Monaghan vs Armagh

Armagh started very slugglishly here but have grinded there way back into it, their now a point to the good after 25 minutes, Clarkes causing Monaghan lots of problems. 4 yellow cards already, 2 of which seemed to be indicated from the linesman. Im on Armagh HT-FT here so MON THE FOOKIN ORANGE!!

One seriously fussy ref there in Clones

Clarks walking on a serious tight rope going in like that

mossbags wrote:Clarks walking on a serious tight rope going in like that

I though it would have been a disgrace to have Clarke sent off there, he tried to punch the ball out of VC's hands, and then VC went down like a sack of spuds holding his shoulder and Clarke was no where near his shoulder.

Stevie Mc is keeping a low profile. Think Woods will see red before the games out.

I thought Freeman was banned?

People will be playing Rugby, gouging and all, because at least they suspend them.

Seeing that replay Woods should actually have walked, cuffed the Armagh man in the fact then kneed him.

I had Monaghan to win - not in extra time though
Did anyone else notice the (picture of an umbrella) "Brolly is a tool" poster behind the goal that Monaghan were attacking in the first half?

Dire game, both teams were as bad as each other good luck to Monaghan cant see them getting any further though to be honest they have played two poor games this championship.

Referee what an absolute ****! Everytime and Armagh player touch a Mon player a free was given against them.

Mone should have been sent off for hitting McDonnell altough McDonell was just as bad.

I will talk more later, going out to get pissed

Peter McDonnell will be sacked by the end of the week.

A few days ago, you were saying the winners of this game would waltz throught the qualifers, GF! Which is it?

Delighted Monaghan won, they are a good team and more than a match for anyone, you'll never see Monaghan getting bet by more than a couple of points by anyone.

Couldn't care less about the standard on show, at the minute. I know it was diabolical but the main thing was getting out on the right side of it and that we did. Some amount of bullshit being thrown about before about us not being able to do it without Tommy, and I'm pleased that the team has shown that to be nonsense. Armagh may have been poor but we really should have had the game wrapped up well in normal time. I was confident of us winning, but we nearly kicked ourselves out of it again.

We were cleaned out in midfield in the first half and this began to worry me. But we really improved there in the second half with the introduction of Benny McKenna, which pleasantly surprised me as I wouldn't have had much confidence in him to be honest. Lennon also improved a good bit which was badly needed. After the original 15 minutes of dominance we fell apart, and had some shocking wides at the end of the first half. Nobody was stepping up to the plate and we lacked leadership. There was a good response up front in the second half aswell, with Finlay knocking over some good scores, and yet he was still far from his best with a few bad wides. We also needed someone else to fill Tommy's void and McManus did that. He's a great young player as I've said for a good while and he's shown flashes of his potential there, if he wasn't played as defensively by Banty we may see this more. Yet we still have hell of alot of room for improvement up front. Woods was too involved with off the ball stuff for the most part, and others like Jinxy, Downey, Ronaghan didn't offer much. I also thought we were good at the back, and the two boys did a good job on Armagh's dangerous two up front. Say what you want about Dessie Mone, but aside from all the rest he's a great man marker and he had another great game. And Stevie Mac struck first! Vinny had a tougher job on Clarke, if JP Mone was there he'd have been better fit for him. I'll say it again, Vinny is completely wasted at full-back, he offers so much more out the field and we needed him more there today. We only got glimpses of him driving forward as against Derry, but I reckon the backs will stay the same the next day.

GF, I think we're well set up for a run now, just up to ourselves to recover from tonight and prepare after the draw tomorrow. A bit of luck in the draw wouldn't go amiss, but I reckon we're certs to get Kerry or Derry.
Of course it was going to be a bad game, it was a first round game between two Ulster teams! Twas always going to be a war. If we ever got drew against a non-Ulster team(bar Kerry!), then you'd see a better game of football from us. Familiarity breeds contempt, and whenever two Ulster teams play each other nowadays, it's usually a dogfight sadly. And contrary to popular belief, it's not all our fault!

Also, you were wrong about there being no chance of it being a draw! ::

Well MMM was really peeved to drop 2 points having tipped Monaghan in a game they should've won comfortably in 70 mins. But it was a shocking game in truth. I did not even watch all the ET cos it was so bad. At one stage Martin Carney (I think) said 12 of the last 13 scores were from frees. Diabolical.

Our game is in need of major surgery - a blind man can see it.

Agreed JC, we should have had it wrapped up well by the end of normal time. As for the frees, I'd well believe that and it's a shocking statistic. At times it was like a shootout between A Kernan and, well, whoever had their shooting boots on at that time for us(which sometimes was nobody)! The game needed to be taken by the scruff of the neck and I was very pleased when Finlay and McManus in particular did that at the death with 2 great points from play(though again, it shouldn't have went to the wire like that). Conor showed great leadership for a young lad to step up in Tommy's absence, and resembled a seasoned veteran in the way he was motivating the team at half time in extra time.

And you're right about it being a shocking game, it will get bad press and rightly so, but for the time being I'm just happy we're in the bowl for the draw tomorrow evening. I just hope to jesus we get drawn against someone different for a change; i.e. non-Ulster, non-Kerry!

Yeah interesting to see McManus like that and then kick a great point and fair play to him!

But I have to say MMM this is a shadow of the Monaghan team of 2/3 years ago - when they looked capable of great things. Most of the same guys are there but at times the standard was just abysmal - on both teams. One of the Mon subs soloed a ball late in the game and kicked it above his head!

I really dunno what to think about the football c'ship this year - tbh it's f***ing awful!

Folks, this is awful stuff, I'm watching the recorded version. Is there any point to spin toward that has any quality. Monaghan look more up for it though, it must be said.
Never one to quibble in defeat ,where due, but this evening in Carrick, every call went against us. Petulant on over-carrying, over-holding and flexible on tough belts.
Frankly, on Leitrim football, I'm disillousined. No real worth in the lads, except McKeon, Maxwell,ReynoldsX2 and the McGuinness brothers. All seasoned warriors.

I can see why you think that JC, the two games we have played in this years championship have been two of the worst,and as a result we've been getting an awful amount of criticism.
But I don't think that we've went backwards, I just think we got caught up in the bullshit aside from the football too much, and the aftermath of the Derry game wouldn't have helped. We played some great stuff in the league this year, and while I know championship is a different kettle of fish I really don't think we're that bad and we've alot more to offer. I hope we can get to show that this year instead of drawing Kerry again and getting hockeyed(I really don't fancy meeting them!) or getting in another dogfight with Derry.

There's not been much good football played in the 2 games so far, from any of the teams. But the Derry game was always going to have a bad edge to it I think, you could tell by the comments going into it and the circumstances that it was going to be a tough game that didn't flow well. Tonight was a local derby and a first round qualifier, which are often dire matches which are all about getting the win and nothing more, to get back on track. When we were drawn against Armagh I knew it'd be tight and not for the faint-hearted. Of course this doesn't excuse what was on show, I'm just saying it wasn't exactly set up for a nice game of football. But the actual standard of football has been terrible, as it's been for the most part in this year's championship. Something is wrong and god knows how it's going to be fixed.

I must say though, with all that was said after the Derry game, and now tonights game, I can imagine we will receive much of the blame for what was on show, most of it perhaps. I'm not saying we had nothing to do with cynical play or anything, I've always held my hands up and admitted when there was something wrong, but I just feel we're getting the sh*tty end of the stick when it comes to criticism. Not one to whine, and we did win so I should very happy(which I am really), but it's very disheartening to read and hear such overly negative things about your county. Stuff like Monaghan being the "evil" of football and "anti-football", or even that we "embody everything that's wrong in football". People seemed to like us a couple of years ago when we were the plucky losers, but now we've outstayed our welcome and should return to the doldrums. I know we do use negative tactics at times but you have to work with what you have, and we are limited. Not saying it's right but I can't remember other teams getting the same level of criticism thrown their way, then again maybe it just seems worse when it's targeted at your own county. Am I just being blinkered and biased and are we really that big of a shower of c**ts that alot seem to think?

Then again, I shouldn't care what people think. What did Cassidy say, "it's about winning, not entertaining"?!

Well MMM I grew up on a diet of Nudie & Co so Monaghan - to me - always had footballers. And I will not knock the Farney for the sake of it.

I just think the standard of football in general is v poor and your guys are among that.

It just annoys me this easy analysis stuff - Ulster rough/ Leinster crap etc. And Leinster is very poor but we just had Wicklow beat Fermanagh tonight!

I am too tired to pick my way thru it now but will tomorrow.

Jayo Cluxton wrote:Well MMM I grew up on a diet of Nudie & Co so Monaghan - to me - always had footballers. And I will not knock the Farney for the sake of it.

I just think the standard of football in general is v poor and your guys are among that.

It just annoys me this easy analysis stuff - Ulster rough/ Leinster crap etc. And Leinster is very poor but we just had Wicklow beat Fermanagh tonight!

I am too tired to pick my way thru it now but will tomorrow.

Delighted for Wicklow, I detest Fermanagh.

Well as far as Ulster is concerned, it's as clear as it's ever been that Tyrone are simply miles ahead of anything else on show.

Seen that Wicklow win coming from a mile off, actually surprised me the majority tipped Fermanagh. For all the progress they seem to have made with finding a free-taker in the first game, all the old problems were there again against Cavan.

Yeah I tipped it too - but I really don't like to see the Wickla manager do well. The hungriest man that the GAA ever saw - and I ain't talking medals ..........

Jayo Cluxton wrote:Well MMM I grew up on a diet of Nudie & Co so Monaghan - to me - always had footballers. And I will not knock the Farney for the sake of it.

I just think the standard of football in general is v poor and your guys are among that.

It just annoys me this easy analysis stuff - Ulster rough/ Leinster crap etc. And Leinster is very poor but we just had Wicklow beat Fermanagh tonight!

I am too tired to pick my way thru it now but will tomorrow.

Dishearting comment Jayo it must be said...'Tisn't MMM's fault that the game was poor, but they quarried out the result in a tit-for-tat situation and Monaghan progress - so what?
Wouldn't I be the happy man tonight had we overcome Longford??
We can't go back to "the good old days" of Purcell, McGarty, Freaney and Tony McManus.
'Tis results now that count, and mores' the pity...
Yours in nostalgia,
Boxty.

Jayo Cluxton wrote:Yeah I tipped it too - but I really don't like to see the Wickla manager do well. The hungriest man that the GAA ever saw - and I ain't talking medals ..........

I must post a few examples of his "genorisity" at a later time..
Some man though'.

I forgot about the other Freeman.

Wicklow incidentally, like Antrim, have benefited greatly from the Tommy Murphy Cup. Great to see them doing well the last two years.

And Armagh gone? Strange to see after the great decade they have had.

[quote="mid-mon man"]Well as far as Ulster is concerned, it's as clear as it's ever been that Tyrone are simply miles ahead of anything else on show.


Haven't played us yet.

Indeed patrique, was only taking into account those who they've played recently!

Hope ye do well in the Ulster final though, make a good go of it. Antrim will be the only team left in the hunt for a provincial double this time tomorrow!

"detest"

WTF does detest mean? I detest you.