Armagh vs Donegal - Sunday 8th April 2012

[J70]

There is something about beating Donegal which is always very satisfying. You just couldn't beat them hard enough and often enough. However, Donegal without Murphy is a severe handicap. I hope McBrearty plays because he really looks like another exceptional talent - another tough test lies ahead for Donaghy.

Enjoy Division 2!

[J70]

Great second half by our boys by all accounts (close one at the end though!). Can't complain about scoring 8 of the last 9 points! And nice to finally get a decent win against Armagh when it matters!

[Pangurban]

Sorry to see Armagh relegated, they are Div.1 material, The Cross victory did them no favours, leaving them repleted for long periods during league. Sure they will bounce back quickly, but hopefully not in championship

[regal]

Here are my thoughts on the performances:

McEvoy - didn't impress (although hearty rarely does either). Unsure under the one high ball that came in and kickouts were not great - although the fact we didn't have any midfielders on wouldn't have helped him
AMallon - Very good game. Snuffed out McBrearty when he came on
Donaghy - A superb game from a really class footballer. We could be doing with him in midfield
McKenna - Done well, although he is prone to holding off the ball. Looks more comfortable in the half back line
Duffy - Came off injured (I think) at half time. Fairly quiet
McKeever - Not at his best. Had a few poor passes which lead to Donegal scores
Moriarty - he marked McHugh which meant he spent most of his time in the half forward line. Consistantly gets involved in stupid / off the ball incidents. Should have received a straight red for a kneeing. Replaced. Poor game
AKernan - Midfield! It was hard to know what his role was meant to be. Used the ball fairly well
Vernon - We never won a single ball at midfield today (until rafferty in injury time). I thought he was very poor, however, no doubt his army of supporters will correct me. Offers little, doesn't compete like a midfielder should, wastes possession when he has it. I don't know whether the management are being overly loyal or that our options at midfield are so limited
BMallon - done ok, unluckly to be taken off
Dyas - I thought he was very good when he moved to the half back line at half time. Good game
ADuffy - Excellent game. Carries the ball well and rarely wastes possession
Stevenson - Scored about 6 brilliant frees. He has a really sweet left foot. Didn't contribute anything from open play. Replaced
CRafferty - Not his best game, but I really rate him. Strong, robust and direct. He has to start v tyrone
JClarke - waited 10 minutes before he touched the ball and when he did he was at the corner flag. It doesn't matter how good he is if we cant get the ball to him. Could have had a goal when it was 10 - 10

Subs:
Tkernan (for PDuffy) - Poor. taken off before the end
MORourke (for BMallon) - Poor
McParland (for Stevenson) - one wide, but little ball going his way
Kingham (for TKernan) - Went to FF but fluffed a glorious chance to win it
Lavery (not sure who he replaced) - competed with Gallagher. Perhaps should have started

[PAULD123]

Genuinely sorry to see Armagh relegated. Our game was fantastic last month. Armagh really showed they are a Division 1 side and deserved to be there. The ost exciting game I attended in this year's league was our match at teh Athletic grounds. That's the reason for going to football

[Faceinthecrowd]

Passionate second half performance from Donegal today. They really took control in the middle of the park, with Mcloone, Bradley, Gallagher, thompson and mchugh all putting in quality performances. They moved the ball forward very quickly but ran out of space in the scoring zone, but still managed to score 8 points in the second half. Thought it would have been better if McFadden and mcbrearty stood on the end line to give the running players more space, they were coming too deep and congested the danger zone. Lacey did a fine job on Clarke, however Clarke did catch a couple of great balls under tremendous pressure. Ref was good today and generally let play flow. Well done to Donegal and I look forward to seeing them in the championship, I think we got a glimpse today of intensity they will bring to championship games. Saw Donal Reid along the line today, didn't realise he was involved in the management set-up!

[Throw ball]

Terrible game of football. Armagh started out trying to mirror Donegal and only played one midfielder as the other options available were not mobile enough. Although this worked for a good part of the game once Donegal decided to change formation which meant more ball was kicked to midfield Armagh lost out. Donegal got a head of steam up and between leaving the substitution too long and missed chances Donegal never looked like losing once they got ahead. The match was exciting if you supported either team but I am sure not many neutrals would have enjoyed it. The hand passing and running off the shoulder resembled a rugby back line move. In simple terms I think both teams played the Donegal way but Donegal were better at it. This was a long way from the proper football matches I enjoyed against Down and Mayo. From an Armagh point of view the best players were Mallon, Donaghy and Dyas. All defenders. Says it all really.

[DuffleKing]

I don't think things are as doom and gloom as everyone is painting after yesterday. Forstly, you cannot play the football you want to against donegal - they force you to play a form of their game whther you like it or not. Kicking the ball into a full forward line where three of our men are marked by 6 or 8 donegal men is kicking it away so you have to run the ball unfortunately and draw them out kicking scores from distance. I would venture a guess to say that TK was taken out again because he continually kicked the ball away. Its a nice ideal but at this level you have to be able to think on your feet.

i thought we coped comfortably at the back for long periods, worked the kick outs very well and countered intelligently. AK & Dyas typified the good work in this regard that we produced to be 3 up with fifteen minutes to go. Unusually, McKeever was a major problem in possession and kicking the ball back to donegal started the turnaround for them. Up until Jamie's miss we had them where we needed them - they were  behind and having to push more and more men out to give our forwards a bit of space to play in. once they got level we paniced and they were in control. because of the way they play, virtually every one of their games is in the balance in the last ten minutes. they looked the more experienced team and made good decisions under pressure. we did not - gave the ball away consistently trying to force the game.

as someone said, the substitutions didn't really work. TK was obviously not on the same plan as everyone else and maybe it was unfair bringing him on at all. the only change i wouldn't argue with was mor - for me mallon was producing very little and mor produced 4/5 scoring opportunities for himself in the last 15 minutes - more than the rest of our forwards did in 70. that he didn't takke them is not managemen't fault.

overall it has been a positive campaign for trialling younger players and building a panel. however, i still see no distinct pattern of play or evidence of a playing ethos that defines us. the best teams in the country are a few years ahead of us in that regard. to give management the benefit of the doubt, they have 4/5 weeks now to try to address this with a full panel to work with. tyrone have reinvented themselves in terms of style and methodology so we are way behind in that regard.

we're not beating tyrone but if we can get organised now and gel all of the players we can get a run to an All ireland 1/4 final. with the playing panel we have, anything less will be failure and barring winning sam, POR's time is up anyway and time to move on.

[donegal_abu]

So typical that all Armagh people are on here slating Donegals style now!!! Take your beating lads caus Donegal deserved the win after showing that determination. The funniest thing is we were without our best player Michael Murphy (who most say is the DOnegal team on his own) and our all star full back Neil McGee and others aswell like McGrath and Toye while McBrearty wasnt on form after his trial.

And no offence or anything... but oww boy revenge for the last few years sure is sweeeet

[Throw ball]

Donegal-Abu I think we are entitled to question Donegal's style of play as it is awful to watch and makes refereeing even more difficult as it puts so many bodies close together that it is hard to decide what is a foul or not - maybe that is the plan. (have to say I thought referee did well yesterday though). On a positive though everyone knows their system which makes it earlier for replacements to come in as they know their role. At the minute Armagh do not have this which is why they got relegated.

[donegal_abu]

Donegal-Abu I think we are entitled to question Donegal's style of play as it is awful to watch and makes refereeing even more difficult as it puts so many bodies close together that it is hard to decide what is a foul or not - maybe that is the plan. (have to say I thought referee did well yesterday though). On a positive though everyone knows their system which makes it earlier for replacements to come in as they know their role. At the minute Armagh do not have this which is why they got relegated.

Fair enough when its beats you your going to question it. But a lot of people above seem to blaming DOnegals style for Armagh losing... Armagh did that all on their own

[Throw ball]

I would take that as a compliment to Donegal!

[brokencrossbar1]

Donegal's "style" of football did not beat Armagh yesterday, Armagh's inability to break it down did.  This coupled with Armagh's general lack of game plan has meant Armagh are like a rollercoaster alright, up and down but there looks to be no rails in some of the carriages!

[lawnseed]

dont know what to make of this league campaign. wheres the armagh team that beat the life out of cork in the second half of that match. wheres the armagh team that dublin stuffed. theres no consistancy, no game plan that i can see. team selection seems to be like drawing names out of a hat. the players are there! i repeat the players are there!! its not like years ago when we just didnt have the stuff, but we just dont seem to be getting it on. it was a mistake to draft in the cross players so quickly imo apart from arron they added little and upset what little consistancy there was. statements in the paper from grimley that he is a 'stopgap' suggest he expects to get the boot or intends to pull the plug. either way it doesnt look like he wants the job after por. what pees me off most is that we are a better team than down and theyre in the playoffs. pity we wont get a couple more games at this level before tyrone.

[DuffleKing]

You should bear in mind that cork had only 14 men. Kerry was the stand out performance of this league campaign.