National League 2019

[Big Jim]

The goal we had disallowed was that the right call? It looked ok to me. Also should we have had another penalty?
Not blaming the ref for today’s loss. He we taken two marks instead of playing on we would have won

Aye any idea what the goal was disallowed for? Seemed strange

Performance was poor and laboured. Even our better players were dubious today. Jamie seems to have upped his game quite a bit. His penalty was extremely well taken. I'm not sure Jamie would be forced into covering all the ground he did. It looks like that is his preferred style now and certainly prevents him being dragged about and physically abused. He actually seems to enjoy it.

I know we were really generous and donated the money from the Half time draw to a fantastic cause and to help a fellow Gael, but also giving them the points to hope they stayed up??????

On the ref. I can't say he was that bad. Yeah maybe he did make a few mistakes, but he definitely didn't show any bias. It's rare to see a player get carded for diving, but he did what we have been asking for. Can't criticise in that case I don't think. In truth the result was our fault, not his or his decisions. Others have already identified our poor shot selection, passing and poor shooting. Tackling wasn't bad overall today.

Interesting stats @Bert and strange too.

The league finishing position can be viewed as a success. A tremendous success would have been promotion and failure would have been relegation. That means it was only one thing, successful. I'm with others in thinking another year at this level will do us no harm. If we get by Down it'll be a good start, but I wouldn't look past that for now. Take it as it comes, one game at a time. the not knowing is kinda cool. Looking forward to it already. 19th May marked on the calendar.

 

[niall1980]

Aye any idea what the goal was disallowed for? Seemed strange

Performance was poor and laboured. Even our better players were dubious today. Jamie seems to have upped his game quite a bit. His penalty was extremely well taken. I'm not sure Jamie would be forced into covering all the ground he did. It looks like that is his preferred style now and certainly prevents him being dragged about and physically abused. He actually seems to enjoy it.

I know we were really generous and donated the money from the Half time draw to a fantastic cause and to help a fellow Gael, but also giving them the points to hope they stayed up??????

On the ref. I can't say he was that bad. Yeah maybe he did make a few mistakes, but he definitely didn't show any bias. It's rare to see a player get carded for diving, but he did what we have been asking for. Can't criticise in that case I don't think. In truth the result was our fault, not his or his decisions. Others have already identified our poor shot selection, passing and poor shooting. Tackling wasn't bad overall today.

Interesting stats @Bert and strange too.

The league finishing position can be viewed as a success. A tremendous success would have been promotion and failure would have been relegation. That means it was only one thing, successful. I'm with others in thinking another year at this level will do us no harm. If we get by Down it'll be a good start, but I wouldn't look past that for now. Take it as it comes, one game at a time. the not knowing is kinda cool. Looking forward to it already. 19th May marked on the calendar.

He seemed to indicate a push on the keeper. In my opinion it was a perfectly good goal but I may be biased

 

[Big Jim]

He seemed to indicate a push on the keeper. In my opinion it was a perfectly good goal but I may be biased

Ah ok. Guys beside us were convinced it was square ball, but I didn't see any indication and couldn't tell. To be fair my old eyes couldn't see that far I'd happily agree with you! Now where did I put those bloody tinted glasses???

 

[ragingbull]

Calamity goalkeeping by both keepers in Tyrone & Galway game

 

[Armagh_paul]

Some stats - Most of it is taken from GAA website.

There are some mistakes in there but it is down to sources used.

I would love to do some advanced data on where scores/shots are taken from, heat maps for players etc.

 

[ragingbull]

He seemed to indicate a push on the keeper. In my opinion it was a perfectly good goal but I may be biased

It wouldn't be like you to be bias

 

[ragingbull]

Did the cork back not put the ball in his own net like Morgan vs Clare ?

 

[green flag]

Todays match was apathetic, lethargic, and boring, surely supporters should expect that come the last game of the league we should have a settled 15 ready to do battle in the championship. Todays game v Cork should have been approached with our strongest team and with the intensity of a championship game instead of this dire excuse for football we were served up. We are now going to engage Down with no settled team and no apparent game plan.

 

[Androim]

Just been reading the Irish News report from the Fermanagh match.

No problems this week. Compliments all round. Nothing anti-Armagh.

I promised @Calm1 I’d run my eye over those boyos’ Armagh match reports. Cork match up next. I’ll probably have that one reviewed come Easter.

Yeah, Greek Easter!

 

[Big Jim]

Did the cork back not put the ball in his own net like Morgan vs Clare ?

Morgan didn't touch the ball in that incident in the Clare game. He did try tackling a moment before but the slo mo showed there was no contact.

 

[Big Jim]

Todays match was apathetic, lethargic, and boring, surely supporters should expect that come the last game of the league we should have a settled 15 ready to do battle in the championship. Todays game v Cork should have been approached with our strongest team and with the intensity of a championship game instead of this dire excuse for football we were served up. We are now going to engage Down with no settled team and no apparent game plan.

But who would be our best/starting 15?
How do fringe players get game time?

 

[Bert]

Todays match was apathetic, lethargic, and boring, surely supporters should expect that come the last game of the league we should have a settled 15 ready to do battle in the championship. Todays game v Cork should have been approached with our strongest team and with the intensity of a championship game instead of this dire excuse for football we were served up. We are now going to engage Down with no settled team and no apparent game plan.

Ah come on, this is a tried and trusted tactic. We lose our last league outing - cork this year, wexford 2018, tipp 2017, Sligo 2015 but we come out with clear and concise game plan for the first round of the Ulster championship!

 

[ragingbull]

Hughes
Morgan
McKay
Hughes
McCabe
Donaghy
Forker
Sheridan
Grimley
Shields
Gurgan
Rafferty
Clarke
O'Neill
Campbell

 

[Patrick-Armagh]

Todays match was apathetic, lethargic, and boring, surely supporters should expect that come the last game of the league we should have a settled 15 ready to do battle in the championship. Todays game v Cork should have been approached with our strongest team and with the intensity of a championship game instead of this dire excuse for football we were served up. We are now going to engage Down with no settled team and no apparent game plan.

That's how I saw it. I found it hard to believe that we weren't up for this one, despite having nothing to play for. Last league game, at home, against a big name side who are bottom of the league, with players looking to impress before Championship and that's the dross that was served up in the first half. As far as I could see, only Burns and Casey were players who haven't started in the league, while McElroy has been a frequent sub and Rafferty is a key player getting back to fitness. Other than that, there were no real issues with the starting team. Our tactics were mystifying and doesn't exactly fill you with confidence going into the Championship. We've played in fits and starts through the league, but nothing that you would say was consistent.

Hughes
Morgan
McKay
Hughes
McCabe
Donaghy
Forker
Sheridan
Grimley
Shields
Gurgan
Rafferty
Clarke
O'Neill
Campbell

I think that team is pretty much bang on and is probably the strongest side we have at present with who we have fit. You could make an argument for Shields playing in the half back line instead of McCabe maybe, with Hall playing at half forward. Shields or Hall will be needed to mark or track Caolan Mooney.

 

[Diarmi]

Disappointed with the game yesterday although the defeat doesn't really bother me after all who will remember where we finished in a few months time (apart from some of the nerds on here [me included]). We stayed in division 2 and hopefully learned a lot on the way. Our results and performances in the league have proven that we are not ready to go up. We still have quite a few frailties which you can get away with in division 2 but would be sorely exposed in division 1. But that's OK, we are going in the right direction and any right minded supporter knew this was a journey. Next year is different though, promotion should certainly be an objective and we need to be looking towards an Ulster Championship soon also.
The game itself was a real let down especially as I, like many others, expected it to be an enjoyable event with the pressure off. I am guessing this game was used by the management as a dry run for the Down game. We had no reason to go so defensive given the fact we could neither go up or down so it is the only possible rationale I can think of. The majority of the league we left Jamie, Soupy and Rian up and indeed rotated the full forward position. Yesterday it was full on Ulsterbus on the 45 stuff which can only be for one reason (Oh God please let it not be a sign of things to come).
On starting players for the championship, I would like to see.

Hughes
Sheilds
McKay
Hughes
McCabe
Donaghy
Forker
Grimley
Sheridan
Hall
Grugan
Rafferty
Clarke
O'Neill
Campbell

 

[niall1980]

That's how I saw it. I found it hard to believe that we weren't up for this one, despite having nothing to play for. Last league game, at home, against a big name side who are bottom of the league, with players looking to impress before Championship and that's the dross that was served up in the first half. As far as I could see, only Burns and Casey were players who haven't started in the league, while McElroy has been a frequent sub and Rafferty is a key player getting back to fitness. Other than that, there were no real issues with the starting team. Our tactics were mystifying and doesn't exactly fill you with confidence going into the Championship. We've played in fits and starts through the league, but nothing that you would say was consistent.


I think that team is pretty much bang on and is probably the strongest side we have at present with who we have fit. You could make an argument for Shields playing in the half back line instead of McCabe maybe, with Hall playing at half forward. Shields or Hall will be needed to mark or track Caolan Mooney.

Casey started against fermanagh

 

[Imposerous]

Be interested to hear why people believe Sheridan warrants a starting place in the middle ahead of Jarly Og.
Other than experience, and that may be sufficient for a championship game, is there any facet of a midfielder’s armoury in which Sheridan is better equipped?
Midfield seems to be an area where Down seem to be struggling so whoever we deploy I’d expect us to win that sector.

 

[Big Jim]

Be interested to hear why people believe Sheridan warrants a starting place in the middle ahead of Jarly Og.
Other than experience, and that may be sufficient for a championship game, is there any facet of a midfielder’s armoury in which Sheridan is better equipped?
Midfield seems to be an area where Down seem to be struggling so whoever we deploy I’d expect us to win that sector.

I'd be a supporter of Sheridan, but think you're right. He's not an automatic starter, but a really good alternative. By that I mean he could either start if that was necessary and/or he did enough in training to justify it and I also wouldn't be disappointed to see him come on as a sub.

We haven't been great in the middle either, but there's definite improvement. One thing I'm certain of is that at present we're certain of nothing. We could turn up on 19th May and blow Down off the field, struggle to a draw (is that going to be possible anymore in championship early rounds?) after 20 hours of extra time and 30,000 frees or they will hit form and embarrass us again - please god no!!

@Diarmi I'd say you can relax. With the amount of complaining Geezer and our players have done about the crap defensive set-ups I seriously doubt we'll go down that route. We proved last week that when we're determined, we can "just about" cope with it. Mind you Meath seems to have shown again yesterday that even loathsome defensive teams like Fermanagh can be well beaten - to be fair we had weakened their resolve last week. Defensive systems had crept into a lot of teams including Kerry, but the general run of things at the minute would show a move away from ultra defensive. Across the whole country you can see a new crop of very talented forwards raising their heads with some good high scores in games. That'll help negate the defence if they're shooting from distance, something we need to see more of. Ethan was definitely having a go yesterday. Just needs to get the radar a little more accurate and then, just like John McEntee back in the day, Niall Grimley who is also well capable of long shots and others will be more confident to have a pop.

One negative. We seem to have stopped the diagonal ball again or at least reduced the amount of use. One fabulous cross field ball yesterday ended up with the most glorious of "inside marks" and ultimately a score. It's the kind of ball Andrew Murnin would thrive on if he was well partnered.

Despite the problems and poor performances, there is hope. Without that we may as well give up. I also don't agree we don't have a game plan as others have said. I think we have, it just doesn't click every time and doesn't seem to adapt well to different styles. The thing about Paul Grimley's plan in the early '00s was it could be quickly adapted to the style of play of the next team we met. Still I say bring Big Paul back in. He'd be a marvellous addition, even if only to sit in the stand to read the game.

 

[niall1980]

@Calm1 Meath beat fermanagh by 7. We beat them by six. Not much difference really and I would say we left them well beaten also

 

[Big Jim]

@Calm1 Meath beat fermanagh by 7. We beat them by six. Not much difference really and I would say we left them well beaten also

Yeah Niall I left out the word "again" after "Mind you Meath seems to have shown" and that's why I had continued "to be fair we had weakened their resolve last week." (face palm - my bad!!)

EDIT - I've edited it in