Down Club Hurling & Football

[downtothecore]

Armagh folk think they are top class team. As you seen today they are certainly not. We should not fear them anymore and a similar plan with a few tweaks in attack will beat them....

[snoopdog]

You can only play with what you have. Down don't have the players so frustrating Armagh was the plan. It nearly worked.

[befair]

Awful spectacle, but good strategy from Lavery, nearly pulled of the shock of the season. The final free was a long-shot; did the ref tell hime he had to score direct?

[DownGael71]

Would have liked a win but happy enough.  We were massive underdogs and near had it.  Lav is still building and we are going in the right direction. Progresss is slow but progress all the same! 

[Ed Hardy]

Some effort put into that game yesterday, couldn't fault that! Wasn't easy to watch at times, but fully understand why they did it. Any word on Barry? Didn't look good him coming off.

Few weeks off and then hopefully give the Tailteann cup another rattle, I'm sure there will be a few more players brought into the squad aswell for that, likes of Ruairi O'Hare, John McGovern.

[Nanderson]

Some effort put into that game yesterday, couldn't fault that! Wasn't easy to watch at times, but fully understand why they did it. Any word on Barry? Didn't look good him coming off.

Few weeks off and then hopefully give the Tailteann cup another rattle, I'm sure there will be a few more players brought into the squad aswell for that, likes of Ruairi O'Hare, John McGovern.

Is Ruairi about the panel? Desperatley need a big man who can win his own ball and hit a score

[thewobbler]

The football is not easy on the eye, but hats off to Conor and the players yesterday.

More talented Down teams than that have got obliterated in championship football throughout my lifetime.

Down were in with a real sniff for all 70 mins. Should we unearth a gem or two of a forward to put into that mix, we can finally move forward again.

[ardtole]

I've been going to Down matches since the 80s and yesterday was nothing short of dreadful.

We were 2 points up with approx 15 mins to go v Armagh in an Ulster semi final and my main concern was, I hope this doesn't go to extra time.

If playing like that is what it takes to be competitive, it's not a price worth paying as far as I'm concerned, and judging by the size of the crowd, I'm not alone. Would there have been 2000 Down supporters in Clones yesterday?

I recognise that plenty will take positives from yesterday's performance and to a degree, I can see where they are coming from. Laverty done nothing wrong yesterday, he broke no rules as such but mother of God, the powers that be must take action sooner rather than later because as a spectacle that game yesterday is unacceptable.

And I don't think I'm looking through rose tinted glasses about games from previous era's, plenty of them were poor too. I know Jarlath Burns has put together an impressive looking task force to deal with the predicament football finds itself in, and I'm sure they can use yesterday's game as an indicator of what drastic measures are needed to cure our game.

Down are not alone either, a lot of counties employ similar tactics, at times we have played excellently under Laverty, Cavan away last year in the Tailtain cup was a great performance. But  I really do hope there are rule changes made to avoid what happened yesterday repeated. And even if we won yesterday, I'm sure I would be saying the same thing.

[Mourne Red]

I've been going to Down matches since the 80s and yesterday was nothing short of dreadful.

We were 2 points up with approx 15 mins to go v Armagh in an Ulster semi final and my main concern was, I hope this doesn't go to extra time.

If playing like that is what it takes to be competitive, it's not a price worth paying as far as I'm concerned, and judging by the size of the crowd, I'm not alone. Would there have been 2000 Down supporters in Clones yesterday?

I recognise that plenty will take positives from yesterday's performance and to a degree, I can see where they are coming from. Laverty done nothing wrong yesterday, he broke no rules as such but mother of God, the powers that be must take action sooner rather than later because as a spectacle that game yesterday is unacceptable.

And I don't think I'm looking through rose tinted glasses about games from previous era's, plenty of them were poor too. I know Jarlath Burns has put together an impressive looking task force to deal with the predicament football finds itself in, and I'm sure they can use yesterday's game as an indicator of what drastic measures are needed to cure our game.

Down are not alone either, a lot of counties employ similar tactics, at times we have played excellently under Laverty, Cavan away last year in the Tailtain cup was a great performance. But  I really do hope there are rule changes made to avoid what happened yesterday repeated. And even if we won yesterday, I'm sure I would be saying the same thing.

Complete overreaction.. It was 1 defensive game out of how many games played so far in Ulster? Or championship in general and apparently the games in a state and needs saving from this "task force". Football is fine and more rule changes isn't going to make it better.

You get bad games in Rugby/Soccer too. Not every side will or can play like 08/09 Barca, All-Blacks 2010-2015 or Dublin 5 in a row.

We needed to play the way we did yesterday to get a result and we almost did - We've a hard running based type of play due to the players we have available and unfortunately that limits how we play. As TheWobbler said we unearth a couple of forwards we challenge for a provincial title

[ranch]

Armagh folk think they are top class team. As you seen today they are certainly not. We should not fear them anymore and a similar plan with a few tweaks in attack will beat them....

I'd say the vast majority of Armagh fans certainly don't think our team are 'top class'. They're a decent side though and probably considered to be among the second rung of teams, below Dublin, Kerry, Derry etc, but similar to Galway, Mayo, Monaghan, Roscommon etc.

I could read your post and throw a similar generalisation at Down fans - go close in one tight game and it's as if you took a great step forward.

In a game that Laverty and his team turned into a war of attrition (and rightly so) you still lost - this game was your third attempt at getting yourselves into this years AI group stages (Meath last year, Westmeath in the Div 3 final and yesterday) and you've developed a similar habit to Armagh in recent years of losing tight games when they're there to be won. I'd be more worried about that going forward than Armagh fans opinions of their own team.

[downtothecore]

The perception particularly among Armagh Folk on the run up to this game was that there a high gulf on class between the 2 teams. That was not apparent yesterday. Yes we lost but I am not worried how about it. We have closed the gap in laverys 2 year spell and I think this group has more potential to develop into winners in coming years. It's taken mc geeney  close to 10 years and yesterday showed they have a bit to do yet. They may snatch an ulster but certainly not an All Ireland.

[ranch]

The perception particularly among Armagh Folk on the run up to this game was that there a high gulf on class between the 2 teams.

I think most people on the Down forum agreed. When the game was there to be won Armagh's subs were able to make the difference, scoring each of their sides last 3 points - there's a clear gulf between the depth of both squads.

That was not apparent yesterday. Yes we lost but I am not worried how about it. We have closed the gap in laverys 2 year spell and I think this group has more potential to develop into winners in coming years. It's taken mc geeney  close to 10 years and yesterday showed they have a bit to do yet.

Down are certainly on an upward trajectory, which was probably to be expected. Laverty took over the team when they were at a very low ebb and the only way was up. I don't think using Down's progress as a tool to somehow talk down Armagh makes much sense however - they won the match, and it's the first time in quite a while they've come out on the right side of an attritional type of match. They'll have got a lot more out of yesterday's game than last years Ulster semi final. Hopefully, it can give them a bit of belief that they can win games going forward without playing well.

They may snatch an ulster but certainly not an All Ireland.

I don't think anybody is expecting Armagh to win the All Ireland, and I expect them to be underdogs in the Ulster final too, regardless of the opposition.

[Wildweasel74]

Where's all the height gone in Down football, I may be going bck a long time but i seen plenty of Down all through the 90's and the one thing they didn't lack was sheer size. They were always know as a big team.

[statto]

Beat by 1 or beat by 10, still BEAT

We were expected to get beat by 10 by most people and we should have won and in the process gave our biggest rivals a reality check..their footballers are no better than ours. Next year we can fully expect to turn them over.

On what grounds beat by 10 last year 13 scores to 8 yesterday goals kept down in the game limited enough side who failed win tailteann cup and division three this year.

[statto]

Awful spectacle, but good strategy from Lavery, nearly pulled of the shock of the season. The final free was a long-shot; did the ref tell hime he had to score direct?

Why do so many people in down call him lavery?