within a kick of Armagh. Substitutes added value (particularly McElholm).

Armagh will strengthen personnel as the summer rolls on, Tyrone will improve. Would expect to see them both down the line and would welcome a rematch 😬

Seemed to be Barry on McCurry most of the time and Tomas on Ruairi? Thought we handled the Canavans fairly well

[Armagh18]

Not sure there was much (or anything) in the foul at the end. Soft as you like.

While Gough made some debatable calls that was one he got right.

https://x.com/CahairOKane1/status/1916237689369629138/mediaViewer?

It was a free all day long.  Soupy's equaliser, I thought it should have been a 2 pointer at the time, haven't seen a replay of it yet though.

Soupy was just about inside, looked outside at the time but on replay Gough got it right.

[LarryStiles]

Ulster final won't be in Croker. Donegal not keen on it.

[David McKeown]

Not sure there was much (or anything) in the foul at the end. Soft as you like.

While Gough made some debatable calls that was one he got right.

https://x.com/CahairOKane1/status/1916237689369629138/mediaViewer?

It was a free all day long.  Soupy's equaliser, I thought it should have been a 2 pointer at the time, haven't seen a replay of it yet though.

Was a one pointer.

Watching it back there I thought the heel of Soupys standing foot was on the line. Very close call anyway.

[tyrone08]

Not sure there was much (or anything) in the foul at the end. Soft as you like.

While Gough made some debatable calls that was one he got right.

https://x.com/CahairOKane1/status/1916237689369629138/mediaViewer?

It was a free all day long.  Soupy's equaliser, I thought it should have been a 2 pointer at the time, haven't seen a replay of it yet though.

Was a one pointer.

Watching it back there I thought the heel of Soupys standing foot was on the line. Very close call anyway.

Think it was a one but could easily be given as a 2 pointer. Its going to be very interesting later in the year if it comes down to a team winning or losing with a kick like that.

[David McKeown]

Having now watched the game back my thoughts are that it was a good game between two very good teams neither of whom were at a 100%.

Armagh the better team overall and fully deserving of the win.

Tyrone though maybe the side with more room for improvement. Wouldn't like the two sides to meet again.

Some shocking and inconsistent decisions from Gough who had one of his poorest games that I've ever seen from him. Thankfully didn't affect the result.

On the Rafferty thing it's one of the strangest things I've seen in some time. Looking back it looks like he dives between the ball and the goal as if to make a save as Canavan comes on the ball. It seems Canavan gets there, pokes it towards goal and it comes off Rafferty's chest. As I think Wobbler said it looks like a foul but I'm not sure why.

The Morgan yellow card was equally strange. Having had a quick look at the official guide it seems the penalty for dissent is a yellow card and not a free which is strange. That said I can't see how he can stop the game and then allow Tyrone to restart with a free kick. Also the 10 seconds before that show how inconsistent Gough was. Morgan takes possibly the most steps taken all day. If the steps rule had been consistently enforced it would have been a penalty to Armagh.

The incident that lead to Geezers frustration was also clearly a brain fart by Gough. (That's not to excuse Geezer). Armagh player takes a mark. Is tackled two steps later and is blown for over carrying on the 5th step. How that wasn't given as a 50m advancement of the free to Armagh is beyond me. The only explanation seems to be that Gough forgot it was a mark because he had properly enforced the rule a few minutes earlier. Big decision too as it goes from a simple free to Armagh to a two point score for Tyrone.

It also looks like Soupys heel is on the line when he kicks the penultimate score but it was so close I'm not sure I can criticise Gough for that.

The final free was stonewall. Harte charges straight into Turbitt.

On the Armagh players I thought Rafferty had an excellent game but Tyrone coped well with him.

I thought Mossey and Burns had very good games.

McCambridge was off his usual high standards but his man was in top form to be fair.

McCabe and McQuillan did well.

Murnin was excellent as always as was Grugan and Crealey

I thought both O'Neills started well but faded.

I thought Jarly Og had a very poor half and was lucky not to be pulled at half time but had a very good second half.

Thought McGrane did rightly in an unfamiliar role.

Conaty was a little off his high standards too

McMullan is a frustrating player to watch. Pace to burn but seems to do the difficult thing well but isn't as good at the easy stuff.

I said it on another thread that I don't think Armagh will win the all Ireland this year but they may go close if the missing players return. Although they do have great strength in depth.

On the new rules, I still don't like any of them. That said they make for a better spectacle on TV and I dislike them less when watching on TV than I do when being there.

[David McKeown]

Not sure there was much (or anything) in the foul at the end. Soft as you like.

While Gough made some debatable calls that was one he got right.

https://x.com/CahairOKane1/status/1916237689369629138/mediaViewer?

It was a free all day long.  Soupy's equaliser, I thought it should have been a 2 pointer at the time, haven't seen a replay of it yet though.

Was a one pointer.

Watching it back there I thought the heel of Soupys standing foot was on the line. Very close call anyway.

Think it was a one but could easily be given as a 2 pointer. Its going to be very interesting later in the year if it comes down to a team winning or losing with a kick like that.

It's hard to tell. As the ball is falling to his foot his standing foot is clearly on the line but the camera zooms just at the point of contact so you can't see exactly where it is at that point.

[Grace Murphy]

I thought he was at the inner D when he kicked it? As he didn't appeal at all.