Ulster Club championship

Have Armagh a chance in Ulster at any grade this Year?

  • Senior

    Votes: 12 50.0%
  • Intermediate

    Votes: 10 41.7%
  • Junior

    Votes: 3 12.5%
  • None

    Votes: 7 29.2%

  • Total voters
    24
  • Poll closed .

ShiftYa

Well-Known Member
I can’t remember Armagh being competitive in any of the grades since cross in 2015, will this year be more of the same?
 

Gaamaniac

Active Member
I’d imagine so. I’m not sure how good Armagh intermediate or junior standard is though compared to other ulster counties but senior is one of the worst in ulster at the minute. If the Antrim champions stay of the drink they’ll fancy there chances no doubt.
I have a sneaky feeling cruppen may do well there extremely fit and young and determined bunch of lads and youth holds no fears and that’s exactly what cruppen have.
Honestly don’t know anything about junior so it’s a guessing game.
 

bcb1

Well-Known Member
I’d imagine so. I’m not sure how good Armagh intermediate or junior standard is though compared to other ulster counties but senior is one of the worst in ulster at the minute. If the Antrim champions stay of the drink they’ll fancy there chances no doubt.
I have a sneaky feeling cruppen may do well there extremely fit and young and determined bunch of lads and youth holds no fears and that’s exactly what cruppen have.
Honestly don’t know anything about junior so it’s a guessing game.

Cruppen play Antrim champions, Randalstown. They are handy enough but Cruppen should be confident.

Belleeks play either the winners of Monaghan or Tyrone in the junior and with due respect to Belleek they are gonna struggle against either of these. Monaghan and Tyrone have dominated at this level and i suspect that to continue.
Clan Eireann will have nothing to fear against the Antrim champs and who knows what might happen if they make the semis. There’s a half decent chance to make the final as the 3 strongest teams, Glen, Kilcoo and Scotstown are all on the other side of the draw. Tyrone and Fermanagh are on CEs side of the draw and are beatable.
 

PatMustard

Well-Known Member
It’s difficult to know. Junior/Intermediate teams change grades, and most years, new teams emerge from counties, so there’s no consistent contenders at provincial level.

At senior, you tend to get a few of the usual contenders. Lately it’s been the likes of; Kilcoo, Scotstown, Crossmaglen, Derrygonnelly, Slaughtneil (although not this year), so you have an idea of what the level of competition is.

Cross could go on a run if they win Armagh (@bcb1 will poo-poo that idea :D). CE would be new to Ulster, so if they win Armagh, they’ll be a bit of an unknown quantity.

Whoever represents Armagh, I hope they do well in Ulster and beyond. We need as many players as possible playing at the highest level. That can only be good for Armagh football.
 

niall1980

Well-Known Member
Cruppen play Antrim champions, Randalstown. They are handy enough but Cruppen should be confident.

Belleeks play either the winners of Monaghan or Tyrone in the junior and with due respect to Belleek they are gonna struggle against either of these. Monaghan and Tyrone have dominated at this level and i suspect that to continue.
Clan Eireann will have nothing to fear against the Antrim champs and who knows what might happen if they make the semis. There’s a half decent chance to make the final as the 3 strongest teams, Glen, Kilcoo and Scotstown are all on the other side of the draw. Tyrone and Fermanagh are on CEs side of the draw and are beatable.
Would ye sthaaaap
 

KilleavyGael

Active Member
Cruppen play Antrim champions, Randalstown. They are handy enough but Cruppen should be confident.

Belleeks play either the winners of Monaghan or Tyrone in the junior and with due respect to Belleek they are gonna struggle against either of these. Monaghan and Tyrone have dominated at this level and i suspect that to continue.
Clan Eireann will have nothing to fear against the Antrim champs and who knows what might happen if they make the semis. There’s a half decent chance to make the final as the 3 strongest teams, Glen, Kilcoo and Scotstown are all on the other side of the draw. Tyrone and Fermanagh are on CEs side of the draw and are beatable.

Your right @bcb1 I hope CE have freed up St Patrick's day 2022. Croker awaits. Can't believe Cross are even gonna show up on sunday. What's the point? Rian and Oisin would be as well taking the dog for a walk around muckno for the afternoon
 

Armaghball

Well-Known Member
Cruppen play Antrim champions, Randalstown. They are handy enough but Cruppen should be confident.

Belleeks play either the winners of Monaghan or Tyrone in the junior and with due respect to Belleek they are gonna struggle against either of these. Monaghan and Tyrone have dominated at this level and i suspect that to continue.
Clan Eireann will have nothing to fear against the Antrim champs and who knows what might happen if they make the semis. There’s a half decent chance to make the final as the 3 strongest teams, Glen, Kilcoo and Scotstown are all on the other side of the draw. Tyrone and Fermanagh are on CEs side of the draw and are beatable.
Did they play the senior final behind closed doors last week and none of us saw the result? Well done to Clann Eireann then;)
 

armaghlad

Active Member
Whoever wins Armagh in senior will be on the “easier” side of the draw. While I feel CE have every chance to win the final, I think Cross would be much better equipped for an Ulster campaign.

They’ll play Creggan/Aghagallon, probably Creggan (tough but winnable game). Then the winners of Tyrone or Fermanagh. Coalisland very reliant on two 35+ year olds and have raised eyebrows by even getting to the final this year, likewise Dromore have needed ET in their 3 games to reach the final. Fermanagh winners will either be Derrygonnelly side that’s past it’s best or an up and coming Enniskillen team. Certainly a very lopsided draw but all clubs still involved would fancy their chances of going on a run.

At intermediate level it should be a difficult tussle for Cruppen, Randalstown have only lost once all year in both league and championship so like Cruppen will be going into the game with plenty of momentum. Neither Tyrone or Fermanagh have played their finals yet but wouldn’t fear the winner of that tie. The winner of Monaghan/Derry should have a big say in overall proceedings.

At junior level there a few big hitters to look out for and unfortunately Belleeks will most likely meet the biggest of them in Cookstown - 2 x AI winners at intermediate level. Tyrone notoriously strong at this level so I expect the junior woes to continue for Armagh for another year
 

h754136

Active Member
Do people realise just how abysmal our record is at provincial intermediate and junior level?

Last 20 years of Ulster intermediate club championships: 0 winners, 3 losing finalists
In that time, every other county in the province has provided at least one winner.

Since the inception of the Ulster junior club championships: 1 winner, 1 losing finalist
Only Down, Antrim & Fermanagh have worse records.

One winner out of 39 championships. No finalists at all since An Port Mor's win in 2012. There's clearly something about Armagh club football that doesn't serve us well at these grades. Whether it's the number of clubs in the county, how they're divided up between the grades, or just a bad overall standard. It doesn't matter who wins our championships at these grades, nor how impressive they've looked doing so, because when it comes to Ulster Armagh teams are non-runners. This year probably won't be any different.
 

ShiftYa

Well-Known Member
It’s been under 10 years since cookstown won an all-Ireland intermediate for the second time in 3 years, how’d they manage to find themselves at Junior grade?
There’s a fair drop-off in quality after you go past the top 10 clubs in Armagh, other counties seem to have a greater depth of stronger clubs.
Some clubs in Armagh only had 10 competitive games this year. In Tyrone that would of been around the 20 mark with plenty of games on Fridays, Saturday and Mondays, possibly something to be learned from this.
 

JoeH

Well-Known Member
Are we the only county in Ulster that has league and championship status linked?
 

armaghlad

Active Member
It’s been under 10 years since cookstown won an all-Ireland intermediate for the second time in 3 years, how’d they manage to find themselves at Junior grade?
There’s a fair drop-off in quality after you go past the top 10 clubs in Armagh, other counties seem to have a greater depth of stronger clubs.
Some clubs in Armagh only had 10 competitive games this year. In Tyrone that would of been around the 20 mark with plenty of games on Fridays, Saturday and Mondays, possibly something to be learned from this.
Every county is the same. There are some awful clubs playing senior in Down, Tyrone, Derry etc.

On paper, you’d fancy a club like Sarsfield’s to go far in Ulster intermediate, even Clans last year and Forkhill in junior last year.

Armagh junior football is pretty poor but then so is Antrim, Down, Derry etc.
 

Bro

Member
From what i see around camlough cruppen have no chance in ulster, if they get over a poor randalstown
Belleek hopefully can do well big oneill and mcverrys are good players.
And cross are cross theyll be there or there abouts after they get rid of CE who will let the occaision get to them imo
 

ragingbull

Well-Known Member
Every county is the same. There are some awful clubs playing senior in Down, Tyrone, Derry etc.

On paper, you’d fancy a club like Sarsfield’s to go far in Ulster intermediate, even Clans last year and Forkhill in junior last year.

Armagh junior football is pretty poor but then so is Antrim, Down, Derry etc.
Derry club football isn't poor
 

Bradley

Member
In Junior, Down and Armagh have good chances. aughlisfin are a rough team by all accounts but have good players, think they are awful similar to belleek with variation in size, speed, and strength, and have bit of bite to them. I wouldnt say there is a nailed on favourite for any grade in Ulster
 
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