Allianz Football League 2022 Division 1

J

Jarlath McKerr

New Member
Any season ticket holder not getting the list of games to choose from like me.
Its saying my season tickets are not available to manage
 
ShiftYa

ShiftYa

Well-Known Member
It’ll be tough to stay up this year, realisticly I think there’s a potential 6 points up for grabs; Kildare, Monaghan and Donegal. 5 or 6 will be needed to avoid relegation. The Donegal game is an away tie too which doesn’t help. Possibly scrape a draw off them’ems if they make a slow start to the season as we get them in round 2. Won’t be a surprise to most here, but I’m not too optimistic.
 
Armaghniac

Armaghniac

Well-Known Member
A first of the league game in Croke Park, fado fado.

On what must have been a chilly afternoon for Tommy Lyons, figuratively as well as literally, his under-strength Dublin team was taken apart by the All-Ireland champions at Croke Park yesterday. Although it took Armagh a while to get started, once they found their rhythm their superior forwards and physical strength brushed aside the challenge of the Leinster champions.
At the launch of the Allianz National Football League last week Lyons defended the importance of the competition by stating he never sent teams out to lose. If he changes his mind at any stage in future he'll have this performance to guide him.
He acknowledged his players had become dispirited when early chances were not taken but it was a sluggish display by Dublin and whether calculated for effect, the manager began making ominous noises about the side having "over-performed last year".
He is of course well aware February is a bit early for wake-up calls and that by the heat of mid-summer few will remember this fixture for anything except its record attendance for a divisional match, 54,432.
If he were in any doubt his opposite number Joe Kernan would have reassured him. The Armagh manager allowed that his team had played with great confidence, adding that an All-Ireland win was likely to have had such an effect, but was cautious about the long-term significance of big wins on February 2nd.
On a cold, cold afternoon the large crowd gathered Dublin- fashion - that is the majority piling in at the last minute. It must be frustrating for the GAA on the biggest opening weekend the league has had that the two feature matches, this and Saturday's floodlit match in Cork, should have turned out to be such one-way affairs.
You wouldn't have guessed this from the first 25 minutes when Dublin looked the sprightlier team. John McNally scored within 30 seconds and they moved the ball well to create good scoring chances that weren't taken.
Spared by these errors, Armagh's defence tightened up and the supply of opportunity dried up. Dublin will have mixed feelings about the attacking performance. The team was missing its two strike forwards, the suspended Ray Cosgrove and Alan Brogan, who was withdrawn before the throw-in to allow him more time to recover from a pre-Christmas operation.
Of the newcomers brought in Toms Quinn did best. Although marksmanship - particularly in his speciality, dead-ball situations - let him down he dug in, made himself available for ball and created some decent openings for himself.
Otherwise it was a struggle. Eoin Bennis came in for Brogan but couldn't make an impact and went off at the break. The highly- regarded Brian Cullen got onto a good share of ball but couldn't make the best of it. Colin Moran continues to be at odds with his game and all in all, Lyons and his selectors have plenty to do in the weeks ahead.
Armagh just muscled their way into proceedings. Their strength could be seen in the challenges that frequently caused Dublin to lose possession and Kernan afterwards said he was happy with the amount of possession his team had regained after losing it initially.
Centrefield was moving in Armagh's direction and the impulse to experiment with Ciarn Whelan and in turn Darren Magee at full forward didn't help Dublin - in either respect.
Defensively there was some comfort in that David Henry played well at left-corner back and Paddy Christie battled under pressure. But in the tight margins of error Armagh helped themselves.
The match turned in a few minutes at the end of the first half. After 25 minutes having led and been pulled back to 0-1 and 0-2 apiece Dublin saw the initiative slip. Paul McGrane, Steven McDonnell and Oisn McConville, twice, reeled off four points between them in as many minutes.
Armagh's sharpness and superior finishing in those minutes opened up the four-point interval gap, 0-7 to 0-3, and there was a sense Dublin had shot their bolt. At least it was difficult to see where four unanswered points or a goal might come from and it could have been worse.

In the seconds before the break Barry Duffy - a late call-up for the injured John Toal - had been presented with a straightforward goal chance by McDonnell's skilful unstitching of the cover. But his palmed attempt rolled wide of the goal.
The match was signed off in the minutes just after the break. Firstly Diarmuid Marsden carefully guided over two points to stretch the lead. Then McDonnell appeared to have rattled off a loose shot but instead it toppled down on top of the goalmouth for Duffy to redeem his first-half miss by fisting into the net.
Nine points adrift five minutes into the second half, the match had lost meaning for Dublin. They plugged away without picking up the momentum.
As well as being overpowered, they lacked the strength to kick to length and many shots dropped into Paul Hearty's waiting hands in the Armagh goal.
Of what remained, Francie Bellew's foul on Magee might have got him a red rather than yellow card in the 63rd minute.
The inhumane decision to play three - ultimately five - minutes injury-time as temperatures plummeted had just one consequence. McDonnell had to be helped off with an injury.
"He seemed to go over on his ankle," said Kernan afterwards, "but we don't know for sure what it is yet."
About the day's only imponderable for the Armagh manager.


ARMAGH: P Hearty; E McNulty, J McNulty, F Bellew; A O'Rourke (0- 1), K McGeeney, A McCann; T McEntee, P McGrane (0-2); B Duffy (1- 0), J McEntee, O McConville (0-5, one free); P McKeever (0-1), S McDonnell (0-3), D Marsden (0-3). Subs: K Hughes for O'Rourke 57 mins, P Duffy for B Duffy 65 mins, M O'Rourke for McKeever 67 mins, D Turley for J McEntee 69 mins, P McCormack for McDonnell 73 mins.


DUBLIN: S Cluxton; B Cahill, P Christie, D Henry; C Goggins, S Ryan, P Andrews; C Whelan, D Magee; C Moran (0-1), B Cullen (0-1), S Connell; E Bennis, J McNally (0-2), T Quinn (0-3, one 45). Subs: D O'Mahony for Bennis half-time, D Homan for Connell 41 mins, P Casey for Andrews 45 mins, J Sherlock for Moran 51 mins.

Referee: J Bannon (Longford).
 
H

huggy2002

Active Member

Dublin at Croke Park the acid test as Armagh begin Division One the hard way​







Andy Watters
25 January, 2022 01:00

AIDAN Nugent started with a half here and a few minutes there during his rookie season in 2019. He'd marked his debut with a point after coming off the bench against Antrim in the McKenna Cup and was a regular substitute as Armagh finished mid-table in Division Two despite allowing a couple of wins to slip through their fingers.
Nugent could have contented himself with a place on the bench for the Ulster Championship opener against Down that followed but that's not his way and he got his head down and trained hard before the trip to Newry in May.
When Kieran McGeeney named the team to start the Cullyhanna forward was pleasantly surprised to get the number 12 jersey and he played his part in a memorable extra-time win that brought an end to Armagh's barren run in Ulster.
Nugent was a surprise starter in 2019 but, as joint-captain with Rian O'Neill, he's a certain starter when fit these days. Being named skipper was an endorsement of the character he's shown to recover from the 2019 cruciate injury that robbed him of two seasons (2020 and 2021) of inter-county football.
Watching from the sidelines was hard enough and then there was that nagging doubt in his mind: Could he regain the fitness he'd lost and get back into the team?
“You want to be out there and the other side of it is you see the pace increased massively from Division Two to Division One so you wonder are you going to get your place back?” he says.
“You can either, sit there and take the hump or you can work hard and see what sort of level you have to get to. I was watching training week-in, week-out so it was good motivation for me to put the head down and try and get back in.”
He returned to county colours in the Time2Play charity game in December and was a regular throughout the McKenna Cup. Missing last season means Saturday night's League opener against Dublin will be Nugent's first taste of Division One and the closest he's come to playing at Croke Park was refereeing some Go Games matches on the hallowed turf.
He's looking forward to ticking both boxes at the weekend.

“When you start playing football, the aim is to get to Croke Park,” he says.
“Every big game you go to watch, the aim is to get out there but you have to put that all aside. It's Division One and it wouldn't matter if the game was in the Athletic Grounds or Croke Park we'd still be going for the two points. It is a nice occasion but once you get in there you just focus on the gameplan to get the team over the line.
“We're not going to Croke Park to drop points; we're going to win. We have worked hard this last few weeks in training and we know if we put our gameplan together we will get the result.”
NUGENT is the second Armagh captain to come out of the Cullyhanna club in recent years and there are shades of the cutting edge and drive of his predecessor – Ciaran McKeever – in his game. McKeever was a combative centre half-back and Nugent has the same aggressive spirit and the silky skills, pace and scoring touch to go with it.
“It's good to get the captaincy but, in the wider scheme of things, it doesn't really change much,” he says.
“You're still pushing on the pitch and off the pitch so getting the captaincy doesn't affect me a whole pile, I'm still going to do what I've been doing since I've been on the panel.”
When playing at Croke Park was still a distant dream for Aidan Nugent, Dublin were already the team to beat and of course they still are. Mayo broke their stranglehold on the Sam Maguire last year and there has been a changing of the guard in the off-season but the Dubs are still the Dubs.
“Everything they do is close to perfection so you have to have your gameplan perfect if you are going to beat them,” he says.
“I've watched them and admired how they play but when you are beside them on the field you can't be looking up to them too much, you're going to be trying as hard as you can to get the result.
“They were always going to get beat at some stage, it was just a matter of when, and now they have been beaten they will have stepped back and looked at themselves and realised that they have to push even harder.
“The wounded animal is always dangerous but if even they had won the All-Ireland last year, I'm sure they would have prepared the same way for the first round of the League.”
Armagh's prospects in Division One don't hinge on their opening encounter but obviously getting a result at Croke Park would be massive for the Orchardmen and they have the scoring power to make a real game of it on Saturday. Nugent has forced his way into a forward until that is crammed with talent and he is well aware that he'll have to consistently produce his best to keep his place as challenge follows challenge throughout a demanding Division One programme.
“We're playing in-house games every week and you couldn't pick our ‘B' team if you were watching from the outside,” he said after a training session at Armagh's Callanbridge.
“That's always a good thing - there is someone stepping on your toes trying to get your place all the time. Even last year there was no two forwards the same and we have brought in another four or five since then.
“So everyone brings something different and you know if you're not on your game then someone will come in and replace you or even if you have played 50 or 60 minutes that the man coming on is going to do the same job if not better to close the game out.”
He knows how important competing in Division One is for Armagh's Championship prospects. Orchard teams have been over-hyped after impressing in Division Two and Three campaigns in the past but this year, if they can hold their own with the top dogs, their time may finally come.
“Division One is where we want to be,” says Nugent.
“Our aim is the Championship three months down the line (Armagh meet Donegal in the Ulster quarter-final) so I think if you're in Division One and playing the top team's week-in, week-out you will be well prepped for the first round of Ulster.
“That's the aim, you obviously want to stay in Division One because we want to be there or thereabouts every year, so it is about picking up points and prepping for Ulster.”
And it all starts with the Dubs at Croker on Saturday night…
Verdict
THIS is the strongest squad Armagh have put together since Kieran McGeeney became manager.
With the possible exception of Jamie Clarke and despite the losses of defenders Ryan Kennedy and Paul Hughes, the best performers are all under the Orchard umbrella working towards a common goal – Division One survival and an Ulster Championship title.
Maghery pair Ciaran Higgins and Ben Crealey have returned to the fold and Conor Turbitt, Tiarnan Kelly and Barry McCambridge are in from county champions Clann Eireann
The signs during the McKenna Cup were positive. Injury-plagued Andrew Murnin – not always seen until later in the year – played and looked sharp while Paddy Burns, Stephen Sheridan, Aidan Nugent and Mark Shields returned to action after missing all, or most, of last season. Oisin O'Neill didn't feature but he could return for the opener against Dublin.
So this is an experienced Armagh team. 11 of the players who started against Down in Newry back in 2019 are available for selection on Saturday and that's not counting the likes of Stefan Campbell, Stephen Sheridan, Mark Shields, Ethan Rafferty, James Morgan and Andrew Murnin who all came on as substitutes that day.
A note of caution: The Achilles Heel of this team over recent seasons has been a leaky defence and a tendency to switch on and off during games and there were signs of both bad habits during the McKenna Cup.
After a superb first half against Cavan, the Orchardmen were outplayed after the break but got out of jail at the death. It was the same story against Monaghan in the McKenna Cup semi-final when a commanding lead was squandered in the second half and, ultimately, Armagh lost on penalties.
But those lapses can be explained away by multiple substitutions and McCambridge and Higgins should help seal the defensive cracks that were apparent last season.
Like all the best Armagh teams, the strength of the class of 2022 is its attack. Rory Grugan is the artful playmaker with has Rian O'Neill, Andrew Murnin, Conor Turbitt, Stefan Campbell, Aidan Nugent, Jemar Hall among the willing recipients of his clever passing. Manager McGeeney also has plenty of options in midfield with Oisin O'Neill and Niall Grimley his first choice pair.
Armagh's opener on Saturday is as tough as it gets and to follow it they welcome All-Ireland champions Tyrone to the Athletic Grounds. That's a serious test of any team's credentials.
 
H

huggy2002

Active Member
NOSTALGIA isn't what it used to be - Armagh manager Kieran McGeeney insists that modern-day football is far more skilful than even in his heyday of the Nineties and 2000s.

The Orchard County's All-Ireland winning captain from 2002 was a classy centre half-back but he was self-deprecating about his own ability in comparison to that of many present-day players:

"The game has changed a lot, nearly everybody's a footballer now. Back in our day they only started counting footballers from about 12 up." Reminded of his brief time being moved to the number 15 jersey and given a roving role, he quipped: "They regretted that one.

"It's definitely a different ball game now. You hear a lot of people going on about 'It isn't the same as it used to be…' and they're right - it's way, way more skilful.

"The level of skill of boys nowadays… if you just have an athlete on the pitch now he stands out a mile. You have to have so much in your locker now to be able to compete at the top level.

"It's great watching it, that type of football. When you make mistakes, especially in Division One, that whole idea of giving up possession is key to the game. Giving fellas with pace on other teams counter-attacking options - they can put your lights out in four or five minutes if you're not careful."

One player who is definitely an athlete but also has the full package of skill too is Rian O'Neill, who has again been impressing at full-forward for Armagh.

McGeeney believes that the Crossmaglen lad should have joined his brother Oisin as an Allstar nominee last year given his performances in League and especially Championship, commenting:

"It's funny how, depending on where you are in the country, you get more nudges towards those things than you do from other areas…


"Rian's a special player. I think the most special aspect of him is that he works. There's a lot of players that think they're too good to work; he's not like that.

"The best players over the last 20 years have all had that in their locker, from [Anthony] Tohill to [Peter] Canavan, Darragh O Se. Although they were very good, they were the hardest workers on the pitch as well."

Armagh are an industrious outfit but McGeeney knows they'll need inspiration as well as inspiration to take anything from their testing start to Division One:

"Dublin at the start of the League is going to be a massive test for us. Dublin at Croke Park is the pinnacle for every team at the minute, and then the All-Ireland Champions [Tyrone] after that. We know those seven days of football will give us a good barometer of where we stand."

Armagh had a good McKenna Cup, beating Cavan and Tyrone before losing out to Monaghan in the semi-finals. Even though McGeeney ran the rule over plenty of players, he'd like to have seen more, as he explained:

"We got a chance to see some players but with the tail-end of the club season going into the county season, a lot of the ones you want to look at are all carrying injuries, so it's hard to get them in for a pre-season and give them a fair chance to show their football.

"Sometimes what happens, with a lot of the club players coming in, is they're way behind with fitness and strength and then they don't actually get a chance to show their true worth."

Still, the Orchard County look like they have assembled a strong squad, and McGeeney is optimistic that they have the depth to stay up in the top flight again:

"We hope so. A lot of fellas are carrying wee knocks, we were trying to watch them ahead of the Dublin game, while also getting our patterns of play on the pitch. We all know January and February is the busiest time for Gaelic footballers and we're trying to establish a regular team, so it's that balancing act.
 
Diarmi

Diarmi

Well-Known Member
William Of Orange said:
might bite the bullet and buy the child an adult ticket for the Hog
Click to expand...

huggy2002 said:
NOSTALGIA isn't what it used to be - Armagh manager Kieran McGeeney insists that modern-day football is far more skilful than even in his heyday of the Nineties and 2000s.

The Orchard County's All-Ireland winning captain from 2002 was a classy centre half-back but he was self-deprecating about his own ability in comparison to that of many present-day players:

"The game has changed a lot, nearly everybody's a footballer now. Back in our day they only started counting footballers from about 12 up." Reminded of his brief time being moved to the number 15 jersey and given a roving role, he quipped: "They regretted that one.

"It's definitely a different ball game now. You hear a lot of people going on about 'It isn't the same as it used to be…' and they're right - it's way, way more skilful.

"The level of skill of boys nowadays… if you just have an athlete on the pitch now he stands out a mile. You have to have so much in your locker now to be able to compete at the top level.

"It's great watching it, that type of football. When you make mistakes, especially in Division One, that whole idea of giving up possession is key to the game. Giving fellas with pace on other teams counter-attacking options - they can put your lights out in four or five minutes if you're not careful."

One player who is definitely an athlete but also has the full package of skill too is Rian O'Neill, who has again been impressing at full-forward for Armagh.

McGeeney believes that the Crossmaglen lad should have joined his brother Oisin as an Allstar nominee last year given his performances in League and especially Championship, commenting:

"It's funny how, depending on where you are in the country, you get more nudges towards those things than you do from other areas…


"Rian's a special player. I think the most special aspect of him is that he works. There's a lot of players that think they're too good to work; he's not like that.

"The best players over the last 20 years have all had that in their locker, from [Anthony] Tohill to [Peter] Canavan, Darragh O Se. Although they were very good, they were the hardest workers on the pitch as well."

Armagh are an industrious outfit but McGeeney knows they'll need inspiration as well as inspiration to take anything from their testing start to Division One:

"Dublin at the start of the League is going to be a massive test for us. Dublin at Croke Park is the pinnacle for every team at the minute, and then the All-Ireland Champions [Tyrone] after that. We know those seven days of football will give us a good barometer of where we stand."

Armagh had a good McKenna Cup, beating Cavan and Tyrone before losing out to Monaghan in the semi-finals. Even though McGeeney ran the rule over plenty of players, he'd like to have seen more, as he explained:

"We got a chance to see some players but with the tail-end of the club season going into the county season, a lot of the ones you want to look at are all carrying injuries, so it's hard to get them in for a pre-season and give them a fair chance to show their football.

"Sometimes what happens, with a lot of the club players coming in, is they're way behind with fitness and strength and then they don't actually get a chance to show their true worth."

Still, the Orchard County look like they have assembled a strong squad, and McGeeney is optimistic that they have the depth to stay up in the top flight again:

"We hope so. A lot of fellas are carrying wee knocks, we were trying to watch them ahead of the Dublin game, while also getting our patterns of play on the pitch. We all know January and February is the busiest time for Gaelic footballers and we're trying to establish a regular team, so it's that balancing act.
Click to expand...
This all brings back memories of the good old days where you would read anything you could find about Armagh, I even wrote some meself just to read them back :p:Dlol. I feel a bit like some of the older players on the team now where I have learned to enjoy this bit as I know it may not last forever. No more shitty trips to the back hole of beyont for the time being, it's time to rock Croker with an orange wave!!! Let's party like it's 2002!!! Whhoooo Hooooo!!!........... (Although I'll be all tucked up in bed by 10pm)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top