Down Club Hurling & Football

[Hard2Listen2]

Serious question...

If your club had an open management position, would you touch Poacher with a barge pole?

Football is horrendous to watch, and his side-line antics aren't much better.

Every coach in Down and Ulster are playing this way, name a club in Down that plays attractive football because I can't.

Its not just Steven Paochers fault, the GAA need to change the rules.

Out of curiosity, what teams in senior football would you support or watch most often?
I'm assuming Downpatrick & / or Loughinisland as they are nearest to you if you are in Ballykinlar?

Do they not both play traditional football with no sweeper or mass defence?

Did you watch Loughinisland v Warrenpoint yesterday, 15 men behind the ball for both teams and keep ball, RGU played this way all year as well. McCorry, Gilligan, Mulholland, McBride, its all over Down and throughout Ireland, we were lucky with the penalties in the championship but the spectacles have been poor overall. Mayobridge were always going to struggle without Quinn and against the all Ireland champs it was always going to be like that, when he returns they will be better. Trust me Down seniors will be playing the same way next year so get used to it.

Tell me you don't watch football without telling me you don't watch football.. We've not played with a sweeper all year, only time teams played 15 behind the ball was in extra time in the game yesterday. Dan was up on his on with Rory, Stefan or Oisin rotating in around him in the half forward/full forward area and Decky McClements dropping into midfield.

If it was 15 men behind the ball Point shouldn't have had over 15 wides never mind 15 shots. Again avoids question about his "Club"

The guy is a complete spoofer.
Just repeats whatever drivel he hears on TV, in the media or from whichever lunatics he runs into in chip shops & cafes.

Full of opinions but none of them backed up with any substance.

[snoopdog]

Serious question...

If your club had an open management position, would you touch Poacher with a barge pole?

Football is horrendous to watch, and his side-line antics aren't much better.

Every coach in Down and Ulster are playing this way, name a club in Down that plays attractive football because I can't.

Its not just Steven Paochers fault, the GAA need to change the rules.

Out of curiosity, what teams in senior football would you support or watch most often?
I'm assuming Downpatrick & / or Loughinisland as they are nearest to you if you are in Ballykinlar?

Do they not both play traditional football with no sweeper or mass defence?

Did you watch Loughinisland v Warrenpoint yesterday, 15 men behind the ball for both teams and keep ball, RGU played this way all year as well. McCorry, Gilligan, Mulholland, McBride, its all over Down and throughout Ireland, we were lucky with the penalties in the championship but the spectacles have been poor overall. Mayobridge were always going to struggle without Quinn and against the all Ireland champs it was always going to be like that, when he returns they will be better. Trust me Down seniors will be playing the same way next year so get used to it.

Have Down seniors not been trying to play this way for last 10 years. Only problem is they haven't been able to defend.

[Brick Tamlin]

Managers cut their cloth to suit. They set their team up the way they see fit to best get results. They look at the talent at their disposal and come up with a way to play that will hide or diminish their weaknesses and try to accentuate their strengths. They arent interested in entertainment or the fans behind the wire.

If a Manager thinks that by trying to starve the opposition of possession and turning the game to shite, living off placed-kick scores and not taking risks, in order to try stay in the game til the death, then thats his prerogative. But for the love of god can people not see that any gabshite of a manager can set a team up not to lose. You may keep the score down, you may restrict the opposition or frustrate them but when it comes down to it, you still have to have a go at the other team, go up the other end of the pitch and score.

last night the display from Mayobridge took this to a new level id never seen before. Never thought id see them buy into the nonsense but seems they have. How can those boys come off the field last night thinking they actually really went and had a real good cut at Kilcoo, trying absolutely everything they could to win that game. It was beyond woeful. Conleth O'Hare standing in at full forward all night watching his goalkeeper and co play crab football back and forth across the pitch. Its ridiculous. And thats a club that produced some brilliant footballers down through the years, now reduced to robots with football coached out of them and replaced with a bastardised version of basketball.

Some might laud this as modern day football, smart coaching, the only way to go against Kilcoo etc but i think it needs to be called out for what it really is.

And similarly, the previous week we had a Burren team laden with quality, pace and talent play some form of conservative shite too where they wouldnt actually have a go at beating a Point team who's best days are behind them. They got what they deserved for being overly defensive too.

[befair]

Managers cut their cloth to suit. They set their team up the way they see fit to best get results. They look at the talent at their disposal and come up with a way to play that will hide or diminish their weaknesses and try to accentuate their strengths. They arent interested in entertainment or the fans behind the wire.

If a Manager thinks that by trying to starve the opposition of possession and turning the game to shite, living off placed-kick scores and not taking risks, in order to try stay in the game til the death, then thats his prerogative. But for the love of god can people not see that any gabshite of a manager can set a team up not to lose. You may keep the score down, you may restrict the opposition or frustrate them but when it comes down to it, you still have to have a go at the other team, go up the other end of the pitch and score.

last night the display from Mayobridge took this to a new level id never seen before. Never thought id see them buy into the nonsense but seems they have. How can those boys come off the field last night thinking they actually really went and had a real good cut at Kilcoo, trying absolutely everything they could to win that game. It was beyond woeful. Conleth O'Hare standing in at full forward all night watching his goalkeeper and co play crab football back and forth across the pitch. Its ridiculous. And thats a club that produced some brilliant footballers down through the years, now reduced to robots with football coached out of them and replaced with a bastardised version of basketball.

Some might laud this as modern day football, smart coaching, the only way to go against Kilcoo etc but i think it needs to be called out for what it really is.

And similarly, the previous week we had a Burren team laden with quality, pace and talent play some form of conservative shite too where they wouldnt actually have a go at beating a Point team who's best days are behind them. They got what they deserved for being overly defensive too.

Brick is correct; also notable how many crucial score over the weekend came from high balls into the square (albeit sometimes point attempts dropping short). If Loughinisland had kept Gordon at full-forward and gave a few direct balls in, they might well be in the final. Instead they took him outfield, to pass the wall sideways; lack of courage gets it's due reward

[rosskarr]

 Burren and Mayobridge are getting some flack on here.

[GAA Madness]

Criticising Poacher for not winning anything is a bit like criticising Sean Dyche or Big Sam for not winning the League. He hasn't exactly managed any top teams and every other manager in Down is a failure if that is your barometer for success.

If he was given the likes of the Burren job then the criticism might be warranted as they have a conveyor belt of talent but don't seem to know how to use it properly. I think Poacher would be the ideal man for the Burren job.

Poacher is manager of Mayobridge, one of the biggest teams in Down, just because he isn't with Burren or Kilcoo, doesn't give the excuse to say he isn't at a big club. His style of football and behaviour on sidelines is disgusting, if he had any wit about him, he would at least use the last 15-20mins to try and win the game, no point getting to the semi-final to say you done well not to get hammered by Kilcoo, you do all you can to win, that is what the players train for, to say you had a go, rather than to regret it all winter.

Alot of teams in Down in the same boat, players are trained to believe that possession is key and losing it will only cost you to get taken off if ball given away, so players stop doing what they were trained to do as kids, to go out, enjoy the game with a smile on your face and use the skills you have to help the team. All players now have the same skill set, pace, power, athleticism and discipline in possession.

The Micky Lindens of this world playing the modern game under these managers would have been forced to do the same crap, and their natural God given talent would not have been highlighted as much.

[Brick Tamlin]

Burren and Mayobridge are getting some flack on here.

Maybe ive got it wrong and im being unkind to the 2 teams i mentioned; i dont mean to criticise unduly.
Maybe the players didnt execute like they were supposed to and didnt carry out management's gameplan etc. Who knows.
I guess you can only comment and make a judgement based on what you see unfold in front of you as a spectator.

[Johnnysboys]

Criticising Poacher for not winning anything is a bit like criticising Sean Dyche or Big Sam for not winning the League. He hasn't exactly managed any top teams and every other manager in Down is a failure if that is your barometer for success.

If he was given the likes of the Burren job then the criticism might be warranted as they have a conveyor belt of talent but don't seem to know how to use it properly. I think Poacher would be the ideal man for the Burren job.

[/b]

Jesus Mary and Joseph and the wee baby donkey - Poacher in Burren would be fantastic. Would charge plenty of money and sort out their defensive woes - even though their problems are at the other end of the pitch! Please please make it happen. 

[RadioGAAGAA]

players are trained to believe that possession is key

Possession is key.

If your team don't have the ball, they can't score. If the other team don't have the ball, they can't score.

[manwithnoplan]

Serious question...

If your club had an open management position, would you touch Poacher with a barge pole?

Football is horrendous to watch, and his side-line antics aren't much better.

Every coach in Down and Ulster are playing this way, name a club in Down that plays attractive football because I can't.

Its not just Steven Paochers fault, the GAA need to change the rules.

You didn't watch the Cavan semi final on Saturday night then? Goals scored from players actually kicking a football more than 20 metres, in to a full forward to win his battle for possession. It was revolutionary stuff.

[manwithnoplan]

players are trained to believe that possession is key

Possession is key.

If your team don't have the ball, they can't score. If the other team don't have the ball, they can't score.

And if you don't attack, you don't score. Mayobridge won the throw in against Kilcoo, went sideways for 4 minutes then lost the ball anyway. When a team wins the throw in, the opposition is at it's most vulnerable to a direct ball as there is not yet a defensive blanket in place and it's man on man for a brief period. Take a risk and kick the ball in, instead of sideways crap hoping to win a soft free 30 yards out.

[terrifictommy]

There are plenty of teams with players of a high enough calibre that they don't have to be passive on the ball. But teams are setting up not to lose, it's a major difference than setting up to win.
County set ups that these have been involved in will have quality to play offensive and transition defence to attack so it is the coaches style.

[downtothecore]

Serious question...

If your club had an open management position, would you touch Poacher with a barge pole?

Football is horrendous to watch, and his side-line antics aren't much better.

Every coach in Down and Ulster are playing this way, name a club in Down that plays attractive football because I can't.

Its not just Steven Paochers fault, the GAA need to change the rules.

You didn't watch the Cavan semi final on Saturday night then? Goals scored from players actually kicking a football more than 20 metres, in to a full forward to win his battle for possession. It was revolutionary stuff.

Cavan club teams haven't won a lot in ulster.

[manwithnoplan]

Serious question...

If your club had an open management position, would you touch Poacher with a barge pole?

Football is horrendous to watch, and his side-line antics aren't much better.

Every coach in Down and Ulster are playing this way, name a club in Down that plays attractive football because I can't.

Its not just Steven Paochers fault, the GAA need to change the rules.

You didn't watch the Cavan semi final on Saturday night then? Goals scored from players actually kicking a football more than 20 metres, in to a full forward to win his battle for possession. It was revolutionary stuff.

Cavan club teams haven't won a lot in ulster.

Very few teams win anything in Ulster, it was great to see two teams trying to actually outscore eachother to get to their county final.

[downtothecore]

Yeah it is nice to watch