Ulster Final 2008 - Armagh vs Fermanagh

[Orior]

It seems to me that the anti-Armagh brigade cant decide whether

a) Armagh were crap, only sneaked over the finish line, and wont go any further

or

b) Armagh were immense, played their best football, but have now peaked and wont go any further

[Goats Do Shave]

Delighted for Paul McGrane. Thought he answered the critics superbly! An absolute mammoth performance round the middle (And all over!!!!!), deserved of the man of the match award! What a legend!

Brian Mallon had a super game also!

[sammymaguire]

although it was very tough to watch, there were still only 4 points in it when the goal was scored, Armagh were finding it tough to put Fermanagh away even though Fermanagh could not put the ball over the bar...

2 kicks of the ball would have put Fermangh in front although the fact we cannot seem to score a "normal" goal was also going to make that extremely unlikely

here, we got beat fair and square although I feel Fermanagh (mainly the forwards) have only themselves to blame for the loss

[Maximus Marillius]

What a truely awful game for the neutral. And I know there will not be an Armagh fan or players with gives a toss.....but it was awful. The big question.....is there a free taker alive in Fermangh.

[sammymaguire]

What a truely awful game for the neutral. And I know there will not be an Armagh fan or players with gives a toss.....but it was awful. The big question.....is there a free taker alive in Fermangh.

Peter McGinnity was there yesterday and he has a great left peg! If we had have stuck him in at full forward he might have won us the game with those free kicks 

[Maximus Marillius]

What a truely awful game for the neutral. And I know there will not be an Armagh fan or players with gives a toss.....but it was awful. The big question.....is there a free taker alive in Fermangh.

Peter McGinnity was there yesterday and he has a great left peg! If we had have stuck him in at full forward he might have won us the game with those free kicks 

seriously...you are right

[sammymaguire]

sad to see such a glib comment being agreed with on a serious note!!

[Uladh]

Awful game. the only peoplewho won't give a damn armagh obviously.

handy route to the quarter final secured and a couple of weeks break sorted. seems like the perfect build up for once.

heaven forbid we'd have to bate down again!

not bad for a team in transition!

[Travis T O Justice]

I gotta say I'm delighted by how the game panned out. My fear was that we would come back and annihilate Fermanagh by playing the best football possible. That was far from the case, we haven't even begun to play anywhere near our ability yet which I feel suits just fine - peaking at this stage would have been disaster.

I think we did learn more than Fermanagh from the drawn game, Mid-field tightened up (as borne out by McGranes Man of the match), much more ball was won off the break (thank you Marty O'Rourke and Brian Mallon) and our ability to disposes Fermanagh around our 1/2 back line was pretty awsome (more of that thanks very much).

Having said that it was a lack lustre overall performance, a terrible (first half) game to watch - but look - that's Ulster Final football - lets move on. I'm looking forward to seeing Fermangh meeting Kildare and i think it's a good draw fro both teams, teh only fear I have is that Kildare are on the back of a win and Fermanagh are on the back of a lossing Provincial final (they';re shooting can't be as bad again.......can it)

The Championship starts now.

[Maximus Marillius]

Cant see what ye learnt......fermanagh learnt how to kick wides....if they had of scored them the game was gone and as i said nothinglearnt....more to do with fermanaghs inadequacies than anything else.

[Real1995]

Leo thats twice I have agreed with you today. I turned the TV off at 4 points apiece and the wide count mounting. Puke football at its worst, I`d say Spillane had a fit watching that game. I was channel hopping too and ended up watching the rugby league on BBC2, to be honest I hadnt realised it wasnt the Ulster final.
It doesnt matter how many Ulsters Armagh win, they usually sh*t themselves when they get to Dublin. At least Big Joe was a likebale sort, you couldnt begrudge him an AI, that McDonnell is as hateful as the players.

knows his football well, good opioion  , very intelligent one too, by the way was there many in your class at school 

[Goats Do Shave]

Cant see what ye learnt......fermanagh learnt how to kick wides....if they had of scored them the game was gone and as i said nothinglearnt....more to do with fermanaghs inadequacies than anything else.

Armagh hit a lot of wides too. They dropped a few short also. Lessons they learnt was not to be complacent, to track back & tackle hard to the finish. Not to sub our main ball winners! Not to get caught in possession! & not allow Fermanagh's main score finder the last day a sniff!

[thebandit]

What do people think of Paul Kernan? Could start in place of Finnian Mo next day imo, although I was surprised that Donaghy didn't come on for Mallon

[BerfArmagh]

ANyone else puliing their hair out with regard to heartys kick-outs, how many time did he bypass our mid field. Has he ever heard of a short kick out? I still think he is a liability

[Kentucky Blue]

Not a lot has been made of Ciaran O'Reilly missing for fermanagh, mainly because he was out all year injured. Certainly fermanagh could have done with his dead ball skills yesterday.

Armagh reminded me a bit of the Germany soccer team, not the best 15 in the country but disciplined and efficient.
Still have a few reservations about Armagh however. If McDonnell and Clarke were to have an off day or be very well marked (easier said than done) they will definitely struggle for scores. In the wide open spaces of Croker the full back line could be stretched too. If they do meet the Dub's down the line I think they would struggle to thwart the dublin attack and its movement IMO.