Down Club Hurling & Football

[Dubh driocht]

Looking forward to a day in HQ.
Laverty, Clarke, Morgan and Donnelly are to be congratulated for their professional and focused approach over last 8 months- there have been setbacks but clear progress. Those who thought Conor would be a divisive figure couldn't have been more wrong. He loves Gaelic Football and loves winning. Players respect this and even those who have had disagreements with him personally, and Kilcoo generally. have jumped on board. Careers are short and we will never get a manager who ticks all the boxes, but Conor ticks most of them. Fair play to the County Board who have backed him and especially to the players who are an honest and dedicated group of young men.
We have only lost 4 games all year ( I don't count the Derry McKenna cup defeat on penalties as ,along with Cavan in the TC, that was one of our best performances) and I've been at 3 of the defeats. Only Armagh beat us well so the management team learned from that and pushed on.
In terms of team selection , I think it will be similar to the starting 15 against Laois.
Niall Kane has been fairly steady; a couple of wobbles in Ederney and Clones cost us but he should have had more protection. He has pulled off a couple of excellent saves out of the bag at crucial times; his 45 conversion rate is about 2 out of 3 and Conor trusts him.
Paddy McCarthy is quality, our captain Pearse is a much improved player and leads well despite conceding height and Anthony Doherty has been a revelation.
Management may be tempted to throw McPartland ( if fit) in from the start against a physical Meath hf line but more likely they will stick with Rooney, C Doc and Paddy Brannigan; these boys don't let you down although all have had off games.
Ryan McEvoy is a good option and again brings physicality but I think he's better held in reserve to wait and see where the pressure points are. Same with Ryan Magill.
Nothing more needs to be said about Odhran Murdoch- would get on to any of Down's all Ireland winning teams.
Daniel Guinness will be named at 8 but play in the middle third and is Laverty's type of player. Pat Haven will alternate between mf and ff and plays like a man who loves playing for Down.
I reckon they will stick with Kerr, Mason and Danny Magill; three very different players but all have qualities that have been missing in recent years. Mason finds time to find the right ball, never gets flustered and hits frees for fun. Kerr's energy is electric while Magill has the swagger of a Down man destined to win at Croke park. Shelan Johnson, Ross Carr and McAleenan are likely to feature and are good men to bring in.
I reckon he will stick with Ryan Johnson ( who is flying), Havern and Eugene Brannigan. Brannigan will never win a popularity contest but he does what has to be done, has learned from Laverty and , more importantly, is trusted by him. Poland and Francis have played their parts this year and  deserve a run in HQ but Laverty doesn't do sentiment unless we are 10 points up in injury time.
Happily the weather is not going to be as bad as some predicted; there will be showers but it won't be persistent. I didn't see anything in Parnell Park or Croke Park that tells me Meath are great shakes;while it will be close, we should win.

[Johnnysboys]

If the team don't win this - there is no hope for us. Meath are poor but will stick with us for 40 minutes and then we should see the real Down take over.

[supersub]

Will many Down people travel to croke pk tomorrow.? Not much of a build up from the national press, they're all about the semi finals. Hope we get over the line. Can't afford a poor start like the longford game. 2 great performances since that.

Plenty on official gaa social media to be fair. Paths to final, stats, graphs etc.

[Louther]

Have a pair of adult Tickets for lower Davin. Well covered from the rain. Going spare, €80 would take the pair.

Also a pair for Lower Hogan. Same.

[befair]

Not surprised at that; we were totally over-rated after the Laois game. The flukey early goal seemed to unsettle us, and after that  we had no composure in the forward line, kick-outs were a disaster. Meath much the better team, physically stronger all over the pitch, but Tailteann Cup is the level for both teams

[Nanderson]

Meath set up perfectly against us. They know we struggle around the middle and like to build from the back so they set to push up from the start. The middle 8 players really struggled to get any real impact on the game. I'd agree thag the dodgy goal knocked us for 6 at a time when we wwre well on top. Thats where you want a keeper to be more commanding or communicative. Really should have bknown that that shot was going to hit the post. Havern seemed to be caught by surprise when it came off and couldnt adjust himself. Forward line really misfired after a dream match against laois. Ryan J probably only player that played any sort of a decent game today

[5times5times]

It was like Meath vs the Down minor team today. All meath subs 6ft+, Down were wee men.

[downtothecore]

Disappointing result. At least we are their in croke learning ar these games and we found out today we still need to find more bigger lads for this squad so we can compete better at a higher level in the future.

[grounded]

Meath set up perfectly against us. They know we struggle around the middle and like to build from the back so they set to push up from the start. The middle 8 players really struggled to get any real impact on the game. I'd agree thag the dodgy goal knocked us for 6 at a time when we wwre well on top. Thats where you want a keeper to be more commanding or communicative. Really should have bknown that that shot was going to hit the post. Havern seemed to be caught by surprise when it came off and couldnt adjust himself. Forward line really misfired after a dream match against laois. Ryan J probably only player that played any sort of a decent game today

Ach in fairness you can't really blame the keeper or Havern for that. Pure fluke. Apart from that spot on with everything else.

[johnnycool]

Needed those goal chances to count....
Better team won, but both the hurlers and footballers need growth hormones....

[Nanderson]

Meath set up perfectly against us. They know we struggle around the middle and like to build from the back so they set to push up from the start. The middle 8 players really struggled to get any real impact on the game. I'd agree thag the dodgy goal knocked us for 6 at a time when we wwre well on top. Thats where you want a keeper to be more commanding or communicative. Really should have bknown that that shot was going to hit the post. Havern seemed to be caught by surprise when it came off and couldnt adjust himself. Forward line really misfired after a dream match against laois. Ryan J probably only player that played any sort of a decent game today

Ach in fairness you can't really blame the keeper or Havern for that. Pure fluke. Apart from that spot on with everything else.

I can blame the goalie. I played with brendan mcveigh for many years and he was great for keeping the defenders thinking the ball was coming off the post. Bobo should have been doing the same. Havern looked lost under it whereas if he knew it was coming off the post he would have looked up at the very least and then judged his postiiton accordingly

[supersub]

Kerr & Johnston score their goal chances, Meath don't get the fluke goal, there'd be no word of physicality. Meath were better, but Down aren't far away.

[Phoenix rising]

Arent far away from what? They are a world away.....back to Div 3 and Tailteann Cup next year unfortunately

[supersub]

A world away from what?

Weren't far away from going straight into the All Ireland series next year.

[Dubh driocht]

Disappointing end to a roller coaster county season.
We could and probably should have won that game and the consequences of defeat are significant for us.
Firstly, Comghairdeas to Meath; best team on the day won.
It was a good day out and no doubt the younger generation are hungry to be at the top table again. 
Every player on the squad has put in a great shift so go raibh maith agaibh lads. And management.
Plenty of positives but plenty of regrets and ultimately we're still in Division 3 and unlikeliest ⁶to be competing in Sam Maguire in 2024, which hurts.
Some players rise to the challenge of a big stsge; others freeze or don't play to their potential.  Management will learn. Some of the changes could/ should have been made earlier but hard to plan for the freak goal and Meath pushed on from that.
So we pause and look forward to the County championships. Up Down.