Down Club Hurling & Football

Started by Lecale2, November 10, 2006, 12:06:55 AM

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downjim

How do you think the two promoted teams will do this year?? I can see a really competitive division one this season with no game a simple two points.

supersub

Quote from: downjim on February 20, 2018, 04:07:43 PM
How do you think the two promoted teams will do this year?? I can see a really competitive division one this season with no game a simple two points.

In which Division?  ;D

OgraAnDun

Quote from: supersub on February 20, 2018, 05:19:28 PM
Quote from: downjim on February 20, 2018, 04:07:43 PM
How do you think the two promoted teams will do this year?? I can see a really competitive division one this season with no game a simple two points.

In which Division?  ;D

Mourne Rover

A visit to Newry by Clare is not usually a key fixture but the result on Sunday will probably define our league season. We all know that the present Down squad is a work in progress and is fully capable of winning away to Roscommon and then losing at home to Clare, who hammered us in Ennis last year. The wrong result would leave us looking over our shoulder, with tough trips to Cavan and Meath and a pretty unpredictable home game against Tipperary still to come. However, beating Clare would leave us four points ahead of them, with Louth practically gone already. If Clare somehow caught us, the head to head result would still give us the advantage.

Hopefully a team will be named tonight and a first start of the season for McKernan would give us a big lift. He may well be needed to cope with Brennan, who is a serious midfielder for them, and Madine's strength would probably also be useful for us at some stage of the proceedings.

OgraAnDun

Quote from: Mourne Rover on February 23, 2018, 05:46:09 PM
A visit to Newry by Clare is not usually a key fixture but the result on Sunday will probably define our league season. We all know that the present Down squad is a work in progress and is fully capable of winning away to Roscommon and then losing at home to Clare, who hammered us in Ennis last year. The wrong result would leave us looking over our shoulder, with tough trips to Cavan and Meath and a pretty unpredictable home game against Tipperary still to come. However, beating Clare would leave us four points ahead of them, with Louth practically gone already. If Clare somehow caught us, the head to head result would still give us the advantage.

Hopefully a team will be named tonight and a first start of the season for McKernan would give us a big lift. He may well be needed to cope with Brennan, who is a serious midfielder for them, and Madine's strength would probably also be useful for us at some stage of the proceedings.

A win would probably have most of us eating our words from the start of the season and looking at a possible promotion tilt. But as you said, a loss and we would be in big trouble. Hopefully we won't be caught out like last year and home advantage will give us enough to get over the line, 6 points on the board and we should be safe at the very least. Neither a win nor a loss would surprise me.

Mourne Rover

Neither McKernan nor O'Hanlon start and McKibben replaces Poland at midfield - it looks a solid enough side and we should also have some options from the bench.

snoopdog

Losing to Clare again. Back in the relegation mix. Cavan away next weekend a result doesn't look likely there. 1 step forward 2 back.

SHEEDY

Quote from: snoopdog on February 25, 2018, 04:09:47 PM
Losing to Clare again. Back in the relegation mix. Cavan away next weekend a result doesn't look likely there. 1 step forward 2 back.
really poor stuff today. Clare brought far more intensity and movement in their play than Down and their tackling and breaking forward from the back was also superior to anything Down could muster. in saying that Down had some shocking wides, some of which were taken from ridiculous angles. if only half of those wides had went over we won with a few points to spare but it would have been undeserved. 2 home games 2 losses and back to looking to the bottom of the table rather than the top.

on another note i thought it was poor that there was no minutes silence for the 2 gaels from downpatrick and ballygalget that died during the week.
nil satis nisi optimum

Mourne Rover

The tough statistic for Eamon Burns after today's result is that we have now lost eight out of nine home league games under his management. A record like that means that away sides routinely arrive in Newry knowing they have decent prospects and we were not exactly helped by conceding a goal after 30 seconds.

However, we actually recovered well and created a stack of chances only to miss most of them badly. Most of our 15 wides were from very kickable positions and drained the confidence out of our team.

Clare are a decent side, with two excellent midfielders and an outstanding centre forward in Cleary, but converting straightforward frees, never mind the penalty, would have got us over the line.

Our defence had a mixed day, with Flanagan showing up well again and Mooney having both brilliant and careless moments. O'Hanlon was noticeably off form and should not have been asked to take the penalty

McKibbin was decent at midfield as well as winning the penalty, and Millar as usual covered a huge amount of ground, but our attack did not really function properly. O'Hare had a brilliant first half, including his goal, but faded after the break while O'Hagan won plenty of possession without hurting the opposition and Johnston struggled badly and did not look fit. Morgan was the only sub to make an impact, and we clearly need Harrison back.

There will be no easy points in our last three fixtures and there must be a possibility that we will have to get something out of the trip to Navan on the last day to avoid relegation.




Targetman

Very poor performance today that leaves relegation a distinct possibility, Clare's direct play as opposed to our lateral play paid dividends for them and in Gary Brennan they have a player who bossed the midfield area, too many wides and OHanlon missing yet another penalty proved costly, Cavan away next week is gonna be extremely hard as they are flying at the minute

Lecale Gael

Quote from: Lecale Gael on February 12, 2018, 02:08:07 PM
free takers of the likes of Carr, Mason, G McCartan make such a difference

Anthony Doherty and Darragh OHanlon and Donal Ohare look like being our go to men for the dead ball duites

down need to get the supply to the opposition 45 quicker than they do and this can increase the chances of getting frees in the modern game

just a thought

the lack of a decent free taker is killing us
2016 Prediction Competition 3rd place :)

Dubh driocht

Quote from: Lecale Gael on February 26, 2018, 10:08:05 AM
Quote from: Lecale Gael on February 12, 2018, 02:08:07 PM
free takers of the likes of Carr, Mason, G McCartan make such a difference

Anthony Doherty and Darragh OHanlon and Donal Ohare look like being our go to men for the dead ball duites

down need to get the supply to the opposition 45 quicker than they do and this can increase the chances of getting frees in the modern game

just a thought

the lack of a decent free taker is killing us
While your point is clearly valid LG, on basis of 15 wides, a greater concern for me is the inability of management to read the game. Doherty is an excellent freetaker from the 45 m range. He may miss the odd one but he has brought a consistency that we haven't had since Marty Clarke. Yet someone decided yesterday that he should be changed mid-match and we had O'Hare, O'Hanlon and Morgan stepping up with little conviction and the inevitable miss. Yet in injury time, when it's too late, Doherty gets the nod again and strokes it over. Equally, why was O'Hanlon entrusted with the penalty ? I don't blame the lad, and he sought divine intervention before kicking it, but everyone round us was calling out for O'Hare to take it.
In Ennis last year Clare came at us in droves for the first five minutes and virtually killed the game with an early goal. We might have expected a strong emphasis on defence in the early stages but instead they came at us again and we were four down before management woke up. Poor show on the sidelines and the costly loss of two points.

Lecale Gael

Quote from: Dubh driocht on February 26, 2018, 05:49:05 PM
Quote from: Lecale Gael on February 26, 2018, 10:08:05 AM
Quote from: Lecale Gael on February 12, 2018, 02:08:07 PM
free takers of the likes of Carr, Mason, G McCartan make such a difference

Anthony Doherty and Darragh OHanlon and Donal Ohare look like being our go to men for the dead ball duites

down need to get the supply to the opposition 45 quicker than they do and this can increase the chances of getting frees in the modern game

just a thought

the lack of a decent free taker is killing us
While your point is clearly valid LG, on basis of 15 wides, a greater concern for me is the inability of management to read the game. Doherty is an excellent freetaker from the 45 m range. He may miss the odd one but he has brought a consistency that we haven't had since Marty Clarke. Yet someone decided yesterday that he should be changed mid-match and we had O'Hare, O'Hanlon and Morgan stepping up with little conviction and the inevitable miss. Yet in injury time, when it's too late, Doherty gets the nod again and strokes it over. Equally, why was O'Hanlon entrusted with the penalty ? I don't blame the lad, and he sought divine intervention before kicking it, but everyone round us was calling out for O'Hare to take it.
In Ennis last year Clare came at us in droves for the first five minutes and virtually killed the game with an early goal. We might have expected a strong emphasis on defence in the early stages but instead they came at us again and we were four down before management woke up. Poor show on the sidelines and the costly loss of two points.

a combination of mistakes cost the game. you can just about stomach a defeat if beaten by the better team on the day. Down threw it away. Doherty should have started
2016 Prediction Competition 3rd place :)

supersub

Quote from: Dubh driocht on February 26, 2018, 05:49:05 PM
Quote from: Lecale Gael on February 26, 2018, 10:08:05 AM
Quote from: Lecale Gael on February 12, 2018, 02:08:07 PM
free takers of the likes of Carr, Mason, G McCartan make such a difference

Anthony Doherty and Darragh OHanlon and Donal Ohare look like being our go to men for the dead ball duites

down need to get the supply to the opposition 45 quicker than they do and this can increase the chances of getting frees in the modern game

just a thought

the lack of a decent free taker is killing us
While your point is clearly valid LG, on basis of 15 wides, a greater concern for me is the inability of management to read the game. Doherty is an excellent freetaker from the 45 m range. He may miss the odd one but he has brought a consistency that we haven't had since Marty Clarke. Yet someone decided yesterday that he should be changed mid-match and we had O'Hare, O'Hanlon and Morgan stepping up with little conviction and the inevitable miss. Yet in injury time, when it's too late, Doherty gets the nod again and strokes it over. Equally, why was O'Hanlon entrusted with the penalty ? I don't blame the lad, and he sought divine intervention before kicking it, but everyone round us was calling out for O'Hare to take it.
In Ennis last year Clare came at us in droves for the first five minutes and virtually killed the game with an early goal. We might have expected a strong emphasis on defence in the early stages but instead they came at us again and we were four down before management woke up. Poor show on the sidelines and the costly loss of two points.

So the penalty taker should be assigned by who those in the stand think should be taking it? My God. He was entrusted with it as he is the penalty taker has has been for a few years now. A good one at that - granted he has missed a couple recently, but who doesn't. You may also be forgetting that O'Hanlon was the top scorer in the league for Down last year (possibly Championship not sure) due to his free taking ability - again, logically there should be no problem with him stepping up at any stage of the game.

Mourne Rover

O'Hanlon is a fine defender, but his free taking can be mixed as we saw against Monaghan at Croke Park. While he was our top scorer in the league last year, O'Hare held that title for the previous four seasons in a row and is a more natural striker of a dead ball. O'Hanlon deserves full credit for tucking away a pressure kick in the first Monaghan game last summer but he missed his last penalty in a big match for Kilcoo against Slaughneil in the Ulster club championship last Autumn. As it was at the same end of the ground in Newry, it may have been on his mind on Sunday. However, he was the designated penalty taker and there is no guarantee that O'Hare, who was excellent in the first half but poor after the break, would have done any better. If we had taken half of the straightforward other chances we missed against Clare, the penalty would not have mattered anyway.