Ulster Final 2008 - Armagh vs Fermanagh

[Son_of_Sam]

Munster, Connacht & Ulster have all gave us Provincial Finals to enjoy. Fair play to Armagh & Fermanagh. Can't help wonder what happened to Armagh for the last 15 minutes though.

[orangeman]

Yes, technically it was a square ball. But technically it is also a foul if you carry a ball more than four steps without soloing. If referees always applied the letter of the law instead of common sense, our games would be unwatchable.

Indeed. And Clarke's goal wouldn't have been either.

Why so ?

[FermGael]

Just back in the door.  What a comeback.
Fermanagh totally dominated the midfield yet could not penetrate the Armagh defence in the first half.  We kept taking the wrong options and moving the ball from one side of the field to the other side, without actually going anywhere.Armagh played 13 men behind the ball and we could not break them down. Then they hit McDonnell and Clarke on the break and were clinical
We will forget about the first 5 minutes of the second half, terrible from Fermanagh to see a ball kicked into the goal keepers hand and Armagh take the ball and place it into the back of the net.  We could not handle McDonnell and Clarke.  Needs to be sorted for the next day.
After the goal we started to run at Armagh.  Take the player on in the tackle and move it at pace. 
8 points down and we looked completely out of it.
Then Marty McGrath, Ryan McCluskey, Tommy McElroy and Mark Lyttle stood up and dragged Fermanagh back into the game.Ciaran McElroy kicked a couple of great points.
Maybe we took the wrong options in the last 10 minutes but after 5 minutes of the second half, i would have taken a draw. Armagh looked a bit nervy. Then we got our bit of good fortune.  The goal was a square ball.  Absolutely no doubt.  I think if you watch the Sunday game tonight, you might find there were 2 Fermanagh men in the square.   Then  Fermanagh took over and just put Armagh on the back foot.  Fermanagh deserved the win and this will bring them on another bit for next Sunday.  7 down against Derry, 8 against Armagh and yet we still are not beaten.  Sign of a good team if you ask me.  You only have to look at what happened Wexford against the Dubs to see how things could have turned out for Fermanagh. 
Now the players have their first Ulster final out of the way, the next one should not be as bad.
Fair play to O'Rourke.  Doherty scored the winner and won us a vital free.  Need to get the free taking sorted.  I would be tempted to start Owens at FF the next day.  Francie certainly did not seem to enjoy marking him and he caused alot of headaches for the Armagh full back line.  McCabe is an impact sub and i wonder will Glentoran make him available the next day.   Would also be very tempted to start Tom Brewster or Matty Keenan.  We need a left footed free taker(and a right footed one too).
If Fermanagh would have been 8 points up with 30 sh minutes left to go, then we would have left it behind us.  We would have missed the boat.  But we didn't.  We fought to the end, the last kick of the game and showed bucketloads of character.  We will win the next day

[orangeman]

Fermanagh's freetaking was atrocious - do you anticipate many changes to the Armagh line up ?

[armaghniac]

Well done Fermanagh, you probably deserved to win today. The second Armagh goal came at a bad time, had it been 10 mins later there would not have been time for Fermanagh to recover. Instead Armagh switched off to and when Fermanagh came at them Armagh lost its composure to some extent. There were a several turnovers by Fermanagh forwards when Armagh backs dithered, whereas Fermanagh were able to come up the field largely unhindered by Armagh forwards tackling. The Armagh forward line looked dangerous from play, but they have to get the ball and Armagh had little ability to win the dirty ball in midfield, and none when MOR was off. This partly reflects Fermanagh's workrate, as they out Armaghed Armagh to some extent. Armagh had no great success with frees either. Fermanagh can only grown in confidence, but hopefully this was a kick up the ar5e for Armagh. Hearty would need to shape up and AK would need to hang on the ball for the replay.

[orangeman]

Well done Fermanagh, you probably deserved to win today. The second Armagh goal came at a bad time, had it been 10 mins later there would not have been time for Fermanagh to recover. Instead Armagh switched off to and when Fermanagh came at them Armagh lost its composure to some extent. There were a several turnovers by Fermanagh forwards when Armagh backs dithered, whereas Fermanagh were able to come up the field largely unhindered by Armagh forwards tackling. The Armagh forward line looked dangerous from play, but they have to get the ball and Armagh had little ability to win the dirty ball in midfield, and none when MOR was off. This partly reflects Fermanagh's workrate, as they out Armaghed Armagh to some extent. Armagh had no great success with frees either. Fermanagh can only grown in confidence, but hopefully this was a kick up the ar5e for Armagh. Hearty would need to shape up and AK would need to hang on the ball for the replay.

[/b]


Kernan was toying with them form early on - I think he showed Fermanagh little respect but I'd say it'll be different next week.

[miss_anon]

brilliant game and good atmosphere at Clones, but does anyone know when tickets will be on sale for the replay?

[orangeman]

brilliant game and good atmosphere at Clones, but does anyone know when tickets will be on sale for the replay?

They'll go out through the clubs as usual during the week - can't see there being 34,000 there next Sunday though !

[ONeill]

Anyone suggesting there's something wrong with Armagh's tactics should be forced to rationalise exactly why.

It is an absolute testament to their system, to the effectiveness of their defence, to the efficiency of their forward line, that they can still be so competitive despite getting annihalated at midfield against Down, and now against Fermanagh. Most teams winning olny 30-35% of midfield possession would end up losing by double figures.

Wobbler, if Fermanagh had anyone with a bit of finishing class up front, Armagh would have be wiped out. It usually happens down the line in Croke Park.

[ONeill]

I don't buy into the argument that Fermanagh left this behind. I think they're simply a better side. They were lucky to get a draw after an atrocious first half and chronic finishing throughout. Armagh have a couple of class players and plenty of experience but Fermanagh are more rounded from 1-15. Too many Armagh players go missing when the temperature is turned up.

[downredblack]

Fermanagh were announced as Ulster Champions in Croke Park today for about 10 mins , 2.08 to 1.08 (big cheer)Until someone got the actual score  

[Our Nail Loney]

If Fermanagh had a reliable free taker they wuda won easy today

How long is ciaran o reilly out for? Cuda used him today!!

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

Thought we completely got away with it today. We built up an 8 point lead without playing particularly well and then threw it away. I thought we were lucky to get a draw as Fermanagh had both the possession and the scoring chances to win the match. In the second half, Fermanagh kicked a number of balls in around the square when where in scorable positions. There seemed to a lack of willingness to take a shot from many Fermanagh players. They also kicked too many balls in the goalkeepers hands.

As for Armagh, its fairly obvious where we went wrong - absolutely destroyed at midfield. No matter who was breaking the ball down, Fermanagh were winning possession. There's a serious lack of mobility in the Armagh midfield but the half forward and half back lines have to take some responsibility for the way we ceded so much possession. Also felt we went far too negative in the last 20 minutes and tried to ape Fermanagh's style. At one stage we had 13 men in our own half. Fair enough you can argue that Fermanagh drew those men back but I think we'd have been far better off leaving at least 4 forwards in their positions at all times. If their markers go forward, there's a great chance of a quick counter attack if play breaks down. Instead we ended up taking the ball into contact far too often in our own half back line and Aaron Kernan in particular gave away some costly possession.

The one positive was that when we played the direct ball, Clarke and McDonnell were well on top of their men. Stevie in particular had a great game scoring a few lovely points. Pity about his free taking though. Intercounty teams shouldn't be missing frees from 30 yards out. Oisin wasn't any better with the free he got however. Thought Brian Mallon had a decent enough game - he was very effective with the ball he got.

Very poor performance but hopefully this is the scare we needed. The midfield really needs to be looked at after two poor displays in a row. Also - why didn't hearty try a few shorter kicks when we were being so badly dominated? If we can improve our share of possession at midfield, I think we should have enough to win the replay.

[Sandy Hill]

Fermanagh's freetaking was atrocious - do you anticipate many changes to the Armagh line up ?

Probably not , but I would like to see Donaghy replace Francie who doesn't seem to be the confident player he was; he looked particularly unhappy under the few high balls that came in. I'm not not sure that Vernon is cutting it; for all that he is a big strong man he is a bit too delicate when contesting 50/50 balls, he is too easily dispossessed and is prone to unforced errors and to taking wrong options. Oisin is, on today's display, not half the player he was. I'd also share the concerns voiced on here about midfield but would be very slow to start without McGrane. Hearty kicked his usual "one over the sideline" today again and at a time when Fermanagh had up a good head of steam and were heading for the draw! Clarke and McDonnell continue to be a class act even with a relatively poor supply of ball.
Can anyone explain the substitution of M O'Rourke; our supply of loose ball dried up after he was taken off?

[gaagaa]

fermanagh need to switch frees from keenan
they will benefit from experience of playing in a final
i thought ak should have been taken off - id imagine big joe wont have been too impressed with him today either