Down Club Hurling & Football

[saulzer]

Mayobridge edged RGU by 2. Hoops missed a penalty, Magee blasted in over the bar. Shortly after, ref give Benny Coulter a penalty for ......er... being Benny Coulter, as far as anyone could see. Bridge keeper made a fingertip save from a 25 yard piledriver from Collins near the end. Exciting enough game, but plenty of errors.

[Hedgehunter]

The Town beat Kilcoo and won the league.

How does it feel to win last years league with the 1st league game of the new season?? Feel like a damp squib??

[Town Gael]

Our club is bouncing! Haters gonna hate. Winners gonna win

[Hedgehunter]

Our club is bouncing! Haters gonna hate. Winners gonna win

Good to hear.... enjoy....

[UlsterMan2]

First time posting, was at mayobridge on Friday night and thought Kieran Trainor made three very brave calls, 1st giving rgu a penalty, which they missed, 2nd giving mayobridge a stone wall penalty moments later, and 3rd making the bridge retake a penalty which was taken while he was in the process of booking a rgu player, he showed balls, which is lacking in a lot of refs

[Frankie123]

Was at mayobridge on Friday night and agree that referee made 3 brave  calls.  gave RGU a stonewall penalty which they missed, gave Maypbridge a penalty which was a text book clean tackle.  Mayobridge missed the shot and then retook because referee was booking RGU player for remonstrating re clean tackle resulting in penalty.  Yes, KT made 3 very brave calls but disagree with the Bridge penalty.

[SHEEDY]

with the championship only a matter of weeks away, surely we should be doing whatever is needed to make sure our better players dont walk away. for me devlin would be a starter but unfortunately now it seems that he doesnt feel wanted and with mooney a big injury doubt things dont look as good as they did a week or two ago.

taken from independent.ie...

Down's Ulster Championship hopes are significantly damaged by a raft of recent injuries, and Paul Devlin departing the panel, claiming he felt like, "an outcast".
It has emerged that Caolan Mooney is awaiting test results on an MRI scan, fearing that he may have ruptured his Patellar Tendon which takes a minimum of three months' recovery before resuming exercise.
Meanwhile, Kilcoo brothers Jerome (quad) and Ryan (hamstring) Johnston have suffered injuries and will have a lot to do in order to prove their fitness ahead of the clash with Armagh in Newry on June 4.

Devlin, a mainstay of the team under James McCartan and Jim McCorry, has left Eamonn Burns' squad, citing his frustration with a lack of game time. The 26-year-old Kilcoo man was only used as a late substitute in the league games against Galway, Derry and Meath.
After Kilcoo's defeat to Slaughtneil in the Ulster club final last November, Devlin took a fortnight off before returning to county training.

"I felt I needed to be back into county training to win a position for the National League. But I don't know, maybe they are seeing things I am not seeing, or what I am feeling," he said.
"I spoke to Eamonn a few times and he said that I just needed to take my chance when I got it. But in three months of football, I played only 35 minutes, all in."

Having joined the panel as a teenager in 2010, Devlin was not prepared to sit and bide his time any longer.
"Well, at the end of the day, it is football. I want to be playing and if you are not getting football you are obviously not happy," he explained. "Sometimes, the way football goes, you can't dwell on it too much. You just have to take a step back and see where you can get the best out of yourself.

"If you are not enjoying it, if you are not getting any game-time, you are safer going back to your club where you can get a bit of football and start enjoying the game."
He admits that the lack of game-time left him feeling insecure about his capabilities.

"It's probably more frustration with myself. I was starting to doubt my ability, 'Why can I not break into the team?'
"There were times when I was asking myself. To be honest, I would rather let my football do the talking than approaching people about giving me a chance.

"This is my policy. I wouldn't want to approach people and say, 'You should be starting me'. I would be of the mentality of letting my football do the talking and leave actual talking to other people."

Last Sunday, Kilcoo's league opener against Castlewellan doubled up as last year's league final.


Given how little football he had played up until that point, Kilcoo manager Paul McIver did not start Devlin, copperfastening his decision that he is doing the right thing in the short term.
And, he believes that he will once more play in the red and black.

Regular

"I love putting on the Down jersey, but for the last year and the year before, I was probably one of the regular starters.
"And to be just made like an outcast, I just felt that it was time to take a break from the county panel," he added."I have been there since 2010 and I just fear that I need to be playing football, need to be playing regular football now I am starting to come into my prime, I don't want to be sitting on the bench."

[UlsterMan2]

Things like this happening between league and championship, is it any wonder this county is in a mess? Would put you off supporting, now is a time when players should be chomping at the bit to face Armagh, instead their retiring

[supersub]

Things like this happening between league and championship, is it any wonder this county is in a mess? Would put you off supporting, now is a time when players should be chomping at the bit to face Armagh, instead their retiring

Not ideal, but why would it put you off supporting? Strange thought process. It's a time when supporters should be giving their all behind the team instead of questioning everything that goes on. They stayed in Div 2 which seemed unlikely most of the way through. Next game is the championship, get behind the team don't slate them.

[Smurfy123]

Can you really blame him after only getting 35 minutes in 10 games?
He was back training in December and got little or no game time
The county players have not been given any time off by the management since the Cork game but they will be givin a week off next week as a few of the current management are away on holidays.
Really does not make sense.

[ardtole]

Id have no problem with anyone dropping off the panel if they were not happy. It happens all the time, I dont understand why it would stop you supporting the team though.

[Mourne Rover]

Devlin is a county standard free taker but really only the equivalent of a decent club forward from open play. He works hard but is not a ball winner and his limitations were fairly clear against Slaughtneil in the USC final. While it is always useful to have a left sided free taker in the squad, a place on the bench was probably the most he could have hoped for this summer.

[TheClutch]

Devlin is a county standard free taker but really only the equivalent of a decent club forward from open play. He works hard but is not a ball winner and his limitations were fairly clear against Slaughtneil in the USC final. While it is always useful to have a left sided free taker in the squad, a place on the bench was probably the most he could have hoped for this summer.

+1

a very fair assessment in my opinion

[Smurfy123]

Well it does not say much for the rest of Devlin is only good enough for a subs bench
He has scored well in big games over this last 4-5  years bar the Ulster final
What has the rest done with the exceptions of the 2 jonhnstones?

[elk]

CPN's bubble burst already??