New Down talent.

[Mourne Rover]

Many of us have seen him play for Down minors, for St Colman's and at underage level for Rostrevor when his potential was unmistakeable. He made his senior debut for Down as a second half sub against Antrim at Casement Park in a 2011 qualifier, scored a brilliant goal fairly quickly and looked to have a fine understanding with Marty Clarke. He did not make as much impact coming off the bench in the subsequent qualifiers against Clare and Cork that summer, but he was only 18 at the time. His pace is probably his biggest asset and he was also a good finisher before he went to Australia, but he will obvious need time to re-adjust after his return. It would be a surprise if he is not in our full forward line this summer, but there will be plenty of competition for places and it would be premature to write off the likes of Ambrose and Poland at this stage.

[mb80b60]

Would Jamie O'Reilly be worth a try also?  How did he play for his club this year?

[PAULD123]

As Mourne Rover said I saw Caolan play for St Colmans, Down Minors, Rostrevor reserves and twice for Down Seniors. At 18 he was already good enough to be a Down senior.

I know you will say school football is just school football but he was  a star in a team that included Shay McCardle, Shay McCartan, Ryan Johnson, Jerome Johnson, Donal O'Hare, and Niall McParland. Of those players, and we are talking about some of the best prospects in the county's future, Mooney stood out as even that little bit better.

Since then he has had three years professional athletic training.

[mccool85]

Mooney actually made his debut against Clare, not Antrim, and he started left half forward. I thought he was Down's best player in a poor team display. They played Antrim in the round after that.

As for next season, hopefully McCorry will get a few more of the Kilcoo boys to commit. Niall Brannigan may be small but he's the best corner back in Down and has a nasty side that the likes of Benny McArdle don't have. Darragh O'Hanlon and Paul Devlin should be given more minutes while Ryan Johnston should be an automatic starter.

Conaill McGovern, Gerard McGovern and Eamon Toner should look the best from that Burren side other than O'Hare.

Hopefully it's the end for Dan McCartan, Benny McArdle, Aidan Carr and Ryan Boyle. Boyle wouldn't even be in the top 5 players in the point side. Mark Poland shouldn't be an automatic starter, a passenger far too often.

[elk]

Mooney actually made his debut against Clare, not Antrim, and he started left half forward. I thought he was Down's best player in a poor team display. They played Antrim in the round after that.

As for next season, hopefully McCorry will get a few more of the Kilcoo boys to commit. Niall Brannigan may be small but he's the best corner back in Down and has a nasty side that the likes of Benny McArdle don't have. Darragh O'Hanlon and Paul Devlin should be given more minutes while Ryan Johnston should be an automatic starter.

Conaill McGovern, Gerard McGovern and Eamon Toner should look the best from that Burren side other than O'Hare.

Hopefully it's the end for Dan McCartan, Benny McArdle, Aidan Carr and Ryan Boyle. Boyle wouldn't even be in the top 5 players in the point side. Mark Poland shouldn't be an automatic starter, a passenger far too often.

Find it hard to believe that a Down player wouldn't be in the top 5 in an Intermediate side.

[PAULD123]

It's  not very often a player who is not in his club's top five is selected as the captain. Maybe you should have another think about that.

Or maybe you are saying there should be half a dozen Warrenpoint players on the Down side. Not sure what point you were trying to make exactly

[general]

Mark Poland shouldn't be an automatic starter, a passenger far too often.

i disagree with this completely

Hopefully it's the end for Dan McCartan, Benny McArdle, Aidan Carr and Ryan Boyle

Barring Dan, the other 3 should have a big part to play in the county, We arent graced with great defenders, Benny is one of the better ones. Aidan Carr can have some kind of role to play, be it a squad player, ryan boyle came through all development squads,minor, under 21, just finished his 1st, maybe 2nd season with the county? He will be there for years to come

[Brick Tamlin]

Mooney actually made his debut against Clare, not Antrim, and he started left half forward. I thought he was Down's best player in a poor team display. They played Antrim in the round after that.

As for next season, hopefully McCorry will get a few more of the Kilcoo boys to commit. Niall Brannigan may be small but he's the best corner back in Down and has a nasty side that the likes of Benny McArdle don't have. Darragh O'Hanlon and Paul Devlin should be given more minutes while Ryan Johnston should be an automatic starter.

Conaill McGovern, Gerard McGovern and Eamon Toner should look the best from that Burren side other than O'Hare.

Hopefully it's the end for Dan McCartan, Benny McArdle, Aidan Carr and Ryan Boyle. Boyle wouldn't even be in the top 5 players in the point side. Mark Poland shouldn't be an automatic starter, a passenger far too often.

Id love to hear who the 5 better players are in the Point side. Are we missing something here, do they have 5 other players playing for them that Wee James missed out on?
Silly season definitely in full flight when ye hear of names being bandied about and the names of other fellas that should be given the chop. Why would it hopefully be the end for Dan McCartan, Benny McArdle, Aoidan Carr & Boyle? Why would ye hope that? You are really saying that those 4 or 5 fellas would offer nothing to our senior squad next year?
Feckin eejit

[imagine]

Mooney actually made his debut against Clare, not Antrim, and he started left half forward. I thought he was Down's best player in a poor team display. They played Antrim in the round after that.

As for next season, hopefully McCorry will get a few more of the Kilcoo boys to commit. Niall Brannigan may be small but he's the best corner back in Down and has a nasty side that the likes of Benny McArdle don't have. Darragh O'Hanlon and Paul Devlin should be given more minutes while Ryan Johnston should be an automatic starter.

Conaill McGovern, Gerard McGovern and Eamon Toner should look the best from that Burren side other than O'Hare.

Hopefully it's the end for Dan McCartan, Benny McArdle, Aidan Carr and Ryan Boyle. Boyle wouldn't even be in the top 5 players in the point side. Mark Poland shouldn't be an automatic starter, a passenger far too often.

Id love to hear who the 5 better players are in the Point side. Are we missing something here, do they have 5 other players playing for them that Wee James missed out on?
Silly season definitely in full flight when ye hear of names being bandied about and the names of other fellas that should be given the chop. Why would it hopefully be the end for Dan McCartan, Benny McArdle, Aoidan Carr & Boyle? Why would ye hope that? You are really saying that those 4 or 5 fellas would offer nothing to our senior squad next year?
Feckin eejit

Brick,it's time you gave this thread the craic you gave to the "Weddings and Women thread"  I'd love to  hear suggestions for someone that could replace Mark Poland in what he does for Down.

[A man from Down]

Some absolute boll0cks being talked on here.

It is an exciting time for our county given the appointment of a new manager who was always the standout candidate. We all hope he brings a few more of those tenacious Kilcoo men in but no doubt he will also be looking at new players from other clubs who have performed well against his Kilcoo side in the past couple of seasons and also a few from the lower divisions. But for people to question the ability or inclusion of Mark Poland is ridiculous. Since Clarke went back to Oz Poland has been our playmaker, and the man other teams have feared in our forward line. This has been evident in the last two years when other teams have simply man marked him and singled him out for extra attention much in the same way Benny was treated by the opposition 6 or 7 years ago. If Marty Clarke does commit you will probably get to see Poland getting less attention and showing his ability.

As for people questioning the likes of Carr, Dan McCartan, Dan Gordan, McKernan, Garvey , Benny McArdle it is crazy. These men have been coached, conditioned and are at the peak of their powers in terms of the experience they have playing at county level and this will be invaluable. A blend of youth and experience is very much an advantage for any senior manager and we are lucky that at present we have that.

[Aristo 60]

Regardless of new talent I'd like Benny to stick around for another year and hope he throws his hat back into the ring come Christmas.

[Shamrocks Gaelp]

Did anyone see caolan mooney play against us in the U21's on Sunday? Heard he scored 1-2 but also heard he missed a bucket load of chances! Anyone care to tell me what really happened? I Alps think that mccorry should be looking to division 2 for possible new talent for McKenna cup. He should be considering key players from teams like Saul, CPN, ballymartin and clann na banna or the kingdom.

[charlieTully]

Some absolute boll0cks being talked on here.

It is an exciting time for our county given the appointment of a new manager who was always the standout candidate. We all hope he brings a few more of those tenacious Kilcoo men in but no doubt he will also be looking at new players from other clubs who have performed well against his Kilcoo side in the past couple of seasons and also a few from the lower divisions. But for people to question the ability or inclusion of Mark Poland is ridiculous. Since Clarke went back to Oz Poland has been our playmaker, and the man other teams have feared in our forward line. This has been evident in the last two years when other teams have simply man marked him and singled him out for extra attention much in the same way Benny was treated by the opposition 6 or 7 years ago. If Marty Clarke does commit you will probably get to see Poland getting less attention and showing his ability.

As for people questioning the likes of Carr, Dan McCartan, Dan Gordan, McKernan, Garvey , Benny McArdle it is crazy. These men have been coached, conditioned and are at the peak of their powers in terms of the experience they have playing at county level and this will be invaluable. A blend of youth and experience is very much an advantage for any senior manager and we are lucky that at present we have that.

who exactly from kilcoo would you like to see that havnt alreadly been given a try with the county?

[PAULD123]

Apart from Niall McEvoy the best Kilcoo players are in the county squad, that's true. But perhaps "A man from Down" meant he hoped McCorry will bring a few more Kilcoo player into the actual starting team.

I too would like to see Ryan Johnson, Jerome Johnson, Paul Devlin and Darragh O'Hanlon as regular starters for Down as they are the players that we could expect to see going forward for the next 5-10 years.

It's not that I think McCartan, Carr, McCardle are bad player but I don't see the current team winning any titles and if we wait till they are totally done these other younger players will all be mid/late-twenties and we will only be developing them in the county team in time for them to have no more than five years maximum. Also how many will wait that long to get a regular spot?

If we start to build the team with Ryan Johnson, Jerome Johnson, Mooney, Devlin, Boyle, Mallon, Ciaran McCartan, Marty Clarke, McComiskey, Hanna, Costello, McEvoy then we will have a team that will be physically at its peak in 2-3 seasons and also will have that experience under their belts. The other players should not be disposed with but they should be asked to play in such a way that helps the transition.

[brokencrossbar1]

Lads would young Ryan O'Hare from Ballymartin cut it at senior level for Down?  I always thought he has serious ability and pace and could be a James McCartan type player.