Kildare vs. Armagh Sun. March 22

[Sandy Hill]

AK starin for SK...see that Barnsey is in for TK and Toner in for Lavery

Who is "Barnsey"?

[Smokin Joe]

AK starin for SK...see that Barnsey is in for TK and Toner in for Lavery

Who is "Barnsey"?

Kevin O'Rourke

[Sandy Hill]

Thanks Joe.

[Smokin Joe]

Armagh 5-4 up, and Kildare forced into a midfield substitution already

[Real1995]

Kildare go in at the break two points to the good

[armaghniac]

KE 1.07 AH 0.08 Could be worse for Armagh. The goal was soft enough, Mo is not getting the ball, R Clarke doing real damage at the other end. Toner helping mid field.

[Real1995]

Great result well done to the lads...McDonnell will have a smile on his face tonite 

Well down to Philly.....sounds though that justice was done with the penalty....but still it had to be saved....

[armaghniac]

Much better performance by Armagh. While on top after the goal we could have had several points and another goal. Kildare could have had a goal too, but they shouldn't have had the penalty!

[Dinny Breen]

but they shouldn't have had the penalty!

And Armagh should have had theirs, neither were penalties Armagh's at best was a soft free from about 5 yards outside the penalty box. Armagh's work rate was excellent will talk later about the game but the referee was just a fussy shit who did his best to ruin the game.

[bennydorano]

Good win.  Didn't get, got a text that said Clarke and Vernon were excellent.

[corn02]

Thoroughly entertaining game despite the referee trying to ruin it for both sides. Overly fussy, gave Armagh nothing in the first and gave us everything in the second. Although Kildare's penalty was never one and Defintely a push for Kildares goal and should have been a free out.

Once again McEvoy proved his worth and he has to be a serious contender for the number one spot.

Full back was solid. Shannon done well, O Rourke came into it more. Mo was getting destroyed but Shannon took his man in the second and the Wolfe Tones man was very good coming out of defence. Mallon good as well

McClelland was solid if unspectacular.
McKeever was dragged all over the show in the first and it was a real problem. Second half he stayed in the number six spot and was excellent.

In the first half Vernon was excellent, for first 15 in the second half he done nothing, then the last 20 he went back to being excellent. A great performance all round. Was knocking boys over with ease.
Toner and Earley had a tremedous battle and it was the highlight of the day, despite the referee blowing for a foul on every kickout. Toner probably shaded it.

Martin O Rourke needed a big game and he duly delivered, His passing was brilliant today.

Mallon tracked hard but kicked a couple wide and into the goalies hands.

McDonnell had a bad day at the office, frees aside. Sloppy, did not look sharp.

Clarke is unreal. He didn;t even have his best game and he was brilliant.

Barnsey very impressive again and beat Clarke to the score of the match accolade, which seemed impossible given the quality of Clarke's strike.

Aaron lined out at full forward and played a roaming role. I have said I would like to see him out of defence and I thought the tactic worked a treat. Mopped up everywehere and just laid off simple ball, very impressive.

Two things:

The Kildare shooting, especially in the opening period, was superb. Anyone who thinks they depend on Doyle is very much mistaken. I reckon 3 or 4 wides maximum?

Second thing, Armagh's tackling was as good as I can remember. McKeever, Toner, Vernon and MOR made some massive tackles. Great to see.

[charlie stubbs]

team for sunday is as follows

Armagh: P McEvoy; A Mallon, F Moriarty, B Shannon; T McClelland, A O'Rourke, C McKeever; J Lavery, C Vernon; M O'Rourke, B Mallon, R Clarke; S McDonnell, S Kernan, T Kernan.

Don't know what yous were expecting lads, there 10 porbable Championship starters there and four possible Championship players either as starter or sub.

Uladh, Vernon has been impressive to date. As TAC says, Lavery is just back from injury, would be unfair to expect him to be dominating yet.

was thinking that myself.  would imagine the only certain starters to come in would be donaghy/toner, mcgrane, hearty and ak.  more of a transitional year i would expect this is echoed by the bookies 25/1 for sam

Youse were 25/1 last year as well, two transitional years then?

how long down been in transition??losing the top scorer in ulster championship ever and probably our all ireland winning full back will be big losses

[Bainisteoir]

Didn't get to the game but a very good result..albeit a surprise!! Mate at the match txted to say clarkie was unreal.. Another point he made was the Armagh tackling and workrate was the best he's seen in a long time.. This is good to hear because to me the last few matches I've been to,their doesn't seem to the hunger of old!! Hopefully they can now follow it up next week!! By the way I didn't know AK started, what role did he play?

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

Very good match - enjoyed the game, well worth the trip. very encouraging performance as well. Midfield was excellent though I have to admit to thinking that McKenna was playing midfield rather than Toner, as per the programme. Was wondering why he was doing so well.  

Charlie was very good and I think he'll only improve if he's left in that position. Defence was ok, not exposed too badly but a wee bit shaky at times. I think Ciaran is wasted when he's expected to sweep back in front of Aidan O'Rourke. Its a complete waste and allowed Kildare too much space out the field. Moriarty looked good when he came forward. Thought Tony McClelland was a bit immobile - think he's a player who needs to be in a central position. Highlight was midfield which got the better of possession against a midfield which apparently dominated Monaghan a week ago.

Forwards were mostly very good - didn't think Aaron Kernan had his best game but showed enough to persevre with him in that position. Marty O'Rourke did well enough. I think Brian Mallon struggles to impose himself on games lately but when he does get possession he was effective - one superb pass in the second half. O'Rourke and Clarke were the pick of the forwards. For such a small fella, O'Rourke has little problem winning posession. Some great points from each even though Clarke missed a good few as well.

Ref was poor - some very strange decisions and wouldn't let the game flow at all. Thought both the penalties were soft and Clarke's throw ball decision was harsh and cost a certain goal. Was there a clear striking action? Certainly you'd rarely see that sort of thing blown. I think his problem was that he constantly paid to the letter of the law rather than the spirit and ended up frustrating everybody.

Am starting to agree with Corn on McEvoy. Two excellent saves - in particular the one in the first half impressed me and he was very decisive, came out early andmade a great block. How did the Kildare man miss the rebound on the penalty though?!

Promotion's actually not beyond us - win our last 2 games and if both Monaghan and Kildare drop points, we could seek in behind Cork. Unlilkely alright but still a chance. Even a draw against Monaghan would have left us even better off

to save me poating later i'll ask now,   what did mckeever get yellow card for??

[mountainboii]

Fantastic improvement today on recent performances. I'd have it as our best display since the demolition of Dublin last year.

Toner came in to make a hell of a difference and up front Clarke was almost unstoppable.

Team lined up like this, a bit different from the listed line up.

          McEvoy

Finn Mo    AOR     Mallon

Shannon  McKeever  McClellend

        Toner  Vernon

     AK    MOR    Mallon

            Stevie

      Clarke   Barnsey

McEvoy was good again. Made a sharp save in the first half and stopped the penalty. The sight of an Armagh keeper actually trying to put some direction in the odd kick out was very welcome too. Definitely ahead of Rodgers at this stage, and breathing down Hearty's neck.

FB line was probably our worst line, which is more a recognition of the excellence of the rest of the team. AOR was very solid on the Kildare FF, who was eventually replaced, although he struggled on the nippier Smith when he came on. Scored the penalty, replacing some of the faith I put in him when adding him to my Gaelic Life team . Andy was very good, nullifying John Doyle for most of the game. Finn Mo was our worst player by some distance. Kavanagh gave him the run around for the whole first half and must've either scored or set up 4 or 5 points. Was eventually (ahem, Mr. McDonnell   ) switched with Shannon, and coped much better in the HB line.

HB line were good. McKeever was a strong, reassuring presence in the middle. Lost his man a couple of times but probably due to being asked to play as sweeper some of the time as well as CHB. It was the best game I've seen McClellend give in an Armagh jersey. He did all the simple things right, offering support going forward, giving lots of simple accurate 10 yard passes. He'll probably never have the ability or pace going forward as a Jordan or Tomas O'Se but Tony is a good solid defender, who is very strong in the tackle. Shannon was steady in the HB line before being shifted back to put out the fire that Finn Mo had let get out of control. Did a much better job in the corner and largely snuffed out a threat from which Kildare were getting a lot of joy.

Midfield were our best line (first time maybe ever I've been able to type that). Considering the calibre of opposition they were up against that was one of the best displays from an Armagh midfield pair since John Toal's days. Toner had a great battle with Earley and probably came out on top, winning a mountain of possession. Charlie won a couple of great balls too, and was very strong in possession driving forward.

HF line didn't really have any shape and at times was non-existent. The three guys seem to be given permission to roam about within the line meaning that there is no one real CHF. They get back and become HBs very fast when we don't have the ball and then drive forward when we win it back, which gives us a good few options and makes us quite dangerous on the counter attack. MOR and AK won an awful lot of scrappy break ball around the middle, allowing us to get on top in the sector. Brian Mallon didn't really impose himself as much as I'd have liked, MOR was good and looks to be coming back to form - could still do with shutting up more and to quit the diving. Aaron in the HF line is something a lot of us have wanted to see for a while but I'm not really sure if it was a success. His defensive inabilities were highlightd when he let his man, Conway, get forward for two points and in general he didn't seem that potent going forward. That said, he put his frees over well and was great around the middle so I'd like the experiment to continue for a while.

Stevie was almost a line of his own, between the HFs and FFs. Worked very hard and a lot of ball went through him, as you'd expect from someone in the playmaker role. Wasn't much of a threat on the scoring front though, often finding himself in possession 40 and 50 yards out. Personally, I think this role could be filled by others such as Brian Mallon, allowing Stevie to reunite with Clarke close to goal.

Clarke was magnificent in the FF line. He must've won 80 or 90% of the ball put into him and kicked 4 great points from play. Best player in the country in his position, what more can you say? Worrying he went off looking a bit worse for wear about 10 minutes after shifting a very heavy 'tackle'. Equally worrying was the way we looked a bit rudderless going forward without him on the field, don't think we scored for the last 15 minutes or so. Barnsey chipped in with a couple of good points and looked sharp. The worry with him is that his size was exposed today, getting bounced out of the way a few times. Players like Clarke and McDonnell can use their strength at times to nudge their way in for balls even when they are behind their man, Kevin can't. His game is all about pace and nipping in front of his marker, which means when he's being covered by an equally nippy defender he becomes a bit toothless.

Stephen and Tony Kernan came on for the two FFs with about 15 and 5 minutes to go, but didn't really get involved much. Courtney came on to kill time in injury time and Donaghy (great to see he's near to being back) came on with about a minute left when AOR got a yellow for a cynical, but smart, foul out round midfield.

All in all it was a very good display against a team that had been flying. Could've won by a few more, but also could've lost it. Kildare forced a couple of goal mouth scrambles that we were lucky to clear, so could've added two more goals to their tally, although this was offset a bit by the flukey nature of the goal they did actually score. Both penalties were soft and the ref was very strict on both teams, not helping the game flow much. We're beginning to come out on top in the last few tight games which is encouraging. With Donaghy on the way back and maybe Paul Kernan, David McKenna and Paul McGrane to come in as different options, we can get better again.