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[Castlewellan]

Down GAA Senior Football Championship Sponsored by Morgan Fuels
Clonduff v Castlewellan
CPN v Kilcoo
Bryansford v Downpatrick
Burren V Mayobridge

Down GAA Intermediate Football Championship Sponsored by Trócaire
St John's v Carryduff
An Ríocht v Drumaness
Liatroim v Darragh Cross
Bredagh v Tullylish

Down GAA Junior Football Championship Sponsored by Trócaire
St Michael's v Ballykinlar
Bright v Dundrum
Teconnaught v St Paul's
Drumgath v Aughlisnafin

[Ballyholland]

Third Round
SFC
Mayobridge v Ballyholland
Downpatrick v Rostrevor
Kilcoo v Loughinisland
Castlewellan v Longstone

Third Round
IFC
Clann na Banna v Tullylish
Saul v Carryduff
Drumaness v Dromara
Glasdrumman v Darragh Cross

JFC
Preliminary round
Aghaderg v Ballykinlar
Dundrum v Mitchels
Ardglass v Drumgath

Should be an enjoyable nights football tonight in Parc Esler. Two local derbies, four of the best teams in the County. Should be good.

[Clonduff]

Second Round
SFC
Mayobridge v Clonduff
Castlewellan v Bryansford
Kilcoo v Burren
CPN v Downpatrick

Rostrevor v Ballymartin
Longstone v Saval
Loughinisland v Annaclone
Glenn v Ballyholland

IFC
Glasdrumman v An Riocht
Saul v Bredagh
Liatrom v Tullylish
St John's v Drumaness

Kilclief v Dromara
Clann Na Banna v Atticall
Bosco v Carryduff
Shamrocks v Darragh Cross,

Such a fall from grace!!

[Kilcoo]

28th July to 1st August

Highlight your selection in bold.

Good luck!

SFC First Round

Kilcoo v Saval
Rostrevor v Mayobridge
Clonduff v Ballyholland
Loughinisland v Castlewellan
CPN v Annaclone
Downpatrick v Longstone
Glenn v Byransford
Burren v Ballymartin

IFC First Round
Bosco v Drumaness
Dromara v Glasdrumman
An Riocht v Darragh Cross
Bredagh v Carryduff
Atticall v Liatriom
Shamrocks v St Johns
Saul v Clann na Banna
Tullylish v Kilclief

Can't believe that Eamon burns actually wants to stay on, if nothing else the man has the heart for the job clearly. Hopefully with the time he now has to prepare he can get our squad ready for next season. I wish him well. Also good to see James stay with minors as if there is one man who can en Ice young fellas to play, it's him.
Meanwhile, back to club football for now and look forward to defending my championship predictions this season 😀

Were there any positives from Saturdays game?
To my mind I thought Barry O Hagan was brilliant. O'Hare may have scored two goals, but O'Hagan was the real danger man, someone who, every time he got the ball, got you out of your seat.  A real throwback to old school corner forward play. 
O'Hare obviously was super as well and a sprinkling of other players performed well at times e.g Mallon, Maginn.

We really were destroyed defensively though, despite having two sweepers at times, and wholesale changes needed here in tactics, personnel, mentality - something needs to change.

Kickouts were once again a disaster, although not quite as bad as Clones.  Serious time needs spent on a strategy here, even if its as simple as get our 2/3 biggest players together and kick it out to them, because the amount of times Down kick to 1 v 3 against is unreal.

The bottom line is we are in the doldrums, no question. Can it get any worse - I dont think so when we havent won a game all year.  We really do need the whole county to come together in order to get out of this. Co Board, Clubs, Players, Coaches, Schools, underage and senior.  We need ideas, we need finance, we need commitment, we need passion, and we need a plan.

Sam it's probably too far for you to travel and I am not proposing putting anyone out of football, but it would take a few south down guys willing to travel to training in much the same way we in east down have done for decades, Ballykinlar should be upgraded , expanded and used to develope our teams, but it will not happen because of its location.

I would have no need to be travelling to BK,all I had asked was where or what happens to BK as a Club if this were to happen.
  Anyone know who the new additions are to the panel apart from Davison?

Arguing the unsuitability of ballykinlar's location is one thing,  but arguing that the club would suffer doesnt make sense. If Ballykinlar Was to be refurbished say with changing room upgrade and floodlights, and perhaps an additional pitch this would breathe life into the club not only in terms of facilities but in terms of attractiveness/marketing in their local community. The best location for county training is an old chestnut but any decision on county training venue/s needs to determined taking a lot of factors into consideration, not least current and future demographics and financial sustainability. Personally my thoughts around a centre of excellence have changed somewhat having seen the likes of Garvaghy. The key things for me is optimal use of resources both in terms of capital expense and future running costs, and most importantly player convenience. Any future facilities should also benefit clubs , who then have a buy-in. In many ways having a facility attached to schools and clubs, may be more beneficial long term.
Garvaghey for example has been described as a sprawling vanity project, underused for much of the year & inaccessible to several Tyrone clubs. As it is a stand alone facility there are issues around maintenance and staffing etc.
We are actually now blessed with access to several excellent floodlit grass venues, Belfast , and south Down for example , and in many respects cooperation with schools/clubs in providing floodlighting and/or quality changing rooms at existing grass venues , would be a far better model in terms of accessibility and sustainability.
A centre of excellence is likely to be controversial, costly and therefore likely to be unchievable for several years. Considerations such as several senior players likely to working/living in Dublin in the future , also makes the likes of Castlewellan or Ballykinlar less attractive. Do we want a vanity project  or do we actually want something that genuinely makes it more convenient for players, hopefully leaving them fresher .
Floodlighting the grass pitches at the Redhigh and exploring the use of st malachys castlewellan at the weekends are 2 simple changes, and allied to the existing use of Queens and Newry venues , would be achievable, and represent great added value for surrounding clubs.

Now we have someone who is starting to think strategically and provide a thought out opinion on something.  Others may argue that Garvaghy has secured Tyrones future as a top 6 team for the foreseeable future.  At present though, we have no where near the appetite or the finances for something like that so we need an alternative.

[He has of course had chances before. He is though as you say a big strong athlete who maybe if managed differently could do something.]

Why not just name the rest of the Warrenpoint FC panel sure.

Not professing to be a follower of the óle soccer but I don't think Davison every played for
Warrenpoint FC

Robbie White has never played for Warrenpoint Town as far as I am aware, neither has Alan Davidson so your point is? I named them players based on games I have watched in the League last year/this year.

Kevin Anderson is Annaclone's best player & has destroyed teams in Down by himself. A big strong athlete who was never given a chance under previous Managers - He has of course had chances before. He is though as you say a big strong athlete who maybe if managed differently could do something.
Robbie White is the current Division 1 Footballer of the Year if I am not mistaken? - Agreed, should be given a go.
Liam Bagnall (Glenn players wont play - end off) and John Boyle (he has put soccer first now for the past few years) are better footballers than current players on that Down Team.
Shaun Parr should have been brought onto the County Team (never mind panel) five or six years ago - consistently asked onto panel and wont join so its his choice.
Alan Davidson is consistently scoring big numbers for Bredagh yet has been overlooked because he plays for a unfashionable Club at the wrong end of the County. - thats totally untrue. He has been watched by county management and if you had seen him playing you would know that he isnt county material, although after Downs game at the weekend that level has dropped. He looks like a player who has only started playing Gaelic, which he has, and at his age, he would do well to bring his basic skills up to level required.

But hey feel free to point out why you do not think the above are not good enough to be on the current Down Team?

There are a number of players that you could pick who would prob be at least as good as, if not better than what is on the down team at present. The problem is nearly all of them have opted out for their own reasons. Mooney, Clarke, Lavery are 3 that immediately spring to mind.
It's a huge pity that this is the case and we as a county, that means teammates, friends, club and county selectors should be doing all in their power to persuade them to come back.

Any results? Nothing on downgaa board

Harps beat CPN by 8.

Two great wins this season.CPN and Ballymartin.

Yeah Warrenpoint have been shocking so far this season

Not making excuses but then again I suppose I am 😋 but The Point were very short v Ballyholland. Missing were - 1st choice keeper Gary McMahon, the 1st choice full back line cormac mccartan, micheal ohare & paddy Murdock. Also missing was Donagh McAleenan + the injured Aaron Magee. With all these guys playing thePoint would not have been beaten by 8 points in fact they would probably have beaten this Ballyholland team

In fairness I dare say Ballyholland were missing some players too. It's very rare any team is at full strength. the good thing this year is that there are 22 games so there will be plenty of chances for teams to get back on track.

Division 2 looks like being a very good competition. Teams who were traditionally cannon fodder have really stepped up. Impossible to call a winner at this stage. Burren continue to win but their score lines are getting closer and Kilcoo are ticking along nicely, no doubt it will be between these two although bridge might have a say. CPN have disappointed!!

At a minimum you like to see desire, heart, a bit of fight. We got that in spades last night. Qualit was still well short of where it needs to be but it was much more heartening than say against Kerry. This level of commitment HAS to be our starting point now and build towards the Monaghan game.

We are at a low ebb in terms of confidence and indeed personnel.  We arent even as good as we were last year (which wasnt great) when we got promoted and nowhere near the team we were 5/6 years ago.
Given the above, we honestly dont expect to win this game, and in fact would probably secretly be delighted if we give it a good run.  Even in NFL games now, the team has to be super prepared which Monaghan are, and we are not. 
No fault of management as they are only in a wet week, just the way it is at the moment.

Great to see a bit of passion ;-)