National Football League 2023

Hoops

Active Member
Murnin for kickouts I suppose. What is status of Grimley/Sheridan? Massive ask to throw McPartland in

Surely the league is the time to throw him in? Imo he’d likely suit wing half forward better, could still be an option for kickouts there too.

Mcpartland would be a lot more stylish than mackin if he got the start, and the team could do with some style injected around centre field
 

Smallball

Active Member
Doubt we will see mc partland. Mc geeney seems to like players to serve their time round the panel for a year or 2 before trusting them in the first 15. I would personally like to see him get a crack at it because midfield has been poor in league so far so what harm could a fresh face do
 

Dylan53

Member
There's not much to agree with in this post. Hall came up at club and county underage as a scoring forward. He has two good feet and isn't afraid to shoot, he is 100% doing what he is told to do. If McGeeney and the management team are watching him in training 3-5 times a week and they're happy to put him in then that should be good enough for us. The same in reverse with McQuillan - we should all know by now that McGeeney doesn't give a shit about throwing someone in and if Ross was training well enough he'd be starting, or get more than 10mins.

It's also a bit mad to suggest that Soupy has been awful so far, he won us the game in Blaney and his direct running got us between 3 and 4 scores against Mayo. Again, the management team are not stupid, they know he isn't an intercounty 'fetcher' type midfielder. He's there to get us up the pitch, which he does fairly well. If Rian had played him in properly on Sunday he'd have bagged a goal and we'd likely have gotten a result.

Something similar for Grugan, he's crucial to how Armagh play, never wastes a ball, one of the best left footed free takers (inside 45m) in Ireland and as a former captain clearly a great leader. Crucial scores in every game.

Am getting tired typing now but Forker has also contributed massively to the 3 points we do have on the board (he won that free at the end v Mayo). He's a leader on the pitch, is no longer a red card risk, offers more physicality than anyone else bar perhaps Morgan and is completely crucial (along with Grugan and Rian) to how Armagh play againt packed defences.

In short McGeeney would be mad to drop Soupy, Grugan or Forker and he won't drop them because he's not.

Have a cup of green tea or something before you watch us against Kerry mate.
In no way am I suggesting Soupy, Grugan, or Forker should be dropped. I'm merely commenting that they've been poor so far, which they have been. Forker in particular I think would fit better as a 6, as he just doesn't have the pace anymore IMO to mark a Div 1 level forward in front of goals.

What a player does in training is great, but it's what he does in games that matters. Hall offers tremendous work rate, but if you're saying he has the ability to score then why has he never come close to showing that ability at the intercounty level? This isn't underage football anymore. I don't think he's a bad player, I just don't think he's one of our 15 best players, and certainly not one of the 6 best forwards.
 

Armaghball

Well-Known Member
Campbell to half forward line and one of Turbitt, J Kieran or McQuillan to the starting line up instead of cummisky and that's a right enough team.
Only for him and his goal line clearance vs Mayo we’d be sitting in a much worse place.

Wish people wouldn’t nitpick every player who starts or doesn’t start every week, a lot of it is based on name only rather than effectiveness a lot of the time. Not a dig at you @gael_force_orchard , most people (myself included) are guilty of it at times. As much as I rate Justin Kieran he hasn’t done anything more than Cumiskey to justify a start.

Either way, we all know that team won’t start ;)
 
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