Good afternoon and welcome to Croke Park for today’s double-header. Kevin O’Brien here and I’ll be taking you through the curtain-raiser between Tyrone and Armagh.
Here’s how the sides are named to line up:
Tyrone
1. Niall Morgan (Éadan na dTorc)
2. Aidan McCrory (Aireagal Chiaráin)
3. Ronan McNamee (Achadh Uí Aráin)
4. Cathal McCarron (An Droim Mór)
5. Tiernan McCann (Coill an Chlochair)
6. Pádraig Hampsey (Oileán a’Ghuail)
7. Peter Harte (Aireagal Chiaráin)
8. Colm Cavanagh (An Mhaigh)
9. Conall McCann (Coill an Chlochair)
10. David Mulgrew (Ard Bó)
11. Niall Sludden (An Droim Mór)
12. Kieran McGeary (Cabhán a’Chaortainn)
13. Mark Bradley (Coill an Chlochair)
14. Sean Cavanagh (An Mhaigh, capt)
15. Matthew Donnelly (Trí Leac)
Armagh
1. Blaine Hughes (Carraig an Chrupain)
2. James Morgan (Raonaithe na Croise)
3. Charlie Vernon (Cláirsigh Ard Mhacha)
4. Paul Hughes (Raonaithe na Croise)
5. Brendan Donaghy (Cluain Mhor)
6. Mark Shields (An Chrois Bhan)
7. Joe McElroy (Clarsigh Ard Mhacha)
8. Stephen Sheridan (Foirceal)
9. Niall Grimley (Na Madáin)
10. Rory Grugan (Baile Mhic an Aba)
11. Ciaran O’Hanlon (Cill Shleibhe)
12. Aidan Forker (An Machaire)
13. Jamie Clarke (Raonaithe na Croise)
14. Gavin McParland (Baile Mhic an Aba)
15. Stefan Campbell (Clan na Gael)
Tyrone 0-1 Armagh 0-0
1 min – Colm Cavanagh swings over a score inside the opening 55 seconds.
Cathal McCarron man marking Jamie Clarke as expected. Clarke is playing quite deep and looking to find pockets of space.
Tyrone 0-2 Armagh 0-0
4 mins – Mark Bradley opens his account with a fantastic score, well set-up by Mattie Donnelly.
After a long passage of play, Peter Harte breaks forward and is fouled by James Morgan.
Tyrone 0-5 Armagh 0-0
Tiernan McCann floats over a delightful effort from distance.
Penalty! James Morgan takes down Mark Bradley inside the area! He’s yellow carded.
GOAL! Peter Harte slots home a penalty for Tyrone!
Tyrone 1-5 Armagh 0-1
Finally Armagh get their first score. Clarke is fouled and Grimley converts the free.
Tyrone 1-6 Armagh 0-1
A fast Tyrone break off a long kick-out sees Harte feed McClure who scores.
Tyrone 1-6 Armagh 0-2
A good Armagh move results in Mark Shields send the ball over the bar after a good move saw the ball popped over Colm Cavanagh’s head for Shields to score.
Tyrone 1-6 Armagh 0-3
Excellent score by former All-Ireland minor winner Gavin McParland outside the boot.
Mark Shields is black-carded for pulling down Peter Harte as he broke forward.
Tyrone 1-7 Armagh 0-3
Sean Cavanagh slots over the free. Colm Cavanagh set up that move with a brilliant interception inside his own 45.
Tyrone 1-8 Armagh 0-4
Rory Grugan swings over the free but Harte immediately cancels it out at the far end.
Niall Sludden gives away the ball and Colm Cavanagh fouls Stefan Campbell. He is booked by the referee.
It’s hard to see Armagh being able to turn this around. Tyrone’s defence and transition to attack is looking very slick and well suited to Croke Park.
Sloppy start to the second-half with handling errors from both sides. Armagh have started the brighter and are dominating possession.
Tyrone 1-9 Armagh 0-4
Harte is fouled by Armagh sub Anto Duffy and Niall Morgan swings over the free from just inside the 45.
Two subs for Tyrone: Darren McCurry is on for Kieran McGeary and David Mulgrew replaces Conall McCann.
Tyrone 1-10 Armagh 0-4
Mattie Donnelly picks out Bradley who jinks and slots over.
Tyrone 1-10 Armagh 0-5
In fairness to Jamie Clarke he hasn’t stopped trying. He underlines his class with a fine score after cutting in from the right flank. That’s Armagh’s first score in the second-half.
Tyrone 1-11 Armagh 0-5
Mattie Donnelly bombs over a point from distance. He’s Tyrone’s eighth scorer today.
GOAL! David Mulgrew hits the net for Tyrone!
Tyrone 2-12 Armagh 0-6
Armagh’s Stephen Sheridan is black-carded for a hit on Colm Cavanagh after a poor pass from Harte. Sean Cavanagh nails the free.
Red card! Cathal McCarron picks up two yellows in the space of a couple of minutes and is dismissed.
GOAL! David Mulgrew bags his second goal for Tyrone!
Tyrone 3-15 Armagh 0-8
Clarke taps it onto corner-back Paul Hughes who finds the range.
Tyrone 3-16 Armagh 0-8
Charlie Vernon is booked for a foul on Sean Cavanagh. Morgan does the business from the free.
Tyrone 3-17 Armagh 0-8 – FT
A masterclass by Tyrone.
Fantastic!
Ireland’s plans won’t be unduly interrupted and Ulster are FINALLY getting a world class coach/ DOR to lead them.
Good news for Ireland, Ulster and Les Kiss!
Let’s just hope we can guide our way through this season without imploding due to the power vacuum at the top!
And there it is, a power vaccum!
Hope Les and Neil can bring home some silverware. Having attended the European cup at Lansdowne in 1999, ulster fans really need success of that magnitude.
Hopefully Les can give the team the Kiss of life if you’ll pardon the pun
No. It will not be pardoned. What were you thinking? Did you not think of the children? The children!
Does this mean that Ireland will be getting a new defence coach after the World Cup?
I assume that means Kiss is leaving the national set up, which would be a shame as he’s been a quality coach for the team. Ulster fans will be very happy with this appointment, I’d imagine.
On the other hand, if he stays part of the Irish set up next season, I’d be a little uncomfortable. The problem would remain that he would have direct access to key performance indicators and player data from his provincial rivals, which may lead to a certain level of distrust between the teams. The temptation would be there for Foley, Lam and O’Connor to draw the curtains, something that could be harmful to the Irish set up.
You’re presuming Kiss would be dishonest enough to poach information. Sound.
Okay. Reading over the comment it sounds rather accusatory. I don’t think there is anything malicious in his appointment or anything.
When I say Ulster fans will be happy it is solely because Kiss is a great coach.
I’m saying that if he is part of the Irish set up in the 2014-15 season I would expect him to be seeing these stats while making game plans with Schmidt, not stealing them or anything. I also expect Simon Easterby and others to see this kind of thing.