Down Club Hurling & Football

[manwithnoplan]

From what I thought, i always would have thought Mooney as much more of a county man than a club man, from the impression I got anyway he seemed to care much more about Down GAA than rostrevor, so im rathered suprised that he would have walked from the county over not being able to play for Downpatrick. This may be the case indeed, but im still a tad suprised

Maybe missing another 2 club games was just too much, and RGU have had a few poor results so helping to keep his club in division 1 would be more appealing than a couple of games in a competition most players didn't want. You could maybe understand them being asked not to play next weekend, but not this weekend.

Down have a challenge match on Saturday apparently. Guess this is why county players have been asked not to play tomorrow.

Ah right. Well then I suppose you could ask why they weren't allowed to play club and have the challenge game in a few days but I suppose that would present other problems with planning for the Tailteann Cup match

[wobbller]

Down better going with 30 players who want to play for Down and not disappear to America, Australia or drop if the panel. Derry went through 107 players in less than 10yrs, it was a joke. Down beat Derry in Newry 2yrs ago. Gallagher got rid of maybe 8/10 players I have thought good enough to start / on the panel. Due to either attitude or couldn't commit. Down gonna go the same way. Derry keep Slaughtneil on board to backbone the team, Kilcoo seem to they too good for the county team.

I think we're all up for building for the future but if we look back at the most recent plan prior to this,we know the results of that by our current situation.Who was in charge of implementing that and who is in charge of bringing this latest idea to fruition?The answer to this is critical as to the prospects of this plan succeeding.

[Brick Tamlin]

Taken from an article in Irish News - Jan 2016.

.....the main focus for the Mourne county is ending the barren run they find themselves on at present. No Ulster senior football title in 22 years. No Ulster minor football title in 17 years (although there was an All-Ireland in between). Just three provincial U21 titles since the mid-1980s.

It is not a particularly healthy recent roll of honour. They know that themselves. They’re reminded of it often enough. But over the past year-and-a-half, the building blocks for the restoration of Down’s lofty reputation have been laid.

1991 All-Ireland winning captain Paddy O’Rourke was appointed last November to head a steering committee for the new Mourne Academy. By that stage, he had a year under him of working with the county’s development squads. James McCartan, who only stepped away from the senior job at the end of the 2014 season, has already been tempted back in to try and boost Down’s quest to return to the top table at minor level.

The likes of ’94 captain DJ Kane, professor Niall Moyna (who acts as a consultant) and county development manager Conor O’Toole are also on the steering group: “Two years ago, we launched a consultative programme,” says long-serving Down county secretary Seán Óg McAteer.

“We took in a wonderful man, David Passmore, a senior lecturer in DCU, whose background is Irish hockey. He’s done a really in-depth report, having consulted widely with schools, clubs, former players, people who were interested in Down football.

“In the past, we’ve done four plans in hurling and never one in football. For a county like Down never to have looked at its football from Maurice Hayes’ time…”

That was part of the problem. ‘The Down Way’ brought regular success from 1960 until the mid-90s, give or take an odd blip. But at present, Down are enduring their longest spell without senior success since the years prior to their 1959 Ulster title.

For Newry Mitchel’s man McAteer, one of the keys to bringing the county back to the top table is expanding Gaelic games through the schools: “Currently, we’re in 86 primary schools through a coaching programme. We’d really like to broaden that.

“We’re in some integrated schools, but we’d really like to get into state schools as well. Not to shove anything down anybody’s throat, but to let them sample Gaelic games. To actually just have taster sessions and tell them the story of what Down’s about.

“You go somewhere and someone asks where you’re from, you’ll say county Derry, I’ll say county Down. It’s one thing that unites people. It isn’t a badge of anything; it’s where you’re from. The people from Comber, Saintfield, Newtownards are as much a Down person as anyone from Newry or Downpatrick or Kilcoo.

“We’ve got something there that can be a brand that unites people. That’s something we’d like to explore by telling our story through the communities and schools over the next few years.”

The issues Down face are not unique. Other counties have similar problems. For Derry, it is the city. For Antrim, it’s the middle of Belfast. Donegal have their struggles in Letterkenny.

Soccer and rugby, particularly the growth of the latter, continue to enjoy a duopoly on the youth’s imagination. The bigger the population base, the wider the sporting pallet of the inhabitants.

Take the 2005 All-Ireland minor winning squad. Two “major population centres”, as McAteer puts it, of Newry and Downpatrick provided precisely none of what was, at one stage, a 38-man squad.

In Newry, the Shamrocks and John Bosco are both in Division Three. John Mitchel’s are in Division Four. And yet, out in the hinterlands, Ballyholland, Glenn, Saval and clubs like them thrive in the top flight.

“There’s a problem there definitely, within Newry. There’s a lot of work being done in all of those clubs at underage levels," McAteer added.

“We have to try as a county to allow that work to happen and to develop it at underage through the schools. We have to try and ensure there are as many people as possible in Newry playing Gaelic football and hurling as possible.

“We have to look at Newry and Downpatrick in particular, but there are other urban centres there too. You have Banbridge, Kilkeel, Warrenpoint, all growing towns. You have that area of St Paul’s and Holywood and Newtownards and nobody from those population centres about county panels. That needs to change if we’re going to be successful.

“This year, as part of James’ work with the minors, we’ve set up coaching clinics in Belfast, which run on a weekly basis, targeting young players from around Bredagh, St Paul’s, Carryduff, Drumaness, Darragh Cross and people from the schools in Belfast. It’s not just our usual schools that need to be targeted; it’s all the schools in the Belfast area. In all those schools, there’s people playing Gaelic games, at home or wherever.

“We hope that project will come to fruition and we’ll maybe get a few to county minor panels. We mightn’t get anybody, but at least those boys are exposed to good quality coaching for 10 weeks and the opportunity to get onto a Down minor panel. We have to be creative. We are being imaginative. These things will take time to come."

A passionate McAteer also clarified comments he made at the recent Down convention. In his report, McAteer hit out at the media, suggesting the “ethos of the GAA… is not something of interest” to reporters who also cover soccer and rugby.

However, he told The Irish News earlier this week he respects that people have opinions and that they’re entitled to offer them: “Last year, we were probably getting a bit of a kicking at times. I’m passionate about Down GAA, it’s my life and my work," he said.

“But we have to respect that the people within The Irish News provide a vital outlet for the promotion of our games. We have to be positive about that as well. We saw the value of that when we advertised our club championship games in The Irish News this year and we saw our gates increase. We saw the number of people at our games increase because we positively marketed our games through The Irish News.

“It’s a two-way street. We recognise the work that journalists do in promoting our games. It’s vital that we’re an open house for journalists. There’s no room within Down for us to be a closed house. We have to respect that journalists have a job to do. We mightn’t always agree with what they say, but we have to respect that people have opinions and that they’re entitled to offer them.”

Back to the job in hand and a determined McAteer sees high hopes for Down. The timeframe for Down success? Between seven and 10 years, according to the report produced by David Passmore.

If things go to plan, that is the timeframe inside which Down hope to be back competing for Ulster and All-Ireland titles regularly: “You will get to the top table at different stages in that time, but we need to be consistently there,” said McAteer.

“You’re not always going to win because there’s only ever one team at each age group that will win. But we need to be consistently at the top table.”

Mourne County GAA Academy under the chairmanship of former All-Ireland winning captain Paddy O’Rourke. Other members of the Group include 1994 All-Ireland winning captain DJ Kane (Newry Shamrocks), Declan Mussen (Kilcoo), Dr Eddie Harney (Saul), Joe Tunney (Carryduff), James McCartan (Minor Manager), Conor O’Toole (County Development Manager), Tom Potter (Coaching Officer) and Professor Niall Moyna (DCU) who will act as a consultant/advisor to the group.

Id love someone to give an update on how all this is going roughly 6 years after this was all conceived.

[wobbller]

Taken from an article in Irish News - Jan 2016.

.....the main focus for the Mourne county is ending the barren run they find themselves on at present. No Ulster senior football title in 22 years. No Ulster minor football title in 17 years (although there was an All-Ireland in between). Just three provincial U21 titles since the mid-1980s.

It is not a particularly healthy recent roll of honour. They know that themselves. They’re reminded of it often enough. But over the past year-and-a-half, the building blocks for the restoration of Down’s lofty reputation have been laid.

1991 All-Ireland winning captain Paddy O’Rourke was appointed last November to head a steering committee for the new Mourne Academy. By that stage, he had a year under him of working with the county’s development squads. James McCartan, who only stepped away from the senior job at the end of the 2014 season, has already been tempted back in to try and boost Down’s quest to return to the top table at minor level.

The likes of ’94 captain DJ Kane, professor Niall Moyna (who acts as a consultant) and county development manager Conor O’Toole are also on the steering group: “Two years ago, we launched a consultative programme,” says long-serving Down county secretary Seán Óg McAteer.

“We took in a wonderful man, David Passmore, a senior lecturer in DCU, whose background is Irish hockey. He’s done a really in-depth report, having consulted widely with schools, clubs, former players, people who were interested in Down football.

“In the past, we’ve done four plans in hurling and never one in football. For a county like Down never to have looked at its football from Maurice Hayes’ time…”

That was part of the problem. ‘The Down Way’ brought regular success from 1960 until the mid-90s, give or take an odd blip. But at present, Down are enduring their longest spell without senior success since the years prior to their 1959 Ulster title.

For Newry Mitchel’s man McAteer, one of the keys to bringing the county back to the top table is expanding Gaelic games through the schools: “Currently, we’re in 86 primary schools through a coaching programme. We’d really like to broaden that.

“We’re in some integrated schools, but we’d really like to get into state schools as well. Not to shove anything down anybody’s throat, but to let them sample Gaelic games. To actually just have taster sessions and tell them the story of what Down’s about.

“You go somewhere and someone asks where you’re from, you’ll say county Derry, I’ll say county Down. It’s one thing that unites people. It isn’t a badge of anything; it’s where you’re from. The people from Comber, Saintfield, Newtownards are as much a Down person as anyone from Newry or Downpatrick or Kilcoo.

“We’ve got something there that can be a brand that unites people. That’s something we’d like to explore by telling our story through the communities and schools over the next few years.”

The issues Down face are not unique. Other counties have similar problems. For Derry, it is the city. For Antrim, it’s the middle of Belfast. Donegal have their struggles in Letterkenny.

Soccer and rugby, particularly the growth of the latter, continue to enjoy a duopoly on the youth’s imagination. The bigger the population base, the wider the sporting pallet of the inhabitants.

Take the 2005 All-Ireland minor winning squad. Two “major population centres”, as McAteer puts it, of Newry and Downpatrick provided precisely none of what was, at one stage, a 38-man squad.

In Newry, the Shamrocks and John Bosco are both in Division Three. John Mitchel’s are in Division Four. And yet, out in the hinterlands, Ballyholland, Glenn, Saval and clubs like them thrive in the top flight.

“There’s a problem there definitely, within Newry. There’s a lot of work being done in all of those clubs at underage levels," McAteer added.

“We have to try as a county to allow that work to happen and to develop it at underage through the schools. We have to try and ensure there are as many people as possible in Newry playing Gaelic football and hurling as possible.

“We have to look at Newry and Downpatrick in particular, but there are other urban centres there too. You have Banbridge, Kilkeel, Warrenpoint, all growing towns. You have that area of St Paul’s and Holywood and Newtownards and nobody from those population centres about county panels. That needs to change if we’re going to be successful.

“This year, as part of James’ work with the minors, we’ve set up coaching clinics in Belfast, which run on a weekly basis, targeting young players from around Bredagh, St Paul’s, Carryduff, Drumaness, Darragh Cross and people from the schools in Belfast. It’s not just our usual schools that need to be targeted; it’s all the schools in the Belfast area. In all those schools, there’s people playing Gaelic games, at home or wherever.

“We hope that project will come to fruition and we’ll maybe get a few to county minor panels. We mightn’t get anybody, but at least those boys are exposed to good quality coaching for 10 weeks and the opportunity to get onto a Down minor panel. We have to be creative. We are being imaginative. These things will take time to come."

A passionate McAteer also clarified comments he made at the recent Down convention. In his report, McAteer hit out at the media, suggesting the “ethos of the GAA… is not something of interest” to reporters who also cover soccer and rugby.

However, he told The Irish News earlier this week he respects that people have opinions and that they’re entitled to offer them: “Last year, we were probably getting a bit of a kicking at times. I’m passionate about Down GAA, it’s my life and my work," he said.

“But we have to respect that the people within The Irish News provide a vital outlet for the promotion of our games. We have to be positive about that as well. We saw the value of that when we advertised our club championship games in The Irish News this year and we saw our gates increase. We saw the number of people at our games increase because we positively marketed our games through The Irish News.

“It’s a two-way street. We recognise the work that journalists do in promoting our games. It’s vital that we’re an open house for journalists. There’s no room within Down for us to be a closed house. We have to respect that journalists have a job to do. We mightn’t always agree with what they say, but we have to respect that people have opinions and that they’re entitled to offer them.”

Back to the job in hand and a determined McAteer sees high hopes for Down. The timeframe for Down success? Between seven and 10 years, according to the report produced by David Passmore.

If things go to plan, that is the timeframe inside which Down hope to be back competing for Ulster and All-Ireland titles regularly: “You will get to the top table at different stages in that time, but we need to be consistently there,” said McAteer.

“You’re not always going to win because there’s only ever one team at each age group that will win. But we need to be consistently at the top table.”

Mourne County GAA Academy under the chairmanship of former All-Ireland winning captain Paddy O’Rourke. Other members of the Group include 1994 All-Ireland winning captain DJ Kane (Newry Shamrocks), Declan Mussen (Kilcoo), Dr Eddie Harney (Saul), Joe Tunney (Carryduff), James McCartan (Minor Manager), Conor O’Toole (County Development Manager), Tom Potter (Coaching Officer) and Professor Niall Moyna (DCU) who will act as a consultant/advisor to the group.

Id love someone to give an update on how all this is going roughly 6 years after this was all conceived.

   My point exactly.

[Truth hurts]

I would be skeptical about these plans as they look good on powerpoint but implementing them is the problem and the one thing you need is money to get these done and that will be the issue.
Our number one focus should be getting Ballykinlar built.

[Brick Tamlin]

Accountability and transparency are huge factors.
Without them, there is no integrity and people lose confidence and have no faith in decision-makers and the structures they apparently uphold.
When you hear about task forces, steering committees, focus groups, think tanks etc it pretty much smells of bullshit, smoke and mirrors. And for a long time people in the county have been blinded by the bullshit and swallowed it whole.

A brush should be taken to that county board and the unelected figures in the background that use them as puppets roaded.
Jobs for the boys.

[manwithnoplan]

I believe county players are now available for clubs tonight, and the challenge game is cancelled.

[imagine]

Accountability and transparency are huge factors.
Without them, there is no integrity and people lose confidence and have no faith in decision-makers and the structures they apparently uphold.
When you hear about task forces, steering committees, focus groups, think tanks etc it pretty much smells of bullshit, smoke and mirrors. And for a long time people in the county have been blinded by the bullshit and swallowed it whole.

A brush should be taken to that county board and the unelected figures in the background that use them as puppets roaded.
Jobs for the boys.

   Have a friend who's son is on the Down U16 Dev Squad and a nephew who is on the Tyrone U16 one.The Down squad are scheduled to meet 6 times from the start of the year up to the end of August.Tyrone have met at least twice every three weeks but it's mostly weekly around this time of the year.Manager of the Down squad is Benny Coulter.

[imagine]

I would be skeptical about these plans as they look good on powerpoint but implementing them is the problem and the one thing you need is money to get these done and that will be the issue.
Our number one focus should be getting Ballykinlar built.

Can you post the new plans?

[Truth hurts]

Accountability and transparency are huge factors.
Without them, there is no integrity and people lose confidence and have no faith in decision-makers and the structures they apparently uphold.
When you hear about task forces, steering committees, focus groups, think tanks etc it pretty much smells of bullshit, smoke and mirrors. And for a long time people in the county have been blinded by the bullshit and swallowed it whole.

A brush should be taken to that county board and the unelected figures in the background that use them as puppets roaded.
Jobs for the boys.

   Have a friend who's son is on the Down U16 Dev Squad and a nephew who is on the Tyrone U16 one.The Down squad are scheduled to meet 6 times from the start of the year up to the end of August.Tyrone have met at least twice every three weeks but it's mostly weekly around this time of the year.Manager of the Down squad is Benny Coulter.

What is your point,  a quick glance on social media would see that Down u15 and u16s have been playing plenty of matches? What would be the point of taking kids halfway across the county to train when they are already getting coaching 2-3 times a week in their clubs with a match on a Monday night!
BTW that is a gripe of mine, carrying 50 odd lads on a development squad !!

Apparently Mooney is back in the Down camp.

[imagine]

Accountability and transparency are huge factors.
Without them, there is no integrity and people lose confidence and have no faith in decision-makers and the structures they apparently uphold.
When you hear about task forces, steering committees, focus groups, think tanks etc it pretty much smells of bullshit, smoke and mirrors. And for a long time people in the county have been blinded by the bullshit and swallowed it whole.

A brush should be taken to that county board and the unelected figures in the background that use them as puppets roaded.
Jobs for the boys.

   Have a friend who's son is on the Down U16 Dev Squad and a nephew who is on the Tyrone U16 one.The Down squad are scheduled to meet 6 times from the start of the year up to the end of August.Tyrone have met at least twice every three weeks but it's mostly weekly around this time of the year.Manager of the Down squad is Benny Coulter.

What is your point,  a quick glance on social media would see that Down u15 and u16s have been playing plenty of matches? What would be the point of taking kids halfway across the county to train when they are already getting coaching 2-3 times a week in their clubs with a match on a Monday night!
BTW that is a gripe of mine, carrying 50 odd lads on a development squad !!

Apparently Mooney is back in the Down camp.

   So TruthHurts,Tyrone have got it wrong all these years.
We're doing it correctly and getting exactly what for this good practice?

[Truth hurts]

Accountability and transparency are huge factors.
Without them, there is no integrity and people lose confidence and have no faith in decision-makers and the structures they apparently uphold.
When you hear about task forces, steering committees, focus groups, think tanks etc it pretty much smells of bullshit, smoke and mirrors. And for a long time people in the county have been blinded by the bullshit and swallowed it whole.

A brush should be taken to that county board and the unelected figures in the background that use them as puppets roaded.
Jobs for the boys.

   Have a friend who's son is on the Down U16 Dev Squad and a nephew who is on the Tyrone U16 one.The Down squad are scheduled to meet 6 times from the start of the year up to the end of August.Tyrone have met at least twice every three weeks but it's mostly weekly around this time of the year.Manager of the Down squad is Benny Coulter.

What is your point,  a quick glance on social media would see that Down u15 and u16s have been playing plenty of matches? What would be the point of taking kids halfway across the county to train when they are already getting coaching 2-3 times a week in their clubs with a match on a Monday night!
BTW that is a gripe of mine, carrying 50 odd lads on a development squad !!

Apparently Mooney is back in the Down camp.

   So TruthHurts,Tyrone have got it wrong all these years.
We're doing it correctly and getting exactly what for this good practice?

I do not get what you are getting at?

[johnnycool]

Taken from an article in Irish News - Jan 2016.

.....the main focus for the Mourne county is ending the barren run they find themselves on at present. No Ulster senior football title in 22 years. No Ulster minor football title in 17 years (although there was an All-Ireland in between). Just three provincial U21 titles since the mid-1980s.

It is not a particularly healthy recent roll of honour. They know that themselves. They’re reminded of it often enough. But over the past year-and-a-half, the building blocks for the restoration of Down’s lofty reputation have been laid.

1991 All-Ireland winning captain Paddy O’Rourke was appointed last November to head a steering committee for the new Mourne Academy. By that stage, he had a year under him of working with the county’s development squads. James McCartan, who only stepped away from the senior job at the end of the 2014 season, has already been tempted back in to try and boost Down’s quest to return to the top table at minor level.

The likes of ’94 captain DJ Kane, professor Niall Moyna (who acts as a consultant) and county development manager Conor O’Toole are also on the steering group: “Two years ago, we launched a consultative programme,” says long-serving Down county secretary Seán Óg McAteer.

“We took in a wonderful man, David Passmore, a senior lecturer in DCU, whose background is Irish hockey. He’s done a really in-depth report, having consulted widely with schools, clubs, former players, people who were interested in Down football.

“In the past, we’ve done four plans in hurling and never one in football. For a county like Down never to have looked at its football from Maurice Hayes’ time…”

That was part of the problem. ‘The Down Way’ brought regular success from 1960 until the mid-90s, give or take an odd blip. But at present, Down are enduring their longest spell without senior success since the years prior to their 1959 Ulster title.

For Newry Mitchel’s man McAteer, one of the keys to bringing the county back to the top table is expanding Gaelic games through the schools: “Currently, we’re in 86 primary schools through a coaching programme. We’d really like to broaden that.

“We’re in some integrated schools, but we’d really like to get into state schools as well. Not to shove anything down anybody’s throat, but to let them sample Gaelic games. To actually just have taster sessions and tell them the story of what Down’s about.

“You go somewhere and someone asks where you’re from, you’ll say county Derry, I’ll say county Down. It’s one thing that unites people. It isn’t a badge of anything; it’s where you’re from. The people from Comber, Saintfield, Newtownards are as much a Down person as anyone from Newry or Downpatrick or Kilcoo.

“We’ve got something there that can be a brand that unites people. That’s something we’d like to explore by telling our story through the communities and schools over the next few years.”

The issues Down face are not unique. Other counties have similar problems. For Derry, it is the city. For Antrim, it’s the middle of Belfast. Donegal have their struggles in Letterkenny.

Soccer and rugby, particularly the growth of the latter, continue to enjoy a duopoly on the youth’s imagination. The bigger the population base, the wider the sporting pallet of the inhabitants.

Take the 2005 All-Ireland minor winning squad. Two “major population centres”, as McAteer puts it, of Newry and Downpatrick provided precisely none of what was, at one stage, a 38-man squad.

In Newry, the Shamrocks and John Bosco are both in Division Three. John Mitchel’s are in Division Four. And yet, out in the hinterlands, Ballyholland, Glenn, Saval and clubs like them thrive in the top flight.

“There’s a problem there definitely, within Newry. There’s a lot of work being done in all of those clubs at underage levels," McAteer added.

“We have to try as a county to allow that work to happen and to develop it at underage through the schools. We have to try and ensure there are as many people as possible in Newry playing Gaelic football and hurling as possible.

“We have to look at Newry and Downpatrick in particular, but there are other urban centres there too. You have Banbridge, Kilkeel, Warrenpoint, all growing towns. You have that area of St Paul’s and Holywood and Newtownards and nobody from those population centres about county panels. That needs to change if we’re going to be successful.

“This year, as part of James’ work with the minors, we’ve set up coaching clinics in Belfast, which run on a weekly basis, targeting young players from around Bredagh, St Paul’s, Carryduff, Drumaness, Darragh Cross and people from the schools in Belfast. It’s not just our usual schools that need to be targeted; it’s all the schools in the Belfast area. In all those schools, there’s people playing Gaelic games, at home or wherever.

“We hope that project will come to fruition and we’ll maybe get a few to county minor panels. We mightn’t get anybody, but at least those boys are exposed to good quality coaching for 10 weeks and the opportunity to get onto a Down minor panel. We have to be creative. We are being imaginative. These things will take time to come."

A passionate McAteer also clarified comments he made at the recent Down convention. In his report, McAteer hit out at the media, suggesting the “ethos of the GAA… is not something of interest” to reporters who also cover soccer and rugby.

However, he told The Irish News earlier this week he respects that people have opinions and that they’re entitled to offer them: “Last year, we were probably getting a bit of a kicking at times. I’m passionate about Down GAA, it’s my life and my work," he said.

“But we have to respect that the people within The Irish News provide a vital outlet for the promotion of our games. We have to be positive about that as well. We saw the value of that when we advertised our club championship games in The Irish News this year and we saw our gates increase. We saw the number of people at our games increase because we positively marketed our games through The Irish News.

“It’s a two-way street. We recognise the work that journalists do in promoting our games. It’s vital that we’re an open house for journalists. There’s no room within Down for us to be a closed house. We have to respect that journalists have a job to do. We mightn’t always agree with what they say, but we have to respect that people have opinions and that they’re entitled to offer them.”

Back to the job in hand and a determined McAteer sees high hopes for Down. The timeframe for Down success? Between seven and 10 years, according to the report produced by David Passmore.

If things go to plan, that is the timeframe inside which Down hope to be back competing for Ulster and All-Ireland titles regularly: “You will get to the top table at different stages in that time, but we need to be consistently there,” said McAteer.

“You’re not always going to win because there’s only ever one team at each age group that will win. But we need to be consistently at the top table.”

Mourne County GAA Academy under the chairmanship of former All-Ireland winning captain Paddy O’Rourke. Other members of the Group include 1994 All-Ireland winning captain DJ Kane (Newry Shamrocks), Declan Mussen (Kilcoo), Dr Eddie Harney (Saul), Joe Tunney (Carryduff), James McCartan (Minor Manager), Conor O’Toole (County Development Manager), Tom Potter (Coaching Officer) and Professor Niall Moyna (DCU) who will act as a consultant/advisor to the group.

Id love someone to give an update on how all this is going roughly 6 years after this was all conceived.

4 plans for hurling, I know of one done by a clubmember of mine of my fathers generation "Getting Down to Hurl" and as I said before putting a plan on paper is one thing, on the grass is another and I don't think any of his recommendations ever made it to fruition.

The others must also be gathering dust somewhere


FWIW, I do believe the change in how U13's are structured this year is a good thing although ultimately I would like to see the return of U12, U14, U16 and U18 instead of U13 go games, and U15 and U17 full rules.

[wobbller]

Accountability and transparency are huge factors.
Without them, there is no integrity and people lose confidence and have no faith in decision-makers and the structures they apparently uphold.
When you hear about task forces, steering committees, focus groups, think tanks etc it pretty much smells of bullshit, smoke and mirrors. And for a long time people in the county have been blinded by the bullshit and swallowed it whole.

A brush should be taken to that county board and the unelected figures in the background that use them as puppets roaded.
Jobs for the boys.

   Have a friend who's son is on the Down U16 Dev Squad and a nephew who is on the Tyrone U16 one.The Down squad are scheduled to meet 6 times from the start of the year up to the end of August.Tyrone have met at least twice every three weeks but it's mostly weekly around this time of the year.Manager of the Down squad is Benny Coulter.

What is your point,  a quick glance on social media would see that Down u15 and u16s have been playing plenty of matches? What would be the point of taking kids halfway across the county to train when they are already getting coaching 2-3 times a week in their clubs with a match on a Monday night!
BTW that is a gripe of mine, carrying 50 odd lads on a development squad !!

Apparently Mooney is back in the Down camp.

   So TruthHurts,Tyrone have got it wrong all these years.
We're doing it correctly and getting exactly what for this good practice?

I do not get what you are getting at?

  I think what he is getting at is that the Down method of running their Dev squads is not yielding results( U16's only meeting 6 out of 33-35 possible weeks---ridiculous if true) whereas Tyrone's method over the years of putting real work into their Dev squads has and probably will continue to reap rewards.That's twice today our paid employees that been brought into the various conversations on the ills of Down football.Both probably paid Managers in other Clubs.

[Truth hurts]

Accountability and transparency are huge factors.
Without them, there is no integrity and people lose confidence and have no faith in decision-makers and the structures they apparently uphold.
When you hear about task forces, steering committees, focus groups, think tanks etc it pretty much smells of bullshit, smoke and mirrors. And for a long time people in the county have been blinded by the bullshit and swallowed it whole.

A brush should be taken to that county board and the unelected figures in the background that use them as puppets roaded.
Jobs for the boys.

   Have a friend who's son is on the Down U16 Dev Squad and a nephew who is on the Tyrone U16 one.The Down squad are scheduled to meet 6 times from the start of the year up to the end of August.Tyrone have met at least twice every three weeks but it's mostly weekly around this time of the year.Manager of the Down squad is Benny Coulter.

What is your point,  a quick glance on social media would see that Down u15 and u16s have been playing plenty of matches? What would be the point of taking kids halfway across the county to train when they are already getting coaching 2-3 times a week in their clubs with a match on a Monday night!
BTW that is a gripe of mine, carrying 50 odd lads on a development squad !!

Apparently Mooney is back in the Down camp.

   So TruthHurts,Tyrone have got it wrong all these years.
We're doing it correctly and getting exactly what for this good practice?

I do not get what you are getting at?

  I think what he is getting at is that the Down method of running their Dev squads is not yielding results( U16's only meeting 6 out of 33-35 possible weeks---ridiculous if true) whereas Tyrone's method over the years of putting real work into their Dev squads has and probably will continue to reap rewards.That's twice today our paid employees that been brought into the various conversations on the ills of Down football.Both probably paid Managers in other Clubs.

They meet every weekend, this is enough. They develop in their schools and clubs more.