Jaysus that was some win for Tyrone tonight over Armagh. Two tasty semi-finals in Derry v Tyrone and Cavan v Monaghan.

OLLIE (Louth) - Posts: 12224 - 15/01/2014 21:45:23    1532423

What was it ? 5:16 to 0:07 . Was there anyone on here that was at the match. What
Went right for tyrone and wrong for armagh.
What were the lineups etc

s goldrick (Cavan) - Posts: 5522 - 15/01/2014 21:53:05    1532429

Any Armagh ones know if the players below will be available for the league?

Brendan Donaghy, Ciaran McKeever, Aaron Kernan, Stephen Harold, Finnian Moriarty, Caolan Rafferty, James Morgan, Aiden Forker,Kieran Toner, James Donnelly, Kevin Dyas and Paul McKeown?

Need something to hold onto after last night.

JP91 (Armagh) - Posts: 316 - 16/01/2014 09:09:40    1532450

JP91
County: Armagh
Posts: 26

Any Armagh ones know if the players below will be available for the league?

Brendan Donaghy, Ciaran McKeever, Aaron Kernan, Stephen Harold, Finnian Moriarty, Caolan Rafferty, James Morgan, Aiden Forker,Kieran Toner, James Donnelly, Kevin Dyas and Paul McKeown?

Need something to hold onto after last night.
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You've named a couple of good players, but also a lot who aren't much better than what played last night and, with only 1 or 2 exceptions, the whole panel seems to be made up of very average footballers. I'd be very worried if I was Armagh, as last night's game said a lot more about them than it did about Tyrone. A couple of Armagh people at the game said that it was the most spiritless performance they'd ever seen from an Armagh team, and 2014 could be a very tough year. At this stage, you could make a strong argument for them being the second worst team in Ulster (ahead of Fermanagh).

Thomas Clarke (Tyrone) - Posts: 1002 - 16/01/2014 09:52:47    1532460

A bit rough to judge them in mid January st least wait till the league is over.

Midlu1 (Louth) - Posts: 790 - 16/01/2014 10:19:51    1532473

You're being unfair Thomas.

1. McEvoy
2. Andy Mallon
3. Brendan Donaghy
4. James Morgan
5. Mark Shields
6. Ciaran McKeever
7. Aaron Kernan
8. Ethan Rafferty
9. James Lavery
10. Caolan Rafferty
11. Kevin Dyas
12. Stefan Campbell
13. Robbie Tasker
14. Stefan Forker
15. Jamie Clarke

That is probably our strongest line up at the minute with decent backup with the likes of Charlie Vernon, Tony Kernan and Stephen Harold.

Together they are definitely the 7th best team in Ulster ahead of Antrim and Fermanagh.

In fairness I was feeling pretty optimistic for the year after a decent performance against Donegal, but after last night Division looks very tough. We need to win our home games or relegation beckons :/

JP91 (Armagh) - Posts: 316 - 16/01/2014 10:43:37    1532487

JP91, half of those lined out last night, against a Tyrone side that started only 3 from the AI semi final. I said Armagh were arguably the 8th best side in Ulster, whereas you rate them 7th - not a lot of difference either way. Armagh are in a bad place just now. I'm not basing this on one game, but rather a gradual decline over a long period, and a new generation that seem willing but lack real stars. I think that they are looking at a tough couple of years.

Thomas Clarke (Tyrone) - Posts: 1002 - 16/01/2014 11:03:04    1532494

That's true Thomas. Half them did line up last night. But in saying that the balance of the team was clearly completely wrong. I'd imagine there were some last minute changes as it the first game in a long time Armagh didn't announce the team.

Carragher, Forker and McVerry all lined out in the half forward line. None of these players are natural half forwards but play on the inside. Realistically last night we played with 6 natural full forwards and one half forward in Tony Kernan. This combined with 2 half backs that are better at attacking then defence, we had no one to pick up any breaking ball in midfield. When you also think that we had a full back used to playing further out the field we didn't really stand a chance last night.

These sound like excuses because that's exactly what they are. We aren't 24 points worse then Tyrone. In saying that though we also wouldn't stand a chance against them come championship time just the margin wouldn't be as high.

We're not anywhere near the top bracket and probably won't be for quite sometime. Still think we have enough to be competitive with the mid tier teams.

JP91 (Armagh) - Posts: 316 - 16/01/2014 11:30:56    1532506

Charlie Vernon was at full back night .Did he ever play there before?

FoolsGold (Cavan) - Posts: 2894 - 16/01/2014 12:22:08    1532526

It's not looking good for both Down & Armagh ahead af the National league Div 2 campaign. Tyrone are out of the blocks early and have made a strong statement for the year ahead. I am not looking forward for our trip to Omagh for the first round of the championship.

downtothecore (Down) - Posts: 349 - 16/01/2014 13:59:53    1532575

We'll do well to see a better goal all year than Michael Murphy's last night. A 25 howitzer to the top corner!

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9897 - 16/01/2014 17:11:08    1532708

Well done to the 4 county's into the last 4..good luck to all.
What a goal by Michael Murphy yes..unbelievable footballer. . We in Donegal are very lucky to have such a player

withdraw (Donegal) - Posts: 94 - 16/01/2014 19:54:40    1532772

It's hard to know what to make of Armagh, yes they were missing players, but so to were Tyrone, anyone can loose, but it was the manner of the defeat, lets face it Tyrone pulled up with 15mins to go!! I know they will bounce back, but Armagh lack dept in talent, a few injuries and we are in real trouble
for those who are unaware, Armagh IS a small county which had a great 10 years, maybe overachived with sucess, but we have 41 GAA clubs, one folded last year ( St. Malachy's) one the previous year ( Mullabrack - athlough they have a ladies team left) and this year Phelim Brady's have thrown the towel in!! There are at least 6 other clubs really struggling with no or little underage activities. In reality only about 15 clubs in the county field at every level.... is there anyone to blame ,,, not really, we have smaller families now, people getting married latter, planning permission hard to obtain in rural areas etc and emigration...
Armagh has a good school sector and a strong senior club championship, but behind the scences, Armagh is like alot of other average counties, hoping for a run in the championship....

cuchulainn35 (Armagh) - Posts: 1691 - 16/01/2014 20:55:09    1532794

Two very interesting semi-finals that would have drawn a nice crowd to a double-header in Clones I feel.
I would like to have attended both.

Cavan_Slasher (Cavan) - Posts: 10253 - 16/01/2014 21:31:09    1532808

Cavan v Tyrone final, Tyrone have to be favourites given the massive scores they've been putting up, but they will run into a ruthlessly mean defence in the form of Cavan so an interesting game ahead.

Ned_Stormcrow (Cavan) - Posts: 1071 - 19/01/2014 21:12:29    1533991

Anything other than a Tyrone victory will be a major, repeat "massive" upset. Our boys will not have come up against anything of the calibre of those boys before. I predict a draw.

s goldrick (Cavan) - Posts: 5522 - 21/01/2014 21:12:11    1534933

Tonights final has been postponed Due to an unplayable pitch the Power NI McKenna Cup final has been postponed until Wednesday 12th Feb at 8pm venue to be confirmed

fortyfive (Tyrone) - Posts: 5929 - 25/01/2014 16:31:02    1536490

Is the McKenna Cup final tonight being televised? Didn't see it listed anywhere so far, although TG4 normally show it live.

GaryMc82 (Derry) - Posts: 3026 - 12/02/2014 16:47:13    1545255

Ah wait, I just kopped that its next Wednesday 19th February. I had 12th of February penciled in for the final.

GaryMc82 (Derry) - Posts: 3026 - 12/02/2014 16:56:41    1545265

GaryMc its next Wednesday 19th Feb in Brewster at 8pm

cavan97 (Cavan) - Posts: 369 - 12/02/2014 16:58:22    1545268