Down Club Hurling & Football

[Splash]

Good luck to the Down hurlers in Portlaoise today. 70 minutes away from Division One hurling next year.

Good to see Paul Sheehan named to start. Great that he's stuck around for another year. Strong looking bench, too, which is great to see.

Down went toe to toe with Laois when they met in the first round of the league, until Laois won it right at the end. If Down can produce a similar performance, there's every chance they come out on top today.

One area I think Down have struggled in this year is they have simply been giving away too many frees. Hopefully we see minimal frees, and 15 men staying on the field.

Pressure will very much be on Laois today. Laois will feel like they need to be in Division One, and don't think many people will be giving Down much of a chance. Could give Down the opportunity to play a good brand of free flowing hurling, and sure then, who knows?

Down have really come a long way in the past couple years. Couldn't get out of Division 2B for ten years, and now they're playing their second Divison 2A promotion deciders in 3 years. It's been great to see. Onwards and upwards, hopefully.


Also, good luck to Glenn today with the opening of their new facilities and their match against Slaughtneil. Always good to see good facilities in the county, and Glenn look like a club with great potential.

Glenn had a bit of a hurling team back years and years ago. Who knows, maybe the Slaughtneil lads will bring the hurls and reignite a bit of interest in stick-ball about the place 

[Johnnysboys]

Some performance and win by the minor footballers today. Well done Benny and his back room team. Derry will be difficult in the final but it is a winnable game to put much needed silverware on the table.

[snoopdog]

Tough game in Newry ahead. Clare look to be a good outfit. They had a last minute goal against westmeath wrongly chalked off. Pressure for Down. They didn't cope that geat with the pressure last week. This will be our most important game of the year. Another year in div 3 and heads will drop. Hopefully if we perform like we can then a win is there. Best of Luck to the team.

[downtothecore]

Yeah I expect tough game today. The stakes are high for Down football and the lavery project. Defeat today would be a big setback...

[burdizzo]

Good luck to the Down hurlers in Portlaoise today. 70 minutes away from Division One hurling next year.

Good to see Paul Sheehan named to start. Great that he's stuck around for another year. Strong looking bench, too, which is great to see.

Down went toe to toe with Laois when they met in the first round of the league, until Laois won it right at the end. If Down can produce a similar performance, there's every chance they come out on top today.

One area I think Down have struggled in this year is they have simply been giving away too many frees. Hopefully we see minimal frees, and 15 men staying on the field.

Pressure will very much be on Laois today. Laois will feel like they need to be in Division One, and don't think many people will be giving Down much of a chance. Could give Down the opportunity to play a good brand of free flowing hurling, and sure then, who knows?

Down have really come a long way in the past couple years. Couldn't get out of Division 2B for ten years, and now they're playing their second Divison 2A promotion deciders in 3 years. It's been great to see. Onwards and upwards, hopefully.


Also, good luck to Glenn today with the opening of their new facilities and their match against Slaughtneil. Always good to see good facilities in the county, and Glenn look like a club with great potential.

Glenn had a bit of a hurling team back years and years ago. Who knows, maybe the Slaughtneil lads will bring the hurls and reignite a bit of interest in stick-ball about the place 

In the end, Laois won handily enough - and, indeed, wasted quite a few chances, too. Down had a good start, and were leading for, I dunno, the first ten or fifteen minutes, but Laois hit their stride and were clear at half-time. A goal early in the second half killed it off. Down seemed to get tired, and could barely score with the wind. In fact, they scored more against it in the first half. There was one great point from one of the wing backs late on, who stormed up the field, and put it over from about 50 out. Other than that, Laois seemed crisper and cuter in their hurling, and a little bit fitter.
One thing I did notice - not all the Down team are from Ards anymore. Has the game spread a bit in the county?

[johnnycool]

Good luck to the Down hurlers in Portlaoise today. 70 minutes away from Division One hurling next year.

Good to see Paul Sheehan named to start. Great that he's stuck around for another year. Strong looking bench, too, which is great to see.

Down went toe to toe with Laois when they met in the first round of the league, until Laois won it right at the end. If Down can produce a similar performance, there's every chance they come out on top today.

One area I think Down have struggled in this year is they have simply been giving away too many frees. Hopefully we see minimal frees, and 15 men staying on the field.

Pressure will very much be on Laois today. Laois will feel like they need to be in Division One, and don't think many people will be giving Down much of a chance. Could give Down the opportunity to play a good brand of free flowing hurling, and sure then, who knows?

Down have really come a long way in the past couple years. Couldn't get out of Division 2B for ten years, and now they're playing their second Divison 2A promotion deciders in 3 years. It's been great to see. Onwards and upwards, hopefully.


Also, good luck to Glenn today with the opening of their new facilities and their match against Slaughtneil. Always good to see good facilities in the county, and Glenn look like a club with great potential.

Glenn had a bit of a hurling team back years and years ago. Who knows, maybe the Slaughtneil lads will bring the hurls and reignite a bit of interest in stick-ball about the place 

In the end, Laois won handily enough - and, indeed, wasted quite a few chances, too. Down had a good start, and were leading for, I dunno, the first ten or fifteen minutes, but Laois hit their stride and were clear at half-time. A goal early in the second half killed it off. Down seemed to get tired, and could barely score with the wind. In fact, they scored more against it in the first half. There was one great point from one of the wing backs late on, who stormed up the field, and put it over from about 50 out. Other than that, Laois seemed crisper and cuter in their hurling, and a little bit fitter.
One thing I did notice - not all the Down team are from Ards anymore. Has the game spread a bit in the county?

Yes, and for the better.

The idea to have 5/6 teams in the club senior championship is paying off IMO and long may it continue even further.

[snoopdog]

Well done to the footballers. Close 1st half but controlled the game in the 2nd half pulling up. Div 3 promotion achieved and undefeated. A game next sat night to look forward to in Croke Park.

[Johnnysboys]

Congrats to the footballers - fantastic performance in what has been a great week for the big ball in the county.

Congrats also to our Longstone native who has achieved 3 consecutive relegations with 3 different counties. Takes some beating that but yet he still spoofs his way into jobs.

[downtothecore]

Brilliant result for the footballers. The pressure was on and they delivered. They are defintely progressing.
We should win against Antrim in the championship but it wont be easy and if we do  it is likely to set up a clash with Armagh....

[SHEEDY]

Great result today, promotion was vital for this team. Probably wasn't as easy as the scoreline suggests, 2 goals in quick succession gave us a stress free last quarter. A trip to croke park now to look forward to. Well done all, first and probably most important target for the season achieved.

[Hard2Listen2]

Congrats to the footballers - fantastic performance in what has been a great week for the big ball in the county.

Congrats also to our Longstone native who has achieved 3 consecutive relegations with 3 different counties. Takes some beating that but yet he still spoofs his way into jobs.

I think he was over Castlewellan when they were relegated too.
Must have a big reputation as a coach amongst those who know about that sort of thing.

[ardtole]

By my reckoning Louth would need to reach the Leinster final and Down beat Westmeath next weekend to qualify for the All Ireland series via their league position.

Or, they will need to beat Antrim and Armagh to qualify via the Ulster championship.

By contrast Downs opponents today, Clare only have to beat a division 4 opponent Tipp or Waterford, to guarantee a 2nd seed position in the All Ireland series.

Definitely a flaw in the system.

[Hard2Listen2]

By my reckoning Louth would need to reach the Leinster final and Down beat Westmeath next weekend to qualify for the All Ireland series via their league position.

Or, they will need to beat Antrim and Armagh to qualify via the Ulster championship.

By contrast Downs opponents today, Clare only have to beat a division 4 opponent Tipp or Waterford, to guarantee a 2nd seed position in the All Ireland series.

Definitely a flaw in the system.

What is the story with Down making it into the Sam Maguire?

[DuffGael]

By my reckoning Louth would need to reach the Leinster final and Down beat Westmeath next weekend to qualify for the All Ireland series via their league position.

Or, they will need to beat Antrim and Armagh to qualify via the Ulster championship.

By contrast Downs opponents today, Clare only have to beat a division 4 opponent Tipp or Waterford, to guarantee a 2nd seed position in the All Ireland series.

Definitely a flaw in the system.

What is the story with Down making it into the Sam Maguire?

It's the 8 provincial finalists plus Meath and then the next 7 best teams in the league. Down are 15th now after finishing top of Div 3 above the 2 relegated teams. It's most likely we will play for Sam but not certain

[LosDodgers]

Need to win next week and then hope Louth get to Leinster final which is not unlikely. Then Down will get the final All Ireland spot.

Think this team needs to be playing in All Ireland series as that's the next step in their development and will help when it comes to next seasons league.

Thoughts todays performance was excellent, very strong all round the field, made much better decisions in final third instead of playing that extra pass that we are sometimes guilty of.

Disappointing for John McGovern was the only real negative for today but I am sure we will see more of him come championship.