Down Club Hurling & Football

[Ed Hardy]

Thought Down PRO had got slightly better last season, most teams named by Friday evening, but back to the usual this year. Miles behind other county's in term of their social media. Must have zero intention in getting the younger generation in interested in the county teams.

PRO team is a shambles and how they won an award a while back is beyond me.. but then they can only post what they are given/allowed to post. Laverty has the county board by the short and curlys and just does what he wants. Donnelly doing most correspondence in national papers, Morgan in local papers - will the REAL manager that is getting paid a bagful please stand up.

Some very needy people on here.

If soccer people can put up with cup final teams not being named until an hour before the game, surely to f**k nobody needs to see a pretend team for a GAA national league game, two days before throw in.

This is just needy nonsense.

lol they haven't even a link put to buy tickets for the game. There is little effort to promote the sport and the hurlers gets even less. Its a shambles.

I think it's time you offered your services.

I already do it for my own club, no point in volunteering for something if your not going to do it properly.

[supersub]

Thought Down PRO had got slightly better last season, most teams named by Friday evening, but back to the usual this year. Miles behind other county's in term of their social media. Must have zero intention in getting the younger generation in interested in the county teams.

PRO team is a shambles and how they won an award a while back is beyond me.. but then they can only post what they are given/allowed to post. Laverty has the county board by the short and curlys and just does what he wants. Donnelly doing most correspondence in national papers, Morgan in local papers - will the REAL manager that is getting paid a bagful please stand up.

Some very needy people on here.

If soccer people can put up with cup final teams not being named until an hour before the game, surely to f**k nobody needs to see a pretend team for a GAA national league game, two days before throw in.

This is just needy nonsense.

lol they haven't even a link put to buy tickets for the game. There is little effort to promote the sport and the hurlers gets even less. Its a shambles.

I think it's time you offered your services.

I already do it for my own club, no point in volunteering for something if your not going to do it properly.

Complete nonsense. That makes no sense. You clearly have no idea what you are talking about and are victim of jumping on the 'County Board shambles' bandwagon that rolls around every time something no matter how small irks said contingent, rather than any rational informed opinion. No doubt they can only work with the information and timing provided. I would also add, for what possible reason would anyone need to see a team 48 hours before a game? Saturday announcement for Sunday game is and has been the norm. You also obviously don't know what the award was as it had nothing to do with anything digital or social media based so your bewilderment is misguided. How about get behind your county or offer some help instead of being a doom and gloom merchant before a ball is thrown in. I presume you were just leaving for Wicklow writing that post having managed to find a link for tickets.

[Ed Hardy]

Thought Down PRO had got slightly better last season, most teams named by Friday evening, but back to the usual this year. Miles behind other county's in term of their social media. Must have zero intention in getting the younger generation in interested in the county teams.

PRO team is a shambles and how they won an award a while back is beyond me.. but then they can only post what they are given/allowed to post. Laverty has the county board by the short and curlys and just does what he wants. Donnelly doing most correspondence in national papers, Morgan in local papers - will the REAL manager that is getting paid a bagful please stand up.

Some very needy people on here.

If soccer people can put up with cup final teams not being named until an hour before the game, surely to f**k nobody needs to see a pretend team for a GAA national league game, two days before throw in.

This is just needy nonsense.

lol they haven't even a link put to buy tickets for the game. There is little effort to promote the sport and the hurlers gets even less. Its a shambles.

I think it's time you offered your services.

I already do it for my own club, no point in volunteering for something if your not going to do it properly.

Complete nonsense. That makes no sense. You clearly have no idea what you are talking about and are victim of jumping on the 'County Board shambles' bandwagon that rolls around every time something no matter how small irks said contingent, rather than any rational informed opinion. No doubt they can only work with the information and timing provided. You also obviously don't know what the award was as it had nothing to do with anything digital or social media based so your bewilderment is misguided. How about get behind your county or offer some help instead of being a doom and gloom merchant before a ball is thrown in. I presume you were just leaving for Wicklow writing that post having managed to find a link

Thought Down PRO had got slightly better last season, most teams named by Friday evening, but back to the usual this year. Miles behind other county's in term of their social media. Must have zero intention in getting the younger generation in interested in the county teams.

PRO team is a shambles and how they won an award a while back is beyond me.. but then they can only post what they are given/allowed to post. Laverty has the county board by the short and curlys and just does what he wants. Donnelly doing most correspondence in national papers, Morgan in local papers - will the REAL manager that is getting paid a bagful please stand up.

Some very needy people on here.

If soccer people can put up with cup final teams not being named until an hour before the game, surely to f**k nobody needs to see a pretend team for a GAA national league game, two days before throw in.

This is just needy nonsense.

lol they haven't even a link put to buy tickets for the game. There is little effort to promote the sport and the hurlers gets even less. Its a shambles.

I think it's time you offered your services.

I already do it for my own club, no point in volunteering for something if your not going to do it properly.

Complete nonsense. That makes no sense. You clearly have no idea what you are talking about and are victim of jumping on the 'County Board shambles' bandwagon that rolls around every time something no matter how small irks said contingent, rather than any rational informed opinion. No doubt they can only work with the information and timing provided. You also obviously don't know what the award was as it had nothing to do with anything digital or social media based so your bewilderment is misguided. How about get behind your county or offer some help instead of being a doom and gloom merchant before a ball is thrown in. I presume you were just leaving for Wicklow writing that post having managed to find a link for tickets.

Nope I was in Newry watching the ladies game as I have relative playing, followed the mens game from Wicklow twitter account...

Good way to start the campaign with a win no matter of opposition. Hopefully big turnout next Saturday in Newry.

[Johnnysboys]

The county board MUST put the team forward on the Wednesday before the game - surely they should let us know at least 12 players that will take part in the game. Dublin, Mayo, Galway etc all do it in great time and have a buildup to the game. But that's not "the down way"
Great result today - hopefully build on it next week..

[thewobbler]

The county board MUST put the team forward on the Wednesday before the game - surely they should let us know at least 12 players that will take part in the game. Dublin, Mayo, Galway etc all do it in great time and have a buildup to the game. But that's not "the down way"
Great result today - hopefully build on it next week..

Here's the thing JB.

For years this kind of thing used to annoy me. How could they not know their team in advance? Why do they play silly buggers with line ups and positions? Why do they play silly buggers adding players to the squad from outside the 26/28? What are they so paranoid about revealing... as the oppositions's game plan will be focussed on Murdock, Kerr, Guinness? Etc.

But it's kind of dawned on me the past few years that in pretty much every changing room I've ever been in - up to semi final stages, when the team is usually settled bar injuries - that managers are literally changing their minds right up until the last minute. Some of it is to keep players on their toes, but most of it is about giving them as much time as possible to consider everything.

And that's at club football level... where the stakes aren't as high, the options are more limited, the travel times are minuscule in comparison.

Modern football is a den of overthinking. I could easily imagine conversations with selectors ongoing until an hour before throw-in.

So when I bear all that in mind, it just no longer bothers me that a team isn't named in advance. I'd honestly prefer that over a "dud" team.

Especially for R1 of the league.

[Johnnysboys]

Here's the thing JB.

For years this kind of thing used to annoy me. How could they not know their team in advance? Why do they play silly buggers with line ups and positions? Why do they play silly buggers adding players to the squad from outside the 26/28? What are they so paranoid about revealing... as the oppositions's game plan will be focussed on Murdock, Kerr, Guinness? Etc.

But it's kind of dawned on me the past few years that in pretty much every changing room I've ever been in - up to semi final stages, when the team is usually settled bar injuries - that managers are literally changing their minds right up until the last minute. Some of it is to keep players on their toes, but most of it is about giving them as much time as possible to consider everything.

And that's at club football level... where the stakes aren't as high, the options are more limited, the travel times are minuscule in comparison.

Modern football is a den of overthinking. I could easily imagine conversations with selectors ongoing until an hour before throw-in.

So when I bear all that in mind, it just no longer bothers me that a team isn't named in advance. I'd honestly prefer that over a "dud" team.

Especially for R1 of the league.
[/quote]

I'm going to try really hard to take this guidance on board and not get frustrated with lack of team information... I'm dreading Thursday already though as that's when it usually dawns on me that we have nothing online again..
but I'm going to try Wob

[supersub]

Here's the thing JB.

For years this kind of thing used to annoy me. How could they not know their team in advance? Why do they play silly buggers with line ups and positions? Why do they play silly buggers adding players to the squad from outside the 26/28? What are they so paranoid about revealing... as the oppositions's game plan will be focussed on Murdock, Kerr, Guinness? Etc.

But it's kind of dawned on me the past few years that in pretty much every changing room I've ever been in - up to semi final stages, when the team is usually settled bar injuries - that managers are literally changing their minds right up until the last minute. Some of it is to keep players on their toes, but most of it is about giving them as much time as possible to consider everything.

And that's at club football level... where the stakes aren't as high, the options are more limited, the travel times are minuscule in comparison.

Modern football is a den of overthinking. I could easily imagine conversations with selectors ongoing until an hour before throw-in.

So when I bear all that in mind, it just no longer bothers me that a team isn't named in advance. I'd honestly prefer that over a "dud" team.

Especially for R1 of the league.

I'm going to try really hard to take this guidance on board and not get frustrated with lack of team information... I'm dreading Thursday already though as that's when it usually dawns on me that we have nothing online again..
but I'm going to try Wob
[/quote]

Nothing online again? Almost every football team for the last 3 years has been published in all competitions in advance of the game. You are clutching at straws. For a Sunday game, you want the team published on a Thursday night? You are mad in the head. The players wouldn't even know the team at that stage, regardless of what paperwork has to go where on a Wednesday. The faux outrage knows no bounds.

[ardtole]

Poor performance yesterday, Wicklow had 3 very good goal opportunities in the 1st half against the wind, and 1 in the 2nd half.

With O'Hare coming out to the half way line on the opposing kick outs, I'm not sure the benefits outweigh the potential negatives, a better team than Wicklow would have punished Down heavily yesterday.

[Blackandblue2]

I think 'poor' is harsh. Down led from start to finish, 8 points up and a late rally when game was over made it look respectable. Poor conditions on a terrible pitch is a leveler, but Down always looked the better teams. And goal chances came from a couple of individual mistakes from Down players. O'Hare wasnt caught out on any wicklow so dont see the issue of pushing up at the moment. 

[snoopdog]

Poor performance yesterday, Wicklow had 3 very good goal opportunities in the 1st half against the wind, and 1 in the 2nd half.

With O'Hare coming out to the half way line on the opposing kick outs, I'm not sure the benefits outweigh the potential negatives, a better team than Wicklow would have punished Down heavily yesterday.

I would agree. An Antrim or Westmeath would prob have got a couple of goals yesterday from those mistakes.  Poor conditions. Poor game. Down were poor in 1st half. Much better in 3rd quarter.  Good to get the 2 points. Tidy little stand in Aughrim. Awkward enough place to get to. 

[Truth hurts]

John Devine is in as senior football goalkeeping coach.

[general]

John Devine is in as senior football goalkeeping coach.

He's been taken in as over all defence coach - including the GK's - doing alot of work on defensive movement

laverty tried to get him in last year however he didnt want to leave tullysaran in the lurch. he was over them 2 years as manager

[Johnnysboys]

Strong lineup for tomorrow night. 2 points a must.

[Splash]

Good win for the footballers. Definitely going in the right direction.

How did Anderson get on when he came on?

Antrim in Belfast should be a good match, and good to see the lay of the land now before Ulster Championship.

[Splash]

Tough game for the hurlers tomorrow to start their league campaign.

Portlaoise diffcult place to go to, even for Division One sides like Waterford and Dublin, as we well found out last year in the McDonagh Cup.

Down have a real chance of getting to Division One this year, but have to play better than they did last year.

Some serious hurlers in Laois, but they really don't look like the same team that they were 3-5 years ago. Definitely come back down closer to the level of us/Kerry.


Down missing some serious players. No Sheehan. No Doran. No McCusker. Good to see a few lads back (Donal Hughes should be a great addition all being well, the Sands, too), and plenty of good fellas to make the break through yet.

Hopefully we can stay neck and neck with Laois for most of the game at the very least. Would be good to know we're there or there abouts, and would be terrible to start the year with our backs against the wall.

I think it's well worth remembering, I think last year, the consensus was that it was a very poor year, despite us retaining Division 2A status for the third year in a row. For a long time, we couldn't get out of 2B. That surely says something for the progress of our hurlers.

Hopefully it's onward and upwards