Armagh Vs Down

[behind the wire]

was watching the utv news there hoping to get another look at some of yesterdays action but saw nothing. full round of gaa fixtures yesterday including a local derby involving ulster teams but no mention of anything gaa. i find that a bit disappointing.

[bennydorano]

Any update on JP Donnellys injury

I was talking to his brother earlier and he reckoned it was the cruciate, although there were more tests to be done.  Basically a season wrecker by the sounds of it.

[Uladh]

Certainly a step in the right direction from armagh on sunday. they were far more competetive all over the pitch and maybe the red and black was just the right motivation at the right time.

Defensively we were a bit more solid, but maybe down's inadequacies should be taken into account in this regard. enda had a mare from start to finish. coulter dragged him into the half forward line and after winning the first three balls, the sensible switch of mallon out and enda inside happened. from there, ,allon closed coulter down for most of the game, while enda continued to struggle on burns, who looked dangerous. moriarty tried hard again but allowed hughes out in front too often. as was pointed out by one of the mourne brethren, he holds constantly and thats a trait that could be punished heavily down the line.

Donnelly started very bright, winning ball and breaking forward powerfully. his injury was a loss and armagh actually struggled coming out of defence thereafter. McKeever had his first decent game this year up until his sending off. he was farr too mobile and strong for carr, who reminded me of steven kernan in many ways. my only criticism would again be that down, mainly through dan gordan, drove down the center of our defence regularly in the first half. McCreesh put it beyond all doubt that he is not up to this standard. he just freezes every time he gets the ball and luckily he picked up down's weakest forward.

McGrane mixed the good with the bad, fetching some great ball at times but allowing himself to be easily blocked off on other occasions. he was a bit more measured with his distribution and kicked one monster point in the first half. he looks to be moving in the right direction at the right time. swift was out of his depth i'm afraid. he seemed to be looking over his shoulder for mcgrane when the ball was in the air and held up the ball too long the few times he got it. Toner was a revelation when he came in. high fielding, strong presence, good tackling and first time release of the ball. excellent Lavery was less effective when he appeared. there have been reports of him having a good game but i thought he was very poor. obviously the idea of playing him full forward initially was ill conceived but i expected more from him when he moved out. too often when he gets the ball he goes sideways or back in order to get a toetap in and only ever passes the ball when he must. a leaf out of mcgranes book would do him no harm.

The half forward line offered nothing. O'Rourke produced his usual shift of running but didn't win as much ball as usual and coughed up some dangerous posession in the second half. McKeever was woeful. he allowed murtagh unrestricted access to Armagh's defence in the first half and never made a decent run all day. when he was moved inside he hid, waiting on the lucky punter's ball over the top. Loughran was a disaster in the post from the outset. i expected him to drop into the middle and win ball but i was amazed when he stood at centre forward looking for short passes. he'll never be a greg blaney and when he was in that role he was always going to be ineffective.

Stevie took huge strides back towards his best. he still had his quota of silly pot shots but byenlarge his shot selection was much better. down left the same lad on him all day when surely cole or mccartan could've done a more effective job? diarmaid was disappointing but its to be expected that he'll take time to get backk to the pitch of county football. McCartan did a fine job on him. It was disappointing to see young o'rourke going off so early. he'd won a coupl of good balls early on and i was particularly looking forward to see how he'd gel with mcdonnell and marsden. i think if he'd stay on he might have reduced the scoring burden on stevie and armagh's win could have been more comfortable.

I must say down were better than i expected, even though armagh could have won the game more comfortably had they not wasted so much ball in the forward line. McCartan had an excellent game at the back until he gave posession away at the end. in saying that, what the hell was murtagh at for the goal? brainless. gordan showed some flashes of brilliance in the air and broke forward with real purpose at times... mostly not to be given the ball. they do seem to be carrying quite a few passengers including McGuigan, Lynch and McGovern. The centre back seems a game lad but is severly limited when he gets the ball. murtagh is no defender and Sexton has yet to convince me he's a county footballer. If you have a fit player of the calibre of mickey walsh on the bench in a game as tight as this one was, why would you not put him on until injury time when the game is lost?

[Donagh]

No comment on Geezer Uladh? I thought the long, accurate delivery, which came with his introduction, was the difference in the two sides at the end. We are lost at CHF unless Joe is planning to bring Marsden out at some stage – we need an experienced ball-carrier/playmaker in there.

[Uladh]

I agree with both of yours points Donagh. Geezer's cross field balls into diarmaid and particularly Stevie were very effective at a time when down were trying to drop bodies into defence. it was that "old" understanding, where they rarely held the ball up, that all of the players used to have. on the minus side, he looked a bit sluggish and his man got away from him quite a bit.

Marsden couldn't really get out in front to win ball and is obviously not as sharp as hopefully he will. number 11 is tailor made for him until he's at full tilt again. but then, we know the theory about the number 11 jersey!

[heganboy]

For all the crap paddy's getting he scored and set up the match winning goal

[downredblack]

Uladh, I agree with you about Mickey Walsh , should of been on alot sooner to give him any chance of making an impact , but I cant agree with you regarding Sexton and Murtagh . Sexton is a great wee scraper who will fight for break ball and scraps and will always give a 100% for Down . Murtagh while not the finished article at wing back has been fairly impressive there this year , he gets up and down the field and is more than capable of taking the odd score , just has to keep the head and not be reckless in the tackle . Still think he can do a job for Down here .Time will tell I suppose .

[Uladh]

Murtagh tackles? he must have been keeping that particular talent under wraps on sunday.... pays not to show your hand too early i suppose

[Goats Do Shave]

Any update on JP Donnellys injury

I was talking to his brother earlier and he reckoned it was the cruciate, although there were more tests to be done.  Basically a season wrecker by the sounds of it.

AGAIN? Feck that's horrible news!

Uladh...Down actually did switch Stevie's marker in the 2nd half. A balding fella (from Shamrocks?) went on him...coincided with Stevie's best part of the game...think he got 1.02 after this switch!