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6 finals , football and hurling all won by East Down teams, what's happening ?

What happened over the weekend is the stuff of fiction writers.We have our county champions now dictating who officiates their games for some contrived made up reasons, had this been the case in the eighties and nineties I know of two teams that wouldn't have taken the field when certain refs were appointed.
So from a Down supporter this has opened a can of worms, a few unanswered questions remain.
1. What was the basis of Kilcoo s protest
2. Was there any pressure put on the county executive to replace Paul Faloon from another source as it is rumoured there was from a member of the senior management team
3.Who was making all the phone calls in search of an alternative referee and was this search started because our county final was on national TV
Had this final not involved Kilcoo , Paul Faloon would have refereed the match regardless of any objection.
It's sad that a team that has distinguished itself on the field should resort to shameful actions of manipulating  who referees their matches.
They certainly didn't need to on yesterdays showing but maybe they weren't leaving anything to chance.
Lastly we needed a leader yesterday and our county chairman was no where to be seen or heard from, hopefully the next chairman or chairperson is more capable.
What a mess!!
The fallout of this may be considerable.

Do away with back door system, straight knock out might spice up our championship, don't understand why teams set up so negative, giving the opposition too much respect is the problem but it is what it is and can't see it changing

Fair point upandwin, Burren have looked sharp and pacey all over, bar yourselves and Carryduff I can't see a new champion but when it comes to knockout football you never no, by the way every one is entitled to an opinion even a clown can have one

Every team is entitled to an off day, at no point did I say Island would win championship but Burren won't , Burren got of to the perfect start last night and Island could not recover , your crowing as if you have won the OHare cup, long way to go!!

Upandwin your on drugs if you think Burren will win championship, they will struggle to beat loughinisland and after Kilcoo easing past Carryduff you may hope Burren don't meet them at any stage because it might turn out to be embarrassing

Truth hurts, reading your post, your obviously clued into the county coaches and must be well impressed on the progress we are making at juvenile level via the development squads!!!

I don't know why some on hear are having a go at the manager , most likely have a personal axe to grind, Meath got out of jail, we should have won that final and but for a flukey goal and our inability to convert 3 goal chances we would have a different narrative on here, but that game is done and we need to look forward. The championships will be upon us and hopefully we can find a few more players for the senior squad.
Now we are focusing on the club scene it would great if we could look at our development squads, minor and u20s. We need quality coaches who know what they're doing and aren't just names from glory days or friends from university days.
Derry has shown what can be achieved after a root and branch process has been carried out, Down supporters are being let down badly by the current Down executive , a run in the B championship can't be allowed to paper over the problems.
We need proper systems with accountability for county coaches and juvenile county managers if we are to make further improvement at senior level in the years to come.
I hope the next county chairman can bring about the necessary changes as the present one can't or won't implement the necessary changes required to give Conor Lavery the support he needs and not the inappropriate criticism I have read here and listened to.

Congrats to team, seen a win coming but not by that margin, however when you combine pace , good handling, unselfishness and cynical finishing you can run up a score like that. I know people will say Laois were poor and they were to be fair but you can only beat what's put in front of you.
So it's back down the Dublin Road in three weeks, hope all players stay sound, was at the 1991 final and I hope we get same result.

Lotto, it's easy to criticise without putting up a viable alternative, Conor Laverty may not be every ones cup of tea, but he is a proven winner, he has worked hard to get where he is today coaching wise, point taken about how much Down has conceded but the defensive stats will get better.

Did someone suggest the current minor management stays on next year, don't think so . It's time for a change , good players don't necessarily  make good coaches/ managers. We seem to lurch from crisis to crisis at juvenile level, why did we get rid of the mourne academy and the east down and south down set up at u 14 level.
Bottom line is we need to look at the county coaches, the connection with the schools and how we get back to competing at minor level.

Senior team managers who display loyalty and have the interests of the team/club rather than their c v are in short short supply but I can think of one double act currently available and would be a good fit for any senior team, having won several u 21 titles and being narrowly beaten in a SFC final by Kilcoo.

The core problem is accountability, these county coaches need to be aware of what is required of them and who they are accountable to.Coaches who fail to turn up to work or don't meet the required standard need replacing with people who will meet the required standards but the coaches need support also from the clubs, the schools and the county executive.
Time will tell if the posts on this forum have any effect or the survey recently undertaken prompts the county executive taking the necessary action.

Reading some interesting comments regarding our schools , personal opinion is until we have a system which clubs , schools and the county executive buys into we will never reach the days when St Colmans , Abbey and Red High dominated the college scene, it was no fluke we were AI champions in the nineties, teachers like Ray Morgan and Pat o Hare were passionate about down football and many ex pupils represented Down at all levels including senior level. To get to that level again we need accountability from county coaches, we need clubs to be involved in local schools and we need the right men driving this forward, we need suitably qualified men and women to be given the county coach positions and someone to co ordinate it all, I know there was a recent survey conducted and I hope the powers that be don't do t just pay it lip service. Get this right and we will get back to the top table.
Congrats to Kilcoo - utmost respect to this club and what they have achieved , good luck going forward.

Put simply, Burren don't have the players, they have plenty of players but not enough quality players, I like other poster am surprised McCorry signed up for next year knowing he hasn't the full backing of the Burren board. He has history of walking away.