Down Club Hurling & Football

[passedit]

I have a lot of respect for Pete McGrath, but last night he (because they lost the game) cancelled the minor's meal after the game.
What point was he trying to prove by doing this ridiculous action? Shocking way to treat young fellas who were undoubtably hurting after the defeat.

he thought this was the only course of action he could take after hearing someone in the crowd commenting that the minor team wern't hungry enough.

His way of deflecting the blame from where it really lies. A crime to win nothing with that team.

[Leo]

I have a lot of respect for Pete McGrath, but last night he (because they lost the game) cancelled the minor's meal after the game.
What point was he trying to prove by doing this ridiculous action? Shocking way to treat young fellas who were undoubtably hurting after the defeat.

he thought this was the only course of action he could take after hearing someone in the crowd commenting that the minor team wern't hungry enough.

His way of deflecting the blame from where it really lies. A crime to win nothing with that team.

An apalling decision - have we no county board to over-rule such treatment of young amateur sportsmen whose manager has just let them down?

[thewobbler]

I've no idea what happened in the minor game, but to lose a 15 point lead - mostly through frees - takes some amount of disorganisation and confusion.

[Square Ball]

I've no idea what happened in the minor game, but to lose a 15 point lead - mostly through frees - takes some amount of disorganisation and confusion.

Agree, especially with the last bit, but to cancell the dinner is an appaulling decision, oh look at me and what i can do, those kids will be gutted by the nature of the loss, but to treated that way is over the top imho

[ardtole]

Although we had a reasonably good league campaign, what did we learn from it? There was little or no experimentation with players at all. After Saturdays defeat people are calling for Gordon to be moved back to midfield, but surely he should have played some of the league partnering both Fitzpatrick and King to see who he gels with most.
Fitzpatrick and King have been our midfield almost exclusively since Ambrose got injured, seemingly in the hope they would get better with each game, unfortunately this hasn't been the case. We are going into the qualifiers now and some changes are going to have to be made but you could argue it isnt the right place to be experimenting.
I still wouldn't rule us out of having a good summer if we can get a decent draw to start with and get a bit of momentum going, we still have a good squad but we were outfought and well beat by Armagh.

[NP 76]

The lead was never at 15 points maybe 10 at the most but in all honesty the keeper should of known himself to try a short kickout all he did was boom them down the field . We have wasted 3 good minor teams this last 3 years 2 with Mark Turley and co and one of them was an all ireland semi final

[NP 76]

Why would the minors be taken out for something to eat when the seniors are fed in the dressing room after the game . Cant see the county board taking the minors out for a meal and not the seniors

[spiritof91and94]

2 Down selectors attended bryansford v burren only 4 weeks ago - a blind man would have seen that night that Dan McCartan was out of his depth, are these selectors doing their job? incidently that night we scored 1.17 and 4 of the down defenders were doing the same job for burren!
add to the fact 'axed' joe ireland cleaned out mcardle in the middle and 'axed' luke howard ran the ford defence with ease from number 6, the senior management need to be asked question on the squad they picked for the campaign.
How is it Down always seem hit by hamstring injuries at this time of year - is the training right?
Defence getting roasted - replace a corner forward? would clarke not have been an option at LHB at that stage?
Is Liam Doyle anyway near fit?

If people want to watch burren they can go along on friday night.
I thought we were going to use Paddy O'Rourke as all his other club mates were on!!!

[Mid Down Gael]

2 Down selectors attended bryansford v burren only 4 weeks ago - a blind man would have seen that night that Dan McCartan was out of his depth, are these selectors doing their job? incidently that night we scored 1.17 and 4 of the down defenders were doing the same job for burren!
add to the fact 'axed' joe ireland cleaned out mcardle in the middle and 'axed' luke howard ran the ford defence with ease from number 6, the senior management need to be asked question on the squad they picked for the campaign.
How is it Down always seem hit by hamstring injuries at this time of year - is the training right?
Defence getting roasted - replace a corner forward? would clarke not have been an option at LHB at that stage?
Is Liam Doyle anyway near fit?

If people want to watch burren they can go along on friday night.
I thought we were going to use Paddy O'Rourke as all his other club mates were on!!!

Well said. The Burren bias has to stop. 8 Burren men on Down panel and all average enough apart from McKernan and Gerard McCartan. Anton McArdle faided to start for the county under 21s in their opening game this year and was a sub when Burren lost the league final last year having lost his place from the championship winning team. But come May he is used in the Ulster senior championship, when we have much better options in Colgan, Carr, Murphy etc... in reserve not to mention many other better midfielders not on the squad.

[redandblackareback]

I didnt post immediately after the game because i actually couldnt get my head round how we lost BOTH games on Saturday evening. I left the Athletic grounds angry and upset over a number of things.

1. The team is getting clearly wiped out in the middle sector and we take our corner forward off. Surely with the quality of coach/trainer/selector/eye in the stand/manager that someone can see this!
2. The armagh management team are a mickey mouse outfit but their team looked sharper and fitter than our guys?? Someone touched on here before about the injuries?? What are we actually doing at training?
3. I will not get personal about James younger brother but he should have been replaced after 15mins. Not fair on the lad to leave him hanging out to dry like that.
4. The burren players are not an issue for me, their current county champions so they deserve to be on the panel BUT!! if young Eoin cant get a start for Burren why do we need to bring him into an inter county championship tie? Are the rest that bad??
5. The minor debacle!! where do we start?? I said on this forum a long time ago Peter Mc Grath is a complete legend, but his appointment was a major major step back!! That was a crime that team didnt walk Ulster!!

[NP 76]

Its only my opinion and maybe well of the mark but i think we are getting alot more injuries training on the 3g pitch at the Abbey . TI read an article about there being no give in the surface of a 3g pitch and in America alot of them are being taken up . Another thing the grass pitch in the Abbey is full of divits and holes it is that bad that at training there is cones put over the top of them to try an avoid injury to the players . I noticed this one night while out walking . In recent weeks two players have gone over on their ankles and had bad sprains

[guevara]

I agree with Spirit on this.....Ive watched club games & seen boys who are supposedly the elite of the county get cleaned. Now I know that everyone has off nights & bad games but its blatantly obvious there is other issues here.
Genuine question would Anton McArdle be on the county squad if not from Burren? Its not his fault he is being selected. But if your struggling to hold down your position on your club team but are on the county panel then something is badly wrong with the selection process.
On Eoin McCartan its mind boggling as its well known the fella sint fit to train even with his club let alone be representing Down?
He is a terrific footballer but if any other Burren player actually deserved a call up in my opinion it would Eamon Toner.
James needs to go away & take a serious look with his selectors at some of the decisions currently being made.
Last year was the best year of football the county has had in a long time. To ruin that progress with poor decisions & stubborness would be a massive dissapointment.

I believe James is the right man for the job and the team he has with him have done an excellent job. But we need to start going out & picking the best footballers in the county instead of the stupid politics of it all that seems to be the case at the minute.

[whitegoodman]

2 Down selectors attended bryansford v burren only 4 weeks ago - a blind man would have seen that night that Dan McCartan was out of his depth, are these selectors doing their job? incidently that night we scored 1.17 and 4 of the down defenders were doing the same job for burren!
add to the fact 'axed' joe ireland cleaned out mcardle in the middle and 'axed' luke howard ran the ford defence with ease from number 6, the senior management need to be asked question on the squad they picked for the campaign.
How is it Down always seem hit by hamstring injuries at this time of year - is the training right?
Defence getting roasted - replace a corner forward? would clarke not have been an option at LHB at that stage?
Is Liam Doyle anyway near fit?

If people want to watch burren they can go along on friday night.
I thought we were going to use Paddy O'Rourke as all his other club mates were on!!!

Well said. The Burren bias has to stop. 8 Burren men on Down panel and all average enough apart from McKernan and Gerard McCartan. Anton McArdle faided to start for the county under 21s in their opening game this year and was a sub when Burren lost the league final last year having lost his place from the championship winning team. But come May he is used in the Ulster senior championship, when we have much better options in Colgan, Carr, Murphy etc... in reserve not to mention many other better midfielders not on the squad.

A few inaccuracies here.

Declan Rooney didnt play against ford that night and McKernan was midfield.  So 2 of saturdays defence played in burrens defence that night

Anton McCardle played in the forward line that night so i dont no how joe ireland cleaned him out if joe was indeed played in midfield.  The same lad didnt start for the under 21's as he wasnt fit to start, having had an operation during the off season.  It wasnt that he wasnt picked to start.

James Colgen is injured and wasnt fit to come on saturday.

Lads if yas are going to come on and slate management and certain players then I suggest yous get ur facts right before doing so!!  Also the fact that some are talking about getting clarke and doyle back into the defense means yous are living in fantasy land.  Its not 1999 ffs.  Clarke will most likely not play for the county again never mind at wing back and doyle has been on the panel all year and it is quite clear that the management dont see him as a viable option

I didnt see Dan McCartan or Declan Rooney getting much abuse last year on the way to an all ireland final!!

[here comes 6]

people need to relax.  Theres no all ireland in this Down team and that will be proven even more over the next few months.  We just need to keep supporting them and try and push them on as far as they can go. This the same bunch of lads that give us a great summer last year and now people are turning their backs on them. Grow up and look forward to our next game and maybe the wagon will get back on track. An Dun abu

[spiritof91and94]

2 Down selectors attended bryansford v burren only 4 weeks ago - a blind man would have seen that night that Dan McCartan was out of his depth, are these selectors doing their job? incidently that night we scored 1.17 and 4 of the down defenders were doing the same job for burren!
add to the fact 'axed' joe ireland cleaned out mcardle in the middle and 'axed' luke howard ran the ford defence with ease from number 6, the senior management need to be asked question on the squad they picked for the campaign.
How is it Down always seem hit by hamstring injuries at this time of year - is the training right?
Defence getting roasted - replace a corner forward? would clarke not have been an option at LHB at that stage?
Is Liam Doyle anyway near fit?

If people want to watch burren they can go along on friday night.
I thought we were going to use Paddy O'Rourke as all his other club mates were on!!!

Well said. The Burren bias has to stop. 8 Burren men on Down panel and all average enough apart from McKernan and Gerard McCartan. Anton McArdle faided to start for the county under 21s in their opening game this year and was a sub when Burren lost the league final last year having lost his place from the championship winning team. But come May he is used in the Ulster senior championship, when we have much better options in Colgan, Carr, Murphy etc... in reserve not to mention many other better midfielders not on the squad.

A few inaccuracies here.

Declan Rooney didnt play against ford that night and McKernan was midfield.  So 2 of saturdays defence played in burrens defence that night

Anton McCardle played in the forward line that night so i dont no how joe ireland cleaned him out if joe was indeed played in midfield.  The same lad didnt start for the under 21's as he wasnt fit to start, having had an operation during the off season.  It wasnt that he wasnt picked to start.

James Colgen is injured and wasnt fit to come on saturday.

Lads if yas are going to come on and slate management and certain players then I suggest yous get ur facts right before doing so!!  Also the fact that some are talking about getting clarke and doyle back into the defense means yous are living in fantasy land.  Its not 1999 ffs.  Clarke will most likely not play for the county again never mind at wing back and doyle has been on the panel all year and it is quite clear that the management dont see him as a viable option

I didnt see Dan McCartan or Declan Rooney getting much abuse last year on the way to an all ireland final!!

Fair enough rooney might not have played. McArdle and McKernan started in the positions but were moved when nothing was happening for them.
Burren won the Down Championship fair enough but no way does it warrant the number in the squad - how many Crossmaglen lads are in Armagh's panel? interesting.
people pay alot to watch county teams and are entitled to question things, without them it cant be played.