Allianz Football League 2022 Division 1

Muckser

Muckser

Well-Known Member
One issue last night was the Season tickets...was one parent and Juvenile pair separated by 27 seats! Now that's stupidly by ticketmaster. Also was a row the steward apologised where the seats where double sold. The Stewart was really helpful to the people involved and tool photos of all the tickets involved.

Something unusual was heading into our seats the 2 stewards in 305 had a box of sweets and crisps offering the contents to people free. They said they did it as happy see people back...Nice touch from the 2 ladies.
 
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Influx

Well-Known Member
Superb performance at times, but lots to build upon. The joy that the win has brought to the county is better than any medicine. However, in such a competitive league, you have to reset immediately and prepare for the next opponent. Last time we were in an eight team league in the top flight, we were sitting on 3 points after defeating Kerry on home turf, but failed to collect another point that campaign. So no room for complacency!
 
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gael_force_orchard

Well-Known Member
What a great way to start the league. Top performances all over the field. Targeted them wide and then had runners with intent down the middle. Kicked the ball long and with accuracy. The most pleasing aspect was that we showed a bit more discipline in our tackling, we were calmer at the back and we didnt panic. Dublin were always going to come at us in the second half, but we chipped away with a burst of 2 or 3 points a couple of times and that killed the game off. Im not overly concerned at their goal, benefit of the doubt would suggest that Mc kay was blinded by a floodlight poss and just lost the flight of the ball, the ball could also have ricocheted anywhere after that, plus mc cabe had his own goal chance after si we still threatened further. We won the game, had a solid plan that worked, and still have a few things to work on. So a nice place to be. Tyrone will be a harder game and especially now that expectation will be raised. Shout outs to everyone on that panel and hopefully Crealey isn't badly injured, hes gonna be a huge player for us. Weve waited a long time for a win like that yet somehow a lot of us knew we were going to do it yesterday.
 
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Patrick-Armagh

Well-Known Member
What impressed me even more about the performance last night was I thought we could have done better! There was some poor handling errors from Nugent and Kelly, which happened without much pressure from a defender. I think Dublin scored from two of those mistakes. Obviously teams make mistakes, players drop passes and shoot wides. The very best teams don’t make those errors when under no pressure.

Ciarán O’Hanlon is another player who didn’t get game time last night and he was one of our best players last season, further illustrating the strength in depth we have. Our plan of flooding the defence with bodies and then breaking worked a treat last night. We wouldn’t have the defenders to play 1-1, so this system works best for us. There will be days when it’s not as successful, but hopefully people see the benefit of it and give McGeeney credit for getting us to this point, which took longer than we all hoped.
 
Diarmi

Diarmi

Well-Known Member
Throwball said:
Great performance tonight . I could go on for ever on who was great and how we beat Dublin. BUT the thing that pleased me most...that when Dublin tried to rough it up in the second half Armagh stood up to it. Ciaran Mackin and Jarly Og will be sore in the morning!
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Yeah, what was that about. Wouldn't you think they would know that the one team in the country that you couldn't rough up would be Armagh, even more so a Geezer Armagh!!!
 
PatMustard

PatMustard

Well-Known Member
Influx said:
Superb performance at times, but lots to build upon. The joy that the win has brought to the county is better than any medicine. However, in such a competitive league, you have to reset immediately and prepare for the next opponent. Last time we were in an eight team league in the top flight, we were sitting on 3 points after defeating Kerry on home turf, but failed to collect another point that campaign. So no room for complacency!
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We beat Down at home after the Cork draw and Kerry win.

We actually went down with 5 points that season, whereas we stayed up with 4 points the previous year.

But yes, a long way to go yet. But that win last night will hopefully give the lads a huge confidence boost, and the thought that we can beat anyone if we get the performance right.
 
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cailín beag88

Well-Known Member
Aren't Sunday mornings great after a brilliant performance. After a disappointing week for me, that was the cure I needed. First half was best performance in long time. This was coming..oh I don't have any words to describe how good that was so simply well done to everyone involved and up Armagh..I really love my county..
 
Armagh_paul

Armagh_paul

Well-Known Member
portadownarmaghfan said:
I'm struggling to recall a better first half of football from Armagh in recent living memory, particularly in Croke Park. Meath in 1999 is the best I can come up with, 2 goals from Marsden and Kieran Hughes I think. A Dublin supporter beside me described it as flawless which sums it up pretty well.
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I am not being negative here but we were not flawless, there are a few minor things that could be ironed out. I don't think we can defend like that for every game we play, it is so energy zapping. I was pleased we played as a team that could attack and defend. We were always the architects of our own downfall in almost every game we have played. In the past defending was an issue but yesterday steps were taken to resolve this and it paid dividends. We kept attacking Dublin and they absolutely hated it. If I was Dublin I would be thinking "Oh f*uck, here they come again".I think our forwards really struck fear into Dublins defence. The best of it is, Turbo, Oisin, Murnin haven't played yet. Duffy is a serious forward. To have the balls to go to Dublin and play against Dublin and score a goal like that shows he is full of confidence. Soupy was a class decision to bring on, he would have settled everyone down and dragged the team through if Dublin did get close. In reality, we could have done a lot more damage to Dublin if we wanted to.

Physically Armagh dominated Dublin and it goes to show you how big and strong the players have become. It hasn't come at a sacrifice to speed either. I do think our Stamina was drifting a bit in the second half but it's the first game of the season boys and girls things are only going to improve from here.

Oh almost forgot about the passing. The thing I tend to despise was how we would cough up possession with wayward passes. This was a very rare occasion yesterday and players if they were unsure would stop and look around them. The team made some really good decisions other than the free O'Neill booted away because there were no options. I'm a fan of the players all standing in the middle and bursting out in different directions for the kick-outs it was innovative and requires expansion.
 
JoeH

JoeH

Well-Known Member
Can't really argue with much written here.
However:
The named team in the four games has more or less started.
We have a severe mix of players - hard working, exceptionally talented players, great strength in depth.
The method of play works. It may not have done so all the time but they kept going.
Let's hope more supporters come out and push these guys on especially in our home games .

Dublin play Kerry and mayo next. Not looking good for them.
It's early doors but four good performances this year - long may it continue
 
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armaghlad

Active Member
Well done players and management. The first half was a joy to watch. Great intensity, work rate and smart use of the ball. I was also very impressed with the fitness levels. Our defence were on top and apart from the soft goal gave a very well rounded performance. Forwards were -also brilliant, Grugan flourished and O’Neill gave an exhibition - rightly awarded MOTM. Looking forward to the next game against that lot across the Blackwater where hopefully we can back up last night’s performance with another two points.
 
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Left Right Out

Member
Don’t think I’m mad when I look at fixtures ahead and think we could possibly win 3 of the 6 remaining games….. at least. I don’t want to get carried away, but it is nice to have that little bit of optimism again
 
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Left Right Out

Member
And I think management were excellent in using the McKenna Cup in preparation for the league. Great use of panel players. Even to the extent that the Monaghan game could have been closed out, if Geezer hadn’t have given some fringe players game time. But that was the right thing to do to keep a happy panel going forward
 
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