Messages

Not sure where Jackie is at the minute. Both were good in their own right. Jackie more old school who loved direct football while Mickey was a young manager who was very different and was a excellent young vibrant coach, one of the best I've ever had. He finished up with Tyrone minors last year and is the st Ronans Lurgan McRory cup coach. Growing up I was used to winning underage championships so we took it that winning senior championships was the norm and that to manage the Bridge was a handy number. Looking back now , we were excellently prepared by all managers who had to manage 30 odd lads to win 8 championships and just as many premier reserve championships during this time. We certainly had an extremely talented group but everyone worked so hard and the championships were not handed to us. Teams such as Burren, Byransford, Kilcoo , longstone, Rostrevor and Clonduff, were all strong in this period.

Good to see a big win for Loughinisland today. Puts them in a strong position for the rest of Ulster, hopefully they can repeat Warrenpoint's success of last year.

I agree with WGM, Dawson is possibly the best candidate of a bad bunch. What ever people think of him personally, his record in Down football is fairly strong.
Just out of interest T O'Hare who managed the Bridge during the 04-08 period of dominance?

McCorry 99 and 01
Jackie McManus 02
Mickey Linden 04-6
Mickey Donnelly 07 and 08

I can't believe I'm saying this but I kind  of feel sorry for Burren. If you finish top of the league you should win the trophy. I think it time to do away with the play offs!

CJ Barr has massive potential as a keeper and should be in nets for the U21s next year but we hope he makes it as a midfielder!

Not much credit on here for the magpies unsurprisingly. People can throw what they like at us but the quality and spirit we have always comes to the fore. What a team. The pursuit for excellence won't let up. #UTM #14times #4inarow #5in7

Give us another post later tonight after your tenth pint

So Barney and Mark are taking them but Barney is stepping down

Anyone else heard that Tony McEntee and Gareth O Neill might be back on for the senior job?

😉

Just heard Martin McHugh and Mark Copeland have taken over UUJ sigerson team. Has Barney McAleenan stepped down?

Paddy O Rourke, Paddy Crozier and Johnny mc Cumiskey sitting beside each other in Pairc Esler last night. Concidence??

Week in week out Burren are cleaning up at all the U8, U10 and U12 tournaments across the county. Their B and even C teams are claiming silverware at South Down level. They are becoming a dominant force at underage and the culture is there at senior level to usher in a new period of dominance.

Not under 8

Yes , four best teams left in MFC. We had chances last night v Shamrocks but they seemed to have more experienced players and Jody Mc is a lethal finisher. During the league the point probably looked the strongest outfit we played. But Burrens forwards are very good especially Declan Murdock and Liam Kerr. Rostrevors results in recent weeks suggest they are moving in the right direction and should be feared.

I tried to do this and its too hard. There had been some unreal players and especially forwards in the past fifteen years. The all Ireland winners will always into the majority of these fifteens but players like Browne, McDonald ,Doyle, Bradley and especially my club mate Benny Coulter were double and trebled marked for years and still were top class players.

Really enjoyed the second game last night. Burren were lucky in the end to get the win but mentality it will be massive for them. Kilcoo still have the best team in Down and Stevie Kane and PD will be some help to their side.
We have a lot of work to do but we are happy to beat a resilient Saval side. Benny moving to full forward worked a treat while Conleth O'Hare was a constant threat throughout.

I thought Adams outfoxed Dawson last night . Dawson pushed his players up on the Clonduff sweepers which Arthur and Barry O Hagan exploited. There is no point having players like Savage , Clarke , Maginn and the Brannigans in your forward line if you drive every ball on top of King at full forward. Darren O'Hagan is a class act who led by example last night. The question mark still lies over Byransfords mentality in major championship games, but no one will be looking them in the next game either.
The first game was not great but the experience of Liatroim got them over the line. Liam Doyle is such a stylish footballer and its a shame we never seen more of him in the county jersey. He is a great club servant and is playing through the pain barrier to represent them.

My mistake. Connor is midfield and playing very well.  The magpies must have had plenty of challenge games in the past few weeks, but not fielding a full strength side in the last game before a championship is very strange. Wgm , Sean Murdock is playing great football this season, he is making your forward line tick!

Burren were very impressive last night v a Saval team who were missing a few experienced players. Geard Mc Govern is the best full back I've seen this year and Mark McKay and Eamon Toner are a formidable  midfield partnership. Their forward line is very quick but they won't be getting the same space next Sunday evening. It's hard to know how good this Burren team is though, but next week will tell the tale. In the 2013 champ final Burren were big favourites but the magpies turned them over. The McCorry factor is missing this year and I think that will edge the result in Burrens favour. It will certainly be very close!