2008 Ulster Club Championships

[orangeman]

why take them on physically then? Brain-dead management. Balinderry would do well to invest in some coaching staff who know what they are at,because the current incumbents clearly don't have a clue.

Harsh words - no shame in getting beat by a better team.

[INDIANA]

Not a bit of it, after being thoroughly outplayed the first day, in an effort( not to be pushed around) they make a physical statement of intent, get beaten upo and lose. Like I said braindead. No gameplan, no lateral thinking just typical macho Ulster club football I can hit harder than you even if you're 2 stone heavier than me. Well Balinderry found they couldn't. I thought they were very very disappointing over the 2 days with the amount of inter county experience at their disposal. They had no gameplan either day, and that fault lies with the management who somehow came to the conclusion that a physical appraoch was best. mindboggling.

[SidelineKick]

Not a bit of it, after being thoroughly outplayed the first day, in an effort( not to be pushed around) they make a physical statement of intent, get beaten upo and lose. Like I said braindead. No gameplan, no lateral thinking just typical macho Ulster club football I can hit harder than you even if you're 2 stone heavier than me. Well Balinderry found they couldn't. I thought they were very very disappointing over the 2 days with the amount of inter county experience at their disposal. They had no gameplan either day, and that fault lies with the management who somehow came to the conclusion that a physical appraoch was best. mindboggling.

I thought the same myself INDIANA, I said it the last day that if Ballinderry concentrated on playing football Cross would find it hard to play with them, why they felt the need to try and rough it up is beyond me.  You just can't do that against Cross, play to your strengths!  A few strange subs made too by the Ballinderry management. Two defenders that started the last day never even made an appearance and they brought on two other defenders. Though I suppose Cross did the same with Cathal Short.

[YogiBear]

Know a boy tried to do what Francie done on Sunday and ended up with your other boys teeth in the back of his head was one of funniest things I seen on football field because they were both pricks ha.

[full back]

The Ulster Council are meeting tonight about Sunday's game, will be interesting

[orangeman]

LOOKS LIKE THE BCC WOULD LOVE TO ADD TO THE STORY

Ulster Council to discuss brawl 

David McKenna is challenged in Sunday's replay at Enniskillen
The Ulster Council will discuss the scenes which marred Sunday's provincial club final replay at a meeting on Tuesday evening.

Referees usually have three days to submit their match reports but Brian Crowe has been asked to have his account ready for by Tuesday's meeting.

Officials will consider the half-time scenes when personnel from Crossmaglen and Ballinderry clashed in the tunnel.

TV replays didn't indicate the precise culprits but it looked decidedly ugly.
There were also reports of disturbances in the crowd among supporters.

Crossmaglen won their third successive AIB Ulster Club title in Sunday's game.

[corn02]

X is from Cross 

Y is ALSO from Cross!!! (Y is actually from Ballinderry, and hadn't been playing when this happened, i.e. he was a sub)


I'm actually looking at my original story too and it makes no sense 

X got hit by Y, X then ran after Y, not Y running after X. For Y to run after X, Y would have been hit in the first instance by X 

Lads,

I was sitting not that far from the tunnel and had a clear view of what happened.  One of the B/derry subs came running past a few of the cross subs & he must have just picked one of them at random to clobber on the side of the head.  he then ran for his life, but got caught and got a right battering. From what I could see No.14 McCusker was doing his best to settle it, but No.11 & No.8 I think bother are Conways seemed hell bent on keeping it going for which no.11 got his fair share of thumps.

If you read all the comments coming from the B/derry camp last week, they seemed more intent of getting the point across that they wouldn't be intimated by Crossmaglen on the physical presence the bring to the field, but infairness b/derry are well able to bring as much of this to the game themselves, point being they took their eye of the main prize and tried to rough it up. I'm sure this tactic has worked before with others, but few teams have the experience this Cross side do and to try and rough them up because they are beating you at football clearly didn't work for B/derry either way.

I wouldn;t listen to a word this lad says. He is Cross' biggest fan, yet claims he doesn't support them. Has been caught out numerous times.

Corn, I only wrote what i seen.  If you don't want to believe it, then that's your choice, your showing you true blue & white jealousy now big guy. regarding me been cross biggest fan, I wouldn't go as far as that, but I will support my near neighbours something which you find alien behaviour

Your not still hurting from when you were caught out big style. You want me to post a link? Yoet you still claim not to be from Cross, amazing.

[corn02]

I love the way BBC seemed it fit for the news section too.

[The GAA]

Previous post




Just to put this nonsense from goh to bed that he's not a cross man....

i thought you boys were all proud of your roots?

Pints  you can make whatever assumption you like, I am only saying what I saw and what I was told. to say that intent is striking is false and push could be interpreted as a strike, but is it.
The person who told me about this is an x Harps player and someone with a very honest view, this was also his view on what I said about Kelly been a yap and was always lying down.  So if thats his opinion as a Harps man, then what do most Cross & neutrals think.

I was at the game, but i was to far away from the incident to see properly.  but what in will say is the Harps peno what charing offence & the goal they got was clearly a push in the back by the no.15. adding to that John McEntee was clearly pushed out over the line which lead to the goal & Tony McEntee has a nice shiner for his troubles after been hit off the ball. Also when did it become legal to allow a 4 man tackle?  I lost count the amount of times Harps were allowed to get away with this.  As for the Francie incident I was talking to a mate who was right behind the goals and seem what happened, the No.13 had been goading Francie for most of the 2nd half and he locked arms with Francie trying to get him to pull him down to get him booked & Francie just pushed him away & he fell.  So the point is cross don't get it all there own way when it comes to refs. regarding a re-fixture if i were Harps I keep wondering of the what if, because if there was to be a reply they would get shown up bigtime as has happened in replays before.

I've heard this alot over the years and if anyone is to blame for that incident it is Benny.  I was at that game and the ball he gave him had several blue lights on it. The ball was there to challenge for and Francie been Francie he went for the ball.  If you even go back to the Down game this year in clones when Danny Hughes & him clashed going for the ball, I was sitting right infront of this and at no time did Bellew take his eyes of the ball which meant if the man was in the way, well tough shit.

Your views are probably what alot of others are thinking, however they do have a few decent lads on their.  a good friend of mine asked a tryone panelists what sort of a clown that Ricey was & his reply was "every county has one"  meaning he's a complete w**ker on and off the pitch.  As for Gormley I think he is a brilliant player that doesn't need to do the things he does.  He should have walked against Mayo for persistant fouling & then belting Mortimer in the back of the net.  Cowardly way to do it, but thats just the it is.
I was at the Dromore/Crossmaglen match last year in the Ulster club match and Ricey was giving McConville shit, I guess about the book, and when John McEntee got his chance he gave him a belt and he never opened his mouth the rest of the game.  So point been they will bully you if they think they'll get away with it. 

God I really wanna stop talking about this but basically you know yourself and its clear to everyone else that when you asked "why did your number 14 kick the ball into the net 3-4 times after scoring" you didn't raise it as a valid question, which was proven by the fact that you answered your own question. It was a childish attempt to take the piss, and hardly an issue thats worth being raised on a discussion board.

Doctor who? Is this really the height of your humour? The craic must be ninety in your house of a saturday night. BC1 are you not ashamed to be posting alongside such an idiot?

The fact that you have to insult me totally explains my point, I guess if someone from my club acted like that tool did then I'd be out fighting to defend him, then again i wouldn't.   BC1 is well able to speak for himself and doesn't need any jibes from you with the attempt to drag him into it, you Dromintee boys should know all about fighting among yourself.

before you imply about me been from Cross, can i inform you I'm not. I was there seeing the great new hope we have from Dromintee among our ranks & to be frank I wasn't impressed.  He was shit scared of an former county lion whom he didn't dare challenge not even once, which says a lot for our selection policy.  We have loads of fringe players like him already who are nothing more than average club players.

I thought that hanratty lad had super game from what i seen, he's a strong lad who could put it up to most midfielders in the county. infact the above mentioned who played yesterday were pretty quite it was the younger crop who made all the play, but it is probably insurance for the younger crop of players knowing that they have the lads above to fall back on.

That must have been what it was BC1, funny cross scored 2 goals and non of the 2 lads who scored acted like that, but as you say since they don't often score points against cross, apart from the occassion you mention never mind goals he probably thought he was doctor who

I went to this game thinking it could through up a fairly interesting challenge considering both teams were very under strength, but truthfully the class really showed in the first 5mins.  When you consider cross have 8 first team players away with Armagh the way they took off from the start it was like a whirl wind and Dromintee didn't know were to turn.  The score line could have been more if not for a brilliant save by the Dromintee keeper in both half's.  Cross looked extremely sharp or maybe the Dromintee lads just were very unfit.
Even with the Armagh connection, Dromintee face a mountain come championship time considering what cross have to come back in also.

Health and safety reasons were stated by goh and others for the final being in cross. Why then, could somebody tell me were these so important rules allowed to slide for semi finals?

It's all to do with the expected crowd attending..  I know someone who knows the health & safety office who inspected the ground for the 2006 final when Dromintee kicked had reservations about home advantage and quite simply they were told that there was no other pitch in Armagh that could facilitate the expected crowd.  The options were Newry or Clones, which the county board wouldn't allow as it would have been seen as an embarrassment upon the county..

I was at the 7's on Saturday and seen every game, apart from the Mullaghbawn/Ballymacnab game. I was right beside the Murtagh incident and to be fair he slammed the ball home from close range which the Clans keeper tried to dive at his feet, now weather Murtagh's boot caught him by accident or not I'm not sure, but there didn't seem to be any deliberate intention on Murtagh's behalf, there was a few words of verbal & the Clans keeper downed him. 

This all started in the first game when a clans player for no reason that i could see busted Tony Kernan of the ball, so I guess it was simmering from then.
The Ref was poor I have to admit, but he could have so easily sent off a few more, notably Marsden he was slapping McKeown anytime he got a chance & to be fair to McKeown he held his head & got on with it.  One thing I did notice though was that Marsden didn't happen to come back after Donal Murtagh had a go at him at a sideline ball & another when Donaldson clearly caught him with an upper cut, but I guess if it would have been anyone else he would having been looking to box, but for some reason he seemed to accept it from the 2 mentioned above (Perhaps he'd have been bitting off more than he could chew with any of these 2).

Barry O'Hagan is still a class player and should still be playing with Armagh.

Firstly congratulation to Cross on a stunning performance on Sunday, from about 10 mins into the game they never looked like losing. As Milltown said they were the better team on the day in everyway, skill, determination & fitness.  I happened to be in Newry so I made my way to the ground pretty early and seen them come out for their warm up onto the back pitch and they were so precise even in that.   In all the drills they did during their warm up I counted only one ball drop. Beside me was a well known ex-Down county manager who commented that are as well drilled as any county team.  How do they get this continual focus  instilled into these lads when you consider that the age gaps between some of the players is quite a lot, is it the fact that the younger guys have so much respect for the likes of Oisin & the McEntees that they just do what is required or as they told.   BC maybe you could answer this.

Lads,

you's can talk around the issue all day, but Winsamsoon is right, jealously is the only issue here. He's also right about the clans, they are the next most successful club in Armagh history, thats fact.

So for talk sake pints the bridge starting winning everything before them and the had a structure were they had 4/5 players coming through every year from minor etc.  after 4/5 years everybody would start hacking the shite out of you's and i bet you would like it.

Success breads contempt from other clubs, but you can't faulty cross for that

I go to alot of armagh football, cause the louth football is shite basically.  Been to a few bridge games, but non of late, i must take one in soon so i can have a right pop at you then.
I would agree with you on your last post, but the difference most of the Dromintee boys didn't wanna know when it hotted up. I know the bridge & cross one's don't get on & maybe there is reasons for that which i don't know, but i find it staggering that so many negitives are posted about Cross when they are the most successful team ever in Armagh & probably Ireland and almost all of them posts are from within Armagh.  I think any county would be proud to have a club team as good as them.

I was on the oppisite side to the stand and some of the verbals coming from the Dromintee supporters was just as bad.  The kernans for some reason seemed to come in for the most.

I thought the ref had a good game yesterday, he made his intentions clear fom the start that he wasn't gonna take any shit from anybody.  In saying that he did miss a few things,  the strike on Oisin in the first half, the strike on AK right in front of the lines man. The challenge from behind on SK which lead to him going off,  and the elbow on the cross no. 7 by AOR right at the end.  There was also a few rash challenge's by a few cross lads as well, which warrent a mention.
There was no way that Dromintee were able to live with the intensiity that Cross set, they seemed to keep pushing and moving at 100mph throughout the game.
Any body seem what happened in the first half when COR got his marching orders!

Your a champ uladh, you probably never kicked a ball in your life, well at a competitive level anyway.  I would feel abit left out, but I'm not the only poster to notice wee jimmy's faults (which were plenty). if I was from cross I'd say it & be proud of it.

As for corn02 i wouldn't expect anything else from you, since your from Dromintee, but can you confirm that AOR told wee  jimmy to go f**k himself during the match, and when he called him back he said it again & followed it with (Don't annoy my f**k'in head) if that would have been anybody else from any other team it would have been a straight red, but it proves my point from an earlier post that wee Jimmy did have another motive, and was clear for all to see.

Was at the Cross - Dromintee game and as a neutral I thought Jimmy McKee was a disgrace.  Marty O'Rourke should have got a straight red for his strike on the young corner back in the first half, but instead he give's marty's marker a yellow.

He also blew a cross half forward up i think for catching a clean kickout and then at the end he gives a fifty which never was & to top that of he  give Marty O'Rourke a free, when he should have blown for over carrying.

I hate picking out individuals, but Marty O'Rourke must be the biggest mouth in the country.  He was constinently at his marker trying to get him sent off and the dives he was getting away with was a joke.
If this is the best Ref in Armagh, he needs to look at himself in the mirror , it looked very clear to me that he was doing everything for Dromintee to snatch it.
If teams need the ref as well to beat cross then the standard outside cross must be pretty poor to say the least.

The most obvious quote to use is this one, when you lost the rag and admitted you were from cross...

A bit like the "Drive it home to them" that was liberally shouted when you beat us by 17 points that day a few years back.  You are right in one thing, it means fcuk all squared come championship, and I think Cross will know that better than most and not let a big win go to their heads.  I would reckon that only 3-4 of the Cross team from Sunday will pay championship against you anyway. 

As for the lad kicking it into the net after scoring the goal, jaysus give the lad a break, it's not everyday you score a goal against Cross, he must have been fierce proud of himself and overcome with emotion 

That must have been what it was BC1, funny cross scored 2 goals and non of the 2 lads who scored acted like that, but as you say since they don't often score points against cross, apart from the occassion you mention never mind goals he probably thought he was doctor who   

At this early stage in the season, how are things shaping out?  Does anyone look like making a serious concerted effort to break the Cross dominance?

[corn02]

Haha brilliant GAA.

I don't understand it, If I was from Cross I wouldn't be hiding it.

[brokencrossbar1]

Not a bit of it, after being thoroughly outplayed the first day, in an effort( not to be pushed around) they make a physical statement of intent, get beaten upo and lose. Like I said braindead. No gameplan, no lateral thinking just typical macho Ulster club football I can hit harder than you even if you're 2 stone heavier than me. Well Balinderry found they couldn't. I thought they were very very disappointing over the 2 days with the amount of inter county experience at their disposal. They had no gameplan either day, and that fault lies with the management who somehow came to the conclusion that a physical appraoch was best. mindboggling.

This isn't really true INDIANA. You seem to put a lot of Cross' success down to their physical prowess, while seemingly ignoring that they can play a bit too. Its worth remembering that 8 or 9 or Cross' starting 15 would not break the six foot mark, so branding them as a sort of band of ferocious ogres is wide of the mark. Their makeup is quite similar to most good teams around the country, they have their big guys that can hit and they have their footballers too.

The thing is AFS that teh smaller guys can hit hard too, and are very good at tackling in groups.  Much of the "hard" persona of the team was built on the earlier teams.  It is still the same few that are the mainstays of the physical side of their game, but the younger lads are well fit to hold their own.  It is noticeable how many of them are able to break tackles and stay in possession of the ball.  That is a core strength that is formed from playing games at a high intensity over a sustained period, similar to the KK hurlers.

[INDIANA]

AFS lets' be clear about a few things. I don't have Cross down as a bunch of big ogres, they are one of the best club teams in the country. Of course they can play. But physical strength is a massive part of their makeup. They spend thousands on weight training programmes for players, fair play to them .
There is no club  team who can match Bellew,the Entees, Donaldson etc in the physical stakes so why play right into their hands and give yourself no chance? I'm not saying had Balinderry adopted a different style they'd have won. But I do know this they had no chance taking them on physically, absolutely none.
If you move Cross around , you can cause them problems. Doesn't mean you'll beat them, but you haven't a hope in a physical game trying to knock the shite of them. Thats why I'd question the Balinderry tactics and how they ever came to the conclusion that by trying to kick the shite out of Cross that they'd succeed where other more physical teams have failed.
As I said Mindboggling. Portlaoise, Vincents, Dr Crokes(although they eventually lost) in the past have all caused Cross bother by using a different style against them. Maybe some of the Ulster coaches of senior club teams should purchase these videos and have a look because I've reviewed them at length. They might give themselves a chance the next day. A chance , thats all, you have to have the players as well. But the Balinderry teamsheet suggests to me they do. Similar to the Derry county team, an awful waste of talent.

[goh4205]

Previous post




Just to put this nonsense from goh to bed that he's not a cross man....

i thought you boys were all proud of your roots?

Pints  you can make whatever assumption you like, I am only saying what I saw and what I was told. to say that intent is striking is false and push could be interpreted as a strike, but is it.
The person who told me about this is an x Harps player and someone with a very honest view, this was also his view on what I said about Kelly been a yap and was always lying down.  So if thats his opinion as a Harps man, then what do most Cross & neutrals think.

I was at the game, but i was to far away from the incident to see properly.  but what in will say is the Harps peno what charing offence & the goal they got was clearly a push in the back by the no.15. adding to that John McEntee was clearly pushed out over the line which lead to the goal & Tony McEntee has a nice shiner for his troubles after been hit off the ball. Also when did it become legal to allow a 4 man tackle?  I lost count the amount of times Harps were allowed to get away with this.  As for the Francie incident I was talking to a mate who was right behind the goals and seem what happened, the No.13 had been goading Francie for most of the 2nd half and he locked arms with Francie trying to get him to pull him down to get him booked & Francie just pushed him away & he fell.  So the point is cross don't get it all there own way when it comes to refs. regarding a re-fixture if i were Harps I keep wondering of the what if, because if there was to be a reply they would get shown up bigtime as has happened in replays before.

I've heard this alot over the years and if anyone is to blame for that incident it is Benny.  I was at that game and the ball he gave him had several blue lights on it. The ball was there to challenge for and Francie been Francie he went for the ball.  If you even go back to the Down game this year in clones when Danny Hughes & him clashed going for the ball, I was sitting right infront of this and at no time did Bellew take his eyes of the ball which meant if the man was in the way, well tough shit.

Your views are probably what alot of others are thinking, however they do have a few decent lads on their.  a good friend of mine asked a tryone panelists what sort of a clown that Ricey was & his reply was "every county has one"  meaning he's a complete w**ker on and off the pitch.  As for Gormley I think he is a brilliant player that doesn't need to do the things he does.  He should have walked against Mayo for persistant fouling & then belting Mortimer in the back of the net.  Cowardly way to do it, but thats just the it is.
I was at the Dromore/Crossmaglen match last year in the Ulster club match and Ricey was giving McConville shit, I guess about the book, and when John McEntee got his chance he gave him a belt and he never opened his mouth the rest of the game.  So point been they will bully you if they think they'll get away with it. 

God I really wanna stop talking about this but basically you know yourself and its clear to everyone else that when you asked "why did your number 14 kick the ball into the net 3-4 times after scoring" you didn't raise it as a valid question, which was proven by the fact that you answered your own question. It was a childish attempt to take the piss, and hardly an issue thats worth being raised on a discussion board.

Doctor who? Is this really the height of your humour? The craic must be ninety in your house of a saturday night. BC1 are you not ashamed to be posting alongside such an idiot?

The fact that you have to insult me totally explains my point, I guess if someone from my club acted like that tool did then I'd be out fighting to defend him, then again i wouldn't.   BC1 is well able to speak for himself and doesn't need any jibes from you with the attempt to drag him into it, you Dromintee boys should know all about fighting among yourself.

before you imply about me been from Cross, can i inform you I'm not. I was there seeing the great new hope we have from Dromintee among our ranks & to be frank I wasn't impressed.  He was shit scared of an former county lion whom he didn't dare challenge not even once, which says a lot for our selection policy.  We have loads of fringe players like him already who are nothing more than average club players.

I thought that hanratty lad had super game from what i seen, he's a strong lad who could put it up to most midfielders in the county. infact the above mentioned who played yesterday were pretty quite it was the younger crop who made all the play, but it is probably insurance for the younger crop of players knowing that they have the lads above to fall back on.

That must have been what it was BC1, funny cross scored 2 goals and non of the 2 lads who scored acted like that, but as you say since they don't often score points against cross, apart from the occassion you mention never mind goals he probably thought he was doctor who

I went to this game thinking it could through up a fairly interesting challenge considering both teams were very under strength, but truthfully the class really showed in the first 5mins.  When you consider cross have 8 first team players away with Armagh the way they took off from the start it was like a whirl wind and Dromintee didn't know were to turn.  The score line could have been more if not for a brilliant save by the Dromintee keeper in both half's.  Cross looked extremely sharp or maybe the Dromintee lads just were very unfit.
Even with the Armagh connection, Dromintee face a mountain come championship time considering what cross have to come back in also.

Health and safety reasons were stated by goh and others for the final being in cross. Why then, could somebody tell me were these so important rules allowed to slide for semi finals?

It's all to do with the expected crowd attending..  I know someone who knows the health & safety office who inspected the ground for the 2006 final when Dromintee kicked had reservations about home advantage and quite simply they were told that there was no other pitch in Armagh that could facilitate the expected crowd.  The options were Newry or Clones, which the county board wouldn't allow as it would have been seen as an embarrassment upon the county..

I was at the 7's on Saturday and seen every game, apart from the Mullaghbawn/Ballymacnab game. I was right beside the Murtagh incident and to be fair he slammed the ball home from close range which the Clans keeper tried to dive at his feet, now weather Murtagh's boot caught him by accident or not I'm not sure, but there didn't seem to be any deliberate intention on Murtagh's behalf, there was a few words of verbal & the Clans keeper downed him. 

This all started in the first game when a clans player for no reason that i could see busted Tony Kernan of the ball, so I guess it was simmering from then.
The Ref was poor I have to admit, but he could have so easily sent off a few more, notably Marsden he was slapping McKeown anytime he got a chance & to be fair to McKeown he held his head & got on with it.  One thing I did notice though was that Marsden didn't happen to come back after Donal Murtagh had a go at him at a sideline ball & another when Donaldson clearly caught him with an upper cut, but I guess if it would have been anyone else he would having been looking to box, but for some reason he seemed to accept it from the 2 mentioned above (Perhaps he'd have been bitting off more than he could chew with any of these 2).

Barry O'Hagan is still a class player and should still be playing with Armagh.

Firstly congratulation to Cross on a stunning performance on Sunday, from about 10 mins into the game they never looked like losing. As Milltown said they were the better team on the day in everyway, skill, determination & fitness.  I happened to be in Newry so I made my way to the ground pretty early and seen them come out for their warm up onto the back pitch and they were so precise even in that.   In all the drills they did during their warm up I counted only one ball drop. Beside me was a well known ex-Down county manager who commented that are as well drilled as any county team.  How do they get this continual focus  instilled into these lads when you consider that the age gaps between some of the players is quite a lot, is it the fact that the younger guys have so much respect for the likes of Oisin & the McEntees that they just do what is required or as they told.   BC maybe you could answer this.

Lads,

you's can talk around the issue all day, but Winsamsoon is right, jealously is the only issue here. He's also right about the clans, they are the next most successful club in Armagh history, thats fact.

So for talk sake pints the bridge starting winning everything before them and the had a structure were they had 4/5 players coming through every year from minor etc.  after 4/5 years everybody would start hacking the shite out of you's and i bet you would like it.

Success breads contempt from other clubs, but you can't faulty cross for that

I go to alot of armagh football, cause the louth football is shite basically.  Been to a few bridge games, but non of late, i must take one in soon so i can have a right pop at you then.
I would agree with you on your last post, but the difference most of the Dromintee boys didn't wanna know when it hotted up. I know the bridge & cross one's don't get on & maybe there is reasons for that which i don't know, but i find it staggering that so many negitives are posted about Cross when they are the most successful team ever in Armagh & probably Ireland and almost all of them posts are from within Armagh.  I think any county would be proud to have a club team as good as them.

I was on the oppisite side to the stand and some of the verbals coming from the Dromintee supporters was just as bad.  The kernans for some reason seemed to come in for the most.

I thought the ref had a good game yesterday, he made his intentions clear fom the start that he wasn't gonna take any shit from anybody.  In saying that he did miss a few things,  the strike on Oisin in the first half, the strike on AK right in front of the lines man. The challenge from behind on SK which lead to him going off,  and the elbow on the cross no. 7 by AOR right at the end.  There was also a few rash challenge's by a few cross lads as well, which warrent a mention.
There was no way that Dromintee were able to live with the intensiity that Cross set, they seemed to keep pushing and moving at 100mph throughout the game.
Any body seem what happened in the first half when COR got his marching orders!

Your a champ uladh, you probably never kicked a ball in your life, well at a competitive level anyway.  I would feel abit left out, but I'm not the only poster to notice wee jimmy's faults (which were plenty). if I was from cross I'd say it & be proud of it.

As for corn02 i wouldn't expect anything else from you, since your from Dromintee, but can you confirm that AOR told wee  jimmy to go f**k himself during the match, and when he called him back he said it again & followed it with (Don't annoy my f**k'in head) if that would have been anybody else from any other team it would have been a straight red, but it proves my point from an earlier post that wee Jimmy did have another motive, and was clear for all to see.

Was at the Cross - Dromintee game and as a neutral I thought Jimmy McKee was a disgrace.  Marty O'Rourke should have got a straight red for his strike on the young corner back in the first half, but instead he give's marty's marker a yellow.

He also blew a cross half forward up i think for catching a clean kickout and then at the end he gives a fifty which never was & to top that of he  give Marty O'Rourke a free, when he should have blown for over carrying.

I hate picking out individuals, but Marty O'Rourke must be the biggest mouth in the country.  He was constinently at his marker trying to get him sent off and the dives he was getting away with was a joke.
If this is the best Ref in Armagh, he needs to look at himself in the mirror , it looked very clear to me that he was doing everything for Dromintee to snatch it.
If teams need the ref as well to beat cross then the standard outside cross must be pretty poor to say the least.

The most obvious quote to use is this one, when you lost the rag and admitted you were from cross...

A bit like the "Drive it home to them" that was liberally shouted when you beat us by 17 points that day a few years back.  You are right in one thing, it means fcuk all squared come championship, and I think Cross will know that better than most and not let a big win go to their heads.  I would reckon that only 3-4 of the Cross team from Sunday will pay championship against you anyway. 

As for the lad kicking it into the net after scoring the goal, jaysus give the lad a break, it's not everyday you score a goal against Cross, he must have been fierce proud of himself and overcome with emotion 

That must have been what it was BC1, funny cross scored 2 goals and non of the 2 lads who scored acted like that, but as you say since they don't often score points against cross, apart from the occassion you mention never mind goals he probably thought he was doctor who   

At this early stage in the season, how are things shaping out?  Does anyone look like making a serious concerted effort to break the Cross dominance?

The Keady delight has returned

Thought i offended you TheGAA last time you posted.  Perhaps you & corn02 are the same person?  if i was from Cross I wouldn't be denying it either lad.

[Zulu]

Not a bit of it, after being thoroughly outplayed the first day, in an effort( not to be pushed around) they make a physical statement of intent, get beaten upo and lose. Like I said braindead. No gameplan, no lateral thinking just typical macho Ulster club football I can hit harder than you even if you're 2 stone heavier than me. Well Balinderry found they couldn't. I thought they were very very disappointing over the 2 days with the amount of inter county experience at their disposal. They had no gameplan either day, and that fault lies with the management who somehow came to the conclusion that a physical appraoch was best. mindboggling.

This isn't really true INDIANA. You seem to put a lot of Cross' success down to their physical prowess, while seemingly ignoring that they can play a bit too. Its worth remembering that 8 or 9 or Cross' starting 15 would not break the six foot mark, so branding them as a sort of band of ferocious ogres is wide of the mark. Their makeup is quite similar to most good teams around the country, they have their big guys that can hit and they have their footballers too.

The thing is AFS that teh smaller guys can hit hard too, and are very good at tackling in groups.  Much of the "hard" persona of the team was built on the earlier teams.  It is still the same few that are the mainstays of the physical side of their game, but the younger lads are well fit to hold their own.  It is noticeable how many of them are able to break tackles and stay in possession of the ball.  That is a core strength that is formed from playing games at a high intensity over a sustained period, similar to the KK hurlers.

BC can I ask you a question, the perception amongst many is that Cross (and indeed Armagh) spend a lot of time in the gym bulking up and that this results in a physical advantage for Cross. I have my doubts as to whether Cross spend any more time or do anything different in the gym than most other serious club teams, would that be fair to say or am I underestimating Cross' devotion to gym work?

[orangeman]

Not a bit of it, after being thoroughly outplayed the first day, in an effort( not to be pushed around) they make a physical statement of intent, get beaten upo and lose. Like I said braindead. No gameplan, no lateral thinking just typical macho Ulster club football I can hit harder than you even if you're 2 stone heavier than me. Well Balinderry found they couldn't. I thought they were very very disappointing over the 2 days with the amount of inter county experience at their disposal. They had no gameplan either day, and that fault lies with the management who somehow came to the conclusion that a physical appraoch was best. mindboggling.

This isn't really true INDIANA. You seem to put a lot of Cross' success down to their physical prowess, while seemingly ignoring that they can play a bit too. Its worth remembering that 8 or 9 or Cross' starting 15 would not break the six foot mark, so branding them as a sort of band of ferocious ogres is wide of the mark. Their makeup is quite similar to most good teams around the country, they have their big guys that can hit and they have their footballers too.

The thing is AFS that teh smaller guys can hit hard too, and are very good at tackling in groups.  Much of the "hard" persona of the team was built on the earlier teams.  It is still the same few that are the mainstays of the physical side of their game, but the younger lads are well fit to hold their own.  It is noticeable how many of them are able to break tackles and stay in possession of the ball.  That is a core strength that is formed from playing games at a high intensity over a sustained period, similar to the KK hurlers.

BC can I ask you a question, the perception amongst many is that Cross (and indeed Armagh) spend a lot of time in the gym bulking up and that this results in a physical advantage for Cross. I have my doubts as to whether Cross spend any more time or do anything different in the gym than most other serious club teams, would that be fair to say or am I underestimating Cross' devotion to gym work?

Zulu - I'd say you're right - ok they have a few big strong men alright but they're not all muscle men - they haven't gone from 1995 until now winning Armagh, Ulsters and AIs by just pumping weights - they're serious footballers, with serious attitude, heart, drive and commitment.