Donegal v Armagh Championship game

[corn02]

Just home, sweet jesus did S Kernan play the full seventy minutes or did the sun mess with my head?

How can this be explained? Is Kernan paying Jarlath Burns. He lost pocession on numerous occassions, twenty yards passes were going no where near the target and the worse for me was the likes of McDonnell and McConville seemed like they did not want to use him.

Best for Armagh were the whole defence. All of them were excellent. O Rourke and Mardsen done a lot of work, Stevie done well off the scraps but McConville got hurt five minutes from half time and it destroyed his game.

O Rourke coming off and Kernan staying on, what is the story?

[Over the Bar]

BTW, no hint of a square ball with the Donegal goal?

I thought that initially but on replays it looked like Hearty flapped it into his own net.  Don't think he even was aware of Devenney's presence until after the ball was in the net.  The best measure is usually the players reactions and interestingly no Armagh player cried foul so it seems they all realised it was Hearty's gaffe.

[corn02]

No question of square ball.

[armagh leg-end]

did anyone else think that there was far too many supporters allowed into the ground today? was very crammed. i was behind the goal at the top end and a man wasnt feeling well and fainted, was hard for the emergency service to get him!

[ExiledGael]

Agree with the verdicts on Marsden. An excellent forward who does so much to make those around him look even better.
One of my favourite players of this past ten years, great to see him back and still running defenders into the ground (still thank god his fisted effort against us hit the crossbar in Croke Park in 2004).
Donaghy looks like a real find!

[David McKeown]

Just back from the game there myself and I wouldn't agree with some of the comments on here.  I thought O'Rourke and Kernan had fine games as did Mc Nulty.  I did however think Mc Conville was poor apart from the goal and that Hearty was a disaster waiting to happen as he almost did the same thing a moment before.  Goal was a square ball but it shouldnt have mattered our scoring was very poor today.  We need another scoring forward.

On another note can someone please tell Martin McHugh that simply because Armagh didnt complain about it being a square ball does not some how alter the rule about it being a square ball.  One other thing can an umpire actually point out a sqaure ball?

[armagh leg-end]

take your points all the things you have said i totally agree with. another danngerouse element was the fans who were on top of the turnstills at the river end. would be a disaster if a fight started or the roof caved in.

Good luck to donegal in the ulster champsionship anyway and also armagh may have an ulster title if the minor team can do something.

[diesel-smuggler]

take your points gave an accurate account in his judgement of armagh players today!

the only two factual things that can come out of this result is:-

1) armagh won't win ulster and

2) donegal won't win the all-ireland.

thought the armagh management have alot to answer for today, armagh had been on top for the first 10 minutes of the second half mcconvilles goal and a few points from stephen kernan and kieran mcgeeney put armagh in control and instead of bringing on fresh legs to maintain the intensity, joe kernan decided to leave things in the hope that armagh can defend the lead. what is the idea of having a panel of players if you are not going to use any? james lavery was introduced way too late! mal mackin is not someone who you would expect to get some scores for you in the forward line.

don't know what big joe does be thinking in some of these after match press interviews - how is the fans to blame? im not blaming hearty for his mistake as more than enough down through the years he pulled armagh out of a hole.

was more than happy with the armagh performance today and whoever we get in the next round i would like the management to make more use of the panel, fresher legs could have made the difference by getting a few more scores when we had been 3 or 4 points up. it sickens me to see a shot dropping into the keepers hands or players trying to score from impossible angels on a few occasions today our forwards took the wrong option instead of taking an extra pass towards goal and getting into the scoring zone!

[David McKeown]

Had to say I was not happy with the stewarding in the ground today.  I was in the terrace and at the end of the game as I was leaving a suffered a small non epilectic seizure as I am prone to.  When the one fan who noticed I was in distress asked the steward to open the gate so I could get out of the crush, he said no and told me to hurry along to get out of the way of the crowd as i was slowing them down.  Thankfully it was only a small attack

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

Disappointing to lose any game like that. Terrible mistake from Hearty, square ball or not an intercounty goalkeeper has to deal with that sort of hopeful effort.

There were definately a lot of positives to take from the match but I was quite disappointed in the way we let Donegal take the iniative in the last 10 minutes. 4 points up, we should have gone on to win comfortably but we went out of the game completely at midfield and allowed DOnegal back into a game they had no right to win. Even though the goal was a fluke, with 3 or so minutes left I was real worried we'd let them get the couple of points they needed for the draw.

On the plus side, I thought the half back line was immense. McGeeney played very well, Kernan was excellent both defensively and going forward and provided a real link between back and forwards while Ciaran McKeever defended very well. The power with which he tackles is super and he wins clean ball off the attacker on a great percentage of his tackles.

The half forwards were poor I thought, I agree that Martin O'Rourkes a liability. I cant remember him getting sent off yet for Armagh but how he's managed it is a miracle. McKeever was ok but nothing special and while it wasn't the worst game I've seen Stephen Kernan play, its still hard to see how he's keeping some of the lads on the bench out of the team. I'd certainly much prefer Marsden in centre half forward with the likes of Vernon to play in a withdrawn role. Great to see Diarmaid playing so well, thought he was excellent. Oisin was quiet but took the goal well. I was disappointed in the quality of the ball coming into McDonnell, the ball wasn't being played in quickly enough. McDonnell would start a run from the 13 but bvy the time the ball was played he was 30 yeards or more from goal. Took 2 nice points though.

All in all, I'm still pretty hopeful we can make the quarters. 6 weeks now and, assuming the rumours or huge setbacks aren't true, maybe Mallon and Clarke will have a chance to make an impact, if only from the bench. No bad teams in the qualifiers any more though. Is it true that the rule has changed and you can play a team you've already played in the qualifiers? If so, were Tyrone to beat Donegal I'd fancy us a second day.

On the venue, where I was standing was fine int erms of volume of people though I did notice that there quite a view people standing on top of the turnstiles watching the match and I'd heard that some poeple with tickets hadnt got in. Not sure how true this is though?

Think Joe's points on BBC were fair enough. It was only slightly more than a 2 hour drive to Ballybofey, I'd have thought that more than 6,000 would have made the effort.

[orangeman]

I thought Armagh put on one of the finest defensive displays today I have ever seen and deserved to win the match - also you CAN'T blame the management - the fact is if Paul Hearty hadn't dropped the ball into his own net, then Armagh and Joe Kernan would have been lauded as great lads - there's a fine line between success and failure and fans are very fickle - I thought Armagh  were superbly prepared - so stop moaning about management - the goalie dropped the ball - SIMPLE !

[J70]

Disappointing to lose any game like that. Terrible mistake from Hearty, square ball or not an intercounty goalkeeper has to deal with that sort of hopeful effort.

There were definately a lot of positives to take from the match but I was quite disappointed in the way we let Donegal take the iniative in the last 10 minutes. 4 points up, we should have gone on to win comfortably but we went out of the game completely at midfield and allowed DOnegal back into a game they had no right to win. Even though the goal was a fluke, with 3 or so minutes left I was real worried we'd let them get the couple of points they needed for the draw.

On the plus side, I thought the half back line was immense. McGeeney played very well, Kernan was excellent both defensively and going forward and provided a real link between back and forwards while Ciaran McKeever defended very well. The power with which he tackles is super and he wins clean ball off the attacker on a great percentage of his tackles.

The half forwards were poor I thought, I agree that Martin O'Rourkes a liability. I cant remember him getting sent off yet for Armagh but how he's managed it is a miracle. McKeever was ok but nothing special and while it wasn't the worst game I've seen Stephen Kernan play, its still hard to see how he's keeping some of the lads on the bench out of the team. I'd certainly much prefer Marsden in centre half forward with the likes of Vernon to play in a withdrawn role. Great to see Diarmaid playing so well, thought he was excellent. Oisin was quiet but took the goal well. I was disappointed in the quality of the ball coming into McDonnell, the ball wasn't being played in quickly enough. McDonnell would start a run from the 13 but bvy the time the ball was played he was 30 yeards or more from goal. Took 2 nice points though.

All in all, I'm still pretty hopeful we can make the quarters. 6 weeks now and, assuming the rumours or huge setbacks aren't true, maybe Mallon and Clarke will have a chance to make an impact, if only from the bench. No bad teams in the qualifiers any more though. Is it true that the rule has changed and you can play a team you've already played in the qualifiers? If so, were Tyrone to beat Donegal I'd fancy us a second day.

On the venue, where I was standing was fine int erms of volume of people though I did notice that there quite a view people standing on top of the turnstiles watching the match and I'd heard that some poeple with tickets hadnt got in. Not sure how true this is though?

Think Joe's points on BBC were fair enough. It was only slightly more than a 2 hour drive to Ballybofey, I'd have thought that more than 6,000 would have made the effort.

Donegal definitely were the stronger team over the last ten minutes. Maybe Armagh were content to foul and force them to shoot from out the field and felt they would be safe enough if they didn't give up a goal chance. We nearly caught youse last year in a similar situation, except Hearty made the last minute save when Stephen McDermott got through one-on-one.

I almost feel guilty that we won in that manner, but f**k it, we've lost plenty matches over the years that we should have won but gave up through poor shooting and/or defensive/goalkeeper mistakes. And we've given Armagh at least three goals that I can think of through goalkeeping mistakes over the past five years, some of them very important in terms of how the match developed and finished. The fact is that good as Armagh were today defensively, they, as a team, couldn't finish the job and left themselves open to what happened. Nine times out of ten they would have seen it out, but that's the way it goes.

We're going to be on the end of a backlash now I would think, but that's to be expected when you're hyped up and don't live up to it. Its up to our boys to prove the many doubters we will have wrong.

[Smokin Joe]

I thought Enda McNulty had a great game for us.  It just goes to show that people can watch the same game and go away with different impressions.

Did anyone else feel that Ciairan McKeever looked a totally different player at wing half back than Number 6?  He appeared to be back to the standard he set when he first burst on to the team.

Geezer.  How can anyone have tried to cut him adrift from the panel last Autumn?  He is still very capable at this level.

[diesel-smuggler]

orangeman you cant blame the management for level of preparation towards the game but the management must shoulder the blame where substitutions are concerned! im beginning to wonder has john rafferty got any say in the team selection.

i seen rafferty make ruthless substitutions when he managed st. gall's he substituted players soon after the start of the game when they didn't seem up for it. i would like to think that he has some input into the team selection.

martin o'rourke is never going to win you a game but what you will get from him is a dogged hard-working performance and he will win you some frees, paddy mckeever fought hard yesterday but more often than enough in other armagh performances his attitude and temperament let him down. to me the centre half forward position is the most important place on the team and stephan kernan just didn't cut it for me. ok he scored a nice point but was wasteful in his distribution of balls into the full-forward line with mcdonnell and mcconville often having to run 30 yards from goal to receive the ball in.

what annoyed me most about yesterday's game was aaron kernan's option to try and shoot for a point with the outside of the left foot from an impossible angel with oisin in a more pointable position in front of goals screaming out for a pass!

you can say what you like about the match officials but they had an absolute stinker yesterday bannon's failure to send gallagher (i think) off, his decision to award the donegal goal,in the first half donegal had been awarded a free-kick for their 2nd score after a late challenge where the ball lands, the ball rolled a good 40 yards along the ground after it dropped and they took a quick free from it resulting in a score, surely the ball should have been brought back! the man formally known as gerry kinneavy giving a sideline ball then waving play-on resulting in an armagh attack being overturned for an up-ball

[full back]

What a sh1t journey home yesterday
For years Armagh teams have been able to comfortably close out games, its not often Armagh lose a 4 point lead with 15 odd mins left.
The defence were very good esp the half back line. Geezer & Kernan attacked at every opportunity & Mc Keever played his best game in some time without any of the fouling, needling his man etc.
Midfield struggled at the beginning of the game with Gallagher having some great catches, but as the game wore on Mc Grane eventually got the better of him.
BTW, I thought Cassidy had a very very quiet/poor game, what did the Donegal posters think?
We lost the game up front IMO. Too many wides & balls dropping short. Indeed when the 2 man FF line did get the ball on many occasions there was no one getting up quickly enough to support them.
I know he comes in for a fierce amount of stick, esp on this board, but I honestly thought S Kernan was our best half forward.
On the day we were the best team, but on countless occasions we have got the rub of the green against Donegal, so they were due a bit of lady luck