Down Club Hurling & Football

[Ed Hardy]

Any word on Odhran Murdock? Couldn't blame the fella for having a go at professional sports and best of luck to him if he goes, just noticed a lot of AFL clubs heading for preseason soon and no mention of him signing for anyone. Some boost if he stays.

[ranch]

Lurgan is probably a great example to compare Newry to.

I've viewed the impact the Lurgan teams have had on Armagh as an example of what impact Bredagh, Carryduff, etc., could have on Down, but it makes a lot of sense to compare them to Newry instead. 

Don't know a heap of what goes on in Lurgan, but from craic I've heard, a lot of work has been put into the GAA scene. Know some very committed men in Newry, around Shamrocks especially. Would be great to see them results similar to what Lurgan has produced.

Simply due to the fact that a majority of new housing in Newry will be built on the west side of the town due to geographical reasons, it is worth discussing at some point how the Down clubs will benefit from this. Correnshigo will obviously benefit, but there is an argument that Bosco could benefit, too.

Very interesting insight, Wobbler. Never knew a lot of that. Mitchell's location is really not going to help them. The problem is trying to figure out where they could find a home. Majority of Mitchell's men I know come from around the High Street area. Nowhere they could really be based out of without infringing on the catchment areas of other clubs, though.

Not having an underage set up was only ever going to lead to disaster down the line. The attempts to market Mitchell's in a 'social football' style, whilst a good idea, wasn't sustainable given the situation. That take on the situation may have worked in say, East Belfast's situation. They have large numbers which makes things a lot easier. Hard to market it as 'social football' and then try and get 15 lads to travel to the far side of East Down every week (the fact that most teams the Mitchell's would be playing would be quite far away definitely doesn't help- closest team in Div 4 would be Aghaderg or Bosco if they game down?).

I'm sure it's already been looked at, but what was it that made Aughlasnfin become a competitive junior side whilst being so close to Castlewellen? Perhaps a model for the Mitchell's to follow in there?

Was said to me before that there could be a solution in bringing in fellas from say, Ballyholland, who can't commit to the demands of senior football or aren't making the senior team, but it is definitely a rabbit hole to go down trying to take players from other clubs to sustain a team.

Hope there is a solution some day. But a lot of problems to over come. The county board perhaps needs to do something to ensure the game remains popular in Newry.

An increase in housing being in west Newry may benefit Bosco in addition to Corrinshego, but you'll also have clubs like Carrickcruppen, Killeavy and Shane O'Neills who will do their best to get involved. It'll be hard for Down to get the benefit that they may have if it was on the other side of Newry.

As for the Mitchels, it's pretty clear from Wobbler's post where the problems have stemmed from. As a small club without a community to call their own they were always going to struggle. The difference with a small club like Corrinshego was that underage football always survived despite the struggles of the senior team, mainly due to having a clear catchment area. Bosco also have a similar advantage.

Soccer is regularly blamed for its impact, but Lurgan is a pretty big soccer town too. How is it that Newry is so different?

[johnnycool]

Sad news this morning with the breaking news of the death of Sean McCashin, the Down Ulster Council delegate and referee.
Thoughts and prayers for his family and friends.
He's been a member of our club the last few years.

RIP Sean.

[manwithnoplan]

Sad news this morning with the breaking news of the death of Sean McCashin, the Down Ulster Council delegate and referee.
Thoughts and prayers for his family and friends.
He's been a member of our club the last few years.

RIP Sean.

RIP Sean. That was a man truly dedicated to Down GAA.

[downtothecore]

Sean was great servant to gaa in down. He will be badly missed. RIP

[ck]

are all management teams now in place ?

Kilcoo?
Burren?
Warrenpoint?
Rostrevor?
Saval?

Did Lacey get the sack?

Think hes with Jim in Donegal setup next year

McGuinness interviewed over weekend and said Lacey will not be part of his backroom team.
So has he been sacked from Kilcoo or what?

[Splash]

are all management teams now in place ?

Kilcoo?
Burren?
Warrenpoint?
Rostrevor?
Saval?

Sean Morrison to Saval.

Management team includes Patrick Morrison and Padraig Rafferty.

[Splash]

Gut wrenching for Portaferry. Should have got the win today.

I'm sure there'll be a lot of 'what ifs' on the long road back to the Ards Peninsula from Armagh. There were chances when they could have sealed it, but there's a lot of positives to take away from today nonetheless. They gave it a lash. Couldn't have asked much more of them.

Plenty of young players stood up today when it was needed, and there'll be plenty for them to take away from this game.

If Portaferry perform like that regularly,  the future could be bright for this group.

Ultimately Neil McManus was the difference. Other players played their role, but not many can do what McManus did today. To score half of Cushendall's points, keeping the Antrim men within touching distance of Portaferry, before putting the free in the net with the last puck of the game, to put the match to extra time, was phenomenal on his behalf.

Genuinely think the Ports gave it their best shot, and couldn't have done too much more today. Did themselves proud.


———————————————————————————————————————————

Very sad to hear about Sean McCashin.
Did a lot of good work for Down.
May he Rest in Peace.

[Truth hurts]

Rest in Peace. Sean, a decent man who always stood up for East Down clubs .

[johnnycool]

Gut wrenching for Portaferry. Should have got the win today.

I'm sure there'll be a lot of 'what ifs' on the long road back to the Ards Peninsula from Armagh. There were chances when they could have sealed it, but there's a lot of positives to take away from today nonetheless. They gave it a lash. Couldn't have asked much more of them.

Plenty of young players stood up today when it was needed, and there'll be plenty for them to take away from this game.

If Portaferry perform like that regularly,  the future could be bright for this group.

Ultimately Neil McManus was the difference. Other players played their role, but not many can do what McManus did today. To score half of Cushendall's points, keeping the Antrim men within touching distance of Portaferry, before putting the free in the net with the last puck of the game, to put the match to extra time, was phenomenal on his behalf.

Genuinely think the Ports gave it their best shot, and couldn't have done too much more today. Did themselves proud.

White line fever...

They had it in sight, four points up. 5 minutes of ordinary time to go and spurned the additional few points that would have put the game beyond Cushendall..

Making the right call, not shooting wildly in panic comes with experience and that bit of knowhow in tight situations.

The injury to Eoghan Sands was pivotal all the same, he ran himself into the ground.

[dingle82]

Gut wrenching for Portaferry. Should have got the win today.

I'm sure there'll be a lot of 'what ifs' on the long road back to the Ards Peninsula from Armagh. There were chances when they could have sealed it, but there's a lot of positives to take away from today nonetheless. They gave it a lash. Couldn't have asked much more of them.

Plenty of young players stood up today when it was needed, and there'll be plenty for them to take away from this game.

If Portaferry perform like that regularly,  the future could be bright for this group.

Ultimately Neil McManus was the difference. Other players played their role, but not many can do what McManus did today. To score half of Cushendall's points, keeping the Antrim men within touching distance of Portaferry, before putting the free in the net with the last puck of the game, to put the match to extra time, was phenomenal on his behalf.

Genuinely think the Ports gave it their best shot, and couldn't have done too much more today. Did themselves proud.

White line fever...

They had it in sight, four points up. 5 minutes of ordinary time to go and spurned the additional few points that would have put the game beyond Cushendall..

Making the right call, not shooting wildly in panic comes with experience and that bit of knowhow in tight situations.

The injury to Eoghan Sands was pivotal all the same, he ran himself into the ground.

Portaferry left it behind them some great young players on the team.. End to end game huge physicality.. All the same expect Slaghneil to win the final with likes of Brendan Rodgers etc..
RIP Sean, a true Gael of Down GAA (Wouldn't it be a honour towards him to see Ballykinlar revived in the future)

[Splash]

Gut wrenching for Portaferry. Should have got the win today.

I'm sure there'll be a lot of 'what ifs' on the long road back to the Ards Peninsula from Armagh. There were chances when they could have sealed it, but there's a lot of positives to take away from today nonetheless. They gave it a lash. Couldn't have asked much more of them.

Plenty of young players stood up today when it was needed, and there'll be plenty for them to take away from this game.

If Portaferry perform like that regularly,  the future could be bright for this group.

Ultimately Neil McManus was the difference. Other players played their role, but not many can do what McManus did today. To score half of Cushendall's points, keeping the Antrim men within touching distance of Portaferry, before putting the free in the net with the last puck of the game, to put the match to extra time, was phenomenal on his behalf.

Genuinely think the Ports gave it their best shot, and couldn't have done too much more today. Did themselves proud.

White line fever...

They had it in sight, four points up. 5 minutes of ordinary time to go and spurned the additional few points that would have put the game beyond Cushendall..

Making the right call, not shooting wildly in panic comes with experience and that bit of knowhow in tight situations.

The injury to Eoghan Sands was pivotal all the same, he ran himself into the ground.

Portaferry left it behind them some great young players on the team.. End to end game huge physicality.. All the same expect Slaghneil to win the final with likes of Brendan Rodgers etc..
RIP Sean, a true Gael of Down GAA (Wouldn't it be a honour towards him to see Ballykinlar revived in the future)

The attempt to go hunting for goals at the end, as opposed to taking several chances at points, ultimately let Cushendall back into it. Was understandable given how McAlister had played. If they had got a goal, we'd be talking about how deadly Portaferry were and how they took their chances. Fine margins.

Would agree about Sands. The man had some game.

Portaferry's performance was a great response to anyone who doubted their quality after last year.

Cushendall showed they are a top team in extra time, but still would imagine Slaughtneil to win the final.

Be interesting next year with the Down Champions having a bye to the final. We've seen Down teams are able to compete with other teams in Ulster. Another performance like that next year, in a final, who knows what could happen.


Agreed, it would be great to see Ballykinlar revived, particularly in tribute to Sean McCashin. Imagine this is different again from the Mitchell's situation. Did Ballykinlar fold due to lack of numbers? What would need to be done to bring a team back to the parish?

[marty34]

Small margins really. Great 2nd half.

Cushendall looked as if they were comfortable in the game but kept conceeding silly goals (from their point of view). An early one, then 2 very soft ones in the 2 nd half. Portaferry got the goals at the right time and it gave them something to fight for.

Great entertainment in 2nd half. Mc Manus came out to No. 11 and got on a lot more ball.  I think he's more danger out the pitch a bit, rather than full-forward. Never mind the goal he got but he kept Cushendall in it - picking off crucials points from play at crucial stages to keep the Antrim men just about in touch.

Funny if Portaferry man didn't foul him in injury time, he probably wouldn't have scored a goal from open play. He'd had been crowded out. The lad just wrestled him to the ground and take the chances with the free.

Should you tell the defenders not to pull a man down in that case as there's usually enough bodies back but just a rush of blood?

Portaferry will be gutted as they played well. Cushendall will be also but in a different way - they'll be glad to get a good 87+ mins of high energy sapping hurling plus a good week to recover. 

[johnnycool]

Small margins really. Great 2nd half.

Cushendall looked as if they were comfortable in the game but kept conceeding silly goals (from their point of view). An early one, then 2 very soft ones in the 2 nd half. Portaferry got the goals at the right time and it gave them something to fight for.

Great entertainment in 2nd half. Mc Manus came out to No. 11 and got on a lot more ball.  I think he's more danger out the pitch a bit, rather than full-forward. Never mind the goal he got but he kept Cushendall in it - picking off crucials points from play at crucial stages to keep the Antrim men just about in touch.

Funny if Portaferry man didn't foul him in injury time, he probably wouldn't have scored a goal from open play. He'd had been crowded out. The lad just wrestled him to the ground and take the chances with the free.

Should you tell the defenders not to pull a man down in that case as there's usually enough bodies back but just a rush of blood?

Portaferry will be gutted as they played well. Cushendall will be also but in a different way - they'll be glad to get a good 87+ mins of high energy sapping hurling plus a good week to recover. 

That's white line fever... Big Barry wouldn't have done that in normal circumstances, panic set in rather than the cool head, holding him up and pushing him out the field and forcing him to pass. They'd the numbers back to do just that.

[marty34]

Small margins really. Great 2nd half.

Cushendall looked as if they were comfortable in the game but kept conceeding silly goals (from their point of view). An early one, then 2 very soft ones in the 2 nd half. Portaferry got the goals at the right time and it gave them something to fight for.

Great entertainment in 2nd half. Mc Manus came out to No. 11 and got on a lot more ball.  I think he's more danger out the pitch a bit, rather than full-forward. Never mind the goal he got but he kept Cushendall in it - picking off crucials points from play at crucial stages to keep the Antrim men just about in touch.

Funny if Portaferry man didn't foul him in injury time, he probably wouldn't have scored a goal from open play. He'd had been crowded out. The lad just wrestled him to the ground and take the chances with the free.

Should you tell the defenders not to pull a man down in that case as there's usually enough bodies back but just a rush of blood?

Portaferry will be gutted as they played well. Cushendall will be also but in a different way - they'll be glad to get a good 87+ mins of high energy sapping hurling plus a good week to recover. 

That's white line fever... Big Barry wouldn't have done that in normal circumstances, panic set in rather than the cool head, holding him up and pushing him out the field and forcing him to pass. They'd the numbers back to do just that.

Yeah, rush of blood. He just dragged him down.  It wasn't as if he tried to tackle him even.

Portaferry had a chance of a point just before that to put 4 pts in it (iirc) but they went for goal and keeper saved it with his leg.

A point there and the game was over. As I say, small margins.