Messages

The word is that Frank Dawson has approached the Bridge with a view to taking over next year!

Silverbridge would be more prospective club to go to, is that the bridge you on about? Unless he too, was captivated by your excellent band on sunday and wants a trip to the feile with them !!

Congratulations to burren on the win today! It was a good sporting game between two very committed teams, we could have had no complaints had we been on the wrong side of the result today, there was that little between the teams! Well done to the bryansford club and supporters for their sportmanship and all the best in the future.. Now we need to build on this over next few years, it would be insult to our tradition to get carried away with winning a county championship, we should be doing this year in, year out and trying to replicate our glory days of gone by in ulster etc.... Also on a passing note I would like to commend the bridge band for their great performance today, they definitely could go on to bring long....... awaited ulster/all ireland success (if they havent already?) to the club all be it in a different trade to what they aspire for!!
Come on BOIREANN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[clonallon is a townland between burren and warrenpoint}]

All-Star awards for McVeigh, Clarke, Hughes & Coulter.
While McKernan will feel unlucky I think the selectors got it right.

Congrats to the 4 boys on their awards. Have to feel for Kevin McKernan, he would have been my first choice out of the down nominees. I feel he was sacraficed as he would have taken 1 of the cork half backs, ie Canty, leaving cork with 3 & down with 5. it was never going to happen that down would have more. the last time the runners-up had more than the winners was in 91 when meath had more awards than down because of the dublin saga. I think the fact that nearly every pundit tipped kevin at CHB just makes it more of a shock. i suppose the cork supporters will be wondering how not 1 forward of the all ireland champions didnt make the cut.

congrats to our allstar recipients, each 1 fully deserves their accolade but probably none more so than benny, a brilliant servant to down and  all round leader illustrated better than ever in the game with donegal!! His displays for down over the years alone leave him worthy of his award. With regard to kevin, yes he will feel rightly aggrieved as i believe he would have been stronger candidate than philip jordan, think cantys pedigree over the last few years perhaps swayed the decision but have no doubt that after shaky start to our ulster campaign kevin has made no 6 his own and will continue to show his worth there in return becoming household name throughout ireland and spoken in same regards as the bennys, cantys etc.. an allstar will be on his mantlepiece in the future hopefully along with many other honours shared with his teammates!! both down and club(burren) { clonallon is a townland between burren and warrenpoint} where as hilltown is neighbouring club to the bridge, thats free geography lesson for t o h

where most of the players are from haha

The rest live in and around Saval/Mayobridge!!!

There is also part of the parish in Donegal, Fermanagh and Louth 

ud hardly expect them boys 2 travel tat dist 4 club game, 1of ur stalwarts cudnt evn manage journey up ndown 2 point!! with no disrespect to other clubs, evry1 wud rather wake up at hilton hotel rather than a hostel!! hence we have up n coming youngsters 2 ply trade at 2nds level etc.. wile....... u hav 48 yr old legends, (class act tho!!)

All-Star awards for McVeigh, Clarke, Hughes & Coulter.
While McKernan will feel unlucky I think the selectors got it right.

Congrats to the 4 boys on their awards. Have to feel for Kevin McKernan, he would have been my first choice out of the down nominees. I feel he was sacraficed as he would have taken 1 of the cork half backs, ie Canty, leaving cork with 3 & down with 5. it was never going to happen that down would have more. the last time the runners-up had more than the winners was in 91 when meath had more awards than down because of the dublin saga. I think the fact that nearly every pundit tipped kevin at CHB just makes it more of a shock. i suppose the cork supporters will be wondering how not 1 forward of the all ireland champions didnt make the cut.

congrats to our allstar recipients, each 1 fully deserves their accolade but probably none more so than benny, a brilliant servant to down and  all round leader illustrated better than ever in the game with donegal!! His displays for down over the years alone leave him worthy of his award. With regard to kevin, yes he will feel rightly aggrieved as i believe he would have been stronger candidate than philip jordan, think cantys pedigree over the last few years perhaps swayed the decision but have no doubt that after shaky start to our ulster campaign kevin has made no 6 his own and will continue to show his worth there in return becoming household name throughout ireland and spoken in same regards as the bennys, cantys etc.. an allstar will be on his mantlepiece in the future hopefully along with many other honours shared with his teammates!! both down and club(burren) { clonallon is a townland between burren and warrenpoint} where as hilltown is neighbouring club to the bridge, thats free geography lesson for t o h

8/13 Burren 15/2 Bryansford 6/4

good to see two former lynchpins of down football back competing at the top! two footballing teams steeped in tradition. lets hope it is a great final and that whoever wins can fly the flag for us in ulster... its no secret that the competitive edge with bryansford was factor in us stamping our name on ulster in the eightys, down football deserves them days replicated again...after too many years of nearly men!!! 

Bridge
Byransford
Annaclone
Drumgath

where art thou??

This will be the first game in years that we have went in as the underdogs. As a poster said its Burrens to lose!

agree tom burren can only beat themselves

lol!!!! alex ferguson eat ur heart out tommy!! Id luv it. luv it, absolutely luv it if we go and beat u's!!(keeganesque) apparently all the neutrals hoping for burren so we can restore some pride to down in the ulster championship!!?? personally I think it will be year or 2 early 4 us, so enjoy ur success this year as futures bright, the futures green n white!!

The only down point for me last night was the venue for watching a game, great pitch, lovely lights but honestly not a great venue for supporters.  I was in newcastle tues night and I have to say the same, terrible venue for a game! There is another game in newcastle tonight and a double header on sunday in burren another terrible venue to watch a game! Does the county board have to share these games out around the various grounds? What is wrong with clonduff or even newry?

Newry has mobile huts for changing rooms!! The bridge pitch is only our training pitch !! Next year will be different 

Ballyholland got off to a great start last start but could not maintain their momentum. I felt that Burren were excellent in the second half and they will take some stopping!! Though their county players were very poor One point though, I was over at the far side behind the goals in the coldest pitch in Ireland and it was disappointing to see some Mayobridge stalwarts openly cheering for Ballyholland

What have you against the bridge! Obviously you dont know the rivalry between the two clubs because i dont think their will be too many Burren fans cheering us on later. If they are they arent real Burren supporters

Nothing wrong with bit o friendly rivalry eh, as long as stays on field!! as 4 some of the other comments on this, surley
ur havin joke!!!??? Ballyholland lad got line for slidin n with knee while mc kernan on ground and hitting him with closed fist in the ribs, seen it clerarly meself!!! END OF!!!

Decky rooney is in same boat as poland, doesnt get credit they deserve! He strong n steady, rarely does his man score much and can float good ball into benny n co. THINK TRIP TO SPECSAVERS IS NEEDED 4 SOME OF YA'S!!!

[genuine fans]

I don't care what you say- raising an extra £145,000 out of the pockets of genuine fans who have followed the team through thick and thin is a slap in the face. It wasn't needed in 91 or 94- I'm pretty sure the great Kerry team of the past decade didn't ask if of their supporters but our board only see the £ signs. Many genuine supporters are struggling for work never mind the fortunes they have already spent kitting out their kids in strips and getting them flags etc.

If your a genuine fan, as you claim to be LB then you will not begrudge a small contribution towards ensuring this group of players get the best of everything to help them in their quest for an All Ireland Senior title, these lads deserve the best & the money has to be got from somewhere, you should maybe go & get your ticket from outside the County if it causes you so much pain to pay the £12 extra.

paying a bit extra on top of face value for this great bunch of lads is 1 thing, but the thing that annoys me is looking back on the county boards behaviour in previous years and the famous carry on with ross naming wrong team and numbers hence county getting fined!!!! perhaps this good oppurtunity for the board to recover it now?? they were shambles then and has much changed???

Bcarrier. Shorty had a poor championshiip in 1990 and was highly unlikely to have been near the team even if he had not dropped out.  He returned in 92/03, but got a long suspensions after what looked like a mistaken sending off in an NFL play-off at Croke Park againsdt Kerry, decided to play Irish league soccer and missed the 94 campaign. He returned again for the championships of 96 and 97, having made his debut back in 83. There will always be arguments about Shorty, but he was a massive natural talen and was very unlucky not have added at least one Sam to his AI club medals.

Brian Conlon practically always played in the full forward line for Down, and his best position was at no 14. He might have gone to London in the 1990s, but his career was long over by then after an injury playing for QUB in the late 1980s.

Shorty for one reason r other never got the honours at county level but no hiding the fact that he was the most talented gifted player I ever saw, could put the ball where ever he wanted, great solo runs, scores etc..  just a real privilege to watch and play alongside!!!! ther'l never b another shorty......

There's varying levels of unfulfilled Down Fanatic.

Shorty Treanor is the most obvious underachiever, even though he played for a decade or more. Does that class as unfulfilled?

He might fall out with me for saying it, but Shane Mulholland should have been a fulcrum for Down for a decade, instead of for two years. They were two very fine years though.

Ciaran McCabe is off the same bracket; one of the best players in the country - not the county - but just never seemed to settle into a position for Down.

Collie Burns from the Shamrocks was an exceptional talent who never really broke the county ranks. Tony McMahon is of the same vintage and was maybe even more talented, but didn't seem to have the interest.

Michael Walsh. Enough said.

Injuries robbed us of Colm McAlarney Jr and Eoin McCartan, two seriously gifted players who would have lived up to their family names. Liam Doyle as well, perhaps even more so. And by all accounts, Brian Conlon was better than them all put together.

Shane Ward was perhaps the most gifted juvenile talent I ever saw in Down until Martin Clarke came along. He had a decade on and off the panel and never really fitted in.

There's so many.

as u said so many!! even from my time as coach during underage set up have seen vast amount of talent that definitely had the ability but for some reason never starred for the county as thought they would have, tits from hilltown, manu from an riocht, pj and brian mc gov from burren, aidan fegan of annaclone, eddie magee of rostrevor along with others... im sure all coaches see 'great talented prospects' drift away from where they should be for some reason or other and then there are those who at youth level seem 'ordinary' but prosper and peak at senior level, probably out of dedication and hard work which should be applauded and proves talent alone wont gaurantee success or notice.....

dawson wil mention it in his book probly, shud make good reading....

Seen a few games this weekend and the standard of football was poor for most of it!!! Ballyholland played brilliant on Thursday and their tackling put Rostrevor on the back front the whole evening!!! Rostrevor lacked bite and hunger and for all the great underage teams they produce they cannot seem to bring enough top players through their ranks!!! Paul Murphy had a great game for harps as did Murtagh and Gunnar Quinn!!! I felt Leo done a good job and let the game flow !!! On Tony Haverns yellow card.. i dont think he seen it and after consulting the lineman gave him a yellow!!!
We played ok without really getting out of second gear, once the first goal went in the game was as good as over!! Ronan Sexton had a stormer as did Cathal Magee and Micheal Lively!!
Clonduuf and An Roicht game was dire with the yellows getting out of jail!! they seemed too resilent on aimless high balls into Jason Brown!!Clann na banna were very disappointing yesterday and had no answerto the youthfulness of Glenn who rattled them early on!!!
Was James McGovern injured yesterday, it says in the Irish news that he only came of the bench!!!

maybe it was ace up de sleeve, big dawson full o surprises

Well done to Burren.  One of Mayobridge's finest Burren men predicted a senior Ulster within two years in Grants on Sunday night! 

Oisin McConville thinks they will dominate Down football for the next ten years as well!!!

still, any silverware at provincial level is welcomed, surely you would agree with that!!!