Messages

Tullylish Darragh Cross match was dreadful. One team was bad, the other was shocking. Someone should have told both teams they were playing for a IFC semi final spot.

to make up for lamenting the ref v saul, John Killen was a breath of fresh air, even though darragh cross lost. tullylish still in with a shout for the playoffs

Although not a fully fledged Darragh Cross supporter but they are my nearest team who i watch the most, i feel for the ref for tonights game, which Darragh won against Saul. Dont know his name but i am sure that based on they way he took charge of tonights game i think he may have lost a big bet or house with the result. poor, bias and completely clueless. Its a pity clubs do not put ref's forward who would like to do the job rather than those who want their £30 quid and want to get home. He actually said something to a Darragh player as he was taking a free. I think he was trying to put him off!! Why are there not assessors at all games.

With regard to IFC meaning nothing, tell that to the 9 clubs in it, and the ones in 31 other counties in ireland all looking towards a potential day out next feb. 

Golden years, i bet you will be praying for the winners of this years IF championship in the draw next year just to have a bit of success.

Intermediate will be a close call, but you really have to fancy either warrenpoint or annaclone, both teams have the experience at a higher level. And both teeams would probably be best suited to competing for Ulster titles. Wasnt it Annaclone who only just got squeezed out by that team from Derry, Greenlough, last time? And Cookstown from Tyrone only just got past a Ballymartin team. On both occasions these two winning teams were continually flirting with div 1 status. the teams who win the intermediate in down are a mid table div 2 team at best usually.

Anyway outside of w'point and annaclone, i dont see an easy draw. everyone will be looking for bredagh i would have thought. Looking at the league results, Ballymartin, Drumgath & Bosco have been consistant and Darragh Cross have had a very unusual year in that they couldnt buy a win but now look strong. They were a very useful championship side a few years ago, unlucky to lose 2 successive finals.

Where do you put your money? Id say keep it in the pocket aas there will be no easy games and a few suprises.

Is the next round of IFC games not being played until September? The league will be over by then for div 3.

[Mayobridge]

SFC
Mayobridge v Saval
Longstone v Burren
Shamrocks v An Riocht
Liatroim v Ballyholland
Kilclief v Rostrevor
Downpatrick v Loughinisland
Kilcoo v Castlewellan
Bryansford v Clonduff

IFC
Darragh Cross v St Johns
Tullylish v Saul
Bredagh v Carryduff
Ballymartin v Ardglass
Clann na Banna v Bosco
Annaclone v Glasdrumman
Warrenpoint v Glenn
Drumgath v Atticall

JFC
Teconnaught v Dromara
Drumaness v St Michaels
Bright v St Paul's
Ballykinlar v Dundrum
Mitchels v Killyleagh
Aughlisnafin v Aghaderg

Just see that Div 3 is going rightly this year. It is not even May and there is nearly a quarter of the games played. Lessons must have been learnt from last season. Still early in the season but even the table looks unfamiliar with a few teams struggling you wouldnt expect after last season .

I am going to make a few bold decisions for tonights games based on some unprecedented results to date: Wins for

Saul at home to Ballymartin by 4
Darragh Cross away to Tullylish by 1 (potential for a draw in this one. neither team hitting big scores)
St Johns by 7
Ardglass by 3 at home
Bosco away by 6

Now if only i had the odds.

[County's Latest Proposals to be voted on at the next County Board meeting.]

County's Latest Proposals to be voted on at the next County Board meeting.



Proposal for re-structuring of Division 3 and the doing away of Division 4

3A                       3B
Ballymartin          Drumgath
Tullylish           Kilclief
Carryduff           Darragh Cross
St John Bosco    Glasdrumman
Glenn            Atticall
Ardglass          St John's
Dundrum           Mitchel's
Saul            Drumaness
Bredagh            Dromara
St Paul's               Bright
Teconnaught       St Michaels
Aghaderg             Aughlisnafin
Ballykinlar   
   

In 2012 there would be no Division 4 but rather a Division 3a and 3B this would be an honest attempt to assist those smaller Clubs with more regional based fixtures which would have hopefully the two fold purpose of cutting down travel costs but in turn maximising home gates. These leagues include Kilclief, Carryduff and Tullylish but in 2012 only one of these teams will be still in Division 3 and thus there will need to be adjustment once the final permutations are known, we are asking that you support this in principle.

The two top teams in 3A and 3B would meet in Semi Finals with the top two teams then gaining promotion to Division 2.
There would be no relegation and as such would stop the yo yo effect of some teams between Division 3 and 4, we need to open the opportunity to people to play in Division 2, this gives Clubs the opportunity to grasp that chance to play in Division 2 and a high level of senior football for a season as opposed to getting one game in a Senior Championship as an amalgamation.

the new propasals are nonsense, they will not aide down football in any way. If they go ahead there will be so many more non event games at the end of the season as there is no relegation and also it will leave it that teams at the top will benefit playing teams at the bottom later in the season so the fixture layout will majorly benifit some promotion chasing teams . Also if a div 4 team is good enough they will get to div 3 in 2 years which is possible under the current format. I predict alot of the east down teams going for this proposal as it will benifit them as that league will be easier if its geographically based.

First of all ,I would imagine that the leagues will be seeded on current league position,and then consider convenient geographical location.There was no proposal to go East and South Down.Div 4 and Div 3 this year both had a number of non-played or "dead rubber" games.None of these occurred in the first half of the season.
If the league is split after 1 round of fixtures,then every team in Div 3 will have end of season games against roughly equal standard opposition.This will test the top teams,and prepare them for Div 2,and give the bottom teams something to fight for at the end of season.The extra incentive for all teams,could be that final league position,will determine seeding for 2013,league and championship.Therefore every team is likely to play the full season out-which didn't occur this year.

I imagine,that the goals of the county board are to revitalise football in both lower leagues,particularly for those at the bottom of Div 4.And also to try to ensure ambitious,potential county footballers are given a better opportunity to develop  IN THEIR OWN CLUB,and perhaps eventually see more county players emerge from lower league clubs(as happens in other counties).In the absence of any better proposals,to achieve those  goals,I feel clubs should back these proposals for the good of Down football

You need to do better research. Two of the main reasons given for the change are cutting travel costs and maxamising game attendance so it will be based geographically. As for your point about county players improving, it has no basis. A county standard player will shine in div 4 and 3 with the current set up, as proven by kevin anderson, mc comiskey, harrison  and more lately miskelly . The reason there are not more county standard players in division 3 and 4 is the bad youth set ups and poor player development techniques of these teams. The youth structures need changed to bring a better standard of player through.

Stiff Breeze i have quoted the original post on this forum about the Div3/4 restucturing which shows the make up of the 2 sections. I think they are supposed to be geographical but are confusing to say the least! eg. Ballymartin Section A, Glassdrumman+Atticall Section B, Bosco(A) - Mitchels (B), Ardglass(A) - Bright(B) etc. 

Ah well, hopefully the proposals dont get approved tonight + all this discussion will be immaterial!

Geographical. Darragh Cross to Attical or Glassdrummon. Is Carryduff not just down the road as is Saul?

If people are saying teams are not fielding later in the season because of meaningless games well then they do not deserve to be accommodated. These games if they chose to fulfil them would help them build stronger squads to compete.

At the end of the day, in any sport there is a hierarchy and a level of status which is why we are all envious of Mayobridge, Kilcoo, Burren, etc playing at a higher level. Or down the league its Carryduff, Kilclief, Darragh Cross.

Take Carryduff and Darragh Cross for example. Their status would be heavily dented if they are put into a league system that says this year they were top of div 3 with a division of lesser quality teams below them. They would be of the opinion that they would never have to play this level again. Any restructuring would put these teams into the lowest tier of football no matter how the turd is dressed.

Division four, play all your games and get to a level where you want to be. They dont deserve to be playing Kilclief, Tullylish, etc if they cant field in what they call meaningless games. When i played i do not recall ever playing a meaningless game, I wanted to beat every team. Nor did i mind playing football in December.

Finally, if any league changes were to be made i feel it is only fair that they are set for say two years down the line to give every club the chance to set themselves up for an amended league.

On another matter this seems to concentrate only on div 3 and 4. THe same arguement could be used for div 1 and 2. Why not split these divisions so that Ballymartin, Banbridge Drumgath etc are playing the Burrens to give them a chance of meaningful football.

Bloody crazy. The best teams get promoted, the worst teams get relegated and the teams who are not pushing for promotion finish in the middle where they geared themselves to finish.

Good luck to Burren by the way. Tough prospect for them though.

Carryduff, Tullylish. You should have played this game four weeks ago as it never looked like Kilclief would have to play all their games. Good luck to you both anyway.

No1 what happened yesterday. I believe you cam out on the wrong end of a bad loss. Two off in the first half couldnt have helped. Was there a gap between the two team intermediate teams? Craigbane would be a strong enough outfit in Derry and will push hard for another Ulster Championship and promotion to Div 1.

No matter what way the County Board sets up the promotion and relegation rules, it always seems to affect An Riocht the worst. Or at least this always seems to be the case, judging by the varied cries of injustice emanating from Kilkeel over the past decade.

Personally I'd find it nice if the Kingdom folks even just once finished a season by saying "we were aware of the rules at the start" instead of calling foul at the end.

The bit they don't seem to understand up there is that every club in Division I gets hammered from time-to-time by county commitments, whether they are at senior, under-21 or minor level.  If you can't perform without your county players, you should maybe accept that relegation is a more accurate reflection of the club's current ability. Tough love, but true.

I agree. There was no crying from Ned after the first few games. Now their plight hits home and its the DCB's fault for having a set league structure in place. Maybe next year they will concentrate on trying to win games outright to secure their position.

As for div 3, it is a bit of a joke. A couple of years ago i remember promotion/relegation matches being played in late Nov/early Dec. I though this new league format was to resolve this. It is unfortunate that we are at this point again. I dont mind so much that such important games are going to be played in poor weather conditions but more the fact that for so many clubs they do not have the facilities for dark evening training sessions therefore their prep will be hampered.

Carryduff put in a strong performance against Darragh Cross yesterday. They are obviously a team who focus strongly on the art of defending, by far their best line on the pitch

Just looking at the tables there. there is a few interesting games this weekend. Winners of Loughlinisland v Downpatrick guaranteed a play-off with Liam Doyle and co sneaking the other spot.

Div 1 relegation going right down to the wire.

Carryduff v Darragh Cross the big crunch game in div 3 promotion.

i will be waiting patiently by the computer to see the outcomes.

Another arm chair supporter - typical

What makes an arm chair supporter Ned. Is it someone who has other committements on Saturday and cant attend some matches which does not involve their local club? If so then yes I am and will sit comfortably in my sofa waiting on the results coming through. I suppose you intend to make a dash around all the games collecting the results directly from the ref even though majority of the aforementioned games are on at the same time? Good luck with that one. Personally i will wait until sunday to watch the local Carryduff v Darragh Cross game. I expect you to be in your arm chair for that one.

Just looking at the tables there. there is a few interesting games this weekend. Winners of Loughlinisland v Downpatrick guaranteed a play-off with Liam Doyle and co sneaking the other spot.

Div 1 relegation going right down to the wire.

Carryduff v Darragh Cross the big crunch game in div 3 promotion.

i will be waiting patiently by the computer to see the outcomes.

Kilcoo

i have not heard about many players from the lower ranks being drafted into the county set up but if what a previous poster wrote is correct then Miskelly from Darragh Cross (who has simply been brilliant all year) and Kerr from Kilclief will not look out of place. I would love to see a div 3 select play a div 2 and 1 select to see what size the gulf is. There is a question for all you regulars at Div 3 games. What 15 would you thrown out against Coulter et al.

As for St. Johns, shameful reporting. Maybe the club should look deeper into why there was little or no committment shown ie training standards, manager treatment, etc. I doubt anyone went out on the pitch tp play bad on the day. For a small club like St. Johns i think they would be better holding their tongue and not alienate the future they will heavily rely on.

Its not over yet Umpire. I'm going for first.

Going back a couple of years Ballymartin beat Greenlough before going on to loose to Cookstown from memory. Both leagues would consider themselves to be competitive in Ulster.
That same year i recall St. Johns losing by 2 pts (ish) to the Derry Junior champions. The Derry team went to the final and got tanked by a team from Monaghan who went on to win div 2 the following year if memory serves me correctly.
If the top four teams in div 2 Down were allowed to enter the IFC the outcome in Ulster would be different. I have no doubt that the likes of Ballyholland/Saval/Castlewellan would walk Ulster IFC if the championships were league related.
Ultimately we have not won the major honours provisional level but i think it comes down bad luck. None of the so called big teams which drop to this standard in other divisions have ever made much of an impact at the higher grade. Did Stewartstown in Tyrone not win the AI Junior one year and to honest they are still probably a mediocre Intermediate team.