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Cathal Murray leading those men is like getting Jesus and the Apostles to Follow Judas at the helm. I've heard it all now. Stop the bus, I'm getting off

Ballyholland management gone? Surprised at the timing tbf. They've been shocking since the opening few games where they beat some weaker teams. Was at the game in Moygannon on Friday and it's the worst Ballyholland performance I've seen in a long while. Absolutely zero fight apart from a couple of wayward elbows thrown about when they were getting stuffed. Ballyholland we're always a difficult team to play against but they seem to have lost the aggression and doggedness required for them to complete. Be really interesting to see who goes down in Div1. Harps now joined the town and super reds in the no hope bunch of the pack. RGU have given themselves a lifeline beating the Ford. Might still go down to the wire. If our lads can win 2 more games we should be safe but need bryansford to be one of those wins IMO. Town, reds, Harps and Ford to go down I think.

Don't think anyone is blaming, sure we'd be yapping if the league was boring and town and Rostrevor were down already like most years with two down. Wouldn't write Ballyholland off just yet they'll get a couple of scalps in the run in. I'd fancy them to beat Warrenpoint Ford castlewellan and Rostrevor which would put them on 16pts. Might be enough to stay up! Joe Murphy a big loss for them now tho through injury. I'll stick to my guns and say harps and point to go down. Going to be scrappy few weeks ahead

Tell ya what if mayobridge scoring 1.1 in 60mins isn't downing tools then they must be absolutely dirt. Burren have won 1 of their last 5, getting beaten by RGU, Ford, drawing with Rostrevor all in that...giving a load of seconds and thirds players a run out for game time as they had all but guaranteed top 4 after 5/6 games. Fair play to the all the teams that are still in the mix that includes the Ford and point and Carryduff etc my point is that the structure of the league will make for an exciting finish in the bottom half but it's flawed. So Loughinisland miss out on H2H with 13pts a piece with Clonduff but could still be relegated. That would be hard to take for any team

Serious flaw in the league structure the way it's panned out...Burren and Mayobridge downing tools because they've already got top 4 and can't be relegated. Burren don't care about losing games, they're most focused on trying to relegate the intermediate club down the road while the real top team in Down Dispatch another team tonight with a game that meant nothing in the grand scheme of things. Went to watch Point Ballyholland, poor quality and I'd expect both teams to be having a renewal in Div 2 in 2023. Scrappy game that was intriguing but Warrenpoint by far the better team. Bottom 8 split is going to be very close now with 4 teams effectively playing to avoid the last two drop places. Fancy Harps and Point to go down based off what I've seen tonight. Wouldn't surprise me if harps overturn this result in the reverse fixture, they always go well in moygannon. Loughinisland unlucky tonight not to get fourth

Massive weekend of fixtures ahead. Loughinisland will dispatch Rostrevor easily IMO. Kilcoo will be aiming to be the only one of the 'big four' at the start of the year to beat RGU who have already beaten the bridge Clonduff and Burren. I think Ballyholland will beat Warrenpoint as the point are very short again this week. Carryduff will easily beat the Town and I have a sneaking feeling Bryansford will go and beat Burren this Friday as Burren seem to be trying their best to not show their hand in the league. They've dropped points to Rostrevor, RGU and Ballyholland already and I think Ford will make that another scalp taken. Unlike Kilcoo, Burren don't seem to have the stomach or hunger to win every week like the best teams do. Kilcoo want to win every game like their life depends on it, doesn't mean they'll always get the result but they never take a game lightly. Burren always struggle to get motivated for the less strong teams in the division, shown once again this year. That's the difference between Kilcoo and the rest...

How does everyone see the end of the leagues next Friday?! Looks like Loughinisland will sneak fourth, it's between them and RGU. Winner of tomorrow night will most likely get top 4-some achievement for either club. Is Barry O'Hagan gone to the states? If so, Clonduff will be in the mix for relegation fight. I thought they'd beat Mayobridge last game but without a lot of lads now they'll struggle a bit. If they don't beat Mayobridge and some other results go against them, they won't be far off danger. I still think Town, Rostrevor, Bryansford and either Harps or CPN will go down. This bottom split is going to be brilliant for the neutrals. Are Bredagh a cert to come up? Who is best of the rest of so...money is on the stone finishing top and bredagh hanging on for second, barely...

This has been the best season in Div1&2 in a long time. It's amazing how tight it is in both divisions at this stage. Big wins for RGU and Loughinisland tonight. Two wins in a row can massively change the complexion of anyone's season. Also see Longstone hammered An Riocht in the big derby of the weekend. How many teams go down from D2 this year anyone know? As things stand, Rostrevor and the town are gone and looks like it'll be Warrenpoint and Ballyholland atm but Bryansford might get sucked in to that I think with 2 of them, CPN and Harps down. Massive win for mayobridge who I'm surprised at because I haven't been impressed with them any time I've seen them. RGU have racked up three brilliant results in a row and should be fine now. Hard to call. Burren seem to be stale under McCorry already, the patrons in St Mary's giving off about the negative football already. Apart from hammering CPN seconds, they haven't set the world alight.

Island and C'duff is a massive game is right. Also Ford v The Point will be very close I reckon. Losers of those two games will be in for a scrappy couple of months ahead. I think RGU will beat Clonduff for some reason. Tough place to go and Clonduff are prone to a wee slip against teams they should beat on paper. Burren and the bridge should win handy but the bottom 8 is going to the wire, no one safe by the looks of it so far. Making for a great season tbf to the County Board

Liam staying now by all accounts. Wonder what changed his mind

Four down from Div1 will be massive. So much pressure on Division one games this year makes for a really exciting season ahead.

Who would be favourite to go down from D1? Obviously Kilcoo and Burren (and probably Clonduff) will be too strong to be relegated so that leaves nine teams fighting out for five spots.

I heard reports Rostrevor are flying with numbers and players coming back, likes of Parr and Magee back training and Benny should get a tune out of them this year. What are Castlewellan like the year? Think they were fortunate to be promoted last year going off reports they robbed the stone. RGU are a strong outfit and Carryduff similar to them. Hard one to call, could Mayobridge and The Point be dragged in to the mix? Not sure how many county men in the bridge, think it might just be Quinn but he's a massive miss for them and CPN have at least 4/5 lads with Down and could struggle if they don't hit the ground running. There'll certainly be 5 starred games by the looks of it at least.

Was I watching a different game?? How did yas think McMahon had a good game?? Kickouts led directly to 4 scores. Booming the ball to midfield is not really a strategy even though we won a few more breaks than normal.
After watching all division one teams now and seeing Galway and Derry in division 2 - we are absolutely miles off competing. Would we not be safer in the second tier competition and rebuild with some young lads and get back to the top table that way??

I thought he did well overall tbh, one of only a handful that played ok. Absolutely zero movement out the field from kickouts and he picked out some brilliant options in a tough wind. Solid under high ball too and a decent save at the end even though the game was lost at that stage, massive improvement on what I watched against Derry. Think his kicking led to two pts against and definitely got 3/4pts for us from our kickouts retained. You're a point man Jonny so maybe you have an issue with him. On the whole though I thought Down had some great moments and were well in top at the start of the second half but ran out of steam when Galway slowed the tempo down and killed the momentum, showing their experience coming through. They managed the game far better than us but hopefully the Kilcoo lads can add some quality and I'd imagine 3/4 of them will come straight in to the team. I'd be hopeful Kane, McEvoy and the Johnstons would all commit and maybe Miceal Rooney and Ward. Ask them all I think and see who fancies it!

Any decision made yet on the Div 1 debacle? Is there going to be four down or what?

Any announcement on the squad travelling to Owenbeg Saturday eve?

Surely the county board will decide on 3 down this year and next year. I think it'll be a manic season in Div 1 with any number of potential candidates to go down. It'll be between Castlewellan, Rostrevor, L'Island and Ballyholland or Warrenpoint IMO. Town and Reds have a massive task in front of them but any of the more established teams can be dragged in to the dogfight.

What are the predictions for Saturday's games? I fancy Kilcoo by 2 and Down to get a draw in Owenbeg

Warrenpoint? Last year's leagues winners??

Yep...was a very poor SFC campaign from them and heard they have a number of lads not committing this year...think they could be dragged in to a battle unless there's a number of young lads that are ready to step up...