USFC Armagh v Derry, St Tiernach's Park, Clones, 19th June 2pm

[LeoMc]

Derry much better team.

Management was terrible and only surpassed by Coldrick who missed so much of the fouling but that shouldn't deflect the inept performance on the line.

From 5 minutes it was obvious that Lynch and Bradley were running the show and we had Vinny Martin for how long?

Aaron Kernan had twisted his ankle and had to wait too long before anyone attended him.

Losing it in midfield so the manager throws on more midfielders.

Generally management was unable to recognise the problem and have a plan.

O'Rourke pulled off the filed to be replaced by the totally ineffective B Mallon.

??

[orchard 8195]

Dont really agree that a sweeper should have been deployed. During the league we were awful when we played with 1. Also it has been highlighted that when a team deploys a sweeper against derry they just put a man who can play as a forward up with him. Sean Leo McGoldrick would have been ideal at this as he is more than confident in the forward line. Firstly Mallon should have been on Bradley from the start, taking mckeever outve chb left the middle very open and when we were getting beat so comprehensively in midfield it was easy for derry to put quality ball into him. Really dont understand PORs rating of vincie martin as a defender as i have yet to see him play a good game for armagh in the defence. When i seen that he was in from the start i thought duffy mustve been injured. On another issue, when do armagh play in the qualifiers?

[BerfArmagh]

First of all, well done Derry displaying a greater hunger, game plan, team work ethic & absolutely clinical finishing from their forwards. No complainats whatsoever about the result, best team won on the day. Arnagh were very disappointing, HF line came back to haunt us, probably the worst defensive performance I have seen in my team supporting Armagh. Donaghy, mallon & Mc Keever all skinned by Bradely. Its a long time since I've seen that, to be fair Bradley was absolutely on fire yesterday. I knew we were in trouble when V Martin was starting, he was absolutely roasted & most of the damage was done in the first half. Serious questions need to be asked why Duffy did not start??

I though Charlie did ok in the middle & Hearty did well. Stevie played very well on very limited service & Jamie just could not get involved, one ball into him in the second half just is not acceptable. I think tactically Derry won yesterday, they were much better tactically prepared & quicker to make decisions on the line. To be fair to POR his team just did'nt turn up yesterday, i don't honestly know what he could have done to turn the tide yesterday. Aaron Kernan was obviously injured, but there is v little on the bench so POR hands were tied. I thought Brolly & Spillanes comments were totally over the top & unnecessary yesterday, Brolly is a slobber, he is'nt fit to lace stevie mc donnells boots.

As bad as Armagh played for a period afdter the goal in the second half they were right back in it, Stevies goal miss and the goal for Derry on the break killed us, it was all over after that. I thought M O Rourke was very unlucky to be taken off

Greta win for the minors, they look a good bet to go far in the championship this year..... Bets of luck to Derry in the final

[NP 76]

Was Mc Gurn not the one doing the slabbering

[snoopdog]

Well done Derry, by far the better team. There was a country mile between the 2 teams yesterday. Armagh were exceptional against Down but we seen the real orchard yesterday. Hope Derry
go on and win Ulster. hope you dont hit that old Self destruct button.

[Fuzzman]

So much for Derry not having a good midfield. I can never remember them not having a good midfield.
When they won so much ball in the middle third then Armagh were always gonna struggle.

I think in recent weeks there has been a lot of talk about moving away from blanket defence and playing more attack minded football. IMO poor PoR has fallen victim of that and is not strong enough to realise that when you've Bradley on that kind of form ye need a sweeper in front of him the whole game.
To me its naive to say that you would then be taking another Derry player into that area as its Bradley who is the danger man and if you cut him out at a threat then the other forwards are a bit more markable one on one.

Had Mallon been on him from the start with maybe Kernan in front of him then he would not have got his confidence up and become frustrated and we all know what he does when he is frustrated.

Well done Derry though for such a bit performance and all without Paddy Bradley and Fergal Doherty who must be kicking himself now for not coming along for the ride this year. Typical isn't it.

I think Donegal will just shade it against them though in the final if they can break even at MF.

[winsamsoon]

A couple of issues i thought the ref had a poor opening 15 yesterday as he was far too fussy and was awarding Derry free kicks far handier than Armagh but thank god as the game opened up he caught himself on and had a decent enough game.

I heard during the week that Duffy had been hurt in an in house game (ankle problem) and that he would be a doubt for the game. This may be why he didn't start but he was a big miss yesterday as his surging runs would have at least given Armagh another option.

On the mallon/Bradley incident, i had a crystal clear view of it when Mallon went to get the ball Bradley stuck out his foot and kicked it up mallons shins. It wasn't hit with any force or malice and he was probably trying to kick the ball away. Mallon reactions were totally over the top and imo he was lucky to stay on the field. To be fair to Bradley he didn't react to mallon in his face goading him. Bradley and Lynch run the show yesterday some f the score they took were sublime . If the two sides meet again i would say the game will be a lot closer as tactically Armagh got a lot wrong yesterday which i hope they can learn from.

[J OGorman]

Andy Mallon needs to be congratulated for not planting his fist in Bradleys gub, every single play Bradley made he was in his ear telling him about it, even at 8 points up, I know I wanted him to dig him.

balls balls balls, made up sh!te...Bradley should have been congratulated for restraining himself more like. choking the man and you say he should be congratulated for not 'planting his fist in Bradleys gub', catch yourself on ye clown. Its a pity you cant be as gracious as the other 99% of Armagh folk

Really enjoyed the match, open, fast, plenty of great scores from both teams. Armagh, though into the qualifiers have been involved in the 2 best games of the championship so far imo. Id say they'll do very well and build on the Down performance. McKeever, Vernon and McDonnell and Clarke is some backbone. Goals win matches and Devlin was on fire yesterday with a couple of great saves

Cant really add much else to what has been said about the Derry showing. Over the moon really, hoped Brennan could work his magic and it looks like we're going in the right direction. Beyond the usual few names being mentioned, I thought McGuckian rose like a phoenix from the flames with his performance yesterday, reads the game so well and will be absolutely vital in the final. Also, James Kielt's distribution from his left foot was a joy to watch. The the effort and team spirit from all was great. Nice scenes during the warm down, plenty of happy men laughing and joking, happy days

[PAULD123]

Well Done Derry who put on a great display

But no way are Armagh as bad as they looked. Armagh played below their true level much as, I believe, they played above their true level against us. Just as after the Armagh game it could have been said that Down were not suddenly a bunch of no hopers and Armagh were suddenly not the best team in Ireland, it can be said now that Armagh are suddenly not a bunch of no-hopers and Derry are suddenly not the best team in Ireland.

Armagh fans would have to say that nearly all their players performed below par today. That's just the breaks of the football fan. Down collectively underperformed against Armagh and Armagh did the same today but neither team should be judged on a single performance.

Most importantly it wasn't just one or two problem areas or a single tactical decision that decided the game. So the result can not be blamed on the line. POR may not have helped but he can not be blamed for 10-12 players totally under performing. The players themselves must take the blame I feel.

On a side point, squeezing a windpipe is extremely dangerous, it can cause tracheal collapse. I did Judo for years and I can tell you this is a very dangerous thing to do, you can choke from front or side but not put your fingers round the windpipe and squeeze. As far as I am concerned this is as bad, if not worse than striking. Mallon should be banned for this. It was disgraceful and he had more than one go at it. Not that I am being one-sided, He was provoked and it was defo a yellow card offence for kicking the ball at him (in fact Greg McCartan was sent of in the Ulster final for doing something similar). But why was Mallon's choke any much worse than the famous Galvin "fish-hook"?

I am not being a revenge seeking Down fan here, but I do worry that loads of kids round the country saw this and saw only a yellow card being given out and may now think that it is a not-too-bad thing to do.

[bridgegael]

if you are fit enough to come on, you are fit enough to start!

[Orior]

The official trying to wrestle with the kid with learning difficulties at the start of the second half. The young fella just wouldnt leave the pitch. It started off as amusing, but then got a bit scarey. What if the kid got hurt? What if he kicked a player?

Maybe the Ulster council need to look at that.

[Bogball XV]

he played on the left he played on the right that boy skinner made armagh look shit

On another day he could have got the line for the cowardly stunt on andy Mallon   Again Brennan saw this and took him off

He kicked the ball of his shins, hardly a cowardly stunt.  Mallon looked to be going for the windpipe pincer movement which seemed a bit more of a cowardly stunt to be honest.

+1

Agreed. A total over reaction by Mallon. Those sort of scenes should not be witnessed. I would have been happy to see Mallon being sent off for that.

feck off boys
mallon had won a free kick and bradley decided to lift the ball and whack it against him,the game was over at that stage there was no need to do it by bradley(

Did you watch the game or did somebody tell you that?

[Atticus_Finch]

[/quote]

balls balls balls, made up sh!te...Bradley should have been congratulated for restraining himself more like.
[/quote]

+1 - agree completely JOG, feel bradley deserves praise for showing restraint yesterday, and believe he has shown that he's matured as a player.  Was typing a post on the derry thread on the same subject at the time you posted this.

[Stevie Nicks]

balls balls balls, made up sh!te...Bradley should have been congratulated for restraining himself more like.
[/quote]

+1 - agree completely JOG, feel bradley deserves praise for showing restraint yesterday, and believe he has shown that he's matured as a player.  Was typing a post on the derry thread on the same subject at the time you posted this.
[/quote]

He is far from matured!! Firstly an outstanding footballer and was the difference yesterday. However he is still going to get a red before long as he had a super game and just because Andy got to a few balls before him towards the end of the game he lost the head. Should not have got involved with Andy at that stage as game was over and he was clearly mom. It is still there to be exploited by a good defender and as others have said Tyrone/Donegal will know what buttons to press.

ps also disappointed with him refereeing the game until Donaghy got his yellow, seen very little up to then to warrant a yellow.

[Fuzzman]

Watched the game last night and thought that myself that Bradley was showing great restraint as it must be hard not to swing for someone who has you by the throat. Of course though there was probably a lot of other stuff going on that the cameras didn't catch. I see a great picture on the back page of the Irish News today of Skinner shouting in Mallon's face. I thought the kicking of the ball off his shins was more a time wasting thing than anything but a yellow was in order.
Did anyone else see Bradley at any other funny business all day (Bar scoring)

I think the throat holding thing has crept into our game quite a bit now and it needs to be punished better. Its like you will get a red for punching now so throat holding is the next best thing. Kids will copy this and someone will get seriously hurt some time.