Down Club Hurling & Football

[Dubh driocht]

Great news indeed and the County Board officials and Project Board deserve credit for sticking at it. The SF councillor from the Point will probably object to 15 million coming in to the area to promote Gaelic games.
Let's get it started

[johnnycool]

I know its not the greatest location in the world but surely to god even you South Down gurns can get behind this project and €15M should be more that enough for 4 full size pitches and an indoor dome type pitch as well as all the other bells and whistles.

Well done all involved.

Will the location not be underwater in the not to distant future?

probably, but sure we'll all be playing water polo by then!

        

[RadioGAAGAA]

I know its not the greatest location in the world but surely to god even you South Down gurns can get behind this project and €15M should be more that enough for 4 full size pitches and an indoor dome type pitch as well as all the other bells and whistles.

Well done all involved.

Will the location not be underwater in the not to distant future?

Not so much worried about that as the longevity of the lease.

Here.

25 years initially with option to extend a further 25.

That is not very long given the size of the investment.

Potentially means your looking at the thick end of a million a year in amortized costs then left with absolutely nothing to show for it at the end!


[... and that's before I even get started on the roads. Hopefully no-one is killed racing along to or from training now traffic on the crap roads will be noticeably higher.]

[snoopdog]

I know its not the greatest location in the world but surely to god even you South Down gurns can get behind this project and €15M should be more that enough for 4 full size pitches and an indoor dome type pitch as well as all the other bells and whistles.

Well done all involved.

Will the location not be underwater in the not to distant future?

Not so much worried about that as the longevity of the lease.

Here.

25 years initially with option to extend a further 25.

That is not very long given the size of the investment.

Potentially means your looking at the thick end of a million a year in amortized costs then left with absolutely nothing to show for it at the end!


[... and that's before I even get started on the roads. Hopefully no-one is killed racing along to or from training now traffic on the crap roads will be noticeably higher.]

In 25 years the 6 counties will be back under Dublin. So lease isn't important.
Build it and they will come.

[launchitin]

I know its not the greatest location in the world but surely to god even you South Down gurns can get behind this project and €15M should be more that enough for 4 full size pitches and an indoor dome type pitch as well as all the other bells and whistles.

Well done all involved.

Will the location not be underwater in the not to distant future?

Not so much worried about that as the longevity of the lease.

Here.

25 years initially with option to extend a further 25.

That is not very long given the size of the investment.

Potentially means your looking at the thick end of a million a year in amortized costs then left with absolutely nothing to show for it at the end!


[... and that's before I even get started on the roads. Hopefully no-one is killed racing along to or from training now traffic on the crap roads will be noticeably higher.]

Do the county board need to run driver training courses now to allow people to safely navigate the fairly standard roads to the location? The first lesson can be 'do not race to training'.

[ck]

Amazing looking facility. Congrats to all concerned on Ballykinler. Not before time but a well done to those who worked tirelessly behind the scenes.

[johnnycool]

[terrifictommy]

Must be an old picture that, there's no 40m arc.....

[ardtole]

Any idea where you could see the draft fixtures for nfl div 2 games next year?

[BigGreenField]

I know its not the greatest location in the world but surely to god even you South Down gurns can get behind this project and €15M should be more that enough for 4 full size pitches and an indoor dome type pitch as well as all the other bells and whistles.

Well done all involved.

Will the location not be underwater in the not to distant future?

Not so much worried about that as the longevity of the lease.

Here.

25 years initially with option to extend a further 25.

That is not very long given the size of the investment.

Potentially means your looking at the thick end of a million a year in amortized costs then left with absolutely nothing to show for it at the end!


[... and that's before I even get started on the roads. Hopefully no-one is killed racing along to or from training now traffic on the crap roads will be noticeably higher.]

25 years standard enough govt
Practice (doesn't mean it's right) and option out to 50 is decent - all other things being equal it be low enough chance of not being renewed. Only one or two council's giving long term (99+) leases for things like this.

One very bad bend on that road that would need looked at as part of the works.

[Saffrongael]

Any idea where you could see the draft fixtures for nfl div 2 games next year?

They aren't announced yet I don't think, they usually release a few "glamour" fixtures first and then the rest in a few days

[supersub]

I know its not the greatest location in the world but surely to god even you South Down gurns can get behind this project and €15M should be more that enough for 4 full size pitches and an indoor dome type pitch as well as all the other bells and whistles.

Well done all involved.

Will the location not be underwater in the not to distant future?

Not so much worried about that as the longevity of the lease.

Here.

25 years initially with option to extend a further 25.

That is not very long given the size of the investment.

Potentially means your looking at the thick end of a million a year in amortized costs then left with absolutely nothing to show for it at the end!


[... and that's before I even get started on the roads. Hopefully no-one is killed racing along to or from training now traffic on the crap roads will be noticeably higher.]

Ah the old Ballykinlar roads chestnut. The common rhetoric that once a driver with a GAA bag in the boot gets on them, they are endangering lives left, right and centre. How many bad RTCs have there been on it in the last 5 years? It's no worse than a team from South Down travelling over the mountain roads to play an East Down team of a Friday evening. Take care on the roads and they'll take care of you.

[clonian]

I know its not the greatest location in the world but surely to god even you South Down gurns can get behind this project and €15M should be more that enough for 4 full size pitches and an indoor dome type pitch as well as all the other bells and whistles.

Well done all involved.

Will the location not be underwater in the not to distant future?

Not so much worried about that as the longevity of the lease.

Here.

25 years initially with option to extend a further 25.

That is not very long given the size of the investment.

Potentially means your looking at the thick end of a million a year in amortized costs then left with absolutely nothing to show for it at the end!


[... and that's before I even get started on the roads. Hopefully no-one is killed racing along to or from training now traffic on the crap roads will be noticeably higher.]

Ah the old Ballykinlar roads chestnut. The common rhetoric that once a driver with a GAA bag in the boot gets on them, they are endangering lives left, right and centre. How many bad RTCs have there been on it in the last 5 years? It's no worse than a team from South Down travelling over the mountain roads to play an East Down team of a Friday evening. Take care on the roads and they'll take care of you.

I take that point but the rule of thumb is if you take more traffic to a location you should upgrade the road infrastructure if it's required. You'd only be talking about some localised road widening realistically.

[Splash]

Ballygalget will learn from final and as always maximise their resources and maybe a year in Antrim div 2 will help them bring on a few more. I expect to see them back again. Portaferry have the luxury of a 6 week break and will relish an Ulster Final with some unfinished business. Can't see any team toppling them in Down any time soon. The likes of the Sands brothers and young McGrattan would cause any team problems and the Ulster final will be cracker.
Bredagh v Carryduff was a good game and Bredagh will give Ulster a rattle though some very good teams in there at that level. Middleton, Carey. Swatragh, Carrickmore Donegal champions etc all capable on a given day. A man in work suggested Down should be putting the two SHC teams dropping down together on one side of draw to be fair to the other 4 competing teams. At least you have the luxury of so many teams competing... Bredagh have some serious talent coming and if they go about things correctly could be a top team in next few years.
As for the JHC went over to it and Ballela had the experience. Seen it many times before. The young lad was good from frees but it was 3 or 4 other stronger hurlers in the Castlewellan ranks who kept them in it hurling wise until Ballela ground them down. Magee McCusker and the GK dictated the play and as the game wore on the old heads prevailed. Not sure how good Buncrana are but they were all in the stand watching!
Great that so many games are in Newry as we are starved of getting to decent hurling games down here between Down and Armagh...

I think a year in Antrim Div 2 will do Ballygalget good to be honest. They have a lot good players coming through, and it won't do them any harm playing in the second division. I imagine they'll not be too far away next year.

If I recall correctly, last year, in the intermediate championship, Bredagh and Shamrocks came down, and Carryduff (an intermediate team) beat Shamrocks (a senior team) in the semi final, so not sure having two senior teams in the one semi final is right, either. Ultimately, the best solution is to not allow the senior clubs to drop. Not really fair on the intermediate teams. People will say if they want to play senior championship, they should be able to beat senior clubs, but it's not really the point, and it's not really fair.  The intermediate players of the year nominees are all from clubs that played in the senior championship. It needs to be addressed for next year.

Personally thought some of Castlewellan's more talented hurlers just didn't perform as well as they had in other games in the championship. It is, of course, unrealistic to expect a player to play out of their skin game after game, but Castlewellan were unusually quiet. Think Connolly was Castlewellan's best player and kept them in it- if you take out his accurate frees, and indeed the stuff he did from play, where were the scores coming from? Castlewellan really didn't create too many opportunities. Would agree that McMullan in nets, Magee up front, and McCusker everywhere were Ballela's keymen, and without them, it could have been different.
A lot of Ballela's other men stood up on the night and saw them over the line,  but you take away any of those 3, and Ballela will struggle to put on the same performance .

You're absolutely right- it's great to have the games in Newry. We don't have enough going on, and Armagh certainly don't have enough going on. Great to see.

[Armaghdog]

Bredagh and Ballela are into the next round in Ulster after their great showings last week. Coaches and managers at club and inter county level love to pick players in their own likeness. The 3 men in Ballela have certainly got that with a mix of strength drive and skill. Johnny has been great from frees and crucially can do it from play too but Mal Magee has really stepped it up and led the way. The level of opposition goes up a notch or three this weekend but no doubt Ballela will give their all.
Bredagh have got a monkey of the back in Ulster with a great win and will be confident of further progress in the competition. Hughes Kennedy etc will feel they have it in them to take anyone at this level. Galway also did his job well and his saves were vital.