armagh return 2 form!!!

nanogirl

so armagh finally had a classic return to normal form 2day when they buried galway!!! the day proved we dont need to rely on 'young blood' to win any game wuth regulars mcconville, stevie, mcentee and mcgrane as well as the rest winning the game.. with help from aaron who played class!. back to business for the lads, 2006 could be our year yet!!!!!!!!

Begs

watched the highlights tonight on telly. surprised to see oisin wearing 14 but impressed with his scores!! great to see armagh getting so many scores shame the defense lost those goals.

blackbelt

I think the victory for Armagh was impressive but lets face it,Armagh beat a Galway side who are struggling and underperforming thus far this year.I don't want to take anything away from Armagh but I feel with the way Derry Fermanagh and Down are performing in the league that Armagh may have some BIG competition in the Ulster title race let alone Sam.

nanogirl

please! it may look like we're under pressure now but in a way i feel thats a good thing for armagh. Joe's had a lot of trouble this far in the league. we were missing top class players and had lads out playin ( who while taking nothin away from them), have little or no experience. we were missing the speed of aaron kernan as well as any real strength around the middle of the field! sayin that though when we did get the players back, the team still underperformed! but the mistakes are being made now, and joe will make sure they learn from them. we're still strugglin to get our normal flow back, but lets face it, the full team are only back together now! we'll peak when its needed! last year we were playin top class football this early in the season and everyone was predicting sam for us. This year we wont be worn out, we'll be coming to our are best. are backs will be against the wall and the lads will be out to prove their real worth in the summer. you watch this space..... you heard it here first!!!

Danno

So Laois will win in Crossmaglen on Sunday then! (Oooh look I have made 1000 posts! )

nanogirl

cangrats on the 1000 thousand posts. trust me, it may be your only happiness this week, like i said we're on our way back to form. even a poor armagh team wont be relegated!

kaimera

heh, gwan Laois.

1-15 v 2-9

*zing* to a Armagh team on 'form' :rolleyes:

Mossin

Gotta agree with Kaimera, gwan Laois, that's three Northern teams beaten in the past 3 weeks not bad going.

Culchie

Laois look like the horse on the inside rail this year, great to see some one step up to the plate and challenge the big 3.

Shaque attack

Culchie wrote:

Laois look like the horse on the inside rail this year, great to see some one step up to the plate and challenge the big 3.

i'd agree with you there i've a good feeling about laois... this was much more of a test than derry or down and they did very and it must be remembered we're far from full strenght ourselves.
i can easily see laois getting a leinster with the way the forwards are gelling nicely and the competition for places in the back has never been as high.

Mossin

i'd agree with you there i've a good feeling about laois... this was much more of a test than derry or down and they did very and it must be remembered we're far from full strenght ourselves.
i can easily see laois getting a leinster with the way the forwards are gelling nicely and the competition for places in the back has never been as high.

I'd have to disagree that it was more of a test than Derry, when Laois played them they were unbeaten in the league with one of the meanest defences in the league, and Laois trounced them.

As for Laois getting a Leinster, they should definately be in the shake-up for a 4th Leinster final appearance in a row. Only the Dubs stand in their way of a final appearance. [no disrespect to the weaker counties]

With Armagh not at full strength doesnt make the win any less impressive considering that Laois werent at full strength either, no Munnelly or Fitzpatrick, and Garvan only coming back from injury.

Hopefully they will not slip up against the Lily-Whites on the 9th, and make the semi's of the league and progress from there.

stevemac

Yeah, there was a big list of players who didn't play for laois on sunday. Munnelly, Fitzpatrick, Garvin (came on ), Beano plus all the u-21's and we have a few who will be there or there abouts for the summer.
I think the main thing for us is that the guys coming in are playing well and doing the business. So hopefully it will continue.

The Kildare game will be a tricky one. The bet us in an awful league game in newbridge last year. But we hammered them in leinster.
There going to be up for this game big time. I'm not sure what there doing this year but last year there only real scoring threats was Fenin and Doyle.
And i think that Fennelly and McMahon will get the better of these. Unless kildare have found some more scoring forwards from the 2 games i saw them last year there wasn't a player on the team who looked like he wanted to score never mind be able to do it.

The league game in newbridge got stuck in a routine for ages, laois would run the ball out of defence , and stay running until kildare crowded them out, then kildare passed the ball down the filed until the got within scoring range where they promply gave the ball away. And a lot of there players didn't look like they wanted the ball close to the goal. (and that was the better of there performance's!)

I know i'm basing that on the 2 games i saw, but i haven't seen them this year.

Shaque attack

Mossin wrote:

I'd have to disagree that it was more of a test than Derry, when Laois played them they were unbeaten in the league with one of the meanest defences in the league, and Laois trounced them.

As for Laois getting a Leinster, they should definately be in the shake-up for a 4th Leinster final appearance in a row. Only the Dubs stand in their way of a final appearance. [no disrespect to the weaker counties]

With Armagh not at full strength doesnt make the win any less impressive considering that Laois werent at full strength either, no Munnelly or Fitzpatrick, and Garvan only coming back from injury.

Hopefully they will not slip up against the Lily-Whites on the 9th, and make the semi's of the league and progress from there.

true enough but i think the armagh game was a bigger psychological test than the derry game due to the fact that it was in crossmaglen and bearing in mnd the defeats armagh have inflicted on us in recent times whereas derry have been a team we traditionally beat.

as for the kildare game if we play anything like we did for the last three games i cant see the lily whites stopping us reaching the semis.

on the subject of the semis, what are the odds we'll beat kildare, top the group and tyrone pip kerry for second in 1a and we end up playing a fourth northern team in five games ?

blackbelt

I can see Laois beating Kildare this time around.Thats become a tradition especially in the last three years.They have beaten them in Newbridge already in the cup game in january i think.

Kildare are getting stronger though.Laois look very dangerous I must say.I t will be interesting to see dublin v laois in the semi...a match that is hyped to be a formality with dublin big favorites against longford.Laois may make the playoffs but a match against Kerry or Tyrone should be too much of an uphill battle imo.There are only three teams who can win leinster this year (based on performances).They are Dublin,Laois and Meath.I think Dublin will improve when Sherlock,Whelan come back starting with Brogan,Quinn and Vaughn.

I hope to God that Denis Bastick does not get his place in the Dublijn squad.He has a habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time doing stupid things that costs us.If Bastick is in the starting 15 against laois in the semi final,I will not have a good feeling.

Bck on topic though,Armagh are not performing to the best of their ability and are missing key players.Francie Bellew is their key player and Armagh will need him in top form if they want to contend ulster.Down and Tyrone look red hot this year with Down beating a formidable Derry side they would usually lose to.