Down U20 football championship 2013

[5 Sams]

I thought with some of the Saval/Ballyholland lads playing 1st division football this year they would have been fairly competitive and they didn't play in it last year so assumed they were decent after their big scoreline the previous week. Lesson learned today - don't assume anything!!!

Have to say I was impressed with the point Elk. There is a big difference between a team playing together fulltime since underage and another that has been thrown together after 3 or 4 training session

[supersub]

Was there a row or something, can anyone give us a report of some sort.?
Why be surprised at the ease of the win. Sure they have practically the same team as last year that went to an Ulster final, and also a slap of them playing seniors this 2 seasons now, and also preparing for Ulster senior intermediate.

Caolan was playing yes. It was feisty alright. Several rows all over the field at different times. Referee had no control over it and seemingly didn't want to know. No protection for players who were being dragged and hauled and arguably targeted the whole game.

A poor game which the Bridge edged, neither team really played well.

[elk]

Looking forward to the matches this Saturday. Will be interesting to watch Mooney playing with plenty of space to operate and use his pace. Burren couldn't be meeting the Point at a better time, the Point lads are bound to be feeling the effects of a long season and just got over the line in their last  U21 game plus everything seems to going right for Burren this year at underage. Rostrevor and Burren for me.

[Down Follower]

This represents the same teams as last years competition as it was an Under 20 tournament.
Based on that Warrenpoint would be sizeable favourites as they won it quite comfortable last year, and if anything, appear to have improved. The only question mark would be will their involvement in the Ulster club impact on it!
Other teams who should do well -
Burren - reached the final last year
Glenn - young players showed well in Division 1
Basically all of group C - that will be one tough group to come out of!!

Got some predictions absolutely spot , Warrenpoint and Burren (although that wasnt hard), while others, i.e. Glenn, were well off the mark.
Carryduff pushed Burren all the way and beat Loughinisland who took Warrenpoint to extra time so they will be hard to beat for Rostrevor.
Warrenpoint are probably in better shape than they were last year when they beat Burren in the U20 final so I think they will repeat the dose.

[Centre 3/4]

Carryduff beat rostrevor well in the end after a superb second half and cpns ability to score goals was fantastic to watch, two division 2 teams!

[elk]

Rostrevor were very poor, Carryduff should have won by more. Apart from Mooney they have no talent coming through. Warrenpoint/Burren game was more entertaining for at least the 1st half but then the point just eased away in the 2nd half. They have a few fine prospects and it will be interesting to see how they fare next year in Div 1.

[supersub]

Rostrevor were very poor, Carryduff should have won by more. Apart from Mooney they have no talent coming through. Warrenpoint/Burren game was more entertaining for at least the 1st half but then the point just eased away in the 2nd half. They have a few fine prospects and it will be interesting to see how they fare next year in Div 1.

Very harsh and short sighted opinion.

Rostrevor never got going in the U21 competition at all and were never able to field their strongest team. There are a number of very good players coming through and for one reason or another (injuries and colleges) were not available consistently through this short competition. There is no doubt Rostrevor were shocking on Friday night and despite this they only trailed by a point until the last few minutes - Carryduff hardly set the world alight!

Along with Caolan Mooney; Piaras Kane, Jordan Fegan, Joe Morgan, Conor Doyle, Conall Gordan, James Rice are all players who are top quality and will be around for a while. Piaras and Jordan played a combined 30 mins in the whole competition, indeed Friday night's sub appearance was Piaras' first game while Jordan played a bit of the second half in the Clonduff play off game. Joe, Conall and James have been tied up with school football and haven't really been about consistently but have been performing admirably for St Colman/Louis. To say there is nothing coming through is incorrect, these players plus a few others are more than capable of making the step up - just because the team performed poorly on Friday does not mean it's the end of the line. All of these boys are still very young and will be around for another 2/3 years at this level, indeed Joe is still a minor! I wouldn't write them off as a result of the 2014 U21 competition.

Indeed as mentioned these aren't the only talented players Rostrevor have at this level, just the main ones. Rather than the problem being a lack of talent, the problem lies with harnessing the talent and developing it which hasn't been optimised with the 5/6 minor winning teams of the last 10 years!

[speculative]

Rostrevor have a plethora of young talent, however, they always have. Throughout the 00's they basically had a monopoly on the Minor Championship which has transferred into basically nothing at Senior level, when was the last time they made an impression on a Championship or even a league? What is to say that these new "stars" are going to materialise into anything at Senior level? How many underage sensations have Rostrevor produced who don't even play or play for their 3rds? Must be infuriating for those involved with the club.

[Walter Cronc]

Rostrevor have a plethora of young talent, however, they always have. Throughout the 00's they basically had a monopoly on the Minor Championship which has transferred into basically nothing at Senior level, when was the last time they made an impression on a Championship or even a league? What is to say that these new "stars" are going to materialise into anything at Senior level? How many underage sensations have Rostrevor produced who don't even play or play for their 3rds? Must be infuriating for those involved with the club.

Interested to know the reasons behind this? Have they not had a core of senior players to help ease the transition for younger players? When was the last time Rostrevor won the senior championship?

[supersub]

Rostrevor have a plethora of young talent, however, they always have. Throughout the 00's they basically had a monopoly on the Minor Championship which has transferred into basically nothing at Senior level, when was the last time they made an impression on a Championship or even a league? What is to say that these new "stars" are going to materialise into anything at Senior level? How many underage sensations have Rostrevor produced who don't even play or play for their 3rds? Must be infuriating for those involved with the club.

Interested to know the reasons behind this? Have they not had a core of senior players to help ease the transition for younger players? When was the last time Rostrevor won the senior championship?

Hence my final paragraph - well aware of the downfall and lack of development beyond underage and indeed it is frustrating. I do not dispute that. I was merely commenting on the very harsh and extremely short sighted opinion that there is 'nothing coming through'.

To answer your questions- last championship win was 1998 and one league win in 2005 when the first of these minor teams was beginning to break into Senior set up. Since then there has basically been a whole team lost over a very short period and left with only a couple of 'senior' players on the panel. 4 at most.

[Down Follower]

Rostrevor have a plethora of young talent, however, they always have. Throughout the 00's they basically had a monopoly on the Minor Championship which has transferred into basically nothing at Senior level, when was the last time they made an impression on a Championship or even a league? What is to say that these new "stars" are going to materialise into anything at Senior level? How many underage sensations have Rostrevor produced who don't even play or play for their 3rds? Must be infuriating for those involved with the club.

Interested to know the reasons behind this? Have they not had a core of senior players to help ease the transition for younger players? When was the last time Rostrevor won the senior championship?

Interesting to note their Under 21 management team was made up of a few senior players, Shaun Parr, Brian Cole and Jarlath Farrell. From what I gather, there is a concerted effort going on within Rostrevor to bring their senior team up a level (or two).

[supersub]

Rostrevor have a plethora of young talent, however, they always have. Throughout the 00's they basically had a monopoly on the Minor Championship which has transferred into basically nothing at Senior level, when was the last time they made an impression on a Championship or even a league? What is to say that these new "stars" are going to materialise into anything at Senior level? How many underage sensations have Rostrevor produced who don't even play or play for their 3rds? Must be infuriating for those involved with the club.

Interested to know the reasons behind this? Have they not had a core of senior players to help ease the transition for younger players? When was the last time Rostrevor won the senior championship?

Interesting to note their Under 21 management team was made up of a few senior players, Shaun Parr, Brian Cole and Jarlath Farrell. From what I gather, there is a concerted effort going on within Rostrevor to bring their senior team up a level (or two).

Correct - I wouldn't want to give the impression nothing is being done about it, quite the opposite hence what you mention here! these three along with Minor manager Aidan Murray made up U21 team.

[Brick Tamlin]

any particular reason or area that would contributed to this situation where talent doesn't transfer as maybe it should have?
Kilcoo, Burren and Bridge seem to be have handled fairly decent bunches of players at underage level through the system, to produce it for the senior side.

[supersub]

I think there are a broad range of things. To give you an example Rostrevor had 7 representatives on the Down Minor All Ireland winning team in 05 - 4/5 were regulars on the team and as of the end of the 2014 season not one of them is playing Senior (or any) football for the club. Mostly down to emigration and or work commitments, and one transfer (although he is also away now too). Obviously this isn't the only reason but I am just giving an example of the lost talent from that particular year.

[Down Follower]

any particular reason or area that would contributed to this situation where talent doesn't transfer as maybe it should have?
Kilcoo, Burren and Bridge seem to be have handled fairly decent bunches of players at underage level through the system, to produce it for the senior side.

You could expand this issue to the county side even!