Armagh 1-8 Offaly 2-14

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Lone Shark
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Armagh 1-8 Offaly 2-14

Post by Lone Shark »

Be under no illusion as to the disposition of the Lone Shark – I love being a Biff. It’s a privileged birthright, and it’s a genuinely felt emotion when you look across the border – (particularly to the north!!) and you say “There but for the Grace of God go I”. The drawbacks are few – but they do exist however. One of the most painful is that we go to games where we are getting hammered beyond all recognition, and that nagging doubt remains that if anyone can pull this situation out of the fire, we can. The upshot of this is that when other counties are suffering a heavy championship defeat, the pain of watching it all slip away is brief. Our agonies are prolonged since we refuse to accept defeat – you’d never have it any other way, but it’s still hard on the soul. All this gives rise to the common refrain of the Offaly GAA follower – “It’s not the despair – I can handle the despair. It’s the hope that’s killing me….”.

I thought I had 2005 under control. The hurlers were just too short of quality in key positions to have an impact (still the case I imagine) and the footballers had taken on a Neanderthal manager who was going to have to try and guide a panel still largely pro-Fahy and anti the county board. Another year to be chalked down under “rebuilding”, with no more ambition than to at least put in one good show against the Dublin suburb to the north next Sunday. Then you travel to Carrickcruppen for a supposedly meaningless challenge match, as much out of habit and being at a loose end as anything, and they go and blow your despair out of the water, replacing it with that ghastly pus ridden infection called hope. Hoors. A nine point win over one of the best teams in Ireland in their backyard – it’s very hard maintain a solid line of pessimism after that.

Firstly let’s look at this conquest as we would any “conquest” in the harsh light of Sunday morning’s hangover rather than Saturday night’s euphoric high. We’ll look past the short skirt that was Armagh’s skimpy covering of first line players, the thick trowelled on make up covering blemishes that is January football, and the the wonderbra effect that a forward line playing against an unconcerned defence can give, making hitherto ordinary things look fantastic. Armagh were very poor here. They had maybe 7 players that you would expect to start against Fermanagh in May, and another 4 or 5 that would be hopeful of making claims, and the rest of the 20 odd that played were no more than panellists. I would have though that a county that won an All Ireland in 2002 combined with last years under 21 outfit would have had much more strength in depth, but certainly they had one or two real passengers, to say the least. Steven McDonnell was making his return after a period of absence, and you would firstly worry about what he would have done to us with more match practice and a summer level of fitness, and secondly, how would we have coped if Armagh had more than one forward capable of doing harm? Martin O’Rourke scored a couple of nice points, but was slow, and Clarke/Marsden/McConville etc would add an awful lot to a team that had one good forward in McDonnell, O’Rourke, a good midfielder being played completely out of position in Swift, two anonymous half forwards and a muppet of a full forward. Armagh by their nature will never need a huge tally to beat a team with their defence as good as it is, and with the toothless attack they had they still scored 1-8. Equally their midfield consisted of Gregory Loughran and John Toal – reserves to Philip Loughran and Paul McGrane come summer you would assume – and yet we were comprehensively outfielded. Granted the two Macs were well on top from free play, and MacManus did field a few at the end when he had run his opposite number into submission, but we still seem dependent on breaking ball and mopping up in the absence of Jim Grennan. Primary possession is still a huge concern, certainly staring down the barrel of a summer up against Garvan and Clancy, hopefully followed by O’Connell and O’Shaughnessy. (No disrespect to Louth, but even in my state of desperation I’d be livid if we failed to get past what was probably one of Ireland’s worst teams of 2004).

Now for the good – because you don’t come away from the Orchard nine points victorious without there being a lot of good. And granted Kilmurray neither knew my initial suspicions about his management nor will he read this – but based on yesterday, I have underestimated the man. The defence was tenacious but fair (Armagh were not awarded one scorable free throughout the match), the movement of the ball measured but generally not ponderous, and the delivery into the front two both early and accurate as a rule. The teamwork and covering for each other was admirable also, although that has to be measured against an Armagh side who did seem relatively uninterested in a few positions. Above all MacManus was back to his dominant self, and scored 1-2, but without taking on too much responsibility. He played in several good passes, and had one long range wide, but also layed the ball around simple a lot too. With this kind of display where he both plays his game, but brings everyone else in, he looks like one of the best players in the country again – and some of the credit for this has to go to management, since I’ve no doubt he’s receiving some direction.

Overall you would say that a replica of this display should be roughly enough to come out on the right side next week, and let’s face it, that’s really all that concerns me and most at the moment!!

Player by player:

McNamara Didn’t have a whole lot to do. Made one good save at the feet of an Armagh forward, and couldn’t be blamed for the goal, which was just a fantastic finish. Solid in charge of the shirt still.

Froggie Good to see him back at corner back, and looking more like himself. O’Rourke still kicked a couple of points off him though, and wouldn’t have tested his legs too much. Got the hand in and swept up well as you would expect from Cathal, but has a lot to prove still. Next week against Dessie would be a good place to start.

Conor Evans A fine display, albeit on an abject opponent. First to the ball, never gave it away, and solid under the high ball. If I didn’t have Armagh lads beside me expressing puzzlement at how their lad continues to be picked by Joe Kernan, I’d have said man of the match.

Scott Brady Had a very tough assignment, and while you’d say McDonnell won on points, he still can hold his head high for keeping him to the four or five scores that he got. The scores were generally taken from tight angles and tricky positions, and were more a testament to one of Ireland’s best players than an indictment of the Clara man.

Barry Mooney Very good display from the captain. Linked up very well in bringing the ball out of defence, and went on a couple of forays forward to keep his man honest, but remembered his primary role as a back. Read the game very well, as you would expect from him.

James Keane
Hard to see him as starting centre back for the summer, but he did fine on Saturday. Wasn’t on a tough assignment defensively though, and one sloppy pass lad to an Armagh point in the first half, which he took very badly, getting very annoyed at himself. Still progressing, and played a full 70 minutes, which he can’t have done too often .

Karol Slattery Quiet display from our defensive talisman. Didn’t really push forward, or feature too much to be honest. Didn’t do anything wrong, or neglect his duty either for that matter. Got drawn into midfield melées a lot since he was marking a midfielder out of water in Swift.

Alan Mac
Good show from the Super, and responsible for a lot of the good delivery forward. Struggled to compete for aerial possession against more natural fielders, but his generally play was excellent, and he rarely lost possession of the ball.

Mad Mac Back to his best. Fittest man on the pitch, covered up front and across the back, but didn’t hit every ball as hard as he could as he has tended to do. Seems to be more part of a team now rather than trying to carry them, and looks all the more like the Mac of old because of it. Scored one goal and could have had another but for a blinding save by the Armagh keeper in the second half. Also responsible for the funniest moment of the match when he was on the deck getting treatment only to see the ball roll towards him, when he sprung up, pushed the physio out of his way and made a burst for it, only to feel the injury he was being treated for and have to lay it off straight away. Well amusing.

Neville
Fit as a fiddle, hardy, and dangerous when running at the defence. One or two bad wides blotted his copybook a bit though. A middling display.

John Kenny Looked good yesterday, which is not to say that this experiment should continue. We are in all likelihood preparing for a Leinster Championship clash with Leix, and a rematch with Tom Kelly. A good physical match with the likes of Geezer is right up his alley – and is nothing like what Kelly brings to the table. A valuable member of the panel who still will be a weak link unless he can find a lot more stamina in those legs.

Shaper Looked very sharp, and is clearly on top of his game, whether as a result of more responsibility playing for the Brylcreem boys in the absence of Deehan last year, or training with the finest Offaly forward since Matt in Athlone. Scored at least four points, two of which could have been goals, and had the beating of McCann all day. If he keeps up this form in the league he’ll certainly start in the championship.

Colm Quinn Played in a withdrawn role, and looked good. Still our best passer of a ball with the feet, although hime being out the field negates his scoring threat. If we choose to go with the two man inside line he’s perfect for this role though.

Niall Mac Top drawer stuff from the player of the championship. Scored regularly, won aerial ball, won ball into space, chose his shots well and ran McNulty absolutely ragged. Keep it up fella.

Jimmy Paw The other side of the coin. It’s deeply worrying that he’s not involved with Athlone IT in the Sigerson, particularly with his clubman over the team, and he looked like a guy who’s believing the hype yesterday. Had the beating of his opposite number when the ball fell into his grasp, but wasn’t hugely interested in going and winning it. Scored two points, one from a close in free and another when a goal was on. Also hit the post twice and the crossbar once, so could easily have run up a big number anyway, which I suppose is something to be said for him. Still quite accurate and lethally dangerous, but on course to be dropped on this display, certainly with the likes of Deehan, Kellaghan, Guinan, Egan all on the scene and vying for shirts with those who played yesterday.

Interestingly, even though Armagh made four changes at half time yesterday and more throughout, Kilmurray only made two changes, replacing Evans with Gorman late on, and Niall with Roy Malone. It was good to see him thinking ahead in this respect too – giving everyone a fair crack of the whip rather than just 35 mins, which can fly by if you’re not careful, only replacing two players who had proven they were playing well. Roy didn’t really do a lot for his cause, still looking hesitant and wary of doing the wrong thing. He scored one great point, missed one easier chance, and otherwise was good at foraging but less good at disposals. Exactly as you would expect basically.

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azoffaly
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Post by azoffaly »

Fair play to you LS. At this rate you'll be on for the TG4 Supporter of the year this year :)

Encouraging win yesterday, the feckers. I'd imagine Armagh weren't exactly on 100% mode, but still a win is a win.

Hopefully we'll be talking about a similar performance next Sunday.

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The Biff
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Such Faith

Post by The Biff »

Excellent report Sharky and fair play to you for making the journey. I bet that drive home was happier than you anticipated. Indeed, no matter how poor Armagh were, the win will help our lads to feel good about facing into next weeks cruncher. Good to hear McManus back to good form too.

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The Biff
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D'Oh

Post by The Biff »

Didn't mean to post twice, but "it" told me it had failed the first time. You just cant trust these bloody 'pewturs.

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Bord na Mona man
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Post by Bord na Mona man »

Good report from Lone Shark.
It's hard to know how much to read into our early season form.
It could be good or bad for championship.

It can be a problem when a team picks itself too early in the year.
I'm thinking back to last year. We peaked against Roscommon and Kildare in the league.
Gerry Fahy had just made several alterations to the side, so would have (not unfairly) assumed he'd struck oil with his new line up.
From then on, he couldn't justify tinkering with the team for the upcoming championship.

We learned the hard way against Wastemeath when our best 15 didn't take the field.
Hindsight is great, of course.
Had Fahy taken the bold move to drop Quinn, Malone and Alan Mc etc. for the Wastemeath match and we'd still lost (though I doubt we would have), he would have been slaughtered by the GAA public.

You can't win! :P

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The Biff
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Winning and Losing

Post by The Biff »

It's an old cliché; you learn more from your losses than your wins. Of course there has to be some truth in it. If you have lost a game, then your "game-plan" didn't work so you must "learn" how it should be changed.

Conversely though, a win vindicates your game-plan, assuming your opposition had at least some semblance of a desire to win as well. What we as supporters hope is that the Team Mgt dont settle on an assumption that this game-plan must be the best one, and that other strategies are no longer needful of testing.

I think there is a lot of merit in developing a winning "habit". Particularly in amateur sport, so much of the performance depends on the right mental attitude. Confidence has a big role to play; confidence in your own abilities and in that of your team-mates. Winning games, even mere Challenge matches in some Armagh village, can only help achieve that state of mind.

With all this as the corner-stone of my philosophy, my advice to the team as they face up to the crucial battle next week is ...........................
.............
.............
.............
BEAT THOSE F**KERS TO HELL OFF THE PITCH AND SHOW NO MERCY

Doon Massive
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Post by Doon Massive »

Excellent report alright, LS has a way with words, as the ladies of coppers will no doubt testify.

Bord na Mona man, is that a ring on catweazels thumb in your avatar?
Little bit bling for a man from the dark ages if you ask me.

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