Down Club Hurling & Football

[Cúig huaire]

Not great conditions for a game tonight, pitch wasn't great. Referee was worse.
An Riocht never really looked like losing this game, despite the final score. Ballyholland got a goal just before half time to make the score respectable, they had only scored two points at this stage. It was a scrappy enough goal, but they all count. Marty Clarke rounded off the scoring in the first half with a point.
The second half was more of the same though Ballyholland dominated possession, they couldn't quite get back into the game until they found the net in the dying minutes to leave 2 points between the sides. An Riocht answered with a couple of points to leave 3 in it at the end. An Riocht got their scores that wee bit easier than Ballyholland, they did the simple things well. Everything good from An Riocht went through Martin Clarke at No.11, while John Clarke and James Colgan had good games. The Ballyholland No.9 (McAteer?) gave an excellent display of free taking and was probably their best player on display.
Overall it wasn't a classic, but the best team won. The ref did seem to be watching a different game, with some very strange calls.

An Riocht 1-14
Ballyholland 2-08

[Bitta-Banter]

Dont know what games the previous posters were watchin.Murtagh was best player on field by a good bit,caused havoc when in possession.Thought M Clarke was neat and tidy but nothin spectacular.John Clarke won lot of ball but generally was well marked by Ballyhollland number 2.Ballyholland dominated most of second half and should have had 2 more goals.Ref generally favoured An Roicht.An Riocht did get their scores easier but didnt get a mountain of possession due to Ballyholland winnin midfield.

[Square Ball]

Just wondering has anyone heard of any managerial exits in any of the leagues as the season draws to a close?

I hear Bredagh are unsure whether or not they will keep Kevin Blaney on.

 

  news to me that one! some people being mischievous and the season is just over!  and option B. what option you picking Passedit?

Sorry SB i'll spell it out, he only said one of those things I made the other up, so i kinda know the answer.

clue The lie is based on a very recent actual event. 

Honestly?

seriously, any news on the merrygoround? thats the first I heard that one about Jody, so I cant comment on it

[Cúig huaire]

Murtagh the best player on the field? We must have been at different games. He should be given a ball of his own, he is just too greedy. He will rue those missed goal chances, but the best team won the game.

[An Dun 94]

I thought Brendan Mc Veigh was great tonight Down number 1 for years to come.

[mournerambler]

Was I hearing things or did John Clarke say it was great to be heading to Division 2 next year & he hoped Ballyholland would be in the same position next year & heading for Division 2.
I thought the left half back had a stormer tonight for The Kingdom & I think it was him that came out best in the crunching but fair tackle with Shane Mulholland near the end of the game, some great hits tonight which we don't see too often & in my view the best team won at a canter, they never looked like loosing to be honest.

[5 Sams]

Dont know what games the previous posters were watchin.Murtagh was best player on field by a good bit,caused havoc when in possession.Thought M Clarke was neat and tidy but nothin spectacular.John Clarke won lot of ball but generally was well marked by Ballyhollland number 2.Ballyholland dominated most of second half and should have had 2 more goals.Ref generally favoured An Roicht.An Riocht did get their scores easier but didnt get a mountain of possession due to Ballyholland winnin midfield.

Just in after a couple of pints at the wake.. :-[I'll expand on it tomorrow cos I'm goin to the scratch now ....but before I go I have to say that Rony Murtagh was far and away the best player on the field tonight. Would yiz all take off those Aussie tinted glasses about Marty Clarke...he wasnt even the best player on the An Riocht team. He was average.... His brother was a much bigger threat all night.

[bendurback]

Lads Murtagh wasnt the best player on the field last night, he did play well in the second half when Ballyholland finally started kicking some decent ball into him, but he along with the other five Ballyholland forwards was anonymous in the first half. Its obvious the guy tries his eyestrings out but for me he took the wrong option too often to be given man of the match.

Clarke did the simple things well last night and took a few great scores, he makes everything look very easy. Its hard to pick one standout player from the game though, An Roicht's ability to convert posession to scores was the difference in the two teams. Ballyholland seemed reluctant to hit Murphy and Murtagh in the first half and seemed intent on handpassing the ball out of defence, a tactic that really didnt work.

All in all an enjoyable game of football for the neutral, and the pitch didnt seem that bad considering the current weather conditions.

[dundrumite]

Was I hearing things or did John Clarke say it was great to be heading to Division 2 next year & he hoped Ballyholland would be in the same position next year & heading for Division 2.
I thought the left half back had a stormer tonight for The Kingdom & I think it was him that came out best in the crunching but fair tackle with Shane Mulholland near the end of the game, some great hits tonight which we don't see too often & in my view the best team won at a canter, they never looked like loosing to be honest.

He did indeed. He also stated An Riocht would be using this as a stepping stone to winning the senior championship next year, big big call, at least you can't fault their self belief I suppose.

[Tomorrow is another day]

I would agree that An Riocht did seem to get scores easier than Ballyholland. For me Martin Clarke was a disappointment while the An Riocht full forward line were the real threat.

Ballyholland lost it in the first half through a very poor performance. Too many of the "big" ballyholland players did not perform then. Paul Murphy was anonomous as was  Patterson and McAnulty. At saying that Ballyholland have every opportunity to win it in the second half and should have been awarded a penalty while also missing two other great goal chances. Murtagh was a real threat running at An Riocht but his accuacy of shooting was not there last night in the fist or second half as was hi decision making for going for goal too often.

Colgan was poor enough in midfield with Ballyholland's McAteer the stand out midfielder.

The referee tried hard but made a lot of incorrect calls more than should be expected of a league final. He was very quick to penalise Ballyholland and to move the ball forward against them so either he had to listen to a lot of crap from Murphy or was seeing things more one way than the other. I feel it was a combination of the two.

A very entertaining game for the neutral with the hot favourites winning out but I did leavefeeling that Ballyholland had their chances to upset the odds but just did not take them when it mattered.

[Cúig huaire]

Murtagh makes exactly the same mistakes with his club as he does with the county, he will beat his man with ease, leaving him in acres of space and instead of taking the easy option of taking his point or passing to a team mate, he looks for more men to beat and inevitably runs into trouble. He was through on goal a couple of times and wasted the opportunities, though credit has to go to McVeigh for some excellent saves. Had Ronan taken the simple option of taking his points, the game may have had a different outcome.
Martin Clarke did what he had to do last night, he did the simple things well and rarely wasted a ball, though I have to admit that he looks uncomfortable on the ball at times, maybe he needs time to readjust. His cause was not helped by the fact that the Ballyholland No.6 was hanging out of him for much of the game.
Ballyholland had the lions share of possession last night, but they failed to convert that possession into scores. That should tell you that they are doing something wrong. An Riocht never looked like losing than game last night, even when they conceded the goal near the end. They took their chances more easily and they did the simple things well.
For me the best player on the pitch was the Ballyhollnad No.9.

[thewobbler]

No doubt the better team won last night. The early goal meant we were on the back foot throughout and for long times we played like a team afraid of falling further behind.

The referee didn't beat us, but there were a handful of key incidents that definitely went against us, and in a 3-point game, those end up being crucial.

I'm not sure what the Martin Clarke knockers were drinking last night. The Kingdom's full-forward line were hit every time they made a run into space, and more often than not, the provider was Clarke. Maybe some of you fellas are imagining he should be hitting Ciaran McDonald style hokes 70 yards off the outside of his boot, in between wonder points from all angles. Instead what you got was a man who never wasted a ball all night despite being very tightly marked, someone who was always willing to play the simple pass, someone who never held possession long enough to take a proper knock.

John Clarke and Soupy Campbell has a great tussle. Considering Clarke won at least a dozen clean balls out in front, it was a measure of how good Soupy's tackling was that he only registered one point. Chris Killen did the real damage if you ask me - in the first half anyway.

I was also impressed with Deaglan O'Reilly, Joe McVeigh and especially Brendan McVeigh - who aside from a couple of great stops, showed tremendous distribution qualities.

Best for Harps over the 60 were Murtagh and McAteer, while the two Barrys definitely made a difference when they came on.

[goldenyears]

wobbler's right - the harps 1st half was atrocious and going 9-2 down was a disastrous start. altho declan moore didnt beat us, it seemed that anytime we pressurised/tackled/hit their men we got blown up - it allowed the kingdom to play the lovely football they can play - but we needed a wee bit of leeway to get stuck in to see if that could upset them.

credit tho to kingdom they are a lovely footballing team, i was delighted to see m clarke and i think the fella oozes class. he definitely needs time to readjust but for playmaking + score taking alone he should be a definite starter on our county team. he has such a good temperament too. did anyone else notice him palming the ball away from himself aussie rules style on a couple of occasions for fear of infringement?

anyways, yes our 2 goal chances were huge moments, b mcveigh made couple of other great saves, and i would loved us to gotten level or 1 ahead to see what the kingdom had in them - possibly they are better equiped for div 1 but they are going to struggle in midfield i believe at the higher level.

lastly, i spoke to an armagh man after the game and he thought the refereeing was contributing to part of whats gone wrong in down football - ie no one is allowed to tackle hard / hit hard - he said some of the stuff that was being blown up wouldnt even be looked at in an armagh club game. i would tend to agree with that

[mournerambler]

wobbler's right - the harps 1st half was atrocious and going 9-2 down was a disastrous start. altho declan moore didnt beat us, it seemed that anytime we pressurised/tackled/hit their men we got blown up - it allowed the kingdom to play the lovely football they can play - but we needed a wee bit of leeway to get stuck in to see if that could upset them.

credit tho to kingdom they are a lovely footballing team, i was delighted to see m clarke and i think the fella oozes class. he definitely needs time to readjust but for playmaking + score taking alone he should be a definite starter on our county team. he has such a good temperament too. did anyone else notice him palming the ball away from himself aussie rules style on a couple of occasions for fear of infringement?

anyways, yes our 2 goal chances were huge moments, b mcveigh made couple of other great saves, and i would loved us to gotten level or 1 ahead to see what the kingdom had in them - possibly they are better equiped for div 1 but they are going to struggle in midfield i believe at the higher level.

lastly, i spoke to an armagh man after the game and he thought the refereeing was contributing to part of whats gone wrong in down football - ie no one is allowed to tackle hard / hit hard - he said some of the stuff that was being blown up wouldnt even be looked at in an armagh club game. i would tend to agree with that

I'd have to completly disagree with that view, although the referee wasn't the best i've seen he certainly did allow some hard but fair challenges last night, we can't always blame the referee.

[Cúig huaire]

A lot of the neutrals last night thought the referee was shocking. A few Armagh men near me also said that referees were to blame for the poor standard of football in Down. No one seems to know how to tackle properly, one ref lets a certain tackle go while another blows it up.
I didn't think the ref favoured either team last night, but he didn't seem to want a free flowing game either.
I think questions have to be asked regarding fixtures. Why play such an important game in the middle of November? The ground isn't right for football at this time of year.