Down Club Hurling & Football

[Splash]

I am not big into hurling but love Splash's posts. Very informative and no resorting to abusing anyone.
Great to see the hurlers making the league semi finals. Let's have an update on yesterday's game Splash and keep up the good work.

Splash has certainly been a welcome addition to the Down forum. I enjoy the coverage of the ihc and jhc during the summer, games you would generally hear little about. It's encouraging to hear of progress at underage particularly at clubs like Castlewellan and CPN, where you would associate them more as football clubs.

Appreciate it. Just trying to keep as much hurling discussion going as possible. We all want the best for Down, Sandstorm,  no call to resort to bickering or insulting anyone, and glad you find the talk about the junior and intermediate interesting,  Ardtole.

Glad yous are enjoying the bit of hurling discussion going on, lately.

Anyway, a great day out for the hurlers on Saturday. A 9 point win on such a miserable day. Not bad at all.

Daithí Sands was unreal, scoring 3-3 from play.

That relegates Meath and sends us into a league semi final. 70 minutes away from being back in Division One. Will now face Laois next week, in Laois.

Will be a very tough game. Down gave Laois a scare in the first round, and they'll not be expecting an easy game, and Laois will feel as though they're well fit to compete with Antrim, Westmeath, and Offaly next year. But Down have been going very good this season. Undefeated at home, and biggest loss was only 7 points after a late goal and some last minute frees by Laois in the first round.

Couple injuries and Eoghan Sands likely to miss the game after getting sent off the other day, but there's a good depth to this Down squad, so let's be hopeful.

Would be great to see Down in the Division One, and they've shown they're well fit to compete with the likes of Antrim, Westmeath, Offaly, etc.

Let's hope the momentum keeps going until Saturday.
 

[SHEEDY]

I am not big into hurling but love Splash's posts. Very informative and no resorting to abusing anyone.
Great to see the hurlers making the league semi finals. Let's have an update on yesterday's game Splash and keep up the good work.

Splash has certainly been a welcome addition to the Down forum. I enjoy the coverage of the ihc and jhc during the summer, games you would generally hear little about. It's encouraging to hear of progress at underage particularly at clubs like Castlewellan and CPN, where you would associate them more as football clubs.

Appreciate it. Just trying to keep as much hurling discussion going as possible. We all want the best for Down, Sandstorm,  no call to resort to bickering or insulting anyone, and glad you find the talk about the junior and intermediate interesting,  Ardtole.

Glad yous are enjoying the bit of hurling discussion going on, lately.

Anyway, a great day out for the hurlers on Saturday. A 9 point win on such a miserable day. Not bad at all.

Daithí Sands was unreal, scoring 3-3 from play.

That relegates Meath and sends us into a league semi final. 70 minutes away from being back in Division One. Will now face Laois next week, in Laois.

Will be a very tough game. Down gave Laois a scare in the first round, and they'll not be expecting an easy game, and Laois will feel as though they're well fit to compete with Antrim, Westmeath, and Offaly next year. But Down have been going very good this season. Undefeated at home, and biggest loss was only 7 points after a late goal and some last minute frees by Laois in the first round.

Couple injuries and Eoghan Sands likely to miss the game after getting sent off the other day, but there's a good depth to this Down squad, so let's be hopeful.

Would be great to see Down in the Division One, and they've shown they're well fit to compete with the likes of Antrim, Westmeath, Offaly, etc.

Let's hope the momentum keeps going until Saturday.
 

how did they decide that Down have to play their semi final against Laois in Portlaoise? Seen the division 1 semi finals are at neutral venues.

[johnnycool]

I am not big into hurling but love Splash's posts. Very informative and no resorting to abusing anyone.
Great to see the hurlers making the league semi finals. Let's have an update on yesterday's game Splash and keep up the good work.

Splash has certainly been a welcome addition to the Down forum. I enjoy the coverage of the ihc and jhc during the summer, games you would generally hear little about. It's encouraging to hear of progress at underage particularly at clubs like Castlewellan and CPN, where you would associate them more as football clubs.

Appreciate it. Just trying to keep as much hurling discussion going as possible. We all want the best for Down, Sandstorm,  no call to resort to bickering or insulting anyone, and glad you find the talk about the junior and intermediate interesting,  Ardtole.

Glad yous are enjoying the bit of hurling discussion going on, lately.

Anyway, a great day out for the hurlers on Saturday. A 9 point win on such a miserable day. Not bad at all.

Daithí Sands was unreal, scoring 3-3 from play.

That relegates Meath and sends us into a league semi final. 70 minutes away from being back in Division One. Will now face Laois next week, in Laois.

Will be a very tough game. Down gave Laois a scare in the first round, and they'll not be expecting an easy game, and Laois will feel as though they're well fit to compete with Antrim, Westmeath, and Offaly next year. But Down have been going very good this season. Undefeated at home, and biggest loss was only 7 points after a late goal and some last minute frees by Laois in the first round.

Couple injuries and Eoghan Sands likely to miss the game after getting sent off the other day, but there's a good depth to this Down squad, so let's be hopeful.

Would be great to see Down in the Division One, and they've shown they're well fit to compete with the likes of Antrim, Westmeath, Offaly, etc.

Let's hope the momentum keeps going until Saturday.
 

how did they decide that Down have to play their semi final against Laois in Portlaoise? Seen the division 1 semi finals are at neutral venues.

Home venue due to them finishing 2nd in the league and Down finishing 3rd.

One semi-final with the winner going on to meet Carlow in what should be a neutral venue.

With Eoghan Sands I'd fancy our chances against Laois, but he's going to be a big loss if the appeal isn't successful. Eoghan is having a stormer of a year for club and county.
John McManus hopes to be back from his hamstring injury and he'd his best game in a long time down there, he's living in our cryospa at the minute, very driven lad is John.

[Truth hurts]

To guarantee that there is a sizable turnout in Newry on Sunday, the county board ought to be exerting a great deal of effort this week. Is there any possibility of a doubleheader with the Down ladies? In the hopes that a parent will take them to the game, we should distribute tickets to every P7 student. We've never had a bigger game at home in years, and we need everyone behind the team on Sunday because we cannot fail.

[manwithnoplan]

To guarantee that there is a sizable turnout in Newry on Sunday, the county board ought to be exerting a great deal of effort this week. Is there any possibility of a doubleheader with the Down ladies? In the hopes that a parent will take them to the game, we should distribute tickets to every P7 student. We've never had a bigger game at home in years, and we need everyone behind the team on Sunday because we cannot fail.

I see there are reserve league fixtures for 11am on Sunday morning, with a few teams having to travel a fair distance for away games. That may impact attendance a little (or lead to several reserve teams not fielding).

[Ardstick]

I am not big into hurling but love Splash's posts. Very informative and no resorting to abusing anyone.
Great to see the hurlers making the league semi finals. Let's have an update on yesterday's game Splash and keep up the good work.

Splash has certainly been a welcome addition to the Down forum. I enjoy the coverage of the ihc and jhc during the summer, games you would generally hear little about. It's encouraging to hear of progress at underage particularly at clubs like Castlewellan and CPN, where you would associate them more as football clubs.

Appreciate it. Just trying to keep as much hurling discussion going as possible. We all want the best for Down, Sandstorm,  no call to resort to bickering or insulting anyone, and glad you find the talk about the junior and intermediate interesting,  Ardtole.

Glad yous are enjoying the bit of hurling discussion going on, lately.

Anyway, a great day out for the hurlers on Saturday. A 9 point win on such a miserable day. Not bad at all.

Daithí Sands was unreal, scoring 3-3 from play.

That relegates Meath and sends us into a league semi final. 70 minutes away from being back in Division One. Will now face Laois next week, in Laois.

Will be a very tough game. Down gave Laois a scare in the first round, and they'll not be expecting an easy game, and Laois will feel as though they're well fit to compete with Antrim, Westmeath, and Offaly next year. But Down have been going very good this season. Undefeated at home, and biggest loss was only 7 points after a late goal and some last minute frees by Laois in the first round.

Couple injuries and Eoghan Sands likely to miss the game after getting sent off the other day, but there's a good depth to this Down squad, so let's be hopeful.

Would be great to see Down in the Division One, and they've shown they're well fit to compete with the likes of Antrim, Westmeath, Offaly, etc.

Let's hope the momentum keeps going until Saturday.
 

how did they decide that Down have to play their semi final against Laois in Portlaoise? Seen the division 1 semi finals are at neutral venues.

Home venue due to them finishing 2nd in the league and Down finishing 3rd.

One semi-final with the winner going on to meet Carlow in what should be a neutral venue.

With Eoghan Sands I'd fancy our chances against Laois, but he's going to be a big loss if the appeal isn't successful. Eoghan is having a stormer of a year for club and county.
John McManus hopes to be back from his hamstring injury and he'd his best game in a long time down there, he's living in our cryospa at the minute, very driven lad is John.

some turnaround jonny. Ronan and his team have done a great job. Laois may be a step too far again but what a turnaround from some of the defeats last year. Setting up an interesting Joe McDonagh!!

[Truth hurts]

To guarantee that there is a sizable turnout in Newry on Sunday, the county board ought to be exerting a great deal of effort this week. Is there any possibility of a doubleheader with the Down ladies? In the hopes that a parent will take them to the game, we should distribute tickets to every P7 student. We've never had a bigger game at home in years, and we need everyone behind the team on Sunday because we cannot fail.

I see there are reserve league fixtures for 11am on Sunday morning, with a few teams having to travel a fair distance for away games. That may impact attendance a little (or lead to several reserve teams not fielding).

Why any reserve player would want to travel an hour for a friendly football game defies me.

[manwithnoplan]

To guarantee that there is a sizable turnout in Newry on Sunday, the county board ought to be exerting a great deal of effort this week. Is there any possibility of a doubleheader with the Down ladies? In the hopes that a parent will take them to the game, we should distribute tickets to every P7 student. We've never had a bigger game at home in years, and we need everyone behind the team on Sunday because we cannot fail.

I see there are reserve league fixtures for 11am on Sunday morning, with a few teams having to travel a fair distance for away games. That may impact attendance a little (or lead to several reserve teams not fielding).

Why any reserve player would want to travel an hour for a friendly football game defies me.

Why wouldn't they? Sure you could say that about most teams in the county playing any game then, as only a couple of teams are ever in contention for winning the SFC. Football is a hobby for the majority of players.

[Truth hurts]

To guarantee that there is a sizable turnout in Newry on Sunday, the county board ought to be exerting a great deal of effort this week. Is there any possibility of a doubleheader with the Down ladies? In the hopes that a parent will take them to the game, we should distribute tickets to every P7 student. We've never had a bigger game at home in years, and we need everyone behind the team on Sunday because we cannot fail.

I see there are reserve league fixtures for 11am on Sunday morning, with a few teams having to travel a fair distance for away games. That may impact attendance a little (or lead to several reserve teams not fielding).

Why any reserve player would want to travel an hour for a friendly football game defies me.

Why wouldn't they? Sure you could say that about most teams in the county playing any game then, as only a couple of teams are ever in contention for winning the SFC. Football is a hobby for the majority of players.

To put it another way, there should be less travel involved, which increases the likelihood that a reserve game will be played.

[Johnnysboys]

Leaving the Dub tonight a very happy man. What a performance by the u20 team and management tonight - brilliant. Rode their luck at times but after the results of the previous round - EVERYONE could only see a Tyrone victory by a mammoth margin. Our lads stood tall and worked their socks off throughout. Let's hope this is the catalyst for this group going forward.
Well done 👏

[Truth hurts]

A good point for the u20s.Clare women travel to Teconnaught on Sunday at 2 pm. Clare men travel to Newry on Sunday at 2 pm. Why can't this be a doubleheader?

[Johnnysboys]

A good point for the u20s.Clare women travel to Teconnaught on Sunday at 2 pm. Clare men travel to Newry on Sunday at 2 pm. Why can't this be a doubleheader?

Two different organisations/associations (for now) - who gets the gate money? Pitches are atrocious at present with many club teams struggling to get onto their own little patch - playing two games in succession would simply not work.

[Mourne Red]

A good point for the u20s.Clare women travel to Teconnaught on Sunday at 2 pm. Clare men travel to Newry on Sunday at 2 pm. Why can't this be a doubleheader?

Last game in both leagues.. All need to kick off/finish at the same time so no match fixing etc.

Been this way for years can't bash GAA/LGFA on this one

[Splash]

That time of the year for transfer discussions already.

See on Armagh's twitter Danny Magee's club is listed as Liatroim.

Big loss for Ballyvarley if that is the case. He was their main attacking threat last year.

Another good addition to an already strong Liatroim attack. As has been said here before, Liatroim looked more exposed on other parts of the field last year than in their full forward line. Be interesting to see how they get on in those areas this season.

[Splash]

Good luck to the Down hurlers in Portlaoise today. 70 minutes away from Division One hurling next year.

Good to see Paul Sheehan named to start. Great that he's stuck around for another year. Strong looking bench, too, which is great to see.

Down went toe to toe with Laois when they met in the first round of the league, until Laois won it right at the end. If Down can produce a similar performance, there's every chance they come out on top today.

One area I think Down have struggled in this year is they have simply been giving away too many frees. Hopefully we see minimal frees, and 15 men staying on the field.

Pressure will very much be on Laois today. Laois will feel like they need to be in Division One, and don't think many people will be giving Down much of a chance. Could give Down the opportunity to play a good brand of free flowing hurling, and sure then, who knows?

Down have really come a long way in the past couple years. Couldn't get out of Division 2B for ten years, and now they're playing their second Divison 2A promotion deciders in 3 years. It's been great to see. Onwards and upwards, hopefully.


Also, good luck to Glenn today with the opening of their new facilities and their match against Slaughtneil. Always good to see good facilities in the county, and Glenn look like a club with great potential.

Glenn had a bit of a hurling team back years and years ago. Who knows, maybe the Slaughtneil lads will bring the hurls and reignite a bit of interest in stick-ball about the place