Dublin v Armagh Sunday 11th March

[squire_in_navy_slacks]

Hardluck today armagh buckos, that performance certainly wasnt a true reflection of your potential............................. the 2 early goals killed the game

You're way too well mannered to be a Dub.

Born and bred dude, not an ounce of country in me 

Felt for the armagh dudes today.........................as others have spoken about though, the body language even in the warm up spoke volumes for me, lads looked like they didnt even want to start

[lawnseed]

Hardluck today armagh buckos, that performance certainly wasnt a true reflection of your potential............................. the 2 early goals killed the game

You're way too well mannered to be a Dub.

Born and bred dude, not an ounce of country in me 

Felt for the armagh dudes today.........................as others have spoken about though, the body language even in the warm up spoke volumes for me, lads looked like they didnt even want to start

+1 thats what i saw

[Harold Disgracey]

You obviously weren't the Dub supporter sitting in front of me, was shouting at Sean Og to go back to Africa during the hurling, his girlfriend/wife had to tell him he was of Fijian origin. He seemed to think about 4-5 Mossy Quinn's were playing. When he started questioning the Armagh players sexuality in front of my kids I had a quiet word with him, he was quiet as a mouse after this.

Not too many positives from an Armagh perspective, I thought Caolan Rafferty, Brian Mallon and Gavin McParland were the pick of a bad lot. Dublin were quite impressive, although I wouldn't get carried away yet as Armagh managed to carve through them a few times.

[Orior]

You obviously weren't the Dub supporter sitting in front of me, was shouting at Sean Og to go back to Africa during the hurling, his girlfriend/wife had to tell him he was of Fijian origin. He seemed to think about 4-5 Mossy Quinn's were playing. When he started questioning the Armagh players sexuality in front of my kids I had a quiet word with him, he was quiet as a mouse after this.

Not too many positives from an Armagh perspective, I thought Caolan Rafferty, Brian Mallon and Gavin McParland were the pick of a bad lot. Dublin were quite impressive, although I wouldn't get carried away yet as Armagh managed to carve through them a few times.

Well that made me laugh. Tell us what you said to him Harold?

[regal]

Armagh are becoming utterly unpredictable. Although few would have given them a chance today, their performance was embarressing. When they are bad, they are so bad. This team has taken so many hidings under O'Rourke - Monaghan 2010 championship, Derry 2011 championship and today just to name a few. These are games we are losing by 10 points plus. Surely AMallon, Donaghy, McKeever, AKernan are good defenders. But when things aren't going well, the whole team look rudderless. The keeper (along with everyone else) was unconvincing. When I was watching Decky McKenna carrying the ball out of the defense early on, he reminded me so much of John Rafferty in that he looked so awkward and unconvincing. Sure enough, seconds later he produced a rafferty-esque pass to set up a Dublin goal! That said, I will be happy enough if McKenna gives armagh the same service that rafferty did.

Armagh's midfield today was shocking. I thought that towards the end of McGrane's days with Armagh that Armagh had a few young lads who might be able to carry on the mantle - toner, lavery, vernon, david mckenna to name a few. In his last 10 years with Armagh I would doubt if mcgrane was in an armagh team who were beat as easily as this team was today. None of the other midfielders mentioned have stepped up. Toner is undoubtedly the best of them, so lets hope we have him back for the championship. All the others continually disappoint. I would think Crossmaglen's hanratty also deserves a start.

On the positive side, I was hoping the league would help us produce 1 or 2 forwards who we could start in the championship. Although none of them had great games today, I think forker, c rafferty, mcparland and a duffy have impressed during the league to date.   

Still a great chance of staying up, but I think we will need morgan, akernan, jclarke, hanratty and mcdonnell sooner rather than later.

Does anyone know how Ronan Clarke is getting on?

[David McKeown]

Absolutely shambolic today.  Armagh's tactic in the first half seemed to be for Armagh to mark space instead of men and they did that very badly allowing Dublin to cut through them at will by simply not standing still.  Added to this the Armagh midfield seemed incapable or unwilling to track runners particularly Mackin who I thought had his poorest game in a couple of years, allowing Mcauley to run the show.  Finally Armagh fisted 9 passes to Dublin in the first half, you simply can not do that at this level.

There was very little positive from an Armagh point of view with the possible exception of the quality of the pass that lead to the Armagh goal.  I hate to harp on about it but I have yet to see anything from the management to give me any confidence moving forward.  The players also seemed unwilling to perform for them.  Also it seemed to me that Dublin, were fitter, faster and stronger all over the pitch which begs the question what is McGurn doing? 

[heffo]

What has happened the Armagh conditioning? Dublin were far stronger in possession and easily able to break tackles

[Joxer]

Absolutely shambolic today.  Armagh's tactic in the first half seemed to be for Armagh to mark space instead of men and they did that very badly allowing Dublin to cut through them at will by simply not standing still.  Added to this the Armagh midfield seemed incapable or unwilling to track runners particularly Mackin who I thought had his poorest game in a couple of years, allowing Mcauley to run the show.  Finally Armagh fisted 9 passes to Dublin in the first half, you simply can not do that at this level.

There was very little positive from an Armagh point of view with the possible exception of the quality of the pass that lead to the Armagh goal.  I hate to harp on about it but I have yet to see anything from the management to give me any confidence moving forward.  The players also seemed unwilling to perform for them. Also it seemed to me that Dublin, were fitter, faster and stronger all over the pitch which begs the question what is McGurn doing?

Saying as he has nothing to do with the Senior team anymore.. I'll guess probably nothing?

[lawnseed]

What has happened the Armagh conditioning? Dublin were far stronger in possession and easily able to break tackles

they're a light team.. but instead of making the ball do the work they engage in this over elaborate hand passing game where the ball is passed back to a runner (like in rugby). we don't have guys like Andy mccann or keiran hughes anymore who used to race up the wings and give a good pass to the forwards or even take a score themselves. some of the hand passing today was ridiculous- less than 4ft in some cases. that means a good fast opposing player can actually mark 2 or 3 armagh attackers that's why it looked as if Dublin had more players on the pitch than armagh. when we did actually get a decent kick pass in it was aimed directly at the forward not into space for him to run on to. also this dublin team like cork were quite prepared to fowl rather than let the player shoot and yet we did not exploit this by winning scorable frees. this is simple stuff that you coach underage teams and it should be pointed out that most of the players there today are from very convincing all ireland winning minor and under 21 sides but it seems as if the football has been coached out of them in some bizarre fashion. as for the famous armagh blanket defence it seems to have been abandoned also. hidings like today destroy teams- it gets to the stage where they heave a sigh of relief when they only get beat by 4 or 5 points. por will leave armagh football in tatters and it'll will be back to the stage where nobody will want the orange jersey. i don't even know where a new manager would start

[mountainboii]

Whatever about everything else that went arseways today, I'd love to hear the rationale behind the selection of that midfield pairing. It'd just be really interesting to know why it was thought that the very costly midfield gaps of last week could be in anyway plugged by a couple of men with the turning circles of Jupiter and Saturn.

Probably the worst showing in a game of any significance in my time following Armagh. The difference in that and Tralee a couple of weeks ago is staggering. Onwards to Laois and an opportunity to dispose of a bit of today's embarrassment.

[naka]

game was over before it started,  where do I begin, midfield pairing was a bad decision by management, feel sorry for kingham but that is twice he has been substituted in the first half, lavery too immobile on a large pitch ( actually thought billy joe tried hard) positives caolan rafferty, brian mallon and anto duffy tried.
I felt sorry for donaghy and andy because the ball going into the dublin forwards was excellent.
keeper doesnt cut the mustard for me, he has good reflexes but his kickout selection is poor.
feel that morgan,hanratty, AK, jamie and Stephen Kerna would get on that side and only hope that Toner gets back in time otherwise we will only have two champioship games this summer.
could have been twenty to twenty five points in this game.

[sheamy]

Lads, like your neighbours across the street in Newry did last week, youse are over-reacting. They were gonna shoot McCartan and AOR last week but they're calmed down now.

Gaelic football in March is a seriously weird beast. Donegal concede 2-16 (wtf?!, for me the biggest talking point of the weekend), Armagh 4-17...come summer, this shit won't happen. When you meet a more physically powerful team like the Dubs in the wide open spaces of Croker hammerings can happen.

Dubs are still on their All-Ireland bounce. The test for them will come when the heat comes on later in the summer. No doubt they'll be in with a shout again. Armagh are a team in transition. Dublin have won an AI and are 2-3 years more developed. Simple as that.

Give Grimley the steering wheel on his own and see what he can do with a couple of good u21 teams. It'll be interesting to see how the class of '09 perform this year. Many of them were on board last year and they fell on their arse at Celtic Park. This is a big year for them.

I saw Brendan Crossan wrote in the Irish News a few weeks ago that Armagh were capable of an AI title within 3 years. Interesting thought. I'd not go that far but I have a sneaking suspicion that there might be a South Armagh style ambush waiting for Tyrone in the first round this year.

[DuffleKing]

I don't see how anyone can use yesterday to pick out the keeper - he made some phenomional saves and the kick out point is a red herring - where could we have won kick outs yesterday? We were beaten all over the pitch.

On the geberal point there was a complete lack of confidence / belief and fight - which is v worrying.

[BerfArmagh]

I got back about 7.30 last night, traffic was very light due to a very sparse support from Armagh yesterday. I was sitting in the middle of the cusack & could only place a handful of fans, though there seemed to be a couple of hundred over in the hogan.

We were simply destroyed yesterday, Dublin actually took their foot off the pedal for the second half, so it could have been a lot worse. Mid field was absolutely destroyed, Kingdom & Lavery simply don't have it at this level. I think people who criticize Charlie Vernon should take a look and see what happens when he is not there, I know at times his play can be frustrating but like the mc entees before him he does all the hard graft that goes unseen.

Losing mid field completely put us under pressure all the time, the backs must have been exhausted yesterday, the dubs were coming at them in droves. The whole FB line played poorly, Donaghy especially. Ciaran Mc Keever had a poor game also, & I just do not see what Dyas brings to the team. Paul Duffy was not up to the pace of the game & I don'tsee how he is keeping his position at the moment, then again who is there to come in. Up front we were clueless again, small players bringing the ball into the tackle, no free taker and poor shot selections. Forker, Mallon & Rafferty especially showed good play in patches. Mal Mackin had a poor game also. Not many positives at all to be honest, it was quite embarrassing being there.I think it shows our real lack in depth and current level to be honest, that said with the cross players, vernon, mc donnell & maybe toner & clarke to return it could be a very different animal come the championship.

To be honest when the team shows up like that, i don't know what the management can actually do on the side line, they took off both mid fielders, Dyas etc... so made the right decisions. Every time i watch moriarity I am on edge, hes a walking red card.

Bad Bad day at the office, In all my years following Armagh, this was by far the worst performance I have witnessed.

[Declan]

Connolly was impressive alright but Armagh were dreadful. Dublin played at a different pace and Armagh just didn't seem up for it at all