Meath v Armagh - Sat 6th February

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

Thought it was simply a matter of individual errors costing us the match. I didn't see the first goal but as a unit the defence were simply too lax, the 2nd goal was terrible defensively - there's no way Meath should have found ti so easy to catch a ball uncontested in front of goal, shrug off a full back and put it into the net. Thought there were some basics errors, things like a 2nd man going to tackle the player with the ball leaving a man free inside. Paul Duffy simply isn't a corner. I think we're at least 2 players short in defence. I'd move Toner back to full back as well.

Must say I'm surprised at AFS's comment that the midfield competed well - thought they were poor enough throughout. Charlie Vernon got the only mark of the game for Armagh - I'd prefer to see him lining out at midfield, albeit that he played in that general sector.

In attack, its the same old story - without Clarke, if Stevie isn't going to do it for us - who is?

[mountainboii]

Must say I'm surprised at AFS's comment that the midfield competed well - thought they were poor enough throughout. Charlie Vernon got the only mark of the game for Armagh - I'd prefer to see him lining out at midfield, albeit that he played in that general sector.

I'll have to have another look at it but I thought they did well enough until the last 15 minutes or so. Meath certainly didn't dominate like they've done a couple of times recently against us.

[thejuice]

Despite the closeness of the score it didn't look like either team were going to burst themselves for a win. While I'm glad we came out of it on the right side of it we can't be too happy with the performance. Completely out fought for long periods of the game and playing that long ball into the forwards while it worked on occasion ultimately it looked aimless and just gave the ball away cheaply.

Pleased enough with our backs, McDonnell didn't do too much damage and Paddy O'Rourke was never troubled.
We just need to make better use of possession. Happy with the good spread of scorers and Mark Ward did quite well in midfield along with Crawford.

Some of the referee's decisions were strange and at times I think we did get a few soft free's, but I guess it's February football and it is what it is. We'll see what challenge Down will offer us next week and we'll have a better idea of where we are.

[mackers]

How many games has Hearty's poor keeping lost us now? TAM, I'd agree with AFS I thought we competed well against a big midfield but we blew a gasket in the last 10. Thought Charlie showed glimpses of what he's capable of scoring a great point. We were the better team for long periods but bad goalkeeping and a poor bit of FB play cost us the game. Donaghy had an unusually poor game. Thought Duffy had a great game but has no interest in saying back to defend which will come back to bite us if he continues in the corner. We seemed to be more fluid with some good movement in the forward line. I thought Feeney and Henderson showed well but the scoring duties still fall on Stevie.
Overall we deserved to get something out of the game in what I reckon will be our toughest game along with our trip to Donegal. Important that we back this performance up with a few wins in the next run of games.

[Throw ball]

Back from the game and despite much of the criticism some other Armagh supporters may be giving I was actually quite pleased in the heart shown. This early in the season it is a good sign, and given our last couple of performances in Navan makes it even better. Hearty made a massive howler for the first goal but after that was reasonable. The problem at the minute seems to be that he has lost confidence and is prone to one massive error per game. In the first half the full back line got roasted. Andy found his man too strong for him but as usual competed well. Duffy will never make a corner back. buut looks great going forward. After the second goal went in there was a substantial improvement. Donaghy was outfielded for the second but I actually thought he did ok after that. i have said many times and will say again I think he is a half back. He is filling in at full back because he is a good footballer. He should be playing in the half back line with Toner at full back.
The half back line gave no protection to the full back line at all in the first half. McKeever was obviously not fully fit . Finnian was getting battered all through by his man and fouled back too often but kept at it and improved as the game went on. Aaron played his best football when he went to the half forwrad line. Midfield did better than they have of late. I still think however that Toner needs to play further back.
I actually thought that Feeney played very well in the second half. He made many good runs but just needs to get a bit of confidence so that he shoots more often. He was better than many half forwards we have seen in the last couple of years. Vernon played a stormer for about fifty minutes and then seemed to run out of steam. I am not a great fan of Mackin but must say he surprised me with how well he did play. Nothing spectular but effective.
Stevie played very well. Henderson will take a chance when he gets it. Swift tried very hard but seemed to be playing an unfamiliar role. I think he needs to get a chance at half forward to see if he is what we need. Of the three subs I actually think the Paul Kernan one was the most effective as it released Aaron to a more advanced role.
Will also say that I walked across the pitch after the game and it was quite slippy, although in great nick.

[mountainboii]

Must say I'm surprised at AFS's comment that the midfield competed well - thought they were poor enough throughout. Charlie Vernon got the only mark of the game for Armagh - I'd prefer to see him lining out at midfield, albeit that he played in that general sector.

I'll have to have another look at it but I thought they did well enough until the last 15 minutes or so. Meath certainly didn't dominate like they've done a couple of times recently against us.

On this, because I'm a sad w**ker, I kept a rough count of who won the kickouts when rewatching the game there. I had Meath only just winning, by 20 to 18. I had Armagh ahead 14-8 at half time, so maybe losing three times as many as we won in the second half clouded the memory a bit. Interestingly, despite Meath winning the first 7 kickouts of the second half Armagh scored 5 points to nothing in this period (the Meath goal was scored before there were any kickouts).

Even more disappointed not to have got anything out of the game after seeing it again. Meath were a bit shit, especially in the second half. We gifted them their first goal, and they got two of the softest frees they'll get all year to end the match, yet they still only won by a point.

[Smokin Joe]

I thought that our half forward line was pretty interesting.

We know that we struggle for scoring half forwards, and I also think that we are pretty weak in the midfield department (by this I mean we don't have 2 midfielders who are head and shoulders above the rest).

Perhaps POR thinks, "OK, I know we struggle for half forwards so let's effectively play 4 or 5 midfielders in the hope to dominate possession".
We played with 4 midfielders yesterday - Lavery, Toner, Vernon and Macken.

I think that this may not be the worst ploy in the world.  The problem yesterday was that all 4 of them ran out of gas with about 15 minutes to go.

It will be interesting to see if we continue with this shape to the team.

Not sure that I would give Stevie as much praise as others on here.  Plenty of times he came deep, demanded the ball of the youngsters but then gave it away in a silly fashion.
Also thought that Feeney shaped up really well as a link man.

Couldn't believe that the Rosocommon pr1ck gave that last free.  If only Clarkie got frees so handy in front of the posts.

[Fiodoir Ard Mhacha]

Don't understand why Ryan Henderson was subbed. Tony Kernan did nothing when he came on to replace him.

[mackers]

I thought that our half forward line was pretty interesting.

We know that we struggle for scoring half forwards, and I also think that we are pretty weak in the midfield department (by this I mean we don't have 2 midfielders who are head and shoulders above the rest).

Perhaps POR thinks, "OK, I know we struggle for half forwards so let's effectively play 4 or 5 midfielders in the hope to dominate possession".
We played with 4 midfielders yesterday - Lavery, Toner, Vernon and Macken.

I think that this may not be the worst ploy in the world.  The problem yesterday was that all 4 of them ran out of gas with about 15 minutes to go.

It will be interesting to see if we continue with this shape to the team.

Not sure that I would give Stevie as much praise as others on here.  Plenty of times he came deep, demanded the ball of the youngsters but then gave it away in a silly fashion.
Also thought that Feeney shaped up really well as a link man.

Couldn't believe that the Rosocommon pr1ck gave that last free.  If only Clarkie got frees so handy in front of the posts.

I'd say that you're right in that analysis Joe, but it's important that the HF forwards/midfield carry the ball like Charlie, Mackin and Feeney did at times. If your half forwards aren't going to score they need to occupy the defenders by carrying the ball and drawing defenders out. For too long we have been getting ball in midfield and lumping it into Clarke and McDonnell and letting them fend for themselves with defenders gathered round them cause they knew there was no other threat.

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

I thought that our half forward line was pretty interesting.

We know that we struggle for scoring half forwards, and I also think that we are pretty weak in the midfield department (by this I mean we don't have 2 midfielders who are head and shoulders above the rest).

Perhaps POR thinks, "OK, I know we struggle for half forwards so let's effectively play 4 or 5 midfielders in the hope to dominate possession".
We played with 4 midfielders yesterday - Lavery, Toner, Vernon and Macken.

I think that this may not be the worst ploy in the world.  The problem yesterday was that all 4 of them ran out of gas with about 15 minutes to go.

It will be interesting to see if we continue with this shape to the team.

Not sure that I would give Stevie as much praise as others on here.  Plenty of times he came deep, demanded the ball of the youngsters but then gave it away in a silly fashion.
Also thought that Feeney shaped up really well as a link man.

Couldn't believe that the Rosocommon pr1ck gave that last free.  If only Clarkie got frees so handy in front of the posts.

I'd say that you're right in that analysis Joe, but it's important that the HF forwards/midfield carry the ball like Charlie, Mackin and Feeney did at times. If your half forwards aren't going to score they need to occupy the defenders by carrying the ball and drawing defenders out. For too long we have been getting ball in midfield and lumping it into Clarke and McDonnell and letting them fend for themselves with defenders gathered round them cause they knew there was no other threat.

I think the quality of ball into Clarke and McDonell is the crucial issue. There were far too many lofted 50 / 50 kicks into the full forward liune which gave little chance of claiming quality possesion. Ideally the half forwards should be good passers with the ability to chip in with a couple of points a game. Brian Mallon should fit this mould though he hasn;t had a great last couple of years.

[Jinxy]

Glad we won but pretty disappointed with the performance.
We still look like we're making it up as we go along.
No real system or intelligence behind what we do.
Cian Ward missed 3/4 frees he'd normally knock over.
Did nothing in general play either.
Not happy with Stephen Bray at centre forward.
Put him in the corner and have a FF line of him Queeney and D Bray.
Move Wardy out to 11.
We badly miss Big Joe.
We have no full back and Harrington is not the solution either.
We'll have to think outside the box to solve this problem I think.
Liked the look of Ollie Lewis when he came on.
Crawford was anonymous for 3/4 of the game, caught a few balls towards the end.
It's a better start than last year but I think we were pretty lucky to get the win.

[Hardy]

I only saw the highlights, so it was hard to interpret what I was seeing. For instance, Crawford didn't touch the ball in the 45 minutes-or-so of action I saw. That can hardly have been an accurate reflection?

We seemed to be struggling for possession at midfield and I'd be concerned that we went through the whole game without catching one kick out.

The only real interest for me in these games is to see how newcomers/non-regular players are doing and to try and discern if a tactical plan is being developed. I couldn't say on the latter, but I'm delighted to see Queeney seeming to fulfill his potential. We could have a real problem selecting a forward line from himself, Farrell, Ward, the Brays, Joe, Byrne, O'Rourke if/when he's back.

I'd be worried about the backs, though. Each of the defenders seemed to struggle with his one-on-one, against what didn't seem a stellar forward division, with the exception of Macken, who seemed to be doing well at full back. He's a natural footballer, if a little rash-looking at times. From the highlights, it seemed our problems started from the moment he was taken off. Why was he taken off, by the way? Because he had a yellow card and was looking in danger of another? Whatever, I don't understand why he wasn't replaced by Moyles, or McGuinness moved to full back, or something. It seemed from the TV that Harrington was moved to full back? It didn't work.

Edit - see Jinxy has answered some of my questions before I asked them.

[orange2009]

Match report up on Official Website

http://tinyurl.com/yzqkzac

Will follow later on with several audio interviews

[ArmaghGAAforum]

Meath V Armagh National Football League Highlights 2010

[Jinxy]

Hardy we had 5/6 marks in the 2nd half.
Macken was poor and rightly taken off.
Crawford was as quiet as I ever saw.