St. Brigid's vs. Crossmaglen Rangers - All-Ireland Senior Club Semi-final 2013

[ross4life]

Saturday 16th Feb 2pm in Mullingar (Same venue as the 2007 AI semi-final between the two)

Jaysis the Gods are favouring Brigids with these 'neutral venues' with Cross! Kiltoom/Cam will be empty and so will half of Roscommon with it being so close by.

They'll need more than the gods help in this game!!

Brigids have decent chance of a upset here they didn't fear Crossmaglen in 2007,2011 & they won't fear them next Feb. All the pressure is on Cross as they go for three in row the idle chat (like above) can sometimes bring down a team.

Brigids have more than proved their worth over the years sadly for some Brigids have beat one of the best ever club sides to earn that respect...

most teams in armagh don't fear them either, (from my own experience anyway) there's nothing scary about them except they are usually the better team on the day. But cross will likley win this one, is there any reason why st brigids would be favourites for this instead?

Did i say anywhere that Brigids should/would be favourites? sure according to MR2 they need more than gods help to win.

[GalwayBayBoy]

Brigids are an exceptional team, though.

They are an exceptional team within Roscommon and Connacht but that doesn't always translate into an exceptional team in national terms. Although they are obviously a very fine side. There is no dominant club within Galway or Mayo at present which probably helps them a little inside Connacht. They would want to try and make next year their year though because most teams (apart from Cross seemingly) have a limited shelf life at the top. Not easy to keep having to go back to the well each year.

[Syferus]

Brigids are an exceptional team, though.

They are an exceptional team within Roscommon and Connacht but that doesn't always translate into an exceptional team in national terms. Although they are obviously a very fine side. There is no dominant club within Galway or Mayo at present which probably helps them a little inside Connacht. They would want to try and make next year their year though because most teams (apart from Cross seemingly) have a limited shelf life at the top. Not easy to keep having to go back to the well each year.

Corofin would have been 'dominant' if they'd scored two more points last November. It's not as if Brigids had been steamrolling the Mayo and Galway champions, indeed 'Tubber were fancying themselves for a Mayo three-in-a-row and that would have been hard to argue as being anything other than 'dominant'. I don't think the standard has played much of a role in Brigids success.

Brigids were a very good team in 2006, 2010 and 2011. They have went up a level this year, though, and now can look at the gold standard of club football (Cross) as something they overcomr.

The difference between Brigids in February and in November this year has been like night and day, the two Mc's have done a very impressive job at keeping a well-travelled Brigids panel fresh, making everyone comfortable on the ball and creating a pressure game that can unhinge any club in the country, Cross included.

The dangerous thing for Cross is that Brigids don't just want this, they believe they can do it. I think plenty of teams get obsessed with Cross being Cross rather than playing their own game, too many teams seem to over-gameplan and try to change the habits of their lifetimes to suit what they feel is their inescapable inferiority.

Brigids have the confidence in their own ability to not get so wrapped up in stopping Cross that they forget to make Cross try to stop them. That's what makes this such an exciting prospect.

[Rossfan]

. They have went up a level this year, .

Oh dear God !!!!
Have you not started learning grammar yet buckeen 

[Orchardman]

Most teams in Armagh are useless.
Cross don't prepare for the Armagh championship, they prepare for the provincial championship.
That's a huge advantage to have over the other county champions.

strange comment, which has nothing to do with my comment. Even though ur terrible post is a poor attempt at a wind up as the topic has been discussed on another thread I would imagine you know very little about armagh football.

Are most teams in meath rubbish? probably, as they never do anything in leinster

[Armaghtothebone]

Most teams in Armagh are useless.
Cross don't prepare for the Armagh championship, they prepare for the provincial championship.
That's a huge advantage to have over the other county champions.

For the love of God!!!

[stew]

Most teams in Armagh are useless.
Cross don't prepare for the Armagh championship, they prepare for the provincial championship.
That's a huge advantage to have over the other county champions.

I would say there are a right few boys in here who would know how Cross get ready for the Armagh Championship, I am pretty sure they just don't show up and decide they are going to win.

Here is the thing, they are the most prepared panel in Ireland over the past decade, that is what gives them an edge, they prepare for every challenge and they dont look ahead to games they might not even have to play in.

There are some very good teams in Armagh, you comments are stupid, wrong and lazy.

[INDIANA]

Most teams in Armagh are useless.
Cross don't prepare for the Armagh championship, they prepare for the provincial championship.
That's a huge advantage to have over the other county champions.

Shh Jinxy.

Thats the elephant in the room we don't talk about

[Jinxy]

Most teams in Armagh are useless.
Cross don't prepare for the Armagh championship, they prepare for the provincial championship.
That's a huge advantage to have over the other county champions.

strange comment, which has nothing to do with my comment. Even though ur terrible post is a poor attempt at a wind up as the topic has been discussed on another thread I would imagine you know very little about armagh football.

Are most teams in meath rubbish? probably, as they never do anything in leinster

Pretty much.

[onefaircounty]

Most teams in Armagh are useless.
Cross don't prepare for the Armagh championship, they prepare for the provincial championship.
That's a huge advantage to have over the other county champions.

Shh Jinxy.

Thats the elephant in the room we don't talk about

Except it's not an elephant in the room?

Cross usually get it tough within the county and in this amazing run have lost to Pearse Og and drawn with Cullyhanna, Dromintee and another team (possibly Killeavy?). They have also had a host of very narrow wins when they have managed to seucre victory in the final stages. This last two years the standards of the other teams in the county has dropped, admittedly, but anyone with this view must be very stupid.

[nrico2006]

It would be some achievement for Crossmaglen to win again considering they will be missing a few key players.

[Milltown Row2]

It would be some achievement for Crossmaglen to win again considering they will be missing a few key players.

Who are they missing now? They have done great so far, Kearnan should be back for the match, having been a sufferer of shoulder dislocations on many occassions he'll be back. It's a bollix of an injury but you never really think about it when playing (until it happens ffs) so I'd be surprised he's not playing.

[brokencrossbar1]

Brigids are an exceptional team, though.

They are an exceptional team within Roscommon and Connacht but that doesn't always translate into an exceptional team in national terms. Although they are obviously a very fine side. There is no dominant club within Galway or Mayo at present which probably helps them a little inside Connacht. They would want to try and make next year their year though because most teams (apart from Cross seemingly) have a limited shelf life at the top. Not easy to keep having to go back to the well each year.

Corofin would have been 'dominant' if they'd scored two more points last November. It's not as if Brigids had been steamrolling the Mayo and Galway champions, indeed 'Tubber were fancying themselves for a Mayo three-in-a-row and that would have been hard to argue as being anything other than 'dominant'. I don't think the standard has played much of a role in Brigids success.

Brigids were a very good team in 2006, 2010 and 2011. They have went up a level this year, though, and now can look at the gold standard of club football (Cross) as something they overcomr.

The difference between Brigids in February and in November this year has been like night and day, the two Mc's have done a very impressive job at keeping a well-travelled Brigids panel fresh, making everyone comfortable on the ball and creating a pressure game that can unhinge any club in the country, Cross included.

The dangerous thing for Cross is that Brigids don't just want this, they believe they can do it. I think plenty of teams get obsessed with Cross being Cross rather than playing their own game, too many teams seem to over-gameplan and try to change the habits of their lifetimes to suit what they feel is their inescapable inferiority.

Brigids have the confidence in their own ability to not get so wrapped up in stopping Cross that they forget to make Cross try to stop them. That's what makes this such an exciting prospect.

Are you trying to suggest that they didn't believe in themselves in the AI Final or the AI semi final when we beat them?   They are an excellent side and have every right to be confident but don't fill me with the Python-esque bullshit that "they really believe in themselves this year!".  Either they die dog or shite the licence and we won't know f**k all about that from either side till about 3.30pm on the 16th February.

[Syferus]

Brigids are an exceptional team, though.

They are an exceptional team within Roscommon and Connacht but that doesn't always translate into an exceptional team in national terms. Although they are obviously a very fine side. There is no dominant club within Galway or Mayo at present which probably helps them a little inside Connacht. They would want to try and make next year their year though because most teams (apart from Cross seemingly) have a limited shelf life at the top. Not easy to keep having to go back to the well each year.

Corofin would have been 'dominant' if they'd scored two more points last November. It's not as if Brigids had been steamrolling the Mayo and Galway champions, indeed 'Tubber were fancying themselves for a Mayo three-in-a-row and that would have been hard to argue as being anything other than 'dominant'. I don't think the standard has played much of a role in Brigids success.

Brigids were a very good team in 2006, 2010 and 2011. They have went up a level this year, though, and now can look at the gold standard of club football (Cross) as something they overcomr.

The difference between Brigids in February and in November this year has been like night and day, the two Mc's have done a very impressive job at keeping a well-travelled Brigids panel fresh, making everyone comfortable on the ball and creating a pressure game that can unhinge any club in the country, Cross included.

The dangerous thing for Cross is that Brigids don't just want this, they believe they can do it. I think plenty of teams get obsessed with Cross being Cross rather than playing their own game, too many teams seem to over-gameplan and try to change the habits of their lifetimes to suit what they feel is their inescapable inferiority.

Brigids have the confidence in their own ability to not get so wrapped up in stopping Cross that they forget to make Cross try to stop them. That's what makes this such an exciting prospect.

Are you trying to suggest that they didn't believe in themselves in the AI Final or the AI semi final when we beat them?   They are an excellent side and have every right to be confident but don't fill me with the Python-esque bullshit that "they really believe in themselves this year!".  Either they die dog or shite the licence and we won't know f**k all about that from either side till about 3.30pm on the 16th February.

2007 was directly after their first ever Connacht title, 2011 was their first ever match at Croke Park, the club's first ever AI final.

I can tell you for a fact the mood in Kiltoom has very much changed over the last few years, as it should for a team that has won their province for three seasons back-to-back.

They didn't have the pedigree to feel like Cross' equals in 2007, nor probably the talent. In 2011 lack of experience still shadowed the club.

This season they dispatched Galway and Mayo away with ease, something they never did before. The Mc's made the very delibrate choice of not having any organised physical work with the squad this season, mindful of the fact they've been on the run pretty much non-stop since Summer 2010, and have focused on getting the ball in players' hands. Anyone who's seen Brigids this year as opposed to last can see how much more comfortable the whole panel is on the ball; full-backs think nothing of pouring forward and taking points, half-backs run down their channels and almost always know where their outlets are. They've done the things that sound simple but are incredibly hard for even inter-county teams to do right.

Likewise the Mc's have developed a serious panel this year, with Brigids hardly ever lining up with the same 15 two matches in a row and in this case it''s been a very good thing, there's about 20 players on the panel that consider themselves starters and that's something Brigids didn't have even last season. The fact the last two games did produce the same 15 indicates a team settling at exactly the right time.

There really has been a renewed determination in Kiltoom since the Garrycastle game, a game that could have lingered in the team's minds - they'd been dead set on getting a rematch with Cross after the 2011 final - but which seems to have driven them upwards rather than into decline.

Experience, record, players, whatever.

There's no excuse left now.

[imtommygunn]

No questions have been answered on St Brigids since last year. Last year they were Connacht champions and then got beat. This year they are connacht champions as they were last year. They've done exactly the same so no-one will know any answers on them until after the cross match.

There is nothing, yet, to suggest they have moved upwards.