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Downgaa.net is now down and out of service, has the county changed its domain?

More than likely they haven't paid their domain name renewal

Why would they not be? Ulster Championship isn't for another 4 weeks

Spot On whitegoodman about the panel of players at our disposal.
2 relegations on the bounce looks likely but I would imagine our county board will make no changes next year and the same management team will be in place.
Donegal have lost about 10 starters in the last 2 years and is still Competitive
Where does Down football go from here?

Down?

Belt tightening by the County now being put onto the Clubs to sort the errors of the past after Monday's County Board meeting with Club reps.
  Fees to go up and various debts owed by certain Clubs to be repaid.

Clubs still have to vote on it

Pleased to have been proved wrong, although a step in right direction, I fear the defeat in Clare will ultimately mean Div 3 next year

That selection has disaster written all over it. Meath by at least 10

You are right, he needs to be played at 6 as the spare man or nowhere.  Has played everywhere for club and county and this seems to be the only position that suits him.

I think he would thrive in the Cian O Sullivan role (not saying he is in his league).  Burns currently has Conal McGovern in this role and he is a natural wing forward and he is likely to play Mckernan at wing forward or midfield.  Just one of the many things you could scratch your head at with the current management.

I would say in 2010 McKernan would have easily been in the same league as Cian O'Sullivan is now. Some days he has excelled for Down but yet for Burren he has never quite prodeced the goods, especially in the SFC against Kilcoo

2010 was maybe a one off, though he wouldn't be the only one who overperformed in 2010

Is M Clarke available? I watched him against my own club Loughinisland last season and he absolutely destroyed us on his own and he looked as good as he was in 2010.

When speaking before the Fermanagh on Setanta he mentioned his illness but also mentioned the change in managers, if his illness was the sole reason for not playing why he did he mention the change in mangers?

Is it a matter of, if you don't do 5 sessions a week we don't want you?

Close to £500k was spent on co teams last year. We are effectively throwing money down the drain and spending as if we are going to win the All-Ireland. Would it not be prudent to scale this back for 2to3 years as the players obviously aren't there at the minute. In the mean time focus funding on the youth and sorting out the Burrenbridge fiasco?

This was undoubtedly part of the decision-making process that saw McCorry leave and Burns arrive. When I say "undoubtedly", it's because it's genuinely tough to find other potential reasons.

The problem is that you can't do a county football squad on the cheap. Don't get me wrong, the elite managers will take a bigger brown envelope, and they'll demand a number of other effectively full time salaries.

But at the end of the day, every county team, (even one being run on a budget) needs:

- pitches
- gym facilities
- playing equipment and training equipment
- meeting rooms
- travel expenses / mileage (to and from training)
- match travel expenses (buses, hotels)
- food after every session
- personal equipment (boots, gloves, etc. basically what the GPA demands)
- physios
- strength and conditioning coaches

Any half-serious county team is also going have direct access to video analysts, statisticians and nutritionists. I don't mean Dublin levels of 1-to-1 support, but there is always an entourage needed.

I haven't included costs here for trainers or team liaisons as I'd assume these can be got for relatively little (in comparison to paid physios, etc).

With the entourage on tow, a weekend away has a cost of 45 x (unit price). So it's £10k to go 3-starring in Kildare.

Add all of that up for a 6 month season (Jan-June), and you won't be long shaking a big six-figures from the money tree. And that's just for the senior county team. Not the under 21s, not the minors, or the dev squads. Not hurling.

But here's the problem with "on the cheap". If a county team is struggling, it will also struggle to gain sponsors, and struggle to convince players that it's worth parking their lives for.  The knock-on effect of those things is then passed on from generation to generation.

Giving an extra £30k a year to a man who can coordinate all of the above might actually be a cost saving.

Appreciate your points wobbler, but when the money isn't there, in my opinion you just don't keeping spending especially when your getting nowhere.

In relation to the team expenses when the clubs asked the Co Board at convention for a breakdown of what the team expenses were for, they were basically told to mind their own business

I believe Burrenbridge is due to be paid off in 2027.

In comparsion to Down, Tipperary spent €1m in 2016 and won the All Ireland in hurling at senior and minor and in football their seniors got to the Mumster Final and All Ireland Semi Final.

To run a Minor training session in Down it costs £850 per night. We are throwing money down the drain and the Co Board is to blame.

I understand at the Convention when questions where asked about team expenses, they were told any questions like that should have tabled in advance and they couldn't answer the delegates question. The financial report wasn't shown to delegates in advance so how can they ask a question prior to seeing the details?

Close to £500k was spent on co teams last year. We are effectively throwing money down the drain and spending as if we are going to win the All-Ireland. Would it not be prudent to scale this back for 2to3 years as the players obviously aren't there at the minute. In the mean time focus funding on the youth and sorting out the Burrenbridge fiasco?

quick question.....

who were the two best midfielders in the all county division 1 last season ?

Dan Gordon is still the best midfielder in the county and is by a country mile even at 33/34. Not sure anyone in Div 1 would come close.

Peter Turley and Aidan Carr who are now well into their 30's are considered the counties best available midfielders. They wouldn't even have gotten close to selection at midfield several years ago, yet now in the twilight of their intercounty careers, they are being asked to play midfield.

Jonathan Flynn who has played all year at midfield, I don't believe  has ever played midfield for his club. Flynn has years on his side at 22 and hopefully with experience can be molded into a good inter-county player, but I would see him as more of a half-back/defensive half forward than a midfielder at the minute.

Antrim tried both of those boys......

Which is exactly where Down are headed. Anyone who thinks a change of management is the answer probably thinks you can stand on top of Mount Etna and put it out with a fire hose.

Agreed, likly to be Division 3 and possibly 4. A big problem nowis that confidence is shot and there is a lack of experience both on the line and on the field to correct it. A change in manager may or may not help but it is pretty clear that the management are out of their depth at intercounty level

If McCorry was still in charge would we be in such a mess?

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