Ulster Championship 2023

Lemallon

Lemallon

Active Member
Armagh did not win that game yesterday (note I didn’t say lose because they didn’t LOSE the game only the shoot out) for two major reasons and these deficiencies have been present for years.

1. Lack of a go to kickout when the game is really there To be won.

2. Ill discipline, whether it be bad fouls or the even more infuriating tendency to get frees moved up after the foul has been committed.

Is the failure to rectify this to be placed more at the management or the players on the field ? I’ll leave that to more qualified people but it has cost numerous close games over the past 4/5 years so I don’t Believe is going to change.

I recall making a similar post about the moved up 45 just before half time in the Galway league game and the semi final in the heat wave v Monaghan brings back horrific similar memories.
At this stage you just expect it.
When Ethan kicked the point to go 2 up with 4 to go in extra time my first thought was how are we going to mess this up.
With any other top team I’d be saying this game is totally over.
But no, we of course get an unscoreable free moved to a position where mc guigan can equalise and our chance is lost.
Sadly rian despite being our best player has shown this reckless side many many times and again I don’t believe it will ever leave him.

This group stage is now the biggest test i believe of this squad and geezers management. There will be countless voices in players ears over the next two weeks saying what was done wrong and it will be very easy for things to go sideways.
Westmeath are a sneakily dangerous side if we aren’t at the right pitch.
John heslin. Ronan o toole. Sam mc cartan. Ronan Wallace. Luke Loughlin are all excellent players with pace and that is something armagh struggle against.
It’s going to be massive task to lift the time mentally for this game and we could be caught. A loss here and the season could utterly collapse v Tyrone and Galway.
This is now where leaders must step up.
 
K

Kem

Active Member
Orchard Apples said:
Absolutely gutted to lose like that in penalties but the lads made us proud. Perhaps it's better they make the mistakes now and learn something rather than do them down the line in a quarter or semi final (hopefully).
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Agree with the sentiments but little evidence heretofore of our ability to learn lessons from past misfortunes
 
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stevie_06

Well-Known Member
Few Geezer interviews floating about. It appears he does accept that we had the game somewhat won and bad decisions cost us.

Also reading that Flynn feels Tyrone are the best team in Ulster. Whether he is right or wrong I have no idea how he is able to come to that conclusion. They were ok in the league and played one good half of football against Monaghan before then throwing it away.

Certainly harsh not to have at least Derry ahead them and certainly a case for us to be ahead of them.

24 hours from the match I still thinking about numerous moments that could have went different and we would be current Ulster champions. But having thought long and hard about I don't feel we actually did a whole lot wrong. Yes few things didn't go our away and few bad decisions at crucial times. That said our performance I feel was the best so far this year.

Looking forward to the group stage. Home to Westmeath should be a banker and that should mean we at least finish 3rd. However think we have a great chance of going out and beating Tyrone at Omagh. We certainly owe them one after the league.

Would leave us with a match against Galway with the winner of that match most likely winning the group.

Accept the above outcome is presuming a lot. But yesterday's performance has given me a lot of hope. Derry being talked up as being involved at the business end of the season and we went toe to toe with them for 90 minutes. So I remain optimistic we can be involved in at least an All Ireland quarter final.
 
Berfaboy77

Berfaboy77

Active Member
Yesterday was disappointing, however I was immensely proud of the teams efforts. Yes mistakes were made and wrong options taken, but there were also fantastic passages of play and performances. The lads cannot be faulted for effort. I thought Mackin, McKay, O Neill, McCabe & Rian were excellent yesterday. If we had another goalkeeper at our disposal I'd really love to see Rafferty in midfield. I thought Creally was a big miss yesterday and also apart from soupy & McQuillan we didn't have a lot of impact from the bench! What's the story with TK, is there any word of him getting back...

Onwards and upwards, we aren't a million miles away, certainly well capable of creating a few upsets against the so called bigger teams...
 
Lemallon

Lemallon

Active Member
Anyone else getting the mc guigan biting incident on rian shared on what’s app with them. Looks fairly clear now but at the time would have Been almost impossible to see
 
P

POINTMAN

Well-Known Member
Berfaboy77 said:
Yesterday was disappointing, however I was immensely proud of the teams efforts. Yes mistakes were made and wrong options taken, but there were also fantastic passages of play and performances. The lads cannot be faulted for effort. I thought Mackin, McKay, O Neill, McCabe & Rian were excellent yesterday. If we had another goalkeeper at our disposal I'd really love to see Rafferty in midfield. I thought Creally was a big miss yesterday and also apart from soupy & McQuillan we didn't have a lot of impact from the bench! What's the story with TK, is there any word of him getting back...

Onwards and upwards, we aren't a million miles away, certainly well capable of creating a few upsets against the so called bigger teams...
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Another goalkeeper at our disposal?
We had one - Hughes from Carrickcruppen - but poorly managed by Geezer. I agree that Ethan would be very useful in midfield, but it ain't going to happen.
 
P

Punt kick

New Member
Geezer needs to change the team up.. It's not working.. Put Duffy back into corner forward where he was lethal last year, soupy must start and Rian in midfield. Rian covered every blade of grass yesterday and for me the best game he's had in an Armagh jersey. Cumiskey also needs to start.
 
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Armaghball

Well-Known Member
Punt kick said:
Geezer needs to change the team up.. It's not working.. Put Duffy back into corner forward where he was lethal last year, soupy must start and Rian in midfield. Rian covered every blade of grass yesterday and for me the best game he's had in an Armagh jersey. Cumiskey also needs to start.
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Duffy been good all year playing out the field and working up and down. Rian was in midfield most of the game was he not?
 
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Pat Cully

Well-Known Member
McGuigan’s free was on the 65 yard line and he kicks it from two yards inside the 45.
There was very little done to warrant moving the free forward.
Also watching it back the frees for him near the end where very soft
 
K

KilleavyGael

Active Member
Pat Cully said:
McGuigan’s free was on the 65 yard line and he kicks it from two yards inside the 45.
There was very little done to warrant moving the free forward.
Also watching it back the frees for him near the end where very soft
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Not much point complaining about the stolen yards - every good free taker does it. Ideally we'd see referees able to spray a line on the pitch that the taker cannot cross, similar to soccer. I'll be surprised if we don't see this popping up at Congress in the next couple of years.

Overall I'm not too upset. A few rash moments cost us dearly. Ethan very very badly at fault for the goal and also for a couple of really poor kickout decisions when we were winning at the death. But that's what we are going to get continually from him and it's a price Geezer is obviously happy to pay in return for the other things he brings.

If I had to summarise the negative side of Sunday it'd be that we are continually coming up just short in 'classic' encounters due to these repeated stupid mistakes or whatever you want to call them. Think of Monaghan in the Marshes, Roscommon in Thurles, Galway in Croker. Great games, great sport but we're the losers every time. Worse, it's the same group of players who don't seem to be learning from these things and that'd be my question for the managment - why does it keep happening?

On the other hand, if Grugs had bagged the mark or we'd come down the other side of the shootout, none of this would be said. Fine margains at the top.
 
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Pat Cully

Well-Known Member
KilleavyGael said:
Not much point complaining about the stolen yards - every good free taker does it. Ideally we'd see referees able to spray a line on the pitch that the taker cannot cross, similar to soccer. I'll be surprised if we don't see this popping up at Congress in the next couple of years.

Overall I'm not too upset. A few rash moments cost us dearly. Ethan very very badly at fault for the goal and also for a couple of really poor kickout decisions when we were winning at the death. But that's what we are going to get continually from him and it's a price Geezer is obviously happy to pay in return for the other things he brings.

If I had to summarise the negative side of Sunday it'd be that we are continually coming up just short in 'classic' encounters due to these repeated stupid mistakes or whatever you want to call them. Think of Monaghan in the Marshes, Roscommon in Thurles, Galway in Croker. Great games, great sport but we're the losers every time. Worse, it's the same group of players who don't seem to be learning from these things and that'd be my question for the managment - why does it keep happening?

On the other hand, if Grugs had bagged the mark or we'd come down the other side of the shootout, none of this would be said. Fine margains at the top.
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Good post but it wasn’t a few yards… it was the guts of 25 yards that was my point.
I just can’t see where it warranted taking the free up the field having watched it again
 
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Armaghball

Well-Known Member
Pat Cully said:
Good post but it wasn’t a few yards… it was the guts of 25 yards that was my point.
I just can’t see where it warranted taking the free up the field having watched it again
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Did Rian not come in late on him that time? Shouldnt have been moved up as far though but typical Gough all about him.
 
Jamie's Coffee

Jamie's Coffee

Active Member
Strange that Crealy warmed up the whole game but didn’t appear. It was absolutely gutting to lose like we did, another titanic close game that we come out the wrong side of having been in a position to win. Like Galway last year and previously v Monaghan & Roscommon.

This is not a post to criticise but more looking at practicalities. Geezer has said we’re waiting for a spark to ignite, but he will remember that the 2 Brian’s made great strides & had success but it took a new management team with a new set of eyes & new ideas to push a talented squad over the line. If we look more recently it happened after Mickey Harte departed Tyrone - Harte is a great manager but just feel he stayed too long and things got stale the change did Tyrone & him good. I just feel it will take a change to get us to the next level.
 
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