Down Club Hurling & Football

[Line Ball]

It's wonderful to be optimistic about the Monaghan game but I just can't get it.  Many of us travel in hope more than anything else and will some here are confident that we will do well I just cannot comprehend that it is good enough to accept a decent performance as a successful outcome.  We are a proud county and many of us have been brought up basking in success with regular Ulster finals at minor, U.21 and senior with many great days in Clones. They seem like a distant memory now and all of a sudden we are told we should expect that playing well and maybe keeping the score down can be seen as a positive, I tell you what we have dropped a long we if that is the case.  We can blame the unavailability of players, the change of management, the county board, the underage structures, the list goes on.  We are simply not good enough at the minute, we do not have the players or an effective system of play which can win us a game in Ulster, I would love to be proved wrong though.  Someone told me the other day that we have not had any U.21 players on the senior panel never mind team for the last two years, that is a sad state of affairs and shows how far our structures are way behind other counties in Ulster.  I cannot remember us being as low but putting up a good show in Clones will not be seen as success in my book, I'm sorry if some of you don't agree.

Zzzzzzzzz!You'd be some craic on a night out.We all live in hope that Down will do well.

Relevance? There is a reply which would probably get me banned and involves any lady friends of yours but I wouldn't go there 

Yes, we all live and travel in hope but as I stated I just don't share the optimism of many on here. I am entitled to my opinion whether you agree with it or not. 

[snoopdog]

I for one think we will beat Monaghan on June 6th
To say we just don't have the players is just wrong
All these players playing outstanding for there clubs at present
Mooney (10points against Bredagh?
Madine (tore burren to pieces)
Clarke (superb last night v rostrevor)
Laverty(consistent all year)
Millar(destroyed ford last night)
Arthur(unmarkable v kilcoo)
J Boyle (MOM display v bridge on Friday)
McArdle (assured full back for Castlewellan )


Down to beat Monaghan by 4

I expect to see a few of the above names play for Down this season

How many of the above are in the squad???

[Smurfy123]

None
I'm hoping to see a few on the squad
Probably running out of time as we are 3 weeks away from Monaghan
Anyword how the game against Cork today went?

[cut the crap]

Great reading the two ends of the hope spectrum here, abject dejection versus unbridled hope, I'm hoping for a narrow win maybe a point in it, but I have been round a few championship venues in my time and we are not in as good a shape as we have been in the past, but Monaghan aren't exactly top of the tree either, I only hope that Eamonn has a game plan to deal with McManus which doesn't involve us getting a black card or reduced to 14 men, Monaghan are obviously confident , hopefully over confident and then we might have a chance.
However one thing , listing players who are playing well with their club won't help because at this stage they won't be called in as they probably have been asked and answered no.
Still think the minors can win

[Line Ball]

Great reading the two ends of the hope spectrum here, abject dejection versus unbridled hope, I'm hoping for a narrow win maybe a point in it, but I have been round a few championship venues in my time and we are not in as good a shape as we have been in the past, but Monaghan aren't exactly top of the tree either, I only hope that Eamonn has a game plan to deal with McManus which doesn't involve us getting a black card or reduced to 14 men, Monaghan are obviously confident , hopefully over confident and then we might have a chance.
However one thing , listing players who are playing well with their club won't help because at this stage they won't be called in as they probably have been asked and answered no.
Still think the minors can win

Yes, no doubt. By the sound of it there has been alot of work put into it and it would be great to see something positive come out of this year. 

[supersub]

I for one think we will beat Monaghan on June 6th
To say we just don't have the players is just wrong
All these players playing outstanding for there clubs at present
Mooney (10points against Bredagh?
Madine (tore burren to pieces)
Clarke (superb last night v rostrevor)
Laverty(consistent all year)
Millar(destroyed ford last night)
Arthur(unmarkable v kilcoo)
J Boyle (MOM display v bridge on Friday)
McArdle (assured full back for Castlewellan )


Down to beat Monaghan by 4

I expect to see a few of the above names play for Down this season

What about the players that are on the panel - how are they performing for their clubs? Surely that's a lot more importantly. The above is pie in the sky stuff.

[Smurfy123]

Pie in the sky stuff maybe but let's call a spade a spade
These lads should all be playing
Well most of our squad are carrying injuries at present
I'm sticking by my prediction that Down will win by 4+
I've just got that feeling
We have some tremendous players that Monaghan will not be ready for
Man for man we are as good as any team in Ireland with the exception of Dublin and Kerry

[whitegoodman]

Pie in the sky stuff maybe but let's call a spade a spade
These lads should all be playing
Well most of our squad are carrying injuries at present
I'm sticking by my prediction that Down will win by 4+
I've just got that feeling
We have some tremendous players that Monaghan will not be ready for
Man for man we are as good as any team in Ireland with the exception of Dublin and Kerry

Could I have a bit of whatever you are smoking.  Player for player this is the worst down team in years !!

[imagine]

Pie in the sky stuff maybe but let's call a spade a spade
These lads should all be playing
Well most of our squad are carrying injuries at present
I'm sticking by my prediction that Down will win by 4+
I've just got that feeling
We have some tremendous players that Monaghan will not be ready for
Man for man we are as good as any team in Ireland with the exception of Dublin and Kerry

You are completely misguided here.Not many current Down players would make the Tyrone team at present.

[Mourne Rover]

Smurfy asked about the Cork game and the suggestions are that we were quite impressive in the first half, with Poland going particularly well, but faded away after the break. However, we apparently experimented without sweepers in the second half which may have had an impact on the result. Is the Arthur included in your list of missing players big McConville ?

[supersub]

Pie in the sky stuff maybe but let's call a spade a spade
These lads should all be playing
Well most of our squad are carrying injuries at present
I'm sticking by my prediction that Down will win by 4+
I've just got that feeling
We have some tremendous players that Monaghan will not be ready for
Man for man we are as good as any team in Ireland with the exception of Dublin and Kerry

Let's call a spade a spade, they aren't in the squad!!

[wobbller]

I for one think we will beat Monaghan on June 6th
To say we just don't have the players is just wrong
All these players playing outstanding for there clubs at present
Mooney (10points against Bredagh?
Madine (tore burren to pieces)
Clarke (superb last night v rostrevor)
Laverty(consistent all year)
Millar(destroyed ford last night)
Arthur(unmarkable v kilcoo)
J Boyle (MOM display v bridge on Friday)
McArdle (assured full back for Castlewellan )


Down to beat Monaghan by 4

I expect to see a few of the above names play for Down this season

McArdle- Castlewellan???

[speculative]

I think we need to call in GBDA (GAA Board Doping Agency) for some of you lot who think Down will win.

Who is going to nullify Connor McManus?
Who is going to get our scores? Neil McAdam, Vinny Corey, Colin Walshe, Dessie Mone, etc. will run over the top of our small, light and limited forward line.
Is any midfield combination we have going to compete against any intercounty team let alone the Ulster Champions?
Is Eamonn Burns going to be able to out fox Malachy O'Rourke?

We will do well to not be beat out the gate. We may forget about senior football for the next 6 years and look at ploughing our resources into actually building some form of youth structure to develop our youngsters

While we are at let's get rid of the county board leadership, for the complete lack of vision or competency to implement anything that could be considered a youth development structure

[T O Hare]

While it's easy to sit behind a computer and ridicule people ,I would like to say that the structures at underage county development are beginning to take shape these last two years. The appointment of Paddy O Rourke to oversee all has really improved things and there is valuable coaching going on with our underage academy squads at present.

[redandblackareback]

We are simply not good enough at management or a playing level, sooner the idiots on here realise that the better, I will reserve judgement on the great coaching going on at underage level T O Hare until I hear more, not convinced.