Mayo v Armagh

MrMaguire2002 said:

He played as recent as 3 weeks ago. And play your best 15 doesn't mean you start him or McQuillan? Catch a grip. You didn't even make a point there.

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The point is you don’t have a consistent point... you say play the best 15 and then you say play the youth or go. Those are 2 different strategies which are mutually exclusive.
O neill hasn’t kicked a ball all year for the county. Played 1 or 2 games for cross max. He was good in the second half of last years final but the ulster club games played at a higher standard was cleaned out round the middle. Rian has to come out the field to win primary ball.

I’ve absolutely nothing against the lad. I think he is a great young talent but people putting him on a pedastal in here when they haven’t seen him kick a ball in about 2 years.

William Of Orange said:

I hope so it’s all about momentum, we are becoming cool again Tv will want to show us next year , Hopefully Clarke comes back from London , Donaghy & Shields stay put also , no one goes to Australia we get a couple more players next year Div 1 & Super 8 should be the Goal .

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- A successful year should be promotion to D1
- An Ulster Final
- A place in the Super 8's

If we unearth a few defenders, keep everyone and add some depth then it is a real possibility.

Applecore said:

The point is you don’t have a consistent point... you say play the best 15 and then you say play the youth or go. Those are 2 different strategies which are mutually exclusive.
O neill hasn’t kicked a ball all year for the county. Played 1 or 2 games for cross max. He was good in the second half of last years final but the ulster club games played at a higher standard was cleaned out round the middle. Rian has to come out the field to win primary ball.

I’ve absolutely nothing against the lad. I think he is a great young talent but people putting him on a pedastal in here when they haven’t seen him kick a ball in about 2 years.

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And you missed my point. My point clearly is that our best 15 includes youth.

Applecore said:

The point is you don’t have a consistent point... you say play the best 15 and then you say play the youth or go. Those are 2 different strategies which are mutually exclusive.
O neill hasn’t kicked a ball all year for the county. Played 1 or 2 games for cross max. He was good in the second half of last years final but the ulster club games played at a higher standard was cleaned out round the middle. Rian has to come out the field to win primary ball.

I’ve absolutely nothing against the lad. I think he is a great young talent but people putting him on a pedastal in here when they haven’t seen him kick a ball in about 2 years.

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Jesus Christ of almighty.

Against Coalisland he was brilliant. Maybe you didn't see it

Armagh_paul said:

- A successful year should be promotion to D1
- An Ulster Final
- A place in the Super 8's

If we unearth a few defenders, keep everyone and add some depth then it is a real possibility.

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A successful year is to win every competition you enter.

If we make the Super 8’s, should we just down tools and say “ah this will do us lads. Jaysus, haven’t we done well”.

What’s the point going into a competition aiming to reach the QFs? Yes, we won’t be favourites for every competition, but if you go in with a half-arsed attitude, you’re doomed to fail.

PatMustard said:

A successful year is to win every competition you enter.

If we make the Super 8’s, should we just down tools and say “ah this will do us lads. Jaysus, haven’t we done well”.

What’s the point going into a competition aiming to reach the QFs? Yes, we won’t be favourites for every competition, but if you go in with a half-arsed attitude, you’re doomed to fail.

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Realistic goals Pat you use it as a barometer for success like me not coming last in the forecast competition or you not crashing the milk van .

PatMustard said:

A successful year is to win every competition you enter.

If we make the Super 8’s, should we just down tools and say “ah this will do us lads. Jaysus, haven’t we done well”.

What’s the point going into a competition aiming to reach the QFs? Yes, we won’t be favourites for every competition, but if you go in with a half-arsed attitude, you’re doomed to fail.

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You have to set realistic targets Pat, but every target should lead to new target if achieved.

@Armagh_paul suggests 3 targets that all allow progression to silverware

1. Secure promotion to Division 1 -> win division 2 final

2. Get back to Ulster final -> win Ulster final

3. Reach Super 8’s -> progress to semifinals-> progress to final -> win All Ireland.

Bo Darville said:

You have to set realistic targets Pat, but every target should lead to new target if achieved.

@Armagh_paul suggests 3 targets that all allow progression to silverware

1. Secure promotion to Division 1 -> win division 2 final

2. Get back to Ulster final -> win Ulster final

3. Reach Super 8’s -> progress to semifinals-> progress to final -> win All Ireland.

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I understand what you say but teams can always buck the trend.

Down nearly won Sam in 2010. Who would’ve gave them a hope of getting near that? A kick of a ball away. Greece 2004 won the Euros. Who would’ve thunk that?

Yes, make progress, get setups right etc etc, but if we showed anything last night, it was we went toe to toe with a team that have just fell short of beating Dublin 3/4 times the last few years. In their own back yard. With a sh1te ref.

Momentum is a big thing in sport. Beat Mayo last night, and who knows where we could have ended up?

Just listened to Geezer's post-match interview on bbc radio - does not sound like man that will be staying on. Referred to the squad as 'they' etc when saying if they stay at it there's a bright future etc. Could a fresh management team be positive at this stage? Will the group stay together?

PatMustard said:

I understand what you say but teams can always buck the trend.

Down nearly won Sam in 2010. Who would’ve gave them a hope of getting near that? A kick of a ball away. Greece 2004 won the Euros. Who would’ve thunk that?

Yes, make progress, get setups right etc etc, but if we showed anything last night, it was we went toe to toe with a team that have just fell short of beating Dublin 3/4 times the last few years. In their own back yard. With a sh1te ref.

Momentum is a big thing in sport. Beat Mayo last night, and who knows where we could have ended up?

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Momentum is huge, that’s why when setting targets at the start of the year you always set follow up targets. But if the only target on the wall is ‘Win Sam’ players can lose focus on the steps required to do that. Regarding the championship, the first target is to win the first game, then the next one and so on. That’s how you build momentum.

Just to add some note on retirements B Donaghy had an interview a month ago in Irish news and said he had no intention of retiring anytime soon
I think Charlie Vernon will be only one who will retire if any I understand he was going to retire last year but management talked him into saying

Folks ffs stop this whinging shite.

Do you think for one minute if Oisin O’Neill was fully fit he wouldn’t be playing. Of course he would or his brother wouldn’t be playing. Geezer loves these lads but he can’t play a half fit fella. He hurt his ankle and got surgery. Everyone knows that so shut the f**k up. The lad wasn’t fully fit.

McQuillian. Holy Christ. He was an u20 and couldn’t play. He will play next year if he’s about. Geezer doesn’t make up the rules lads. Has to operate within them. But if he does stay lads he’s a class player no doubt.

Hopefully another few make the jump up from the u20 team and then we have a very robust squad. We will be pushing for an Ulster title next year.

I wouldn’t be pushing young McConville too much. Jamar is very small and light and it took him at least 4 seasons to become a regular starter. But fair play to the lad, he stuck at it and nailed his shirt down. How many young lads would do that today. I can honestly say I never thought Jamar could make the first 15. I thought he was just too small for the modern game. Fair play for his stickability. Will young McConville have similar stickability?? I hope so. Cause he ain’t waking straight onto the first 15.

I travelled yesterday an whilst disappointed I was immensely proud of those lads. The amount of Mayo supporters I chatted to saying we were the better team by far.

For me, Geezer built this team. He deserves a two year contract to win Ulster imo. If he doesn’t then yes let’s freshen it up. Geezers blood runs orange lads - that’s one thing we can all agree.

The dream team would be McEntee with Geezer but that never happening.......

Mcquillan was with the u20s this year. Case closed. Quit yapping and guldering on about it, it's beyond irritating now.

O O'Neill has been injured all year and played 2/3 club games. Definitely not championship fit.

The midfield and forward line haven't been the problem this year at all, posting massive scores regularly so why the constant harping on about players who aren't playing when the unit is performing brilliantly. Aligned to the fact that none of you actually have a clue what is going on in the camp, just want to do a bit of geezer bashing (and if you read my posts I haven't been a massive fan in the past).

Our issue is the goalkeeper and we're a couple of top tier defenders short at the moment, rectify that and we're in business.

Finally a year to say, "Jesus, that team reminds me of the emergence in '98, we're on to something" and all some people want to do is cry about 2 players, unproven at county level, not playing. 1 is in the u20 squad and 1 has been injured all year!! Christ the night!

Yes we took a lot of bad shot selections towards the end, Grugans goal chance, well wrong man right place.
If McGeeney decides to stay he needs better sidekicks.

Teams do buck the trend but that is with innovative thinking and tactics. More that likely it will result in playing ugly football and having little success after one season. What happened to Down and Greece after their success?

This team is being setup up for long term success.

People on here need to get real on here over Oisin O'Neill & Ethan Rafferty,Andrew Murnin these 3 lads are only after coming through serious injuries & people expect them to just put a shirt on & play it takes time to get over injuries

Armagh_paul said:

I am not too disappointed with yesterday.

Was Deegan shocking? He certainly was.
Was our shot selection shocking? It certainly was.
Did we do ridiculous things when we shouldn't have? Yes we did.
Did we get some tactics wrong? Yes.

We had more than enough opportunities to win that match but we just never quite had the experience to get over the line. These lads can't be faulted for their determination, I thought they dropped their heads after Mayo went in front but they clawed their way back into the game. If we can improve our fitness levels and show that for 70 mins then we are going places.

On a side note I thought Rory Grugan finally showed his worth yesterday. We all knew it was there but he had his head in the game. It was a shame about the goal chance though.

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Maybe I am wrong but looking at the Grugan chance did the keeper not get the tips of his fingers to the ball.

Kem said:

Maybe I am wrong but looking at the Grugan chance did the keeper not get the tips of his fingers to the ball.

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Would Jamie not have tried to round him and make a better angle for himself

Kem said:

Maybe I am wrong but looking at the Grugan chance did the keeper not get the tips of his fingers to the ball.

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Think that was Jamie Clarke's goal chance

Armagh_paul said:

Think that was Jamie Clarke's goal chance

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Got a hand to both of them I think.