Down Club Hurling & Football

[Johnnysboys]

Poor today - basic skills were poor - conditions were not good for either team but picking the ball up, basic catches etc were a mile off.
I didn't  like when a player was taken off he shakes his head and then doesn't shake the managers hand walking past. He was booked and had just committed a foul with a late tackle and dropped on the player - of course he had to be subbed before he was sent off. Then the young Ballyholland man gets two quick yellows. Frustrating..

[wobbller]

   No surprise about at what happened yesterday.This B Competition will do nothing for us.Unfortunatly James has lost the dressing the room and from the amount of people from Down there yesterday,he has also lost the fans.

   We need a clearout at Senior level of both Management/Players and to appoint someone with a blank canvas to watch players for the remainder of our Leagues and in the Club Championships.There is a rot which needs to be extinguished.

[whitegoodman]

Actually thought most of the younger lads did alright and it was the more experienced lads who didn't perform.

Young McEvoy will need to reflect on his reaction to be taken off and it was probably the right decision as things weren't going his way throughout the match.

Play all the young lads over the next 1/2/3/4 matches and see where it takes them.  James came in when nobody wanted it so I would give him another year if he wants it but he would need a upgrade on his backroom team.

[Walter Cronc]

Never mind McCartan. How is Aidan O'Rourke considered for any of these gigs. Crap track record and talks some sh1t on social media!

[whitegoodman]

Difficult one to answer, not that popular among the players by all accounts as well.

[snoopdog]

Never mind McCartan. How is Aidan O'Rourke considered for any of these gigs. Crap track record and talks some sh1t on social media!

Buddies clubs

[wobbller]

Difficult one to answer, not that popular among the players by all accounts as well.

There are similar thoughts about James also.Communication terrible and going on the two alcohol episodes there appears to no respect to the Management.Respect is usually earned but is non existent from both sides.

[Johnnysboys]

  There are similar thoughts about James also.Communication terrible and going on the two alcohol episodes there appears to no respect to the Management.Respect is usually earned but is non existent from both sides.
[/quote]

If our players don't have any respect for two former All Ireland winners and All Stars - then I think we know where the problem lies..

[Last Caress]

Difficult one to answer, not that popular among the players by all accounts as well.

There are similar thoughts about James also.Communication terrible and going on the two alcohol episodes there appears to no respect to the Management.Respect is usually earned but is non existent from both sides.

I think the time has come to moving from 91/94. Players of today won't have experienced that, never mind giving it respect. 

[snoopdog]

Could Mickey Harte be poached from Louth?

[wobbller]

Could Mickey Harte be poached from Louth?

I think you know the answer to that.Poaching someone who is already in position.What have we been discussing? Respect!!!!!

[SamFever]

Could Mickey Harte be poached from Louth?

You are talking about a Managerial position that is not available-Yet.
A very poor performance on Saturday.We really are in the dumps.

[snoopdog]

It was a tongue in cheek more than reality. Although this management team are going nowhere through no real fault of their own. They never wanted the job.
Look what Derry did yesterday when they finally got their set up right. And alot of the best players in the county available. I'm not saying we would be better than Derry but we should at least be competitive. Down Meath and Cork look to have big issues somewhere.  Galway and Derry may have rectified theirs. 

[6th sam]

It was a tongue in cheek more than reality. Although this management team are going nowhere through no real fault of their own. They never wanted the job.
Look what Derry did yesterday when they finally got their set up right. And alot of the best players in the county available. I'm not saying we would be better than Derry but we should at least be competitive. Down Meath and Cork look to have big issues somewhere.  Galway and Derry may have rectified theirs.

There's certainly lessons  in Derry and Galway's change in fortunes .

The difference between ourselves and  Derry is that they have had a production line of underage success over a number of years. They actually went to division 4 and that probably gave them an opportunity to rebuild . Clubwise they are amongst the strongest in the country , as well as Slaughtneils all-ireland final appearance, Glenn, magherafelt, ballinderry etc are strong and Steelstown are All-Ireland intermediate champions . They havent had our financial restrictions and have a well established centre of excellence. Their slaughtneil players didn't have the same club distractions this year.
We have had only 1 ulster appearance at underage in 13 seasons and even semi final appearances are a rarity . Our last appearance in an all-ireland was on the back of preceding underage success.
In reality we were fortunate  to be promoted to division 2, and then fortunate to stay in it. In recent years we have been on the receiving end of several poor results under a number of different managers.
We had a challenging campaign in div 2 this year, with a delayed managerial appointment. The brilliant success of Kilcoo , did not translate into Down seniors , as many of their best players are not available and those that are, were likely fatigued after the prolonged club campaign . We get drawn away against an established top teams who beat Dublin last time out. We had few travelling supporters .
In the above circumstances, why are we surprised at a 10 point defeat ?
We have a mountain of work to do to get back to the top table , but there are several things to be positive about: we have AI club champions and a competitive club game. We now have  a strong GAA presence in North Down. We won an ulster u20 title last year. We have a top notch stadium. We are close to cutting sod on a new centre of excellence and our financial stresses have reduced .
We have a mountain of work to do, but our starting point must be a realistic acceptance of where we are at, and an enthusiasm about our potential , but importantly a change from the immature , ill-informed blame culture , which gets too much credibility in this county .

[johnnycool]

It was a tongue in cheek more than reality. Although this management team are going nowhere through no real fault of their own. They never wanted the job.
Look what Derry did yesterday when they finally got their set up right. And alot of the best players in the county available. I'm not saying we would be better than Derry but we should at least be competitive. Down Meath and Cork look to have big issues somewhere.  Galway and Derry may have rectified theirs.

There's certainly lessons  in Derry and Galway's change in fortunes .

The difference between ourselves and  Derry is that they have had a production line of underage success over a number of years. They actually went to division 4 and that probably gave them an opportunity to rebuild . Clubwise they are amongst the strongest in the country , as well as Slaughtneils all-ireland final appearance, Glenn, magherafelt, ballinderry etc are strong and Steelstown are All-Ireland intermediate champions . They havent had our financial restrictions and have a well established centre of excellence. Their slaughtneil players didn't have the same club distractions this year.
We have had only 1 ulster appearance at underage in 13 seasons and even semi final appearances are a rarity . Our last appearance in an all-ireland was on the back of preceding underage success.
In reality we were fortunate  to be promoted to division 2, and then fortunate to stay in it. In recent years we have been on the receiving end of several poor results under a number of different managers.
We had a challenging campaign in div 2 this year, with a delayed managerial appointment. The brilliant success of Kilcoo , did not translate into Down seniors , as many of their best players are not available and those that are, were likely fatigued after the prolonged club campaign . We get drawn away against an established top teams who beat Dublin last time out. We had few travelling supporters .
In the above circumstances, why are we surprised at a 10 point defeat ?
We have a mountain of work to do to get back to the top table , but there are several things to be positive about: we have AI club champions and a competitive club game. We now have  a strong GAA presence in North Down. We won an ulster u20 title last year. We have a top notch stadium. We are close to cutting sod on a new centre of excellence and our financial stresses have reduced .
We have a mountain of work to do, but our starting point must be a realistic acceptance of where we are at, and an enthusiasm about our potential , but importantly a change from the immature , ill-informed blame culture , which gets too much credibility in this county .

All four SN players on the field for Derry were involved in their hurling campaign which took them right up to an AI semi-final, I'd say they hadn't much rest in between that and committing to playing football for Derry seniors.

Much like Cork in the hurling (and they have had underage success) questions need asked about the type of player that's needed to succeed at intercounty senior and why they're either not coming through the development process or how the club game isn't developing them either.

A root and branch review needed with all cards on the table.