Armagh v Derry. Group 4

[AustinPowers]

Is the game on the wireless??!

Radio Ulster used to have  a lot of games on MW 1341 . I'm not even sure if that frequency exists  anymore , but they don't have any games  on FM anyway.

Plenty of Irish league soccer though

[oakleaflad]

Haven't seen CD in midfield in some time, twice the footballer of tohill though he's barely 6ft

He's nowhere near it. Wouldn't be convinced he won't switch with Rogers.

[tbrick18]

would that be 13 starting players Derry have named 
only 2 newbies are Forbes and McGurk?

Ben McKinless played 1 league game I think.
Forbes is u20.
McGrogan just back from a long term ACL injury. Loughlin was also back from a long term injury.
Last game out Rogers, McEvoy, McFaul all returning from injury.
Baker is in his 2nd season in corner back.
Forward line has a reasonably familiar look about it, but Murray would have been starting if fit.

Bench is seriously light.

So I'd say we have 13 established players across the entire panel - 5 of which are returning from injuries.

If Armagh don't win by 10+ they need to start worrying.

[LC]

Serious differences in the sub benches.

No doubt as the games enters the final stretch, if not sooner, Armagh will be able to put on Turbo or Soupy who are game changers. 

Looking like this could be a bad day at the office for Derry tomorrow and that is with Galway and Dublin still to come. 

Score difference could be a big thing at the end of the group so suffice to say if Armagh tomorrow or even the other teams get their noses in front they will keep the foot on the pedal.

[Armamike]

would that be 13 starting players Derry have named 
only 2 newbies are Forbes and McGurk?

Ben McKinless played 1 league game I think.
Forbes is u20.
McGrogan just back from a long term ACL injury. Loughlin was also back from a long term injury.
Last game out Rogers, McEvoy, McFaul all returning from injury.
Baker is in his 2nd season in corner back.
Forward line has a reasonably familiar look about it, but Murray would have been starting if fit.

Bench is seriously light.

So I'd say we have 13 established players across the entire panel - 5 of which are returning from injuries.

If Armagh don't win by 10+ they need to start worrying.

We rarely win by 10 or more in the championship.

[bennydorano]

Harsh enough on Greg McCabe getting the chop, but Forker named at 6 could be bluff anyway as he was in a moonboot after the UF. Calum O'Neill dropped as well. Could see a few switches b4 the off.

[Champion The Wonder Horse]

would that be 13 starting players Derry have named 
only 2 newbies are Forbes and McGurk?

Ben McKinless played 1 league game I think.
Forbes is u20.
McGrogan just back from a long term ACL injury. Loughlin was also back from a long term injury.
Last game out Rogers, McEvoy, McFaul all returning from injury.
Baker is in his 2nd season in corner back.
Forward line has a reasonably familiar look about it, but Murray would have been starting if fit.

Bench is seriously light.

So I'd say we have 13 established players across the entire panel - 5 of which are returning from injuries.

If Armagh don't win by 10+ they need to start worrying.

We rarely win by 10 or more in the championship.

You rarely play a team in as big as mess as we are. And you're rarely concerned about score difference either.
Can't see us getting within 15. Paddy Power handicap of Armagh -5 evens is the free-est of free money.

[Armamike]

I'm rarely right.

[statto]

Lads, please stop with the codology. If Armagh don't win this by 10 plus points it'll have been a bad performance.

The last 2 times you've played us you've won by 15 and 11 points respectively and we're worse now. It's a total foregone conclusion!!

Yeah be very surprised if Derry can mount a challenge.

A bit of Mayo about that team; light up front with one exceptional forward in McGuigan.

Toner and Loughlin wouldnt make most teams in Ulster.

The 6 forwards named have played regularly over the past two or three seasons.  Murray will be a loss but the rest have been regular starters and Derry should have more concerns about other areas of pitch.  For all their complaints about injuries Derry full out would expect 12 of their players to either start or play a big role from the bench, outside the keeper and the 2 newbies. 

[statto]

Lads, please stop with the codology. If Armagh don't win this by 10 plus points it'll have been a bad performance.

The last 2 times you've played us you've won by 15 and 11 points respectively and we're worse now. It's a total foregone conclusion!!

The last league game is masked over by the fact Derry played over a half with 14 men and without their talisman.    Think there was only a couple of points in it when McGuigan was sent off. 

[Mario]

Lads, please stop with the codology. If Armagh don't win this by 10 plus points it'll have been a bad performance.

The last 2 times you've played us you've won by 15 and 11 points respectively and we're worse now. It's a total foregone conclusion!!

Yeah be very surprised if Derry can mount a challenge.

A bit of Mayo about that team; light up front with one exceptional forward in McGuigan.

Toner and Loughlin wouldnt make most teams in Ulster.

The 6 forwards named have played regularly over the past two or three seasons.  Murray will be a loss but the rest have been regular starters and Derry should have more concerns about other areas of pitch.  For all their complaints about injuries Derry full out would expect 12 of their players to either start or play a big role from the bench, outside the keeper and the 2 newbies. 

This is exactly the point, our first 1-17 are much better than 18-25, the drop off is enormous so any injuries means the level of the team drops significantly. That's not the case for Armagh or Donegal. Our success came during a 2 or 3 year period where we barely had an injury.

[Captain Obvious]

Going to be a real Ulster championship final feel to this game. 11 of the Derry starting 15 are the same fellas that won back to back Ulster titles meanwhile Armagh players only know heartbreaks in Ulster finals. A real banana skin that Armagh will do well to avoid slipping on. 

[statto]

Lads, please stop with the codology. If Armagh don't win this by 10 plus points it'll have been a bad performance.

The last 2 times you've played us you've won by 15 and 11 points respectively and we're worse now. It's a total foregone conclusion!!

Yeah be very surprised if Derry can mount a challenge.

A bit of Mayo about that team; light up front with one exceptional forward in McGuigan.

Toner and Loughlin wouldnt make most teams in Ulster.

The 6 forwards named have played regularly over the past two or three seasons.  Murray will be a loss but the rest have been regular starters and Derry should have more concerns about other areas of pitch.  For all their complaints about injuries Derry full out would expect 12 of their players to either start or play a big role from the bench, outside the keeper and the 2 newbies. 

This is exactly the point, our first 1-17 are much better than 18-25, the drop off is enormous so any injuries means the level of the team drops significantly. That's not the case for Armagh or Donegal. Our success came during a 2 or 3 year period where we barely had an injury.

I thought at the time that Derry missed a trick not blooding players when in Division 2 playing the like of Limerick, who with all due respect Derry should be beating with abit to spare.  That should have been an opportunity to play 10/11 senior players and get some younger lads some exposure and their panel may have been the better for it now. Derry and Dublin would have been a right bit ahead of the rest of Division 2 at the time. 

I understand your point about panel depth, but that's a decent Derry starting team who shouldn't be just going to Armagh to make up the numbers.  Armagh's bench may prove the difference, but don't see the 10/15 point difference that  some Derry ones are predicting on here. 

[Mario]

It's easy to say that with hindsight. The first year in D2 under RG we narrowly missed out on promotion due to a controversial decision v Roscommon. The second year it was the main goal for the year, we needed to get promoted for the teams development and that meant picking a strong side for the opening league game v Limerick after Glen just lost the AI final.

The only way to blood players these days is win a few games in D1 so you don't get relegated then play them after that, like Donegal did this year. If you are in D2 you want to get out of it asap. I can't think of many games were Armagh didn't pick the strongest team available to them in D2.

[Keyser soze]

Hope Derry don't line out like that, Rogers not a good fit at CHB, CD not a midfielder, Think McFaul has too much of a tendency to slow things down when he is playing up front.