Down Club Hurling & Football

[forevergreen]

WGM that's harsh, but definitely some questionable decisions made along line but that also happened in the championship final last year too.

Truth is Burren are still missing Cathal Murdock, Gerard McCartan, Declan Rooney, Anton McArdle and Shay McArdle, add in Kevin, Donal, Dan and its a big loss.

However we were still winning tonight a relinquished a 3 or 4 point lead, we lacked fight and belief in key areas.

The management must now sort out the players that are there and ensure they are playing for the jersey and playing for their places.

Too many boys in cruise control and badly in need of a rocket.

Its upto Paddy Carr and Gavin Murdock to ensure that everyone is pushed to the limit to get things back on track and moving forward.

That will tell whether they can emulate Frank or Mickey or Jimmy as you put it.

[downjim]

I heard a rumour today that a ref was assaulted in a reserve final. Sad day and I hope the culprit is banned heavily.
We are in dire straits at the minute in Burren. The confidence is lost  but with our full squad back we can still compete with the best.

[5 Sams]

I heard a rumour today that a ref was assaulted in a reserve final. Sad day and I hope the culprit is banned heavily.
We are in dire straits at the minute in Burren. The confidence is lost  but with our full squad back we can still compete with the best.

Reserve Final?? Bit early for that...

[Lecale2]

I heard a rumour today that a ref was assaulted in a reserve final. Sad day and I hope the culprit is banned heavily.
We are in dire straits at the minute in Burren. The confidence is lost  but with our full squad back we can still compete with the best.

Reserve Final?? Bit early for that...

A bit early for assaulting referees as well!

[Clinker]

Saw a fella getting dropped off at St Mary's Training College there.
Registration of the car was D91 SAM.  Anybody famous?

[supersub]

I heard a rumour today that a ref was assaulted in a reserve final. Sad day and I hope the culprit is banned heavily.
We are in dire straits at the minute in Burren. The confidence is lost  but with our full squad back we can still compete with the best.

Reserve Final?? Bit early for that...

Felix Darby?

WGM that's harsh, but definitely some questionable decisions made along line but that also happened in the championship final last year too.

Truth is Burren are still missing Cathal Murdock, Gerard McCartan, Declan Rooney, Anton McArdle and Shay McArdle, add in Kevin, Donal, Dan and its a big loss.

However we were still winning tonight a relinquished a 3 or 4 point lead, we lacked fight and belief in key areas.

The management must now sort out the players that are there and ensure they are playing for the jersey and playing for their places.

Too many boys in cruise control and badly in need of a rocket.

Its upto Paddy Carr and Gavin Murdock to ensure that everyone is pushed to the limit to get things back on track and moving forward.

That will tell whether they can emulate Frank or Mickey or Jimmy as you put it.

Can't really count Rooney he doesn't play for Burren sure! Are the likes of Sean Murdock, James McGovern, Conor Toner, Eamon Toner etc playing?

[PAULD123]

Does anyone know much about Aussie Rules? I notice that Marty Clarke played the first AFL game for Collingwood back in March and has been dropped to the VFL team ever since. Is that a big deal? Like big enough to start dreaming he may be back sometime soon?

[Down Follower]

Does anyone know much about Aussie Rules? I notice that Marty Clarke played the first AFL game for Collingwood back in March and has been dropped to the VFL team ever since. Is that a big deal? Like big enough to start dreaming he may be back sometime soon?

It appears from his article in the Hogan Stand website that he is settled in Australia.  It isnt good for him not being in the first team but it is a wage for him.  I suspect if he doesnt make it through to the Collingwood first team he will get another contract with a smaller team to extend his stay.  That will take him up to about 30 years of age or so and at that stage he will be looking at retirement.  He may come back and play for a year or two at that stage and possibly pick up media work for that time but as far as long term planning I think Marty has made his choice.  We can always dream however!!  Clarke spreading those beautiful passes into Coulter/McCumiskey/J Clarke and Murtagh were a thing of beauty back in 2010.

[A man from Down]

In the wake of last Saturday nights match there has been a lot of criticism on here as per usual.

When driving home all of us in the car were of the opinion that there was actually nobody in a Down shirt that played poorly.

James was right in saying that the scoreboard was not a fair reflection of the performance. At the end of the day if Tyrone had'nt have got thier (non) penalty and Carr had put ours away, the deficit would have only been two. All ifs and buts of course however things don't seem just so gloomy for a run in the qualifiers.

When we look at how the Down defence performed there were some positives. Sean Cavanagh was well marshalled whilst thier entire (higly rated) full forward line was substituted only scoring once from play. Sure, McKenna came on and looked like an All-star but the game was over at this point. The difference for for me was that Tyrone were just more clinical and McGinley had a big input for them as he actually was'nt marked by anybody for long periods as Down deployed the sweeper and left him free.

With the break now the lads can go back to thier clubs. Those who have just returned from long term injuries in recent months ie: Gordan, Garvey, Ambrose, Rooney, O'Hagan & co can get more games with the possibility of James adding one or two other faces. In the qualifiers most teams simply will not want to draw Down, so hopefully this team can gather some momentum and go on a run.

One other thing, Conor Laverty!
Love him or loathe him this man is an exceptional footballer. His best position is right up in the full forward line. Anytime he is played here he is devastating both for club and county. Most of the games I have seen him play for Down have been where he is roving around midfield but as we seen against Monaghan in 2012 and in the 2nd half in Omagh in the first half last Saturday he must play up top with his young clubmate. This could be key to Downs gameplan for the rest of the summer. Also on the point of players and positions, Big Dan is our best midfielder plain and simple, for a man that has barely kicked a ball for two years he caught more clean catches on Saturday night than we did all through the league campaign. McArdle is a fine full back and would'nt be under pressure on the edge of the square if our strongest midfield is fit and winning posession around the middle.

 

[PAULD123]

I agree the margin of victory was flattering - A missed Down Penalty, a phantom penalty awarded to Tyrone, a blatant rugby tackle by McMahon on Johnston being unpunished for another penalty, a missed short free (again), Jerome hit the post, the lucky break of the ball to land at McKenna's feet for their 1st goal.

But I believe we were always going to lose, Tyrone were better and always looked capable of pulling that extra shot out to beat us.

The big disappointment for me is the lack of real chances we created. Tyrone create a lot of opportunities, they miss a lot too. If the sharpen up then they will be deadly and real contenders for Sam. We could be clinical and still only end the average game wit about 15 points. We simply do not create enough scoring opportunities.

[Uptheyellas]

Clonduff on the other hand were very poor, seemed to have no ideas going forward and were very poor in defence. They are definitely a club in trouble at the minute. With the big number in Div 1 they will probably survive but only just. Aidan Carr was a big miss last night and Darren O'Hagan made his first appearance of the year for the club which was a boost. Rumours are that Arthur Mc Conville is heading to America again for the summer to play football. They have some good young footballers but maybe too much being expected of the too soon.

Anybody who knows anything about down football will know it is the second half of the season that counts in division 1 and to say we are "definitely a club in big trouble" being 1 point of fifth place is just nonsense. The game was never over until the last minute in clonduff yesterday. Glenn relied on a decent defence and a good counter attack most scores came from the ball being played to their number 11 who took on players and went down easily (to say the least) almost every time leaving Bagnall to put over the free kicks and tuck away the penalty. Not only this we were without Aidan Carr Darren ohagan and a number of other regular starters. On any other occasion I have no doubt in my mind clonduff will outplay this inexperienced Glenn team. Had Jason brown been his usual self regarding free kicks the game would have been much different.

Also the rumours Arthur mc Conville is set for America are indeed just rumours I believe.

[gaamann]

UPTHEYELLAS your right Clonduff will survive in Div 1 but how you can say the game against Glenn was in the balance until the last minute you must have been watching a different game they got 6 scores in 65 mins couldn't contain the Glenn attack had no leaders no game plan no pace and resorted to bully boy tactics in the second half plus Darren O Hagan did play and if Aiden Carr can solve all that hes some man and just to correct another mistake the free taker and the penalty taker were different players add to that Glenn had a good goal disallowed result never in doubt after the Glenn goal 

[forevergreen]

I heard a rumour today that a ref was assaulted in a reserve final. Sad day and I hope the culprit is banned heavily.
We are in dire straits at the minute in Burren. The confidence is lost  but with our full squad back we can still compete with the best.

Reserve Final?? Bit early for that...

Felix Darby?

WGM that's harsh, but definitely some questionable decisions made along line but that also happened in the championship final last year too.

Truth is Burren are still missing Cathal Murdock, Gerard McCartan, Declan Rooney, Anton McArdle and Shay McArdle, add in Kevin, Donal, Dan and its a big loss.

However we were still winning tonight a relinquished a 3 or 4 point lead, we lacked fight and belief in key areas.

The management must now sort out the players that are there and ensure they are playing for the jersey and playing for their places.

Too many boys in cruise control and badly in need of a rocket.

Its upto Paddy Carr and Gavin Murdock to ensure that everyone is pushed to the limit to get things back on track and moving forward.

That will tell whether they can emulate Frank or Mickey or Jimmy as you put it.

Can't really count Rooney he doesn't play for Burren sure! Are the likes of Sean Murdock, James McGovern, Conor Toner, Eamon Toner etc playing?

Ok Rooney has transferrred but on top of those mentioned James McGovern is in australia, Eamonn McGovern suffered a horrific knee injury and is out, Alan Higgins who was our immediate cover in midfield is also in america.

Its a real test for the remaining players and a bigger test for the management to get them winning again and doing anything of note this year.

Thankfully our county players and panellists should be back in the fold now.

[downup]

UPTHEYELLAS I admire that you are sticking up for the Club but you are looking in with yellow tinted glasses I fear. I will agree that the second half of the season will have a big bearing as it will for every club as they improve but the fact is every game in a one game league is crucial, waiting until the second half of the season isn't going to solve anything.  Clonduff maybe one point of 5th place but the fact is they are 11th. Six games played, won two, lost four. Well beaten by a team who came up from Div 2 and won with the last kick of the game against the other team that came up. Furthermore I said they were a club in trouble, not 'BIG' trouble. I fully expect them to survive but I do believe they are struggling. From what I could see they had a full squad available to them on Monday night, at least going by the almost 40 names in the program. A couple of fellas went to the US this year but only one of them was a regular starter. Jason Brown was definitely off his free kicks but from play he also offered very little. "Glen relied on a decent defence and a good counter attack", that's known as a game plan - what was Clonduff's??? Sometimes reality is a bitter pill to swallow. There is a lot of football to be played this year, I am just saying what I seen thus far.

[elk]

I heard a rumour today that a ref was assaulted in a reserve final. Sad day and I hope the culprit is banned heavily.
We are in dire straits at the minute in Burren. The confidence is lost  but with our full squad back we can still compete with the best.

Reserve Final?? Bit early for that...

Felix Darby?

WGM that's harsh, but definitely some questionable decisions made along line but that also happened in the championship final last year too.

Truth is Burren are still missing Cathal Murdock, Gerard McCartan, Declan Rooney, Anton McArdle and Shay McArdle, add in Kevin, Donal, Dan and its a big loss.

However we were still winning tonight a relinquished a 3 or 4 point lead, we lacked fight and belief in key areas.

The management must now sort out the players that are there and ensure they are playing for the jersey and playing for their places.

Too many boys in cruise control and badly in need of a rocket.

Its upto Paddy Carr and Gavin Murdock to ensure that everyone is pushed to the limit to get things back on track and moving forward.

That will tell whether they can emulate Frank or Mickey or Jimmy as you put it.

Can't really count Rooney he doesn't play for Burren sure! Are the likes of Sean Murdock, James McGovern, Conor Toner, Eamon Toner etc playing?

Ok Rooney has transferrred but on top of those mentioned James McGovern is in australia, Eamonn McGovern suffered a horrific knee injury and is out, Alan Higgins who was our immediate cover in midfield is also in america.

Its a real test for the remaining players and a bigger test for the management to get them winning again and doing anything of note this year.

Thankfully our county players and panellists should be back in the fold now.

Surely it was only a matter of time before Burren would hit a barren patch at senior level. You can't rely on blow ins forever to bring you success. Now they have to use true home grown talent we will see just how strong Burren are as a senior team. The east down clubs look to hold the aces at the moment.