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The Donegal/Armagh Row

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Replying To credit_crunch: "Yes because Donegal set the row up and decided to not appeal it" Yes, our management team sat down in a dark room one night by candlelight with a sinister plan to force the 4 Armagh players to act out. Armagh, who previously have no such form for acting out, then behaved totally out of character in line with the cynical Donegal plan. Donegal_abroad (Donegal) - Posts: 1388 - 20/04/2022 13:29:30 2411808 Link
Replying To baire: "Do you think that's fair?" As an Armagh fan obviously great to have full team available which means we literally have no excuses come Sunday now. But as GAA fan I don't agree because the referee and his officials have singled out these players for a reason. Out of all the players I thought Rian wouldn't win his appeal cause the video evidence is clear but for the rest can't say anything as I wasn't there to witness it and the footage isn't very clear. I don't understand why Armagh or Donegal had to have planned the row at end of match and it can't just be a situation that got out of hand with 2 players TopOfTheSquare (Armagh) - Posts: 2 - 20/04/2022 13:36:35 2411811 Link
It appears that Donegal are so talented, and have such supreme control of their destiny, that they could decide to win a tight game by a point, which resulted in them staying in Division 1, and then have the wherewithall to start the fight that they'd planned from the start. I'd say they had it all planned from before Christmas. But fair play to the Armagh supporters who saw through our cunning plan, and recognised from the start that they were the victims. People will remember the swagger they had in the noughties, it didn't take long for them to rediscover it, a couple of league wins in January, and they are back where they belong. Back at the top table with Tyrone levels of arrogance. You couldn't make it up. Pressure's on now boys, hope it goes well for yiz.... SouthOfTheGap (Donegal) - Posts: 721 - 20/04/2022 13:40:44 2411817 Link
Replying To fielder: "In fairness, I don't know how those 3 Armagh lads were singled out in the first place. Rian O'Neill decision is the one that makes no sense. The boy got lucky. How is the Gaa meant to stamp out the thuggery if they let lads off the hook? Surely Armagh will continue to be Armagh with their bully tactics if lads get away with it." Fielder - on your second paragraph - are you accrediting 100% blame of the handbags to Armagh and therefore referring to them as the 'thugs' or accepting 50% responsibility and therefore 'thuggery' on both sides? ardmhacha (Armagh) - Posts: 172 - 20/04/2022 13:41:12 2411818 Link
Replying To ardmhacha: "Fielder - on your second paragraph - are you accrediting 100% blame of the handbags to Armagh and therefore referring to them as the 'thugs' or accepting 50% responsibility and therefore 'thuggery' on both sides?" Wrong done on both sides from this Donegal fan's perspective, don't like the 'thug' language. However, the appeals farce and the blame for the row itself being put on Donegal isn't sitting well with people up here. You'll get a warm welcome to Ballybofey but the team will be tearing out the gate now. Donegal_abroad (Donegal) - Posts: 1388 - 20/04/2022 14:02:26 2411828 Link
I said at the start of this I'm not a fan of banning players that commit everything to play county football unless it's clearly warranted, and in Rian O'Neill's case it was clear as day on video that he punched a player, no arguments,that's an automatic ban. the other suspensions should have either all been upheld or all quashed, it's a joke and a farce this appeals process, is it another mistake from Bonner that our suspensions weren't appealed? anyway it's a complete farce at this stage, them and their CCCCC's and what have you, a complete joke. Armagh can have no excuses now and they can park the béal bocht act. I can just hear the whining from McConville on Sunday. hope we can find a decent performance but I'm not that confident really with the patchy league form we had but we'll see on Sunday. Tirchonaill1 (Donegal) - Posts: 3064 - 20/04/2022 14:21:12 2411835 Link
Replying To ardmhacha: "Fielder - on your second paragraph - are you accrediting 100% blame of the handbags to Armagh and therefore referring to them as the 'thugs' or accepting 50% responsibility and therefore 'thuggery' on both sides?" Both teams were at it. I also mean in general that the Gaa needs to stamp out the nonsense from the game as a whole before you get too sensitive. Why would I want a child of mine compete in games like these where they could get punched in the head and the culprit gets off the hook. fielder (Donegal) - Posts: 137 - 20/04/2022 14:35:58 2411843 Link
Replying To TopOfTheSquare: "As an Armagh fan obviously great to have full team available which means we literally have no excuses come Sunday now. But as GAA fan I don't agree because the referee and his officials have singled out these players for a reason. Out of all the players I thought Rian wouldn't win his appeal cause the video evidence is clear but for the rest can't say anything as I wasn't there to witness it and the footage isn't very clear. I don't understand why Armagh or Donegal had to have planned the row at end of match and it can't just be a situation that got out of hand with 2 players" Jeez get outta here with that level-headed analysis! We've only room for grand conspiracies and coordinated attacks from all angles on these pages! JoeSoap (Donegal) - Posts: 1432 - 20/04/2022 15:00:56 2411856 Link
Replying To Tirchonaill1: "I said at the start of this I'm not a fan of banning players that commit everything to play county football unless it's clearly warranted, and in Rian O'Neill's case it was clear as day on video that he punched a player, no arguments,that's an automatic ban. the other suspensions should have either all been upheld or all quashed, it's a joke and a farce this appeals process, is it another mistake from Bonner that our suspensions weren't appealed? anyway it's a complete farce at this stage, them and their CCCCC's and what have you, a complete joke. Armagh can have no excuses now and they can park the béal bocht act. I can just hear the whining from McConville on Sunday. hope we can find a decent performance but I'm not that confident really with the patchy league form we had but we'll see on Sunday." Easy to blame Bonner with hind sight. I agree that he shouldn't have appealed the bans. Seems like it has back fired now. The only thing I can say about it is that his integrity is in check as a result of not appealing. Hopefully we can get on with the sport now as opposed to the politics. Im sure Armagh supporters would feel the same way. Have to say that the GAA have shown themselves to be fairly incompetent as a result of this incident. Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3846 - 20/04/2022 15:17:40 2411864 Link
Replying To Donegal_abroad: "Wrong done on both sides from this Donegal fan's perspective, don't like the 'thug' language. However, the appeals farce and the blame for the row itself being put on Donegal isn't sitting well with people up here. You'll get a warm welcome to Ballybofey but the team will be tearing out the gate now." Yeah there's idiots on both sides claiming conspiracy. We can argue over who started it but really it's 50/50 after the 3rd man joins the party. Looking forward to the warm welcome as always (Donegal a very popular destination for Armagh people and and always a warm welcome in your fine county). Both teams will be tearing out the gate for what should be a great game. May the best team win. ardmhacha (Armagh) - Posts: 172 - 20/04/2022 15:32:52 2411868 Link
Replying To Tirchonaill1: "I said at the start of this I'm not a fan of banning players that commit everything to play county football unless it's clearly warranted, and in Rian O'Neill's case it was clear as day on video that he punched a player, no arguments,that's an automatic ban. the other suspensions should have either all been upheld or all quashed, it's a joke and a farce this appeals process, is it another mistake from Bonner that our suspensions weren't appealed? anyway it's a complete farce at this stage, them and their CCCCC's and what have you, a complete joke. Armagh can have no excuses now and they can park the béal bocht act. I can just hear the whining from McConville on Sunday. hope we can find a decent performance but I'm not that confident really with the patchy league form we had but we'll see on Sunday." Dont really think thats true Donegal are a better team than Armagh and have been playing at this level for longer with a home game. Armagh at full strength will still be hopefully incredible tight. I dont understand why Donegal Fans think we will automatically think we will win. Its true to say we have a far better chance with a full squad bar mackin. I was at the game I think Donegal started a row knowing Armagh would react and the idiots some of our players are the took the bait. Like the worse person in the whole video is the Donegal sub keeper and he never got cited. I dont think anyone should be banned but Donegal decided not to appeal thats up to them but fair play to Armagh credit_crunch (Armagh) - Posts: 57 - 20/04/2022 15:45:23 2411872 Link
I'm going to try stay away from the mud flinging from both sides (and those from outside the two counties). However, from what i am led to believe all 3 suspensions were lifted on appeal due to technicalities (ref procedure boo boo if true). And so Armagh were within their rights to appeal. Had Donegal appealed at the appropriate time and used the same reasoning their players would also have had their suspensions lifted. Rians ban lifted due to a different technicality where again the proper processee werent followed. The GAA really need to have a long hard look at their own rules and the people in the know who should be following the letter of those laws need to either stop cutting corners/better know the rules. Looking forward to the game on Sunday. ArmaghAndProud (Armagh) - Posts: 35 - 20/04/2022 15:52:09 2411878 Link
Replying To Donegalman: "Easy to blame Bonner with hind sight. I agree that he shouldn't have appealed the bans. Seems like it has back fired now. The only thing I can say about it is that his integrity is in check as a result of not appealing. Hopefully we can get on with the sport now as opposed to the politics. Im sure Armagh supporters would feel the same way. Have to say that the GAA have shown themselves to be fairly incompetent as a result of this incident." None of the melee incidents I've seen this year came even close to justifying any red cards. Best thing would be to make a sin bin offence, like a black card. Send them all off for 10 minutes. It'd cause serious problems for their team, and would make players think before getting sucked into that nonsense. And it would seem more in proportion to the offence. Problem: if player A starts dragging and wrestling with player B from the other team, player B may not even be able to get away. And then the ref comes over and books both of them, regardless of who started it, and who merely had been dragged into it against his will. essmac (Tyrone) - Posts: 1141 - 20/04/2022 16:32:27 2411887 Link
GAA Discilinary System is a national laughing stock. There isn't a sporting body in the world with a shambolic dysfunctional Disciplinary System like the GAA. How three players can get off, particularly one who is clearly shown throwing a punch & 2 others who decide not to appeal, get punished is actually laughable, but an embarrassment. Who would want to be associated with that type of Ballymagash set up. They are campaigning to recruit referees, yet they consistently overturn their decisions. Who would want to be a ref when the National Organisation won't even back you up, it also implies that referees are wrong in the decisions they made. As for the appeals process, what a shambles, similar to the mess that our legal & judicial system is in, all tied up in legal speak & only benefiting the perpetrators. It was clear to see from the video evidence that one player connected with a punch to the head. The GAA are playing with fire in relation to head injuries in their games & even accidental clashes can have tragic outcomes as we sadly saw this week. Any contact with the head should be automatic bans. Some players will start to take legal actions in relation to injuries & rightly so. The GAA won't act until it's too late for someone & then probably overturn their decision anyways. Again Transparency is a big issue. Clubs can't see who has been suspended or for how long, so it's wide open to abuse & a blind eye turned to it. The appeals process is a joke, no details ever published or how "technicalities" arose. The clubs with influence usually treated differently. At national level everybody knows the members of the appeals committee, how do we know these people are not been pressured by counties. As usual we will never know as there is no transparency. Standards being set by the National body are really poor & putting parents off involvement as they see an organisation that talks about discipline but actually is just that, all talk & no system or consistency behind it. This decision this week just beggars belief & shown that it's a sport with no values. moc.dna (Galway) - Posts: 1212 - 20/04/2022 17:08:18 2411896 Link
Replying To essmac: "None of the melee incidents I've seen this year came even close to justifying any red cards. Best thing would be to make a sin bin offence, like a black card. Send them all off for 10 minutes. It'd cause serious problems for their team, and would make players think before getting sucked into that nonsense. And it would seem more in proportion to the offence. Problem: if player A starts dragging and wrestling with player B from the other team, player B may not even be able to get away. And then the ref comes over and books both of them, regardless of who started it, and who merely had been dragged into it against his will." The officiating has become a joke, this handling now with us and Armagh, the Tyrone Armagh fiasco earlier on in the league, I mean the whole thing is idiotic, from inconsistent refereeing to endless appeals processes. it's laughable. Tirchonaill1 (Donegal) - Posts: 3064 - 20/04/2022 17:58:15 2411909 Link
Replying To essmac: "None of the melee incidents I've seen this year came even close to justifying any red cards. Best thing would be to make a sin bin offence, like a black card. Send them all off for 10 minutes. It'd cause serious problems for their team, and would make players think before getting sucked into that nonsense. And it would seem more in proportion to the offence. Problem: if player A starts dragging and wrestling with player B from the other team, player B may not even be able to get away. And then the ref comes over and books both of them, regardless of who started it, and who merely had been dragged into it against his will." Perfect example, Lee Keegan and Sean Cavanagh. Saynothing (Tyrone) - Posts: 2170 - 20/04/2022 19:20:36 2411926 Link
I would love to see Donegal suspensions be lifted so we can look forward to this game on its own merits and let the best team win! I think Donegal will edge it but it is a great feeling that armagh are finally in the discussion again. JP91 (Armagh) - Posts: 316 - 20/04/2022 19:41:03 2411933 Link
Disciplinary committee can expect a busy few weeks ahead..as any red card is now likely to be appealed..it makes a joke of how things are handled..Damian lawlor said on radio 2 earlier that mackin withdrew his appeal so will actually serve a one game ban..however it really does add extra spice to Sunday's game., CTGAA10 (Limerick) - Posts: 2410 - 20/04/2022 20:47:07 2411946 Link
Replying To Tirchonaill1: "The officiating has become a joke, this handling now with us and Armagh, the Tyrone Armagh fiasco earlier on in the league, I mean the whole thing is idiotic, from inconsistent refereeing to endless appeals processes. it's laughable." Blame David Gough, he has set the standard now with his farcical actions in armagh. The precedent is set, consistency is key and even Conor Mc kenna might not get off. monaghanmad (Monaghan) - Posts: 398 - 21/04/2022 08:46:01 2411975 Link
Replying To CTGAA10: "Disciplinary committee can expect a busy few weeks ahead..as any red card is now likely to be appealed..it makes a joke of how things are handled..Damian lawlor said on radio 2 earlier that mackin withdrew his appeal so will actually serve a one game ban..however it really does add extra spice to Sunday's game.," Hes out for the rest of the year anyway so it doesnt matter. credit_crunch (Armagh) - Posts: 57 - 21/04/2022 09:58:06 2411998 Link