Donegal v Armagh

smashey

Sunday 4.00pm, Ballybofey. Squeaky bum time up here. At last, I really believe we have the beating of them although it won't be easy. Looks like a full team as well with Devenney and Roper taking part in full training. Any other thoughts?

blackbelt

Donegal for the win.I'll be very surprised if they don't.

I can see McIver going full tilt at the sideline in this one.Have you ever noticed during the league that anytime the camera was on him at the sideline,he's throwing his hands in the air and shouting as if his kids were drowning in the water and he was encouraging them to swim.Just thought his actions were comical.

Armagh should be more weary of Donegal than Donegal of Armagh.Is McConville out of the match or Bellew?With Devenney and Roper back,I can't see Armagh or Tyrone for that matter,stop Donegal.

smashey

Francie Bellew is out while Oisin McConville will play.

squire1

I'm looking forward to this game as a neutral because no matter what the result, it will be a surprise to many. Armagh, the recent kingpins of Ulster, not the force of old, meet the up and coming League winners. No doubt, Donegal have the firepower to beat an Armagh team that rearly notch up more than 10 scores but you just never know with Armagh. I watched Armagh live three times in the League and even though they were missing the Cross' contingent they were as poor a team as was in Div 1.

The only thing that would worry me from a Donegal prospective would be last weeks performances by Kildare and Mayo. In fairness the scoreline in the Donegal/Kildare match did not do justice to Donegal's dominance but at the same time they did not put away an obviously weaker team. Mayo/Donegal seemed on first view to be a struggle between two strong teams but Mayo's performance against Galway leaves me wondering if they are as good as they were made seem in the league.

I expect a hard fought game and maybe Donegal to come out on top because of ability to get scores.

aidan24326

It's a hard one to call. Donegal looked handy during the league but this is a different ballgame now and even without Francie,Ronan Clarke etc. Armagh will surely be a different proposition than they were in the league. I'd take Donegal to win by a couple of points but wouldn't write off Armagh even if they lose on Sunday.

blackbelt

I wouldn't read into Mayos performance against Galway too much and Kildare seemed to field the team that wasn't there last Sunday.

Both those teams seemed stronger in the league.Donegal will know that their recent league opposition are a different story to Armagh who will fare better in the provincials at least compared to the aforementioned.

Having said that,Bellew is a big loss to Armagh and the replacing Donaghy is relatively inexperienced coming into the intercounty fray.Expect Roper to run riot in Ballybofey.Donegal seem to have the advantage when it comes to fixtures and venues.Who exactly did they play away to in the league anyway?....Fermanagh and Limerick?...the two easier oppositions.

Yes,I'd expect Donegal to beat Armagh and maybe Tyrone.I can't see Donegal making the AI final though.Its all a bit too quick this resurgence in Donegal.They're like Iarnroid Eireann,not there but getting there.

I'd expect Donegal to take Armagh by 2.

Carrickman

Really hopping to get a win over Armagh as our record over the years against them is shocking, I think the winner of this will win Ulster, Dun nGall ABU!!!

fullstop

Is it on t.v? Won't make it home for this one...exams:mad:

smashey

RTE, Sunday.

Carrickman

Donegal team for Sunday Roper not fit but Devenney is.

P Durcan
N McGee P Campbell K Lacey
P McConagley B Monaghan B Dunnion
N Gallagher K Cassidy,
C Bonner M Hegarty C Toye
C McFadden B Devenney K McMenamin

Kojak

It looks like this match is shaping up to a good game of football (hope I'm not wrong) and I would fancy Donegal to win this tie. I think the biggest thing for Donegal (as with the Waterford Hurlers) is how much they celebrated after their league success.

It could be very easy to just sit back and say "ah sure we have already won a trophy, we can put our feet up" - which is a very dangerous mind-set to have. However I dont believe McIver would let them start thinking like that and will keep telling them that if they put their minds to it, then they could win Ulster.

The loss of Francie Bellew at full-back has put a huge dent in Armagh's hopes of silverware this season IMO. Although he is much maligned, he always got the job done (well except against Donaghy last year, but no-one could handle him last season) and this loss will un-settle Armagh's defence.

I'd go with a Donegal win by 2 or 3 points.

smashey

Kojak wrote:

It looks like this match is shaping up to a good game of football (hope I'm not wrong) and I would fancy Donegal to win this tie. I think the biggest thing for Donegal (as with the Waterford Hurlers) is how much they celebrated after their league success.

It could be very easy to just sit back and say "ah sure we have already won a trophy, we can put our feet up" - which is a very dangerous mind-set to have. However I dont believe McIver would let them start thinking like that and will keep telling them that if they put their minds to it, then they could win Ulster.

The loss of Francie Bellew at full-back has put a huge dent in Armagh's hopes of silverware this season IMO. Although he is much maligned, he always got the job done (well except against Donaghy last year, but no-one could handle him last season) and this loss will un-settle Armagh's defence.

I'd go with a Donegal win by 2 or 3 points.

We have a strong bench as well. While i'm no fan of Armagh for purely biased reasons, I think if you look back at Bellew on Donaghy last year, Bellew slipped to allow Donaghy to score the goal. He wasn't doing too bad on him until then.

dregin

Hey, sorry for hijacking your thread, but is there any chance of getting into the game if I land in Ballybofey minus tickets? I'd been waiting for weeks for them to appear on ticketmaster and the even then disappeared from their system. Someone was trying to get them through the Cavan county board for me too and that fell through. I've mailed the Donegal board but got no reply

Any info would be much appreciated.
Thanks.

smashey

dregin wrote:

Hey, sorry for hijacking your thread, but is there any chance of getting into the game if I land in Ballybofey minus tickets? I'd been waiting for weeks for them to appear on ticketmaster and the even then disappeared from their system. Someone was trying to get them through the Cavan county board for me too and that fell through. I've mailed the Donegal board but got no reply

Any info would be much appreciated.
Thanks.

Waste of time showing up. Tickets are completely sold out and the Donegal board only got 80% of the number they requested. Armagh fans will be there in numbers too.

dregin

hmmmm. Think I'll head up anyway for the craic. Can anyone recommend any good pubs to watch the match in around Ballybofey?

dregin

Just got a mail back from the county board and everything is sorted

smashey

dregin wrote:

Just got a mail back from the county board and everything is sorted

That's either extremely jammy or you have friends in high places. Enjoy it.

dregin

smashey wrote:

That's either extremely jammy or you have friends in high places. Enjoy it.

Jammy as hell!! My random begging mail to the county board paid off

smashey

w00t.
Bad performance. Do I care? Absolutely not. I'm just happy to finally beat Armagh and the jammy goal made it all the sweeter.

Haven't a Clue

Thank christ for that. Goes some way to repairing the damage of '02, '03 and '05 when we really should have beaten them. Sam's for the hills!

Kojak

Today wasn't the best match in the world, but it did have drama for the last few minutes as Armagh tried to get an equalising point.

I thought that Donegal, on certain occasions in the first half, were reverting to their short passing game which had never really suited them IMO. It always gave the opposition a chance to funnel players back behind the ball and made it more difficult for Donegal to get scores. When the pressure is on teams they usually revert to their natural tendancies.

The Donegal goal was rather fortuitous (sp?), and I thought on the general basis of the play that Armagh actually deserved to win. However they had some bad wides from frees and also dropped a few balls into the goalie's hands.

As long as Donegal dont let this win go to their heads (they have as equally difficult a game next against Tyrone) I would pick them to win Ulster. If they over-come Tryone they would have to be odds-on favourites to win the Anglo-Celt Cup.

nacho libre

If Mayo Draw Armagh in the first round of qualifiers they are humped:(