Down Club Hurling & Football

[ardtole]

John Gilchrist (RIP) was buried in Ardglass yesterday, a great supporter of gaelic games in the county and I think one of the founding members of the Down Supporters Club. Past and present footballers were asked to form a guard of honour. Ive no idea why the other two games were postponed.

[EIREANNACH]

Sun 29 Mar

O'Neills Down ACFL 3

( Round 3), Venue: Teconnaught, Teconnaught V Glasdrumman 15:00

(Round 3), Venue: Mitchels, Mitchels V Aghaderg 15:00,

(Round: Round 3), Venue: St Pauls, St Paul's V Dundrum 15:00,

(Round 3), Venue: Annsborough, Aughlisnafin V Bright 15:00,

(Round 3), Venue: Killyleagh, Killyleagh V Ballykinlar 15:00,

( Round 3), Venue: St Michael's, St Michael's V Ardglass 15:00

[NP 76]

Down (NFL v Meath): S Kane;
G Collins, L Howard, D Turley;
P Devlin , D O'Hanlon, C Maginn;
P Turley, R Mallon;
C McGovern, K McKernan, M Poland;
C Laverty, A McConville, D O'Hare.

Very small half back line to play against a big enough Meath side that gave us a tough battle last year in Navan. It looks like he is determined to find a place for o Hanlon

[Shamrocks Gaelp]

Is it true that dee Turley has transferred from RGU to a side in Meath? Haven't heard any word on this tonight until I read it on the Hoganstand. Anyone care to tell me if this is the truth?

[Aristo 60]

Unchanged team which is a good thing in my book. I think the half backs and half forwards are fairly fluid so I wouldn't worry too much about any particular line of 3 looking small.

Is O'Hagan fit again?

[Shamrocks Gaelp]

Saw down training last night as our seniors were training also. Both he and Madine were training in for own from what I saw.

[Mourne Rover]

The programmes for our last couple of league games have listed Dee Turley as playing for Droimconrach, although the Hogan Stand suggests he has joined Meath Hill. The two neighbouring clubs have separate senior sides but have amalgamated at underage level. Droimconrach's website says its women's team is called Dee Rangers, which is not likely to be in honour of the new signing. Regardless of his club affiliation, he has been outstanding for Down this season, and, barring injury, looks a certain championship starter at corner back.

[SHEEDY]

One word can sum that up...poor. Poor shooting, poor handling and passing. 2nd best all over. Disappointing night.

[Smurfy123]

Shocking performance in Newry tonight.Midfield cleaned out from the first minute and not a change made in that area.No full forward that can win his own ball in and around the square.The shooting was terrible.Lucky wins against Kildare and Galway are covering lots of cracks in this team.

[Mourne Rover]

It is a little hard to believe that season after season, with different players under a range of managers, we still tend to struggle in wet conditions and particularly against physically stronger opponents, but unfortunately it proved to be the case again tonight.

The performance may have been a reality check, as we know that we at least two of our league wins came in very fortunate circumstances, but it was still a depressing evening, as Meath had a deserved success but were nothing special.

We even looked as though we were going to come from behind again when we got within a point going into the last quarter, but the handling errors and poor decision making which we produced from start to finish led to a late collapse.

Our success this spring has been largely based on the pace we can offer coming out of defence, but, although the slippery ball and swirling wind did not help, we had no real rhythm at any stage.

McCorry has almost always used effective tactics and made positive switches to date but nothing very much came off for him tonight and he faces a big task in lifting the squad for our final league game against Laois next week.

We did fairly well defensively until the last 15 minutes, and Kane could not be blamed for either of the late goals. His kick-outs were pretty mixed but he was solid under the dropping ball and made a couple of decent saves as well.

Collins, Howard and Dee Turley were all reasonable until they were exposed in the dying moments, but the half back line struggled for long periods. Mallon had a couple of fine forward runs, but he tends to leave a few gaps and both Maginn, who was replaced, and O'Hanlon, who surprisingly was not, were poor.

Peter Turley did a decent job until he tired late on but Devlin is not a midfielder and, as his confidence deserted him, he even missed a relatively simply free which would have brought us to within a goal towards the end.

McKernan and McGovern looked like defenders who were told to push forward while Poland is still trying to find his best form even if his black card was a little harsh.

McConville might have been better at midfield than full forward on the night, while O'Hare never really got into the game. Laverty ran himself into the ground but he was never as influential as he can be.

The Johnston brothers did OK when they came on, and together with Mooney will be pushing for a starting spot next week, while McArdle at least put himself about when he was introduced.

We should be capable of getting the point we need against Laois, but our momentum has been halted and we will need some leaders to emerge when the pressure is on.

[DuffleKing]

Watching on tv, the keeper's kick outs were atrocious - particularly in the first half

[east down gael]

Struggled for scores,breaking ball and were outdone in the physical stakes unsurprisingly. On a night like that it really was no surprise we lost against a bigger Meath team.polands black card may have been slightly harsh, though laverty's yellow could easily have been a red.

[Mourne Rover]

In fairness, DuffleKing, his first half kick-outs were into a gale force wind and towards a badly beaten midfield. He tried going short to McKernan once and it led to a point against us which could easily have been a goal. We need to come up with more options involving players making runs in space toward the wings, but Kane was not the cause of our defeat against Meath.

[Centre 3/4]

Kanes kickouts haven't impressed me at all theyre very one dimensional and inconsistent although he is a good shot stopper

[snoopdog]

Big crowd in Newry last night. Stand was near full but what a disappointing performance. Although I stood down at the corner between the 2 stands for last few minutes and the weather was dreadful although the same for both teams. Down again failed when more expected off them. A point is not enough next Sunday as a meath win over cavan would see them up on head to head. If McCorry can't raise them for a game where a win means promotion then he will have a tough summer. I expect laois to boss Down next Sunday so hopefully it will be better conditions. All teams in div 2 are very evenly matched