Down Football-where to now.....?

[seafoid]

It is hard to know what to suggest for teams that find themselves a long way from their historic peak . Munster rugby is in a similar situation, as are Meath and Galway. Say the top six are the Dubs, Kerry, tyrone, Mayo, Monaghan, Donegal. The last 4 have a sum total of 5 all Irelands in the last 40 years.  If they can get close to the top surely Down can again

For me the bigger question is whether or not Tyrone take over as Ulster kingpins.

[SamFever]

No county can come from nowhere quicker, been proved a few times now.

Well,here we are still in June and no more County games for Down until January.

[manfromdelmonte]

without good U16, minor and U21 teams then a county is going nowhere, for a reasonable length of time

[illdecide]

The captain(s) sailing the sinking ship seems to be the problem and until them ********* (insert your own phrase) are removed from your County nothing will change. Down had a good man (Armagh man too) running the team and half of your County voted to have him removed (and i include your clubs in that vote), i bet it would be a different vote now if it was cast.

Down are not very good at present but if they had all the players available to them togged out for the County i'd say they'd hold their own against any other team out of the top 6 in Ireland.

As an Armagh man i can't criticise too much as we're going through a lean spell too and doesn't look like improving any time soon the only difference is our County Board are backing the manager and the players want to play for him (no matter what else you hear out there) there will always be a few who don't want to commit to levels required for County Football...sh*t happens. Get over it.

[Farrandeelin]

What I cannot understand is how far Down have fallen since 2010. I was of the opinion that that team was young and had time on its side. Might have been wrong though.

[babarino]

There's no quick fix for Down football even if the style of footballer is very good and the clubs of a high standard. A few things strike me about them from observing them over the years:

• Expectations are very high because of a very proud history. Morale plummets with a run of bad results.
• Consequently the turnover of managers and players is high. Some of Down's best players don't want to play - Conor Laverty being the obvious example.
• There isn't a centre of excellence - this is a given for any county with aspirations to be in the top tier. The county board needs to get its act together.

[ck]

There's no quick fix for Down football even if the style of footballer is very good and the clubs of a high standard. A few things strike me about them from observing them over the years:

• Expectations are very high because of a very proud history. Morale plummets with a run of bad results.
• Consequently the turnover of managers and players is high. Some of Down's best players don't want to play - Conor Laverty being the obvious example.
• There isn't a centre of excellence - this is a given for any county with aspirations to be in the top tier. The county board needs to get its act together.

Not at all. This "no centre of excellence" line is thrown out there as a reason for lack of success. It's nonsense. Most counties have average facilities at best. I don't know much about Down football but I do know they have tradition and pedigree therefore should have good club structures in place. Sometimes this can breed arrogance and contempt.
I have no doubt the good people of Down will turn it around but it'll take time and hard graft.

[Wildweasel74]

I noticed a down paper in at work and seen Downpatrick are paling in division 2 against loughlinisland? How the hell a place the size of downpatrick is playing in div 2, is that not half the problem, the big club teams are not what they were

[east down gael]

It's a big part of the problem.The large population bases in the county arn't pulling their weight in terms of providing county standard players.Its not just downpatrick but also south belfast(Carryduff and Bredagh),but most alarmingly newry.

[babarino]

It's a big part of the problem.The large population bases in the county arn't pulling their weight in terms of providing county standard players.Its not just downpatrick but also south belfast(Carryduff and Bredagh),but most alarmingly newry.

Is Downpatrick considered a big club in Down? It's the rural clubs that have provided the most talent; same as in most of Ulster.

Newry's funny in that it's divided between Down and Armagh. Bosco seem to produce good teams at underage but lose them at 18-21.

Don't know much about Bredagh and Carryduff - have these 2 clubs not gained big spike in players / members in the last few years and haven't hit senior yet?

[babarino]

Most counties have average facilities at best. I don't know much about Down football but I do know they have tradition and pedigree therefore should have good club structures in place. Sometimes this can breed arrogance and contempt.
I have no doubt the good people of Down will turn it around but it'll take time and hard graft.

Most counties are average at best. Tradition, pedigree, hard graft - dream on...

[yellowcard]

McCorry done a very good job last year and had one bad result away to Wexford then was effectively hounded out. Burns has failed to win a match all season and there is nowhere near the same level of outcry. Hypocrisy at its finest, Down have major problems. It doesn't help matters  prominent ex players are hyper critical in the press pushing their own personal agendas.

[Blue Island]

It's a big part of the problem.The large population bases in the county arn't pulling their weight in terms of providing county standard players.Its not just downpatrick but also south belfast(Carryduff and Bredagh),but most alarmingly newry.

Is Downpatrick considered a big club in Down? It's the rural clubs that have provided the most talent; same as in most of Ulster.

Newry's funny in that it's divided between Down and Armagh. Bosco seem to produce good teams at underage but lose them at 18-21.

Don't know much about Bredagh and Carryduff - have these 2 clubs not gained big spike in players / members in the last few years and haven't hit senior yet?

Downpatrick is a strange club in that regard. When they do come to the fore they usually come very strong and then revert back to bottom of division one or division two almost as quickly. In the seventies they won a few championships then reverted back to division two for most of the eighties. In the early nineties they had a great team and should probably have won an Ulster. Since then they have spent a good deal of time in division two.

What I would say is that when Down was doing well in the early nineties they had the usual compliment from South Down, but had quite a number from Carryduff and Downpatrick. Of the starting fifteen in 91, five came from these two clubs and four in 94. We are not getting the stars from these clubs that we once were and whilst that is far from being the only problem in Down, it doesn't help.

[A man from Down]

Just a reminder that there were at least 4 Downpatrick men on the panel on Saturday.

At present there are about 7 soccer teams in Downpatrick? That's nearly impossible for one Gaa club to compete with. A point was made that people in "Downpatrick were not pulling their weight" which is bollocks. I'm not in anyway associated with the RGU but I do know like most clubs in the county that there is much work going on at underage (an All Ireland was won last weekend) but whilst in the likes of Kilcoo, Clonduff or Burren for talksake there are young men sitting in the dugout as subs on a Friday night chomping at the bit to come on and play a part in Downpatrick a young sub may be thinking that its a better idea to play soccer on a Saturday instead were getting a full 90 minutes of playing and enjoyment is highly likely.

As someone from a neighbouring club that is only my opinion btw as we have had a similar problem and I honestly don't know what numbers the RGU are getting turning out at senior level but one thing for sure is that the soccer saturation in and around the town does have an effect. I imagine its similar in Newry too, the overlap in soccer and GAA seasons too is getting bigger now due to how all sports are becoming more organised. The soccer season runs until the end of May and Pre-season seems to start again in late July.

   

[illdecide]

We all have that problem, Lurgan is actually worse in that we have 4 GAA clubs in the town and another 3 on the outskirts of the town. Factor in about 7-8 soccer teams too and Sean Tracy's hurling club (take that), it's no secret the GAA clubs in Lurgan are not doing great and this may well be a factor but it's been happening around the town for 30 years...