Ard Mhacha v Muineacháin - Athletic Grounds - 08/03/09

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

Like Benny I was pleased enough with the performance, if not the result. Very enjoyable game played at a decent pace with plenty of quality. Thought we were excellent in the forward line - very good game from Kevin O'Rourke. Henderson was quiet but effective when he got the ball and Clarke and McDonnell did well enough - the 70 minutes will bring him on. The main thing was that we looked dangerous as a unit attacking rather than solely relying on 1 or 2 players. My view at this stage would be that the 6 starting forwards today should arguably be our forward line against Tyrone in the championship.

Midfield was also encouraging although I though James Lavery should have been stronger in winning the ball immediately prior to Ciaran's yellow. He made a couple of great catches though. Good game from Charlie Vernon and I thought Tony McClelland played very well also.

As Benny pointed out, the yellow card and the goal changed the match. What really angered me though was the fact that we were playing with 14 players when Monaghan scored the goal unnecessaliry. After the free follow Ciaran's booking, there was another free awarded to Monaghan when Paul Duffy could and should have come on but didn't. This meant we were a man down when Monaghan scored their goal which was inexcusable.

After that we lost out shape defensively and once Moriarty was also sin binned, we started to struggle and only for Monaghan's wastefulness they could have won by more. Wouldn't count too much on that though as the back line that finished the match will bear little resemblance to what we'll be fielding in the Summer. The one thing I will say is that I really don't think Aidan O'Rourke at full back is a viable option though I understood the switch as Woods was causing a lot of trouble in the first half.

All in all, its about as positive I can remember being after a defeat though unfortunately our promotion hopes are probably gone and defeat to Fermanagh would really put us into a relegation battle.

[mountainboii]

Very frustrating result today. I definitely would've taken a 2 point defeat before hand but the manner of the loss was difficult to accept. We were cruising until 15 mins to go and then fucked it up, piled on the yellows and ran out of defenders.

Goalie fumbled a couple of high balls but didn't really have much chance with the goal.

FB line were atrocious I thought. Martin was destroyed with Woods directly involved in 5 of Monaghan's 7 first half points - he can have no complaints about being taken off. AOR came on for him and tried hard but was exposed by Ronaghan when he came on, he was a much bigger man. Finn Mo was exposed for pace time and time again as the game went on, giving away 3 scoreable frees in the second half after Monaghan's goal before deservingly getting a yellow for persistent fouling. Andy looked slower than usual and not fit. Monaghan would've won by a lot more if Tommy Freeman had stayed on for longer than 20 seconds.

HB line were better. McKeever was motoring along nicely until his yellow, which he can have no complaints about either. McClelland's positioning and tackling was good but his marking was quite poor I though. Shannon played well scoring a good point - he's a better HB than FB.

Midfield definitely came out second best (as usual). Charlie started well before fading, he caught very, very little though. Lavery won a few balls to his credit but pulled out of a challenge before McKeever's yellow which was costly. You could almost say that was the defining moment of the game - if Lavery had've bent down and taken the hit he would've got a free maybe setting up another score for Armagh to go 4 up. Instead he pulled out and the ball broke loose, a second later McKeever made a reckless pull, got a yellow and went off, then Monaghan took the free and waltzed down a McKeever shaped hole in our defence to score their goal. Instead of being 3 or 4 up, we were level and Monaghan cracked on from this with their tails up.

HF line was good. MOR very good apart from not shutting his mouth and causing a decision to be reversed just before half time, which lead to Monaghan's 7th point. Mallon very good too, but the big question - why the f**k was he taken off? McDonnell's decisions are bewildering at times. Miceal O'Rourke came on and made much less of an impression compared to what Mallon had been at. KOR was excellent, a real bright light.

FF line was mixed. Clarke very good, despite being pulled and dragged all day with the ref seemingly oblivious. McDonnell was average and looked short of a yard of pace, getting caught behind his man too often. Henderson struggled to make an impact but did hit a good point.

We simply didn't have the squad depth to deal with the yellows. The defence was stretched to the limit to begin with so the space Monaghan found in the last 15 minutes is hardly surprising. Distinct lack of leadership after Monaghan's goal was worrying, only Clarke looked fired up to try to reverse the tide.

A game we let slip. No more thoughts of promotion, a relegation dogfight to look forward to now  

[bennydorano]

Defintely disagree about MF, I'd say Lennon and Lavery caught roughly equal amounts of ball, we fell down (as usual) in the breaking ball count, and more often than not when we won ball in MF we lost it when one Armagh man was surrounded by 3 or 4 Monaghan men (good practice for Tyrone).  Looked pretty clear to me that the fielding was largely being left to Lavery and Charlie was doing the donkey work (and after last year's 'tactic' of only McGrane attempting to field ball it looks like the nonsense is set to continue).

[David McKeown]

Im not at all positive coming out of the game today, I thought we played poorly for large chunks of the game and with a different referee might have been put out of sight long before we were.  I thought Lavery was very poor at midfield save the last ten minutes were he made a few good catches.  He either couldnt catch the ball or when he did couldnt pass it before that. All in all I was very disappointed with a lot of performances today save maybe Brian Mallon's and Kevin O Rourke's and I think we will need a big improvement before the Fermanagh game.  Will C McKeever miss that through suspension now?

On another note Martin O Rourke should have seen red just before the half time whistle for kicking out at the Monaghan man right in front of me.  I have no idea why he got ticked for it.

[mountainboii]

I dunno, I was certain that we were second best around the middle although it wasn't completely one way traffic like on several occasions last year. You are right though, Monaghan were very Tyrone like in the way they surround the fielder with 4 or 5 men immediately after he comes down. Surely there's something in these all singing, all dancing new rules to combat this negative strategy? A lot of Lavery's good work today was in vain because of this Monaghan tactic.

[crossfire]

TACADOIR

You are dead right it is inexcusable that we were a man down when Monaghan scored their goal _It's time Mckeever caught himself on, or perhaps it is time he was dropped for a few games to teach him some discipline

[Main Street]

Good reading there
How long did Freeman last, was it a straight yellow?

[Our Nail Loney]

McKeever could have done some real damage with his kick, does himself no favours...

Thought K O Rourke was excellent, you always thought he was going to do something when e got on the ball...

Sloppy handling on show from both teams, Dick Clerkin the main offender for the most part...

Armagh will have to be disappointed with themseves for losing this but it was their indiscipline that let them down...

Did anyone notice at the end when Stevie got a point laid on to him from Feeney, why did Feeney not shoot himself?? He was in miles of space and had a lot of time? Thougt it was weird.

[Our Nail Loney]

Good reading there
How long did Freeman last, was it a straight yellow?

About thirty seconds by my reckoning, straight yellow yeah... Hanratty did feck all when he came on really, when he gets the ball he just starts vibrating, doesn't know what way he wants to go... The Monaghan fans aroun me were all grateful when he was replaced later...

Good showing from the Monaghan fans today by the way as well...

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

TACADOIR

You are dead right it is inexcusable that we were a man down when Monaghan scored their goal _It's time Mckeever caught himself on, or perhaps it is time he was dropped for a few games to teach him some discipline

I'm not sure if you're deliberately missing my point or just not able to grasp what I was saying. The fact that we were a man down when Monaghan scored their goal is attributable to the management, not Ciaran McKeever. His discipline is another issue. He didn't pick up many yellows last year but 2 in 2 games isn't good enough. I was at the other side of the pitch but I thought his challenge today was wild and reckless rather than malicious. As for dropping him, who do you suggest we play instead? Francie at centre half and Paul kernan and McKeown in the full back line no doubt.  

[

We simply didn't have the squad depth to deal with the yellows. The defence was stretched to the limit to begin with so the space Monaghan found in the last 15 minutes is hardly surprising.

To be fair AFS, any squad is going to struggle for depth when missing as many players with championship experience as we were today - Hearty, Francie, McGrane, the 3 Kernans, Toner and Donaghy will all be options later on in the year, not to mention the likes of Toal and David McKenna who'll push for places when they return.

[mountainboii]

Good reading there
How long did Freeman last, was it a straight yellow?

About thirty seconds by my reckoning, straight yellow yeah... Hanratty did feck all when he came on really, when he gets the ball he just starts vibrating, doesn't know what way he wants to go... The Monaghan fans aroun me were all grateful when he was replaced later...

Good showing from the Monaghan fans today by the way as well...

Hanratty's shooting was shite, but he won a load of frees off Moriarty from which Monaghan got at least a couple of handy scores. Heard the same crap from Monaghan supporters around me. Some people are incapable of seeing the bigger picture.

[Benny Barnaveld]

Very entertaining match.

Not disappointed with the result, but the capitulation after the loss of McKeveer, similar to the Laois game.

Rodgers           fluffed a few high balls and had little authority
Mallon              did ok, has not played a lot recently
Martin              Schocking........again
Moriarty            poor today, game away an awful lots of faouls (not all punished) deserved yellow
McKeever         played well, 2 lovely points, deserved yellow
Mc Clelland       did well, there abouts a good bit, and strong on the ball
Shannon         very impressed, good on the ball and took a nice score
Vernon           tried hard, stood up well, caught for pace as usual
Lavery            shocking, horrible beyond words..........Cant believe he was not replaced
Henderson      won a few frees, took a nice score, did not see a lot of ball
Mallon            played well today, God only knows why he was subbed
M O Rourke    did ok, made some good turnovers, wish he would stop codding about though
McDonnell      Done enough
Clarke           Funny sort of day, has too much to do, some good work
K O'Rourke     Very good. looked interested and took some good scores

A O'Rourke  Gave some good passes, but horriblly exposed for the goal and a few points

Overall Midfield is very weak. At least McGrane, McKenna and Toner could all come in potentially.
Tactics were horrile, men did not seem to want to hit the space, there is a real lack of pace in the whole team, Mallon was subbed when playing well.
Monaghan deserved the win, they missed about 5 handy points at the death as Armagh's wheels feel off.
We could win no ball in midfield, clean or otherwise, could not get the ball into Clarke who had to come out to midield.

[mountainboii]

[

We simply didn't have the squad depth to deal with the yellows. The defence was stretched to the limit to begin with so the space Monaghan found in the last 15 minutes is hardly surprising.

To be fair AFS, any squad is going to struggle for depth when missing as many players with championship experience as we were today - Hearty, Francie, McGrane, the 3 Kernans, Toner and Donaghy will all be options later on in the year, not to mention the likes of Toal and David McKenna who'll push for places when they return.

Yep I absolutely agree. That's the only thing providing me with a wee bit of optimism. I'm a bit worried that some of these guys, particularly in defence, will be coming in cold later on. We need as many as possible back before the end of the league, not just to ensure survival, but to get some semblance of a settled team before Tyrone.

[bennydorano]

I love reading alternative POV's.  Suprised to see Martin & F MO getting slated, although I must admit I was at opposite ends of the pitch to them in both halfs as I was at the Dalton end for the first and St Brigid's end for the second.  Didn't hink Lavery did too much wrong tbh but his lack of mobility lets him down.

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

Did anyone notice at the end when Stevie got a point laid on to him from Feeney, why did Feeney not shoot himself?? He was in miles of space and had a lot of time? Thougt it was weird.

Lack of confidence probably Nail. Just prior he'd hit a ball badly into the goalkeeper's hands.