Ulster Championship 2019 First Up It's Down 19th May

Armagh_paul

Armagh_paul

Well-Known Member
SneakyPint said:
Dont know where to start.
Delighted to get away with the win. We had the game won a few times and seemed determined to throw it away.

The negatives
Keeper - awful again today. Terrible under a high ball, needs to stay on his line as hes just taking himself out of contention by coming to try claim. Costs scores every game with kickouts. I do not get why he opted for the long kick out's after Down got their second goal in normal time and the same happened at the end of extra time.


Donaghy very poor on two of the goals. First goal he barely competes and downs 2nd goal he needs to try get across and put pressure on. Does the same at another time when instead of trying to close the man he retreats to the goal line and luckily the down player opts to fist over the bar.

Rory Grugan - awful display. Free in front of the posts was shocking and summed his day up. Should have been hooked much earlier, captain or not. Was a poor enough display by his standard.

Tactics - some really odd things. Taking Rian out the field far too much.
Refusing to kick the ball in.
Greg mccabe playing full forward/our most advanced man in the first period of extra time
Starting with a weakened team, why wouldn't you have Morgan starting?
Jamar Hall should have been taken off earlier, not forced off with a black card.

Positives
Jar og burns - monster of a display in midfield. Won ball, drove forward and broke the lines and covered every inch of grass. Coin toss for motm with Rian for me. He would have been a close contender for it other than for the drop at the end. However, he made a decision and unfortunately it did not pay off. Didn't get why Blaine was just standing there looking at him. I think it would have been a penalty, Armagh defender (Donaghy I think) was pulling the Down player back from around the neck.

Rian - brilliant performance. Took some class points. Hes the potential to be top 5 in the country, the lad has everything but just needs the service. He was phenomenal - a few missed frees but forgiven for the amount of points he scored.

Murnin - back from injury and got 1-1 in 2nd period of extra time. This lad is a class act, hopefully he can stay fit. I think it took him 5 minutes to score that 1-1 an incredible performance. It is exciting to think of what the forward line can do when all are fit.

We got the job done in the end so fair play to the lads. Hopefully geezer and his coaching team have learnt plenty from today. The quicker direct ball into murnin, rian and jamie will destroy most backlines. Leave atleast 2 of them inside at all times and get the ball in!!
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A

Armaghball

Well-Known Member
SneakyPint said:
Dont know where to start.
Delighted to get away with the win. We had the game won a few times and seemed determined to throw it away.

The negatives
Keeper - awful again today. Terrible under a high ball, needs to stay on his line as hes just taking himself out of contention by coming to try claim. Costs scores every game with kickouts.
Donaghy very poor on two of the goals. First goal he barely competes and downs 2nd goal he needs to try get across and put pressure on. Does the same at another time when instead of trying to close the man he retreats to the goal line and luckily the down player opts to fist over the bar.
Rory Grugan - awful display. Free in front of the posts was shocking and summed his day up. Should have been hooked much earlier, captain or not.

Tactics - some really odd things. Taking Rian out the field far too much.
Refusing to kick the ball in.
Greg mccabe playing full forward/our most advanced man in the first period of extra time

Positives
Jar og burns - monster of a display in midfield. Won ball, drove forward and broke the lines and covered every inch of grass. Coin toss for motm with Rian for me.

Rian - brilliant performance. Took some class points. Hes the potential to be top 5 in the country, the lad has everything but just needs the service.

Murnin - back from injury and got 1-1 in 2nd period of extra time. This lad is a class act, hopefully he can stay fit.

We got the job done in the end so fair play to the lads. Hopefully geezer and his coaching team have learnt plenty from today. The quicker direct ball into murnin, rian and jamie will destroy most backlines. Leave atleast 2 of them inside at all times and get the ball in!!
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I’d agree with most of that, bit harsh on Blaine Hughes, yes poor today but he’s been very good for us plenty of times.

Agree on Rian, reminds me of the Clifford fella he’s that good. Hopefully see his brother in action soon as well.
 
S

SneakyPint

Member
Armaghball said:
I’d agree with most of that, bit harsh on Blaine Hughes, yes poor today but he’s been very good for us plenty of times.

Agree on Rian, reminds me of the Clifford fella he’s that good. Hopefully see his brother in action soon as well.
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Hes a good shot stopper but i do find every game he gives scores away with his kicking. Today was awful under the high ball but that hasnt been a regular thing to be fair.

I think Oisin played for Cross on Friday night for his first game back so thats super news that he is getting closer as he is an excellent footballer.
 
Berfaboy77

Berfaboy77

Active Member
Lot of negativity here.... granted quality was poor from both sides at times, but there were also some wonderful scores, Murnins goal in particular was brilliant. I thought it was gr8 entertainment all round. That said I agree some of the tactical decisions and also subs were very strange for Armagh. Putting a defender in ff when you have forwards on the line is a strange one, but in fairness Crealy & Andy made big impacts. On the day I thought Jarly Og & O Neill we’re absolutely outstanding. Grugan form would be a worrying at the moment, Soupy was excellent when he came on. I thought Hall strugglers. Defensively we were very poor at times, positionally and on our tackling. I’m not really sure what role donaghy plays, I don’t see the merit in him playing sweeper. Anyway all said and done, gr8 contest, we’ll done lads bring on Cavan.
 
Armagh_paul

Armagh_paul

Well-Known Member
Berfaboy77 said:
Lot of negativity here.... granted quality was poor from both sides at times, but there were also some wonderful scores, Murnins goal in particular was brilliant. I thought it was gr8 entertainment all round. That said I agree some of the tactical decisions and also subs were very strange for Armagh. Putting a defender in ff when you have forwards on the line is a strange one, but in fairness Crealy & Andy made big impacts. On the day I thought Jarly Og & O Neill we’re absolutely outstanding. Grugan form would be a worrying t the moment, Soupy was excellent when he came on. I thought Hall strugglers. Defensively we were very poor at times, positionally and on our tackling. I’m not really sure what tile donaghy plays, I don’t see the merit in him playing sweeper. Anyway all said and done, gr8 contest, we’ll done lads bring on Cavan.
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That's become the norm and it is worrying.
 
T

Tango

Active Member
Armaghball said:
My team to face Cavan would be

Hughes
Morgan
McKay
Hughes
Shields
Donaghy
Forker
Grimley
Burns
Grugan
Rafferty
Soupy
Jamie
O’Neill
Murnin.

Let the ball into those 3 early and no defence in the country could stand up to that. Harsh on Hall and Nugent not to be starting but those 3 forwards all have the ability to play inside or on the 45 and are all sharp shooters when on form, Oisin O’Neill won’t be far away either.
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I think Charlie should start at full back, Cavan would have seen today’s game and now realise we are dodgy under the high ball so dont be surprised if you see gearoid mckiernan playing some sort of game time on the edge of the square.
 
William Of Orange

William Of Orange

Well-Known Member
Armaghball said:
Great to get a win against that shower and especially since we hadn’t won in Newry for years. Typical Armagh though never do anything the easy way.

I’ll start with the positives, Rian O’Neill is a serious serious footballer, I’d rate him as our most valuable player already at age 20, a class act. Murnin is going to be some asset if he can stay fit and between those two and Jamie, they’re an inside 3 any county would be glad to have. Jarly Og was very good for a lad making his championship debut although he needs to stop carrying the ball into contact and going down because not every ref is a clueless as that plank today and he won’t always get frees. Aidan Nugent and Kennedy were both impressive as well today and kicked a few nice scores. Soupy did well when he came on as well and thought Shields was very good and should have started. Crealy also deserves a mention won us a few balls when he came on.

As has been said, scoring 2-17 against a packed defence is no mean feat so credit where it’s due, but at the same time conceding so much against a poor side playing with 14 men for half the game is alarming.

I’m not one of the huge McGeeney bashers, but definitely will criticise where I think it’s justified and today there was a lot to be criticised about some tactics and selection today.

Morgan and Shields both definitely should have started, Vernon is a great servant to Armagh but I just don’t see a place for him anymore on the team. Too many of our big name players where anonymous today, Jamie was his classy self at times but was too quiet for long periods as well, Rafferty had a poor game and Grugan had an absolute stinker and should have been taken off far earlier, completely not his day, but both those lads are superb footballers and will be crucial to how far we go this year. Paul Hughes on Johnston was a wrong decision as well imo, he seemed to be too far off him a lot.

Our kickouts where awful today as well, Blaine has been very good for us consistently since coming in, but definitely had an off day today and should have done better for the goals. Don’t know why Murnin wasn’t on in normal time but he’s a nailed on starter for me the next day.

Plenty of positives and plenty to improve on if we want to beat Cavan, well done to all involved a nerve wracking but enjoyable game today.

My team to face Cavan would be

Hughes
Morgan
McKay
Hughes
Shields
Donaghy
Forker
Grimley
Burns
Grugan
Rafferty
Soupy
Jamie
O’Neill
Murnin.

Let the ball into those 3 early and no defence in the country could stand up to that. Harsh on Hall and Nugent not to be starting but those 3 forwards all have the ability to play inside or on the 45 and are all sharp shooters when on form, Oisin O’Neill won’t be far away either.
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Murnin needs more time sure if he’s fully fit he starts but he can’t be fit yet , he barely moved off the square but Let’s hope we move through the rounds and he gets fit b cause he causes absolute panic for defences.

Soupy made an impact and that’s what we need on our bench I think McGeeney will use him as a sub again .

The most disappointing thing today apart from the vulnerability at the back was the lack of possession off the breaking ball I reckon Down won this 80:20 we need to improve to beat Cavan who have a strong midfield and half forward / back line .
 
B

Bo Darville

Active Member
Some amount of tripe posted on here today. There really is no pleasing some people and the standard of ‘punditry’ is shocking, I’d hazard a guess that many of you weren’t at the game. Ochardfans.com? Might need to get the trade description people to investigate this site!

We played well in bursts, conceded 3 poor/fluke goals and have plenty to work on but...we won. We were also the better team and deserved the win.

The goals kept Down in it and we missed some simple scores. Of the goals, number 1 Blaine made a mistake coming out into the back of Donaghy, these things happen, number 2 was just bad luck/or a great finish from O’Hare depending on your point of view, but he found the only spot for the ball to fit through, number 3 Jarlath Og scores a cracker of an OG. Maybe Blaine could’ve done more, been more assertive, maybe Donaghy and Burns should’ve got out of his way, but in the end it doesn’t matter. We won, enjoy it and let the management and players address those questions over the next fortnight.
 
W

Whites

Active Member
Was at the match today and it was great to see Armagh win but they made hard work of it. if it had been 15v 15 I don’t think we would have got over the line but like I said glad they did.
 
J

jpowell100

Active Member
Good performance by Armagh and we definitely deserved to win. Our forward line is really exciting with Rian doing so well, Clarke looking sharp and Murnin and possibly Oisin O’Neill to come back in too. Morgan and shields need to start the next game for sure
 
D

DooReg

Active Member
I think Geezer is looking at the matches as a 21 man game (even though he got to use more today with the extra time). I think he’s looking to have near his best team finishing the match than starting it. Everyone given out about the starting lineout. Let’s look at those decisions.
1. Nugent: thought he was excellent - can’t kick geezer on that one.
2. Kennedy: scored twice and played well. Ditto
3. P Burns: pulled ham early doors: not geezers fault there
4. Jarley: was mooted as a big call to throw him in there by many: wow what a call that was!!
5. Ethan: not his best day. Right let’s say that didn’t work out.

Basically, the top men didn’t perform particularly Grugan & Forker.

Think on balance the manager got it right.
 
N

niall1980

Well-Known Member
DooReg said:
I think Geezer is looking at the matches as a 21 man game (even though he got to use more today with the extra time). I think he’s looking to have near his best team finishing the match than starting it. Everyone given out about the starting lineout. Let’s look at those decisions.
1. Nugent: thought he was excellent - can’t kick geezer on that one.
2. Kennedy: scored twice and played well. Ditto
3. P Burns: pulled ham early doors: not geezers fault there
4. Jarley: was mooted as a big call to throw him in there by many: wow what a call that was!!
5. Ethan: not his best day. Right let’s say that didn’t work out.

Basically, the top men didn’t perform particularly Grugan & Forker.

Think on balance the manager got it right.
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Agree with this tho I don’t think Forker was fit. I would also start Morgan over Burns even if Burns is fit.

Geezer brought on Crealy and Murnin both of whom made telling contributions. Have to give him credit on those. Someone said Murnin was desperation rather tactical. You can’t lambast a man for poor substitutions and also for ones which work out
 
A

Armaghball

Well-Known Member
niall1980 said:
Agree with this tho I don’t think Forker was fit. I would also start Morgan over Burns even if Burns is fit.

Geezer brought on Crealy and Murnin both of whom made telling contributions. Have to give him credit on those. Someone said Murnin was desperation rather tactical. You can’t lambast a man for poor substitutions and also for ones which work out
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Agreed on Morgan, nothing against Burns I’d rate him highly but Morgan offers something else imo but it’s a close enough call. Only criticism I’d have about Murnin is he should have been on earlier but again he probably isn’t 100% fit we don’t really know that some no real complaints there.
 
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