Down Club Hurling & Football

[Ed Hardy]

I don't think many are surprised that Down started with 2 defeats given the late appointment of manager and we've faced 2 of the stronger teams in the division, the 2 weeks break has came at a good time, hopefully we'll see Laverty, Quinn and Guinness back for the Meath game and a host from Kilcoo (all Ireland champs all being well) the squad will be strengthened considerably then.

[rosskarr]

How many Kilcoo players will be starters for Down this year and will they be available for round 3 or given an extra week off?

All this talk and hope about new structures for the future is touted every year.Nothing changes and never will.I'll watch the deferred coverage of the Armagh and Tyrone game later.Look at the Management of each team today and compare their intensity to the easy-come/easy-go mannerisms of the Down Management last night although one of them got a yellow card for mouthing.They appear to be just going through the motions on our way to Div 3. Sad to watch and I never thought I'd be saying this but Poacher would waken it all up including our inept County Officers.

[whitegoodman]

Would Odhran Murdock be worth a look at full forward to bring a bit of presence and strength? Two good feet and can take a score.

[Johnnysboys]

  All this talk and hope about new structures for the future is touted every year.Nothing changes and never will.I'll watch the deferred coverage of the Armagh and Tyrone game later.Look at the Management of each team today and compare their intensity to the easy-come/easy-go mannerisms of the Down Management last night although one of them got a yellow card for mouthing.They appear to be just going through the motions on our way to Div 3. Sad to watch and I never thought I'd be saying this but Poacher would waken it all up including our inept County Officers.
[/quote]

Oh my good god. Such a statement. He had arguably the best minor team since 2005 at his disposal a couple of years ago and royally messed that up with his inept tactics.
Upandwin - I have no issue with Gary at all - has been excellent for our club in last few years and fully merits a place on the panel - but I definitely didn't see a good performance from him.

[SamFever]

Rory Burns. 2/10

Peter Fegan 5/10
Finn McElroy7/10
Gerard Collins 5/10
Ruairi McCormack 6/10
Niall McParland 6/10
Darren O'Hagan 5/10

Anthony Doherty 6/10
Odhran Murdock 7/10

Caplin  Mooney 6/10
Liam Kerr 5/10
Cormac McCartan 4/10
Barry O'Hagan 6/10
Kevin McKernan 4/10
Andrew Gilmore 6/10

Management 5.5/10

  Management have taken heed of my ratings and Rory Burns loses out. I hope the the player ratings improve from last week.

Gary McMahon 5/10

Peter Fegan 4/10
Finn McElroy 6/10
Benny McArdle 5/10

Ruairi McCormack 5/10
Niall McParland 6/10
Darren O'Hagan 4/10

Anthony Doherty 3.5/10
Odhran Murdock 5.5/10

Caolan Mooney 4/10
Liam Kerr 5.5/10
Cormac McCartan 4.5/10

Barry O'Hagan 6.5/10
Kevin McKernan 3/10
Andrew Gilmore 5.5/10

Management 5/10

[Solo_run]

1 Armagh player sent off

4 Tyrone players

[rosskarr]

How many Kilcoo players will be starters for Down this year and will they be available for round 3 or given an extra week off?

All this talk and hope about new structures for the future is touted every year.Nothing changes and never will.I'll watch the deferred coverage of the Armagh and Tyrone game later.Look at the Management of each team today and compare their intensity to the easy-come/easy-go mannerisms of the Down Management last night although one of them got a yellow card for mouthing.They appear to be just going through the motions on our way to Div 3. Sad to watch and I never thought I'd be saying this but Poacher would waken it all up including our inept County Officers.

Intensity or what!!

[5times5times]

I'm not sure a single player from Down's team last night would start for either Armagh or Tyrone today?

[thewobbler]

I'm not sure a single player from Down's team last night would start for either Armagh or Tyrone today?

Context is everything.

Brilliant players, and especially brilliant forwards, make good players raise their levels. Their presence changes the attitudes of their teammates and the confidence of their opponents.

Rian O'Neill is having a similar effect on Armagh that Martin Clarke did for Down in 2010.

Knowing your team is always capable of scoring enough to win is probably the most understated mental attribute m football.

Witness Dublin who had 5 years of the Brogans, Flynn and Connolly, merged  into 5 years of Rock, O'Callaghan, Mannion and Kilkenny. It was like a 5 point head start. Now gone.

[lumpitin]

Our neighbours and rivals, not even sure i can call them our rivals sitting top of the national league while we sit bottom of division 2 is extremely disheartening. Dont think that many of our starting team from saturday would even make armaghs 26 man squad, we are in a extremely poor place at the minute and every other team in ulster except fermanagh are on the way up

[toby47]

I'm not sure a single player from Down's team last night would start for either Armagh or Tyrone today?

Context is everything.

Brilliant players, and especially brilliant forwards, make good players raise their levels. Their presence changes the attitudes of their teammates and the confidence of their opponents.

Rian O'Neill is having a similar effect on Armagh that Martin Clarke did for Down in 2010.

Knowing your team is always capable of scoring enough to win is probably the most understated mental attribute m football.

Witness Dublin who had 5 years of the Brogans, Flynn and Connolly, merged  into 5 years of Rock, O'Callaghan, Mannion and Kilkenny. It was like a 5 point head start. Now gone.

To be fair, 3 of the 4 are still there

[Truth hurts]

Poor game on Saturday, poor crowd and atmosphere. Hosting Galway in Newry should have been a great occasion but was flat.
I thought the team tried hard, they were set up ok and look an improvement. The keeper was better than Bubba but he had a few bad kick-outs with his left foot which I could not get my head around. I think Smyth's long licks would be a better option. It's just a pity we don't have big men to cath around the middle and it's unfair to expect young Murdock to be the focal point. Defensively we were better but lacked physicality. We are missing a few marquee forwards who hopefully will be playing in Navan. We need to be positive and hopefully, we can survive.

[johnnycool]

On a more upbeat note the Down hurlers had a good win over Carlow in Div2A, goaling deep into injury time to win by 2.

considering Carlow were stuffing them by double digits a few years back that's progress.

[ardtole]

I see 8 different clubs were represented on the 1st 15, must be a positive sign too.

[Truth hurts]

I am hearing that there are new proposals tabled for the county board meeting after complaints from the North and the West of the county. Are they out yet?