Down Club Hurling & Football

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

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No1

QuoteLet's be honest, more than a few teams have made it into Division II over the years on the back of being carried by just two or three players genuinely capable of playing at Division I level, nevermind capable of playing higher than that.

I do believe there are ears burning in our clubrooms!

Brick Tamlin

so the senior trials are to be held this week (Weds & Thurs) i think aswell as this sat & sunday.

could be interesting enough.


wobbller

 While trying to understand your point of view,I have to ask you, do you think that County footballers are only born into the parishes of Div 1 clubs and that children born to recently relegated Div 1 team's lose their right to play County football?

courtneyboy

thewobbler is talking utter tripe about county footballers if he had his way we would all know our senior county team each year.he is a deluded clown with too much to say and that is being charitable.

lfdown2

jesus lads a wee bit of respect for the longer and much more informative members of the board wouldnt go a miss!!

i can see where ye's are both coming from but i dont expect to see to many (if any) hidden talent recovered from div 3/4 and not a pile from div 2 that we havnt already known about!

no need for the personal attacks! ???

thewobbler

Loving the personal attacks lads.

Wobller (nice handle by the way) - no I don't think at all that county players only come from Division I. My point is this, people keep talking about rough diamonds, but the truth is if you ask anyone familiar with Divisions III and IV to name players who might be able to step up to county standard, the same names will always pop up i.e. Stephen Kearney, Paul McComiskey, Kevin Anderson, Declan Lavery, Niall Mulholland, Mark Rooney, Marcus Miskelly, Dan McCabe, Jackie Lynch, Packie Downey. Something all those players have in common is they've all worn the red and black at minor, under-21 or senior level already. They aren't diamonds in the rough, they are players with a lot of talent and a reasonably high profile in the county. Most of them are still very young, but if they continue to play football, all will come under some sort of consideration at county level over the next few years.

The way some fellas are talking you would think that the lower leagues are full of players who have been shit upon by poor coaching and by playing at a poor standard. This isn't the case. The lower leagues are full of players who simply aren't as good at football as players in the higher divisions. That's what a league structure determines.

I guarantee you now that the standard of the top six teams in the ACPRL is a cut above the standard of Division III. There are players playing at the ACPRL standard who apart from being talented, are bloody committed, and would look like bonafide superstars in Divisions III and IV, yet they can't get a senior game for their clubs. Yet people want to tell me that there are 'rough diamonds' all over the lower leagues?

Imagine/Courtneyboy - rather than call me a deluded clown or a nut for having this opinion, try changing my mind by bringing some names forward. There is a lot of shite talk in our county about bias East vs South and bias top clubs vs small clubs, but it isn't in anyone's interests to let a good player slip through the net. And not many do.

6th sam

Settle yourselves lads!
FACT:Wobbler is right,county players require high standards of skill,athleticism and attitude to achieve.But these are all areas which can be improved in any individual.
FACT:Pace however is  one essential  quality for elite players, where there is little room for improvement,and any club team,no matter what league will only have a handful of players with the pace required for county football.That natural pace is a rare commodity,but exists among some lower league players.If these players have the attitude,and raw pace/athleticism,then they could become senior stars.To be fair most of these players will have come to the attention of minor selectors etc.,already.
FACT:The vast majority of county senior players come from the rural clubs within a 15 mile radius of Slieve Donard-a very romantic notion,but surely a county of our population has to try to widen the net.In terms of population we're a sleeping giant!
FACT:there has been a perception of Bias out there,with little justification in my view.But the county trials means that that myth can be buried,and the support from the whole of the county can therefore be harnessed.
FACT:Wobbler,you have always made some excellent points,but your jealous guarding of the status quo makes me wonder are you actually a member of the "inner circle"--Joking!,I don't want to trigger another wave of paranoia.

downredblack

I think we all want to believe that there is a few rough diamonds out there , maybe there is time will tell . I think the greatest fear would be that we head into the league with exactly the same squad as we have had over the last 4 years . I don't think the new Mgt. team could get anymore out of them than POR did (IMO). I think the trials are a good start and if a few new names are thrown into the mix all the better . Did Donegal not have a massive squad going into the Mckenna cup last year ?  everyone was given a chance to pull on the county jersey and give it a rattle maybe we could look at that .

behind the wire

how about talking about some real issues in the world of down gaa?
has anyone got an opinion on the behaviour of the ardglass team in the so called 'game' on sunday? one darragh player has been left with a broken jaw and the abuse suffered by darragh forward marcus miskelly was ridiculous. the referee was the weakest i have ever seen, i think he was afraid of the ardglass players. they were simply allowed to do what they liked. i am not from darragh, nor do i know any of their players, i was simply at the match as a neutral spectator. i must commend darragh's dicipline throughout the game, they tried their best not to get involved and are a very good football team.

this begs the question, what do the county board be thinking when they appoint referees. they know that any matches involving ardglass usually involve trouble (as can be seen in their previous two matches against darragh and clann na banna) yet they sent weak referees to both., why why why?
He who laughs last thinks the slowest

TORGAEL

Thats a good question "behind the wire".I was at the darragh v drumgath playoff game & the standard of refereeing was terrible.surely at this stage of the season the county board should be appointing their more accomplished referees to officiate at these games,and why are they not ???

johnneycool

From Hogan stand:

Pete McGrath takes over Down U21's
Ireland manager Pete McGrath
16 November 2006

Former Down All-Ireland winning team-manager and the Mourne counties most successful manager, Peter McGrath has been handed the reigns of the county's U21 football team.

The Rostrevor clubman who guided Down to Sam Maguire wins in 1991 and 1994 was appointed as Down U21 Manager at the Down County Boards November meeting held on Wednesday night in Newcastle.

McGrath who guided Down Club An Riocht to the Division two title last Sunday and back to the premier division is a former Irish International Rules manager.

The Mourne County won an All-Ireland MFC in 2005 and will have high hopes for their 2007 U21 side.



Don't know much about Pete's training regime in recent years but will he have these lads running up Tullymore forest park like he used to with his teams or has he moved with the times?

Lecale2

http://www.anriocht.com/anriocht/photolibrary/2006/feb/seniors5th/photos.htm

"will he have these lads running up Tullymore forest park like he used to with his teams or has he moved with the times?"

Going by the photos on the An Riocht sites there'll be running up mountains alright.  :-\

Square Ball

They looked shattered, i would be too if I had to push that big stone up as well!! :D
Hospitals are not equipped to treat stupid

No1

Great photos, the boy in the Celtic top has a similar attitude to my own!

Pete's training methods certainly don't seem to have changed much in the last 20 years.

Square Ball

#74
All the best to the Bredagh team for Sunday as they take on Naoimh Brid in the semi final at Clones.

BREDAGH ABU
Hospitals are not equipped to treat stupid