Armagh_paul
Well-Known Member
Donegal 3-16
Armagh 1-6 Sheridan; McKeever; McClelland goal; C O'Neill; O'Hagan(2)
FT
Armagh 1-6 Sheridan; McKeever; McClelland goal; C O'Neill; O'Hagan(2)
FT
McKenna Cup 2024
- Thread starter Ed Ricketts
- Start date
I agree you could see the physical differences in teams, wonder will the senior team play next game
Agree - did anyone get anything out of that?
A waste of time.
How come we lined out strong teams in last year's competition but did this tonight? What is the thinking?
What would have been the benefit if we fielded strongest team and won. Would argue there would be no benefit either way.
Away to Donegal in the McKenna Cup at January has no benefit regardless of team selection or result.
Anybody who wants to criticise or question decisions has the right to do so. But I will hold out to league before making any logical conclusions
Armagh_paul
Well-Known Member
Went as expected. Obviously it would be nice to win every game but sometimes it just isn’t necessary. If we played someone like Forker and he was injured as a result we would be saying it is stupid to play first team players. The result is going to have no impact on the season although other factors could have. The potential cost was far greater than the benefit.
Not sure what we learnt from the team that played. Hard to see who played well when there is such a huge difference in the score and no comparison against first team players. Would have liked to try and unearth some defenders.
Disappointed but not concerned.
Not sure what we learnt from the team that played. Hard to see who played well when there is such a huge difference in the score and no comparison against first team players. Would have liked to try and unearth some defenders.
Disappointed but not concerned.
ragingbull
Well-Known Member
Jimmy's winning matches
ragingbull
Well-Known Member
The thing is if Hughes,Magill,O'Hagan are on the panel along with Rafferty surely one of them should be playing in goals in McKenna Cup while Rafferty is out like only one of them is going to be playing in goals in the league like wise for players in other positions,Armagh have midfielders in Mackin,McPartland,Grimley,O'Neill,Burns,Crealey that's 6 midfielders 2 of them is more than likely start than the other 4 in the league
Armaghball
Well-Known Member
Anyone that’s close to playing in the league was away at that game vs Dublin.
Not about the winning or playing the strongest team at all Stevie but you definitely need a sprinkling of experience to give a few of the younger lads a chance to make an impact - that's the only issue I had with last night's team.
An experience none-the-less for the lads and maybe Geezer giving a few lads their cap for their hard work over the last few weeks before the upcoming panel chop.
Fairly sure Donegal fielded their U20s in the McKenna Cup under Bonner a few years back, so we wouldn't be the first to be making "a mockery" if the competition
I have little to no interest in what Donegal do and I am acutely aware this isn't the first time someone has belittled the competition resulting in a mismatch. My point remains the same, if you don't want to play in it then don't, it is that simple but don't waste the fans time, on a Wednesday night in early January to watch a team of kids.
It is a senior competition that should be treated as such IMO. The chat that the senior panel was playing against the Dubs so that is a viable excuse is a load of rubbish too. The wider senior panel is more than fit to accommodate fringe players to strengthen that squad last night. Justy Kierans, Brendan Haveron, Peter Mc Grane, Cian Mc Conville, Joe Sheridan, Tomas Mc Cormick, Eoin Woods to name but a few off the top of my head. All squad players with little to no quality game time. The above names doesn't even take into consideration those that have joined the wider training panel this year.
The window for players to put their hand up in competitive games is so short that these 3 matches IMO are proper chances to stake a claim. The league will be strongest 15 at any given possibility as we will want out of Division 2 ASAP so the thought that boys will get a chance there isn't logical for me.
Anyway, line under it and move on!
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Someone has to play away and there generally is a 1 away game with a fair chance it is mid week. My overall point is the same. If you don't want to play in a competition then don't. There are fans who prebooked and made plans with their kids to take in that game including telling their young kids there were going. Did they deserve it?
Challenge game against Dublin on a Wednesday night won't have been a logistical dream either so don't buy the excuse of the travel to Donegal at all.
armaghtimmy
Well-Known Member
We didn't- our u20s did
We didn't- our u20s did
LOL
I’d say there’d be some benefit to fielding a team comprising one or two experienced heads, fringe senior players needing game time, a trialist or two and whatever u20s look to be breaking into the senior setup in the very near future. Don’t think anyone has suggested the first choice XV should have played.
The result itself isn’t important, the first half performance was actually fairly encouraging all things considered. But what was the point in fielding that team in the first place? Imagine you were one of the trialists being asked to come into the senior panel only to be fucked off to Donegal to play with the u20s for a turkey shoot. Demoralising.
I think he made the correct call sending an u20 team. As mentioned above, why risk injuries to key players, even fringe players are players coming back from injury.
For the normal players, I would imagine when they seen Donegal away on a Wednesday night in the McKenna cup, they were dreading the idea of having to travel up the road for a glorified friendly and not getting back to god knows what time. They will sacrifice enough time throughout the year, so was the best call to effectively give them all the night off.
For the normal players, I would imagine when they seen Donegal away on a Wednesday night in the McKenna cup, they were dreading the idea of having to travel up the road for a glorified friendly and not getting back to god knows what time. They will sacrifice enough time throughout the year, so was the best call to effectively give them all the night off.
For what's it worth I think McKenna Cup is a waste of time and would scrap it all together. And expected to travel to Donegal on Wednesday evening at half 7 is a joke. I wouldn't have fielded.
And I'm sure the team fielded yesterday were made well aware of the situation beforehand.
armaghtimmy
Well-Known Member
Would be equally demoralising you could argue for a fringe player to be sent to Donegal and be outside the 40/45 involved in the Dubs game. As a former player I would rather be involved in that first team squad even if it meant 10 or 15 mins in the final 1/4 of the game when I could of had 60mins during a turkey shoot with the younger ones. They would get more out of a game in a training session than chasing shadows in Donegal id go as far to say.... The mistake most are making is Armagh did not enter the McKenna cup, Armagh u20s did under the alas of Armagh Senior Team.
Secondly Geezer wants a squad of 40/45 united and chomping at the bit for late Jan... keeping them together does that, nobody feels alienated whilst also not giving Donegal a sniff of anything ahead of the league.
How is it a night off if they went and played Dublin LOL