Down Club Hurling & Football

[DuffGael]

It's an issue with every club, not every coach, parent or team but it's in every club.

[Town Gael]

Thanks

[Truth hurts]

Does anyone have a list of dates for senior , intermediate and junior football? Is there a free weekend in September?

[terrifictommy]

Current rules don't state a manager only on the line? 3 people are allowed in the dug out area which should be marked but few clubs have it zoned, akin to the soccer pitches. I've not been at any underage games where parents are parading inside the wire. Maybe this happens where smaller pitches are used like u11 etc

But you are right, the noise levels from non-coaches during games is insane now.

[befair]

Down defence was well drilled; kick-outs well organised; the goal was the game-changer, and really well-taken. Hope this team stays together, we haven't recovered form the mass retirements after the intermediate win in 2015 (hope I have that date right)

[Nanderson]

Down defence was well drilled; kick-outs well organised; the goal was the game-changer, and really well-taken. Hope this team stays together, we haven't recovered form the mass retirements after the intermediate win in 2015 (hope I have that date right)

Was 2014.

[SHEEDY]

Great to see the girls win today, know they've put in a lot of work all year to get back to intermediate, well done players and management.

[Splash]

Ballycran laying down a marker with a good scalp over Portaferry.

Be interesting to see if Bredagh just has an off day against Liatroim last week and if  they're able to pick up against Ballygalget where they left off last year. Might be looking like the work they've put in over the last few years is coming to a bit of a halt for a while.

Also be interesting to see the difference in Newry Shamrocks and Liatroim tomorrow; wasn't much between them in the Intermediate Championship over the past few years, but feels like Liatroim really have come on whilst Shamrocks have sort of froze. Not outside the realms of possibility for Liatroim to reach a Senior Championship Final. Not bad for a South Down team.

[Splash]

All eyes on the bottom half of Division 2 now with all other leagues settled.

Carryduff win Div 1 with Longstone & Bryansford down. A new era for the Ford to try and rebuild. They lost alot of games through small margins though and will be back

Div 2 sees Ballyholland win the league and as expected go straight back up along with The Town. The bottom half is very interesting, any one of Rostrevor, Newry Shamrocks, Glenn or Liatroim can still go down (without checking head to heads etc) be worried for Glenn and Shamrocks. Is there an issue in Glenn? Is it starred games? McParland, Miller etc very strong players, imagine they would be straight back up if went down

Div 3 looked to be going St Johns way when An Riocht dropped a point but it all comes down to an effective league final Friday night. Both teams going up so Silverware is now the prize I cant see either holding back for championship. St Pauls and Drumaness go down to div 4. St Pauls had a tough year, Tullylish and Darragh both looked like they could go down a few weeks back but Tullylish had a great run over a few weeks and Darragh picked up just enough along the way, nobody would have expected either to be in a fight for relegation.

Div 4: Finn and Bosco up. Bosco as predicated, fair play to the Finn, many wrote them off when players left and went to the town after last season

Glenn have had a couple of issues this year.
County players were a big miss; had a lot of players involved with Down- more than you would expect from a Division 2 side. McParland, for example, is a big, big loss alone, let alone missing the likes of O'Hare as well.
Lot of lads suffering with injuries, couple lads in America or off travelling,  few lads focused on hurling with Ballyvarley.
The big thing has been the struggle to maintain numbers. 
Wasn't too many fellas coming through from underage this year to compensate for the loss of key names.
   
Glenn are more than capable of staying in the Senior Championship, and will be interesting to see if they retain Senior status whilst playing in Division 3.
You would expect it to be a straight down/straight back up job, but I wouldn't be resting on my laurels, either. A full Glenn squad with some of those top names would be well fit to come back up, but who knows what way the situation will be next year.

[johnnycool]

Ballycran laying down a marker with a good scalp over Portaferry.

Be interesting to see if Bredagh just has an off day against Liatroim last week and if  they're able to pick up against Ballygalget where they left off last year. Might be looking like the work they've put in over the last few years is coming to a bit of a halt for a while.

Also be interesting to see the difference in Newry Shamrocks and Liatroim tomorrow; wasn't much between them in the Intermediate Championship over the past few years, but feels like Liatroim really have come on whilst Shamrocks have sort of froze. Not outside the realms of possibility for Liatroim to reach a Senior Championship Final. Not bad for a South Down team.

Ballycran are well organised and are more or less guaranteed a home semi-final for now, Liatroim could be the surprise package this year, a final is not beyond them, but will depend who they get in a semi-final. They've a few more "transfers" into their ranks and the highest paid management team in Down hurling.. 
We're screwed if we get a few injuries to key players like we did against Ballycran but we're hopeful of having three of them back for tonight, which is a must win game for us even at this stage. Bredagh have had a poor league campaign, struggling with injuries as well I believe, but the tight council pitch will suit them.

Ports won't be too concerned about the defeat yesterday, they'd a wedding in the parish this weekend so a few players preparation was less than ideal.

[Splash]

Ballycran laying down a marker with a good scalp over Portaferry.

Be interesting to see if Bredagh just has an off day against Liatroim last week and if  they're able to pick up against Ballygalget where they left off last year. Might be looking like the work they've put in over the last few years is coming to a bit of a halt for a while.

Also be interesting to see the difference in Newry Shamrocks and Liatroim tomorrow; wasn't much between them in the Intermediate Championship over the past few years, but feels like Liatroim really have come on whilst Shamrocks have sort of froze. Not outside the realms of possibility for Liatroim to reach a Senior Championship Final. Not bad for a South Down team.

Ballycran are well organised and are more or less guaranteed a home semi-final for now, Liatroim could be the surprise package this year, a final is not beyond them, but will depend who they get in a semi-final. They've a few more "transfers" into their ranks and the highest paid management team in Down hurling.. 
We're screwed if we get a few injuries to key players like we did against Ballycran but we're hopeful of having three of them back for tonight, which is a must win game for us even at this stage. Bredagh have had a poor league campaign, struggling with injuries as well I believe, but the tight council pitch will suit them.

Ports won't be too concerned about the defeat yesterday, they'd a wedding in the parish this weekend so a few players preparation was less than ideal.

Didn't think there was much between Ballycran and Port last year and it doesn't seem like one has pulled away this year, either. Any word how Sheehan is getting on with Ballycran? Heard he scored a late goal yesterday to secure the win.

Thought this could be the year Ballygalget came back as strong as ever. Heard great things about them at the start of the year and they were flying in Antrim. What's happened them in the past few years where they've ended up a wee bit off Ballycran and Portaferry?

Heard Bredagh really were struggling with injuries, lads away etc. From what I've seen of Bredagh this year think Ballygalget will have too much for them to cope with.

Not much to say about Liatroim other than they are a very well oiled machine atm. Transfers will obviously be a great help this year, McCusker a top, top player, but even without all that, they have a very good group right now.

Could be a bleak year for Newry Shamrocks. You have to wonder how much they relied on Paul Sheehan. Would be a pity to see all the work they've put in over the past few years suddenly come undone. 

Good to see the Senior Championship growing and being competitive- can only benefit Down hurling in the long run.

[dingle82]

Who are the transfers into Liatroim? They always had the potential, sometimes need a outside manager to bring it together

[johnnycool]

Who are the transfers into Liatroim? They always had the potential, sometimes need a outside manager to bring it together

I think the other Murphy is back from his travels and playing for them as well as Ryan McCusker from Ballela who's sanctioned from a football club I believe. Don't know how that works!

They fancy giving it a right good rattle and they might just do that, but defensively they might struggle against Portaferry and Ballycran.

Paul Sheehan is going well for Ballycran and not just from dead balls. He's a good acquisition for them.

I still think the final will be between them and Portaferry.

We need a clean bill of health and with 5 games in quick succession before even a semi-final is a big ask on a small panel. Jordan Doran is out for another few weeks at the least with a knee injury, John McManus shouldn't be playing tonight, but we'll see, Prenter might be OK even with going off injured last Sunday, one of the Coulters hasn't played for the better part of two years with a hip issue, he trained yesterday though with the full panel so might make an appearance tonight. Fully fit he's one of our best players and has been a big loss. Lose a senior standard hurler and we're replacing them with weak enough hurlers, some young enough age wise and have lots to learn.

[Splash]

Liatroim definitely have the physicality and attacking ability to compete with the Ards teams, but as you say, defensively they may struggle.

All the same, I imagine they'll definitely fancy their chances against anyone, and Ballygalget could be a big scalp for them. Be interesting to see how they get on.

Would have Ballycran as favourites followed closely by Portaferry. On the day I think Ballycran are just the better team. Especially now with another top level hurler in Sheehan if he has settled in well.

Some big losses for Ballygalget there alright. Missing on me top player would be bad enough on its own, but missing all those lads sounds like it could be a tough year for Ballygalget.

[5times5times]

Who are the transfers into Liatroim? They always had the potential, sometimes need a outside manager to bring it together

I think the other Murphy is back from his travels and playing for them as well as Ryan McCusker from Ballela who's sanctioned from a football club I believe. Don't know how that works!

They fancy giving it a right good rattle and they might just do that, but defensively they might struggle against Portaferry and Ballycran.

Paul Sheehan is going well for Ballycran and not just from dead balls. He's a good acquisition for them.

I still think the final will be between them and Portaferry.

We need a clean bill of health and with 5 games in quick succession before even a semi-final is a big ask on a small panel. Jordan Doran is out for another few weeks at the least with a knee injury, John McManus shouldn't be playing tonight, but we'll see, Prenter might be OK even with going off injured last Sunday, one of the Coulters hasn't played for the better part of two years with a hip issue, he trained yesterday though with the full panel so might make an appearance tonight. Fully fit he's one of our best players and has been a big loss. Lose a senior standard hurler and we're replacing them with weak enough hurlers, some young enough age wise and have lots to learn.

How come Sheehan has moved to the Cran? Works? Missus?