Down Club Hurling & Football

[Mourne Rover]

It is hard to assess a game you did not attend, but the better Down performances tend to be based on confidence and momentum. While we displayed neither against Kerry, the memory of the draw in Castlebar last year, when we really should have won pulling up, may well have an effect last Sunday

The early red card was certainly a big factor, but there would have been enormous pressure on the referee to even things up and our discipline and substitutions seem to have worked very well. Springing Benny from the bench plainly helped his game, and it will be fascinating to see if we try the same move against the Dubs.

Ambrose's return at midfield, with two points from play and a 45 as well, gave us a big lift, although we could really do with Doyle as well for his left-footed frees and general contribution. However, we are up and running again and there should be quite an atmosphere this Sunday.

[general]

with the new club season just a few weeks away, this time of year clubs will find it hard to keep pitches in tip top condition. last night i left a young one to ballyholland and did have a good look at the pitch which looked perfect under the lights.

im carious to know what other pitches are like at this time of the year?

[DownFanatic]

With Division 3 and Division 4 set to kick off next week and Divison 1 and 2 to follow soon, who do you fancy to win their respective League and Championships this year?

Burren must be favourites for the SFC again but the usual challenge should emanate from Kilcoo with a chasing pack of Bryansford, Clonduff and Mayobridge. Kilcoo usually do well in the League and Id fancy them or Burren to pick up the Division 1 title.

An Riocht and Rostrevor who are just down from Division 1 must be strong favourites for Division 2. Liatroim and Loughinisland will be in the mix there too in what should be a very competitive top four.

Annaclone and Warrenpoint would probably be tipped for the IFC with the former's pedigree very strong in this grade. There are only five Division 2 teams in the IFC this year. Clan na Banna who made the Semis last year may be an outside bet.

Division 3 is a complete lottery this year. Tullylish, Ballymartin and Drumgath are perennially strong in this section but the likes of Darragh Cross, Bosco and Saul are well capable of pushing for the top. The beauty of Division 3 in 2012 is the fact that anyone can beat anyone.

Bredagh should canter through Division 4. Last year's JFC winners have been competing very strongly in the Ulster IFL pre-season and despite missing the boat last year should be far too strong for the rest of the pack. Last year's relegated pair Mitchels and Dundrum along with a resurgent Teconnaught and possibly St Pauls should all be in the mix for the remaining promotion berths.

Drumaness are big favourites for the JFC. They are the only Division 3 team in it this year. They have good stock in this competition as they won it a couple of years ago. Last year's runners up Dromara will be looking to go one better this year while Mitchels, Dundrum, Teconnaught, St Paul's and Bright will all be looking to make an imprint on the competition.

[EagleLord]

SFC:Bryansford
IFC:Annaclone
JFC:Dundrum

Div1:Kilcoo
Div2:Rostrevor
Div3:Ballymartin
Div4:Bredagh

[whitegoodman]

Looking forward to the start of the leagues.  Dont know enough about the 2 lower divisions to comment much ( some would say I dont know much about the first 2 either ) so Il stick to the first 2.

Interesting year ahead, i see Kilcoo and Burren slightly ahead of the Bridge and ford falling slightly further behind.  Kilcoo will come flying out of the box as they always do but they must be targeting a championship at this stage, league titles are all well and good but the championship is the daddy.  Their manager will be under serious pressure to produce this year after the last 2 years of underachieving.

Burren are invariably slow starters and with the bridge and kilcoo in their first 2 outings this is likely to continue.  Dont think they will be too worried about that if it does happen as they are an August, September team and will pick things up as the year progresses.  They are a good team but question marks remain as to whether they are as good as teams of yester year who could win 3, 4 and 5 on the bounce.  Cant see it myself.

Bridge is a difficult one to judge.  Their management situation is an interesting one and could be a match made in heaven or car crash tv.  It has been "reported" that poucher isnt allowed inside the wire at matches which isnt confidence inspiring.  They have some fresh talent coming through but nowhere near that of their great team years ago of coulter, walsh, sexton, grant and co.  Coulter isnt getting any younger but is still the most lethal finisher in Down which means that this team will always be a threat whilst he is around.

Bryansford last year as with most years flatter to deceive.  They have the players but never seem to be able to finish the job.  Training numbers are "reportetly" low so all may not be well in the camp and I see them as a distant 4th in the division.

At the other end Downpatrick look doomed already especially if the 2 Turleys are missing for any length of time.  Of the rest the harps should be more than fine with murtagh free from the starred games.  Themselves, Saval and Clonduff should be fighting midtable.

Division 2 looks a 2 horse race with the 2 that went down going straight back up.  Rostrevor especially look far too strong for this division and although the kingdom may have lost a few to Oz they still should be too strong for this division.

I would look for improved performances from Annaclone and Warrenpoint this year with Loughanisland and Liatrom also in the mix.

[ardtole]

Will the price of admission still be the same this weekend against the dubs or will there be an extra fee due to the hurlers playing 1st in a double header.

[general]

SFC:Burren
IFC:Warrenpoint
JFC:Drumaness

Div1:Mayobridge
Div2:An Ríocht
Div3:Glenn 
Div4:Bredagh

[pointman129]

SFC:Mayobridge
IFC:Warrenpoint
JFC:Drumaness

Div1:Kilcoo
Div2:Rostrevor
Div3:Tullylish
Div4:Bredagh

[alba2]

Much as it pains me to say it - but Mayobridge are a spent force and getting in that clown to train them is too little too late.  There is no way he will stay behind the wire - he thinks he is too important for that.  Burren and Kilcoo are a little ahead of Bryansford at the minute and both league and championship will come out of those three teams i feel.  After flirting with relegation last year - its a big season for Clonduff.  they have new management in and a new purpose.  Should be interesting at the bottom with Ballyholland, Saval, Castlewellan and Downpatrick all fighting it out to stay afloat.  throw in the Stone and Clonduff and those 6 will have a real battle on their hands.  The league with only 10 teams in it is cut throat now.  Lose your first couple of games and you could be playing catch up all season.

[dundrumite]

Much as it pains me to say it - but Mayobridge are a spent force and getting in that clown to train them is too little too late.  There is no way he will stay behind the wire - he thinks he is too important for that.  Burren and Kilcoo are a little ahead of Bryansford at the minute and both league and championship will come out of those three teams i feel.  After flirting with relegation last year - its a big season for Clonduff.  they have new management in and a new purpose.  Should be interesting at the bottom with Ballyholland, Saval, Castlewellan and Downpatrick all fighting it out to stay afloat.  throw in the Stone and Clonduff and those 6 will have a real battle on their hands.  The league with only 10 teams in it is cut throat now.  Lose your first couple of games and you could be playing catch up all season.

If the Bridge are looking a song for the year..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXzhEokVn0s

[snoopdog]

Any word of the Down team for sunday?
Or is McCartan gonna p1ss around again and we will arrive at game on sunday with no clue of a line up.
Dublin have named theres,

[western exile]

Dublin (SF v Down):
S Cluxton;
D Daly, R O'Carroll, J Cooper;
J McCarthy, G Brennan (capt), C Dias;
E Fennell, M Dara Macauley;
P Brogan, K McManamon, P Flynn,
D Connolly, E O'Gara, A Brogan.

http://www.irishtimes.com/sports/gaa/2012/0316/1224313445315.html

[Mourne Rover]

The odds against us on Sunday are 10/3 with Paddy Power, which is longer even than against Kerry and must be the highest price offered for a Down home win over many years. Dublin are entitled to be warm favourites, given performances so far in the league, but they have made a few changes and a good Down start would put them under a fair bit of pressure.

I think it may be the first Dublin visit to us since 1995, when we were going badly and got a hammering, 0-1 to 1-7. To make matters worse, the traffic was dreadful - as it may be again this time - and we got through the turnstiles a couple of minutes late to find a ball flying over our heads at the town end. Down had got a penalty with our first attack, and Ross smacked it against the crossbar for a point before it rebounded out of the ground. We then collapsed entirely, meaning that, for hopefully the last occasion ever, I paid into a Down match without seeing us score.

The only memorable incident came when DJ lost it late on, flooring two Dublin forwards in quick succession during a dust-up. We waited for the inevitable red card, but the unsighted ref managed to hand out one yellow apiece to the disbelief of the Dublin support. DJ still looked annoyed anyway.

We could be doing with a couple of defenders with DJ's commitment, but discipline will also be an important factor on Sunday. The evidence against Mayo was that we had learned from the early yellows against Kerry and produced a much cuter game.

The team we have named is fairly predictable, although it is again good to see it released at a relatively early stage - 1 Brendan McVeigh, 2    Daniel McCartan
3  Conor Garvey, 4 Aiden Branigan, 5  Niall McParland, 6    Dan Gordan, 7 Kevin McKernan,  8 Ambrose Rogers, 9  Kalum King, 10  Daniel Hughes, 11  Mark Poland. 12 Aidan Carr, 13  Conor Maginn,  14  Brendan Coulter, 15  Conor Laverty.

There may well be a number of positional changes, with big Dan potentially moving to full back against O'Gara and possibly Garvey switching on to Connolly. James must have been very tempted to spring Benny from the bench in a repeat of the tactic which proved so effective against Mayo, and there was also a decent case for Kallum at full forward, but hopefully we will still give it our best shot.

[Mike Tyson]

Did Paul Devlin and Rusty O'Reilly get called up to the panel?

[Pangurban]

Think Sundays selection is possibly our best team, though a slot will have to be found for Mc Comisky when he regains fitness and form