Down Club Hurling & Football

[general]

Cathal Murray is taking saul this year, ha got them very very fit and do look like a decent side!

Iv heard from a very reliable source that the former minor management of desi kennedy, mark turley and martin mcgarry are waiting in the wings if the under21 management comes available

[The Real Gael]

:-[pete mc grath was picked out of sentement rather than sense. he is yessterd;s hero.

Pete has nothing to do with the U21s!!!!!!

As for the management I think the comments about the 2009 minors and Hogan cup teams success are very valid. It shows the difference a good manager makes and it appears we do not have one. Cathal Murray is as much responsible for the St Colman's success as Mooney, McCartan, Gough...... It is a pity Murray is not involved in the county setup.

It shows that it is not simply having a good set of players but also being able to form a team out of them. Sadly that has not been the result for the last few years.

Mc Grath has nothing to do with it your right, he s too busy making a shambles of the minors! Could someone please explain how boys like Collins and Mc Grath get these posts, should they become vacant should there not be some sort of interview process and try to get the best people for the job.

As for your Murray comments Pauld123, dont make me laugh, everyone knows Mussen did all the work up there and was totally responsible for the success along with having an exceptional team where they plucked the best players from all around other schools in Down, think its time for someone with a track record at this age like Sean Ward from Burren possibly.

[Square Ball]

Bredagh beat St Michaels 6-13 to 0-7

[alba2]

Mc Grath has nothing to do with it your right, he s too busy making a shambles of the minors! Could someone please explain how boys like Collins and Mc Grath get these posts, should they become vacant should there not be some sort of interview process and try to get the best people for the job.

As for your Murray comments Pauld123, dont make me laugh, everyone knows Mussen did all the work up there and was totally responsible for the success along with having an exceptional team where they plucked the best players from all around other schools in Down, think its time for someone with a track record at this age like Sean Ward from Burren possibly.
[/quote]

Totally agree here - how do these people get these jobs... dont throw the old - pete mc grath owes this county nothing at me - he threw away a minor championship last year in armagh.  Sean Ward is in with St Johns this season - let him cut his club managerial teeth here and see how he gets on.  he had a conveyor belt of talent in Burren so lets see how he copes with a real job now..

[supersub]

Does anyone know what will happen with the first rounds of league fixtures if down get to semi final?

[Leonardo]

Real Gael & Alba - you must be on the wind-up! To try and undermine Pete McGrath and Cathal Murray?? Their records would show them to be among the top coaches in our county. Catch a grip

[alba2]

Real Gael & Alba - you must be on the wind-up! To try and undermine Pete McGrath and Cathal Murray?? Their records would show them to be among the top coaches in our county. Catch a grip

i never mentioned Murray - i have the utmost respect for the man - his name just happened to be in the quote i used... He is a man that should get a job at inter county minor or u21 level.  Someone who is fresh, up to date but a proven winner.

[downredblack]

Clancy named as full forward , wonder will big Dan be moved back on him . Could be interesting .

[NP 76]

I for one dont think Kennedy , Turley and Mc Garry should get a chance they had that group of lads at minor and threw away an All Ireland imo . The game the other night was desperate Tyrone were at least 10 pts the better team . They were far superior in all aspects of play and the sheer physical strength they had was awsome . Down couldnt even break the tackle . There obvivously wasnt much strength and conditioning done in the pre season . The 2 corner backs was destroyed and both were kept on to the end was it not sensible to make a change in there to try and help things ? I thought the Down lads looked totally out on their feet . I would like to see Murray and Mussen given a chance with these lads because they work well together and would know alot of them from schools football . The last time Dan was on Clancy he got a red card hope this doesnt happen this week and we get a good rub of the green to push us on into the semi final .

[EagleLord]

Sweet Lord do not Give Turley, Kennedy and McGarry another intercounty job!! What is it with this trio? It seems like there is some kind of mystical theory that these are some kind of braintrust, some superb managerial team, when all they really done was win the Minor AI title in 2005 and they have lived off that since! And lets not forget, that team featured Garvey, McKernan, Duffin, Colgan, Fitzpatrick, Clarke, Kelly, Brannigan, McComisky, virtually a dream team like. I would near think a monkey could have managed that team at the time and still produced the same results.

[southdown]

Any team news?

[Mourne Rover]

According to Downgaa.net, the team for Laois is -

1 Brendan McVeigh,2 Daniel McCartan. 3 Dan Gordon, 4 Aiden Branagan, 5 Niall McParland, 6 Brendan McArdle, 7 Conor Garvey
8 Ambrose Rogers 9 Kalum King 10 Daniel Hughes 11 Mark Poland 12 Aidan Carr 13 Conor Laverty  14 Brendan Coulter 15
Arthur Mc Conville.

The big talking point is the dropping of Kevin McKernan, although he can realistically have few complaints. His ability is unquestioned, and he scored a wonder point againt Armagh, but he cost us two or three others through non-marking and his misplaced pass late in the game was a decisive moment. He came back from a period on the bench in 2010, and he is well capable of doing the same again.  Benny McArdle has waited quite a well for his chance and will not let anyone down. He does not offer McKernan's potential pushing forward, but he is a much more natural defender.

Conor Maginn is also left out, which looks a little harsh, although he needs to get into more scoring positions. While McConville is presumably back as a left-sided free taker, his conversion rate has not been great so far. Benny was always likely to replace Eoin McCartan, who still kicked two fine points against Armagh.

With McComiskey hopefully among the subs, we have a few options as the space opens up. It is a big match by any standards, and may be quite a tight one. 

[The Real Gael]

we should win comfortably by at least 7 or 8 points, Mc Kernan being dropped is long long over due

[centre 3/4s]

As quoted by eaglelord " And lets not forget, that team featured Garvey, McKernan, Duffin, Colgan, Fitzpatrick, Clarke, Kelly, Brannigan, McComisky, virtually a dream team like " . . . . reality check needed here with some people with regards some of our players. Clarke and to an extent McKernan but the others are alright club players wouldn get a look in in many other counties. .

Also some very unfair critcism of Pete McGrath here the man owes down gaelic football nothing, his record is second to none and the only reason anyone can have any gripes with him is cause you were obviously not good enough to feature in any of his teams and are begrudging of him!

[Mourne Rover]

Centre 3/4s is right to defend Pete McGrath, who has an amazing track record. As has been noted here before, Down have only won eight Ulster titles of the 75 available at minor, u21 and senior in the last quarter of a century (1986 to 2011), and six of them were under McGrath. Taking into account his two senior and one minor All Irelands, a last-second defeat in the 2009 u21 AI final, and his contribution to St Colman's, he is an icon in our county.

However, Centre is wrong to question the quality of the 05 minor AI champions. They won their quarter final against Galway by three points, the semi against Offaly by eight points and the final against Mayo by ten points, which were probably the biggest margins achieved by any Down side on the way to AI success.

Most of that team have gone on to play senior county fooball, while the likes of Ryan Kelly and Ciaran Brannigan can say that without dispute they were among the best forwards in Ireland in their age group in 2005. It is impossible to predict how minors will progress at senior level, but we had a special group in 2005 by any standards.