Messages

1

Down / Re: Down Club Hurling & Football

« on: May 24, 2022, 10:39:53 PM »

Nice and handy championship draw.

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Down / Re: Down Club Hurling & Football

« on: May 23, 2022, 11:04:08 PM »

I know Jim McCorry manages Burren but who has he got with him? Still Eoin McCartan and Adams?

As well as Stephen O’Hare. Then the entourage jim usually likes to surround himself with! Heard a slap was thrown alright and McCartan got a dig from Tony Havern - didn’t get it for nothing I’m sure. Did some amount of slabbering in games I’ve seen Burren play this year. I heard a Ballyholland sub came on n slapped everyone he passed on the pitch. They won’t do much slapping on Wednesday night though when the magpies come to visit…

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Down / Re: Down Club Hurling & Football

« on: May 21, 2022, 11:25:06 PM »

I agree with the top 4 here but think Ballyholland will be safe enough. They had a great result last night and are showing great fight and commitment to their new management.

Kilcoo
Burren
Mayobridge
Clonduff

Relegated
Rostrevor
Castlewellan
Bryansford
Downpatrick/Loughinisland to fight it out for final relegation place.

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Down / Re: Down Club Hurling & Football

« on: May 19, 2022, 10:10:58 PM »

Rostrevor are in big trouble I doubt.. Diabolical showing in the last two weeks.

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Down / Re: Down Club Hurling & Football

« on: May 18, 2022, 11:16:58 PM »

St Joseph’s win another schools title - at least one school in the county is doing us proud. No coincidence their upturn in fortunes since Poacher joined their ranks.

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Down / Re: Down Club Hurling & Football

« on: May 14, 2022, 10:44:21 PM »

Most definitely agree with this. Then again they are probably under more pressure than before. Should counties not take control of coaching in these schools? I think St Mary's Magherafelt have a full time GAA coach - not sure who pays for it. It's resulted in a big upturn in their fortunes - albeit they were always competitive.
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What extra pressure are they under now that wasn’t there in years gone by? I just think the excuses made are a joke. If you are working in a school PE department steeped in GAA tradition - you have to step up. Simple as that. Why would the county take control of this? That would be like Man Utd sending coaches into every school in Manchester to take coaching sessions while the teachers sit on their backsides doing nothing.

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Down / Re: Down Club Hurling & Football

« on: May 13, 2022, 10:08:16 PM »

We need Down schools competing at A grade Colleges Football and where we can’t make A grade then we must aspire not to go below B grade for our bigger schools or more established names. If we look back to 2010, we had gained from having three Down schools play in the Mac Rory in the era of 2005/6 as the Abbey, St Louis and St Colman’s did battle, the hard yards ploughed in those competitions helped Marty Clarke, Kevin McKernan and others take their places as County Footballers. So, I say that post-Christmas in the academic year of 2022, let us deploy our coaches in our second level schools, and not just as coaches but as Development Officers to undertake work to develop Club-School links.
 

Are you serious. The PE staff in St Marks would take some look at ya if you even suggested going to B grade football let alone A grade. There are over 450 lads to play football in that place. Lads from Clonduff, Mayobridge, CPN, Burren, Rostrevor etc. serious strong clubs with serious history. I have no doubt the players are there - but the drive and ambition of the staff definitely ain’t. Nerf wars and GAA training with soccer balls, playing D competitions - it’s an absolute disgrace. Barney McAleenan would crack up if he was back now. Barney was a real tough task master who trained the sh**e out of us but we all left the school feeling like we were Down players. Surely the new county proposal should hopefully be targeting this place so we can get this once GAA institute back up the footballing ladder again.

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Down / Re: Down Club Hurling & Football

« on: May 11, 2022, 10:56:29 PM »

McEvoy was very badly behaved in the dressing room after the Monaghan game I hear. A very arrogant young man to speak to a multiple all Ireland winner the way he did.

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Down / Re: Down Club Hurling & Football

« on: May 09, 2022, 10:37:13 PM »

Well only one team can win a football match, and if you're competitive in a game of football against a team that goes on to reach the All Ireland final then it's not exactly a negative, no matter how much some people want to make it out to be.
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So the minors getting beaten by the eventual champions on three occasions in James’ 5 years is ok then. We were also seriously competitive v Armagh in 2011 when we Pete was in charge - 9 points up at half time I believe. So it’s actually all good - we r not that bad at underage after all.

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Down / Re: Down Club Hurling & Football

« on: May 09, 2022, 06:19:43 PM »

They were very competitive this year against Tyrone u20s who are now in AIF. No other down team at any age group including seniors have come near a big gun in a long time.

So now winning doesn’t really matter - we were very competitive against a team in the AI final.. There are lots and lots of people who simply won’t be happy u til Laverty gets the senior job. Then they will find a new angle to complain about.

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Down / Re: Down Club Hurling & Football

« on: May 08, 2022, 10:44:58 PM »

James did reference many times that we didnt have the players after the defeats during his recent reign as minor manager. CL and MC didnt have these problems with the same group of players.

CL and MC Didn play any of the big guns in championship either. I feel if u go back a few pages u will see this conversation has happened.

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Down / Re: Down Club Hurling & Football

« on: May 08, 2022, 09:17:24 PM »

Pete McGrath
Shane Mulholland
Wee James
Patrick Cunningham

That’s who you are saying were disasters. Who else out there would’ve done better? And if Patrick and his team step down - who is next?? Did you ever just think maybe we don’t have the players? I’d say if you went through the whole county senior squad of the last 4/5 years - every player has been a part of the Mourne Academy.  That’s hardly a shambles…

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Down / Re: Down Club Hurling & Football

« on: May 08, 2022, 05:45:29 PM »

Waiting in the long grass? Claiming the credit?Who has done that?
We’ve been a disaster at Minor level for years.No credit to be claimed anywhere.

Are you telling me that Frank Dawson didn’t do that with Clonduff after watching them winning 3 minor Championships in a row. Then with Burren who won 5 U21 championships and 2 Ulster Championships in a row.
Then u have the man of the moment Jim McCorry - took Mayobridge after watching them win underage titles galore, did the same with a Kilcoo group and now doing the same with Burren.
Define a disaster at minor level? No winning games - who Cares?? Kerry won 5 All Irelands in a row but still haven’t got their senior crown (prob will this year) so underage success means f**k all in the grand scheme of things.
We have got a plethora of good players through to the senior panel in the last 2/3 years. We are a division 3 outfit at best and the B championship is where we deserve to be. It’s time our players stayed out of the paper and knuckled down to a bit of hard work to get us out of this situation.

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Down / Re: Down Club Hurling & Football

« on: May 08, 2022, 11:26:59 AM »

He is a Burren man now who has never managed a team prior to this.A Yes man to the CB.Why was he appointed?

He has managed a number of teams within burren in led to believe and coached a number of others. Surely it’s only right that if you take a county development squad at u15 and u16 level u move onto u17s with them? It’s hardly fair on people taking development squads and then handing them over to some “big name” to get all the credit. The amount of people we have in this county who sit in the long grass watching teams being built for them and then step in and claim all the credit is crazy - I think the county board did the right thing here promoting that group of men. How else do they make it appealing for people to get involved with development squads??

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Down / Re: Down Club Hurling & Football

« on: May 07, 2022, 11:16:54 PM »

Agree with u that he is out of his depth but he certainly not part of the Burren mafia.  Most people were happy for him to move on.

Questions have to be asked as to what qualified him to get the job.

Him a Ballymartin man???
What qualified him?? He took this team at development squad level for the last few years, he most probably has more coaching qualifications than most on this board and thirdly and probably most importantly - he is free. That’s always a unique selling point to our county board!! Apart from our u20 setup who get “well looked after” with coin. Obviously AO’R too.