Down Club Hurling & Football

[thewobbler]

The championship opening rounds are always going to be shite for as long as a back door system is in place.

[Johnnysboys]

I understand that it's very difficult to beat one of the "big guns" twice in the same championship but there used to be an odd surprise in the early rounds - it nearly seems that the strong clubs are getting stronger and the weak clubs are struggling to keep up meaning the chance of a one off massive result is slim.
CPN v the noisy neighbours - always going to happen. We don't need any motivation for this one that's for sure.

[upandwin]

Two big draws tonight for the next round. Point v Burren and Clonduff v Kilcoo. Two massive derbies but only two teams that will win those games. Kilcoo will cakewalk past the yellas and Burren the same against W'Point. Burren will fancy their chances this year they just need one big day against the reigning all Ireland champs. I think it'll be a Burren Bridge and Kilcoo Loughinisland semi final. Sets up lovely for a grand stand final. Burren by 10, Kilcoo by 6, Island by 4 and Bridge by 1

[johnnycool]

Bredagh beating Ballygalget at the weekend must have been the 1st time in a long time, a non-Ards club beat an Ards club.

Maybe Laoitrim have done it at some stage, or would it go right back to when Kilclief reigned supreme.

No, beat one of them in the championship previously

Bredagh have beat both ourselves and Ballycran last year, so not really a surprise. We've fallen down and will take a while to get back up and not taking away from Bredagh who've some fine hurlers in their team and probably should be with the county panel if not already.

RIP Martin Spike Baile, the last few years have been hard on the family as he'd an aggressive form of dementia take hold, hard to watch the impact it had on him, big, strong lad wasting away. Only turned 60 the other week.

Some player in his day, very unpredictable in all sorts of ways and was in his pomp when a lot of us young lads started coming through, he'd always look out for you, some craic on team building nights out.

Condolences to Sheila, Shane, Naomi, Caolan and especially the Da, Seamus, our treasurer for lord knows how many years, runs the bar, cuts the grass, you name it.

What is the landscape like now in Down regards club hurling at underage? I see Castlewellan are into 'A' grade finals at U-13 and U-15 level. Are some of the mainland clubs now on par with Ards' sides in most age groups?

Castlewellan are coming strong at U15, in saying that I was surprised they beat Portaferry in Portaferry on Sunday past as the Ports would have been considered strong favourites based on results going into that game but they did beat us in the U13 final last year so they should be there or there abouts.
U13 they're the strongest team I've saw this year and should win that one.
They've also got a strong P7 outfit to boot in the go games, so keep up the good work is all I can say. They play a decent style of hurling and have plenty of skill in them.

We play O'Rahillies in the U17 semi-final on Wednesday evening in Liatroim which is a combination of Castlewellan, Liatroim, Balella, Ballyvarley and I think a Clonduff lad going by his shorts, they're probably slight favourites based on the last encounter and the winners will face Bredagh in the final, so the Ards aren't as dominant at underage as it used to be and that's a good thing for Down hurling.
From a Ballygalget perspective we've always struggled with teams able to field a full compliment of lads in their last years at that level. We don't have that luxury and will always be dipping into the younger lads to field and there's nothing you can do with a 14yo playing against a 16 or 70yo which will happen in quite a few positions on Wednesday night.

and so it came to pass, there won't be one juvenile hurling championship residing in the Ards this winter.

Bredagh deservedly won the minor, better all-round team against our lads on Saturday, well done to them.

Castlewellan won the U13 vrs Carryduff and they'll both play off again this Sunday in the U15 final but I'd expect the winners to be reversed.

[terrifictommy]

'They just need one big day against the all-Ireland champs'

People having been saying the same time for over a decade. Straight away it's a defeatist attitude. If Burren are that good (which I haven't seen) then they don't need a big day. They need to keep doing what they are doing.

[Truth hurts]

I can see 3 East Down teams in the semis with Burren to join Kilcoo , Carryduff and Loughinisland. I agree with the poster that it's been a poor championship so far but it will spring to life this weekend. Loughinisland or Castlewellan have a chance to get into the last 4 and both will be licking their lips for the weekend. Ballyholland will be raging that they threw that game away as they were the better team and deserved to win but that's not always the case in championship football. Hilltown and St Peter's have absolutely nothing to lose but I haven't seen anything yet to say that they will trouble the big 2.
Rostrevor have a favourable draw and should take Annaclone. Drumgath will be no walkover for Liatroim and I expect Saval to be Rostrevor's only main threat left mainly due to Pat Havern who has the ability to rack up a big score.
Drumaness has the momentum to do the double and as I said previously here, they are a sleeping giant with a good population, if they could get total buy in then they could move up the divisions.

[bigarsedkeeper]

Bredagh beating Ballygalget at the weekend must have been the 1st time in a long time, a non-Ards club beat an Ards club.

Maybe Laoitrim have done it at some stage, or would it go right back to when Kilclief reigned supreme.

No, beat one of them in the championship previously

Bredagh have beat both ourselves and Ballycran last year, so not really a surprise. We've fallen down and will take a while to get back up and not taking away from Bredagh who've some fine hurlers in their team and probably should be with the county panel if not already.

RIP Martin Spike Baile, the last few years have been hard on the family as he'd an aggressive form of dementia take hold, hard to watch the impact it had on him, big, strong lad wasting away. Only turned 60 the other week.

Some player in his day, very unpredictable in all sorts of ways and was in his pomp when a lot of us young lads started coming through, he'd always look out for you, some craic on team building nights out.

Condolences to Sheila, Shane, Naomi, Caolan and especially the Da, Seamus, our treasurer for lord knows how many years, runs the bar, cuts the grass, you name it.

What is the landscape like now in Down regards club hurling at underage? I see Castlewellan are into 'A' grade finals at U-13 and U-15 level. Are some of the mainland clubs now on par with Ards' sides in most age groups?

Castlewellan are coming strong at U15, in saying that I was surprised they beat Portaferry in Portaferry on Sunday past as the Ports would have been considered strong favourites based on results going into that game but they did beat us in the U13 final last year so they should be there or there abouts.
U13 they're the strongest team I've saw this year and should win that one.
They've also got a strong P7 outfit to boot in the go games, so keep up the good work is all I can say. They play a decent style of hurling and have plenty of skill in them.

We play O'Rahillies in the U17 semi-final on Wednesday evening in Liatroim which is a combination of Castlewellan, Liatroim, Balella, Ballyvarley and I think a Clonduff lad going by his shorts, they're probably slight favourites based on the last encounter and the winners will face Bredagh in the final, so the Ards aren't as dominant at underage as it used to be and that's a good thing for Down hurling.
From a Ballygalget perspective we've always struggled with teams able to field a full compliment of lads in their last years at that level. We don't have that luxury and will always be dipping into the younger lads to field and there's nothing you can do with a 14yo playing against a 16 or 70yo which will happen in quite a few positions on Wednesday night.

and so it came to pass, there won't be one juvenile hurling championship residing in the Ards this winter.

Bredagh deservedly won the minor, better all-round team against our lads on Saturday, well done to them.

Castlewellan won the U13 vrs Carryduff and they'll both play off again this Sunday in the U15 final but I'd expect the winners to be reversed.

Is it a good thing or a bad thing Johnny? From a county point of view have good teams this side of the water can't be a bad thing but if the ards teams are struggling for numbers that's not a great sign at all.

There's a lot of good work going on in Castlewellan, fair play to them.

[johnnycool]

Bredagh beating Ballygalget at the weekend must have been the 1st time in a long time, a non-Ards club beat an Ards club.

Maybe Laoitrim have done it at some stage, or would it go right back to when Kilclief reigned supreme.

No, beat one of them in the championship previously

Bredagh have beat both ourselves and Ballycran last year, so not really a surprise. We've fallen down and will take a while to get back up and not taking away from Bredagh who've some fine hurlers in their team and probably should be with the county panel if not already.

RIP Martin Spike Baile, the last few years have been hard on the family as he'd an aggressive form of dementia take hold, hard to watch the impact it had on him, big, strong lad wasting away. Only turned 60 the other week.

Some player in his day, very unpredictable in all sorts of ways and was in his pomp when a lot of us young lads started coming through, he'd always look out for you, some craic on team building nights out.

Condolences to Sheila, Shane, Naomi, Caolan and especially the Da, Seamus, our treasurer for lord knows how many years, runs the bar, cuts the grass, you name it.

What is the landscape like now in Down regards club hurling at underage? I see Castlewellan are into 'A' grade finals at U-13 and U-15 level. Are some of the mainland clubs now on par with Ards' sides in most age groups?

Castlewellan are coming strong at U15, in saying that I was surprised they beat Portaferry in Portaferry on Sunday past as the Ports would have been considered strong favourites based on results going into that game but they did beat us in the U13 final last year so they should be there or there abouts.
U13 they're the strongest team I've saw this year and should win that one.
They've also got a strong P7 outfit to boot in the go games, so keep up the good work is all I can say. They play a decent style of hurling and have plenty of skill in them.

We play O'Rahillies in the U17 semi-final on Wednesday evening in Liatroim which is a combination of Castlewellan, Liatroim, Balella, Ballyvarley and I think a Clonduff lad going by his shorts, they're probably slight favourites based on the last encounter and the winners will face Bredagh in the final, so the Ards aren't as dominant at underage as it used to be and that's a good thing for Down hurling.
From a Ballygalget perspective we've always struggled with teams able to field a full compliment of lads in their last years at that level. We don't have that luxury and will always be dipping into the younger lads to field and there's nothing you can do with a 14yo playing against a 16 or 70yo which will happen in quite a few positions on Wednesday night.

and so it came to pass, there won't be one juvenile hurling championship residing in the Ards this winter.

Bredagh deservedly won the minor, better all-round team against our lads on Saturday, well done to them.

Castlewellan won the U13 vrs Carryduff and they'll both play off again this Sunday in the U15 final but I'd expect the winners to be reversed.

Is it a good thing or a bad thing Johnny? From a county point of view have good teams this side of the water can't be a bad thing but if the ards teams are struggling for numbers that's not a great sign at all.

There's a lot of good work going on in Castlewellan, fair play to them.

It's a good thing, no doubt. It's not that the Ards clubs are weaker, Ballycran might be at the older agegroups but are building again from U13 down and they'll come and add to the mix. Bigger clubs with bigger numbers and good hurlers to boot can only be good for Down hurling, a high tide lifts all boats and all that.

Numbers wise we've always relied into dipping into the younger ones and hoping for the best so when you meet teams who're all the age then physically you might be outgunned but that's fine by me, it was the case when I was 13 playing minor (18) and then adult when just out of U14 back in the day.
What would annoy me slightly though is when you get teams who you know could put out teams by dipping in to lower age groups but chose not to, don't field or go into amalgamations which is probably the lesser of the two evils.

Happens a bit in the hurling but moreso in the camogie, hard to see that happening in the Ards between any of the three clubs 

[Truth hurts]

I do think that there should be a hurling board back in the county, a sub-committee of the main county board. I will look to see them working closely with the camogie board to promote hurling in both males and females across the county.  A lot of clubs in Down do not play this great ancient sport and I think that more needs to be done to get hurls into some clubs. You would be targeting clubs like Downpatrick, Burren, Annaclone, Rostrevor, etc to try to introduce hurling and camogie into their clubs.

[Hard2Listen2]

The point were poor enough against an average Division 2 side last night.
They didn't really get at them. Seemed happy to have plenty back & pick off scores on the break.

I honestly think Kilcoo, Burren or Carryduff would have beaten Saul by 20 points last night but CPN have lost the attacking flair of previous management.

[Truth hurts]

The point were poor enough against an average Division 2 side last night.
They didn't really get at them. Seemed happy to have plenty back & pick off scores on the break.

I honestly think Kilcoo, Burren or Carryduff would have beaten Saul by 20 points last night but CPN have lost the attacking flair of previous management.

In fairness, they do not have the same caliber of players coming through and McGarry frees alone are a massive miss. They don't have the same players coming through and you can see from their underage teams that they have been playing in lower grades at underage for the past number of years and when you take your eye of the ball at underage then over time your senior team will slip. That's just natural but I think the local derby will add some extra spice especially as a lot of Burren players live in Warrenpoint.

[bigarsedkeeper]

I do think that there should be a hurling board back in the county, a sub-committee of the main county board. I will look to see them working closely with the camogie board to promote hurling in both males and females across the county.  A lot of clubs in Down do not play this great ancient sport and I think that more needs to be done to get hurls into some clubs. You would be targeting clubs like Downpatrick, Burren, Annaclone, Rostrevor, etc to try to introduce hurling and camogie into their clubs.

Annaclone lads have always hurled in Ballela, the camogie team would have a good few Annaclone girls playing too at all levels.

Clonduff have got a fair few from Rostrevor and Mayobridge at the minute while there's a few Burren lads playing for Warrenpoint. The issue there would be keeping them past 11yo is the big challenge. It's very hard to start a new sport in a club with no history of it in the club, Saul will be a good case to keep an eye on.

[Truth hurts]

I do think that there should be a hurling board back in the county, a sub-committee of the main county board. I will look to see them working closely with the camogie board to promote hurling in both males and females across the county.  A lot of clubs in Down do not play this great ancient sport and I think that more needs to be done to get hurls into some clubs. You would be targeting clubs like Downpatrick, Burren, Annaclone, Rostrevor, etc to try to introduce hurling and camogie into their clubs.

Annaclone lads have always hurled in Ballela, the camogie team would have a good few Annaclone girls playing too at all levels.

Clonduff have got a fair few from Rostrevor and Mayobridge at the minute while there's a few Burren lads playing for Warrenpoint. The issue there would be keeping them past 11yo is the big challenge. It's very hard to start a new sport in a club with no history of it in the club, Saul will be a good case to keep an eye on.

Saul have a good catchment area and will be worth watching but Downpatrick should be pushing the sport. Dundrum, Bryansford, Glasdrumman, Attical, The kingdom, Ballymartin, Longstone, surely numbers there for a Mourne hurling team like Craobh Rua in Camlough .

Same for clubs around Magheradroll, Loughiniland, Drumaness and Saintfield areas. A new hurling board could push clubs to start and get coaches in as taster sessions.

[TakeTheMark]

They tried the Mourne hurling club experiment in the mid-2000s and it unfortunately didn't last long. Can't see it being revived any time soon.

[thewobbler]

I do think that there should be a hurling board back in the county, a sub-committee of the main county board. I will look to see them working closely with the camogie board to promote hurling in both males and females across the county.  A lot of clubs in Down do not play this great ancient sport and I think that more needs to be done to get hurls into some clubs. You would be targeting clubs like Downpatrick, Burren, Annaclone, Rostrevor, etc to try to introduce hurling and camogie into their clubs.

Annaclone lads have always hurled in Ballela, the camogie team would have a good few Annaclone girls playing too at all levels.

Clonduff have got a fair few from Rostrevor and Mayobridge at the minute while there's a few Burren lads playing for Warrenpoint. The issue there would be keeping them past 11yo is the big challenge. It's very hard to start a new sport in a club with no history of it in the club, Saul will be a good case to keep an eye on.

Saul have a good catchment area and will be worth watching but Downpatrick should be pushing the sport. Dundrum, Bryansford, Glasdrumman, Attical, The kingdom, Ballymartin, Longstone, surely numbers there for a Mourne hurling team like Craobh Rua in Camlough .

Same for clubs around Magheradroll, Loughiniland, Drumaness and Saintfield areas. A new hurling board could push clubs to start and get coaches in as taster sessions.

Have a look through all those clubs you've named. Of them, maybe 1 is on a stronger football pedestal than they were 10 or 20 years ago, and 2 of them roughly the same. The rest have fallen back some or a lot.

Decline tends to run in parallel with membership levels. Not always. But usually.

I'd honestly say the last thing any of those clubs needs is hurling foisted upon it by idealists.

To be clear this isn't an anti hurling message. This is an acknowledgment of demographics message.