Down Club Hurling & Football

[wobbller]

Wobbler, Bredagh underage players have regularly been asked to get to Carryduff at 9am for a lift to an 11am county Saturday session in Newry. After training and a team meeting, they are looking at getting home about eight hours after they left. They are competing for a place in the squaddie with player from colleges in Newry who are frequently not required to attend the same sessions. Carryduff is a fine club which has produced many Down minors over recent seasons but there are a number of other east Down clubs which feel that they are not treated fairly. Bredagh is only one of them but it is 20 years since the club with the biggest underage membership in our county by a huge margin has provided a starter for Down minors in the championship. Bredagh comfortably beat Burren in the u16 championship the other night, and regularly compete with our best underage sides at all levels. Are you seriously suggesting that rotating minor training venues across the county is against the best interests of Down football ?

MR, Be sure and say thewobbler as opposed to me -wobbller!😩 From what I can gather from the children in School,the U16 game against Burren  was NOT a comfortable win.Were you at it? A 2-3 point game at best. Lose the chip on the shoulder. Bredagh may feel aggrieved at their lack of underage representation at Minor level but surely the cream always comes to the top? No?
Dubh Driocht, so what that if 8 of that Minor team in 2008 (phew!!) got to a County Minor Semi- were playing tonight in what was a fine win.Are/Were any of them worthy of  a county place at Minor,U-21 or God forbid Senior? I doubt not.You could lose the chip also-East Down:South Down zzzzzzzzzzz!!

[Dubh driocht]

Wobbler, To answer your question- yes- I would say at least three were worthy of a place on Mark Turley's minor team in 2008, and had been part of development squads up to minor level. I knew some of the players who made the squad and they were not the cream of the crop- their surnames seemed more important than their ability and I'm not playing the East/South Down card. As regards the current vintage, Donal Hughes should be given a chance in the senior squad unless he continues for the hurlers- he must have got 6 or 7 points last night. Mind you , I agree with your cousin thewobbler about the distance from Newry issue although it's easier to travel at 10pm than trying to get out of Belfast at rush hour.

[wobbller]

Difficult to do both.

[thewobbler]

Wobbler, Bredagh underage players have regularly been asked to get to Carryduff at 9am for a lift to an 11am county Saturday session in Newry. After training and a team meeting, they are looking at getting home about eight hours after they left. They are competing for a place in the squad with player from colleges in Newry who are frequently not required to attend the same sessions. Carryduff is a fine club which has produced many Down minors over recent seasons but there are a number of other east Down clubs which feel that they are not treated fairly. Bredagh is only one of them but it is 20 years since the club with the biggest underage membership in our county by a huge margin has provided a starter for Down minors in the championship. Bredagh comfortably beat Burren in the u16 championship the other night, and regularly compete with our best underage sides at all levels. Are you seriously suggesting that rotating minor training venues across the county is against the best interests of Down football ?

Not disagreeing with you, but here's a few things to consider:

- for development squads, if you're from genuine East Down (Downpatrick and hinterland) then you'll be asked to make your way to Loughinisland for a bus. This is approximately 100 times more inconvenient than the 2 mile traipse from Cherryvale to the Ivanhoe! Meanwhile if you're from the Mournes, maybe 40 mins from Newry (like Glassdrumman), well, get your own way in. I'm not suggesting this is fair, but the clubs have a chicken and egg scenario here. If it's going to cost £500 a session for buses for a development squad, then the clubs had better be on board and force their players to attend.

- for the past two years there has been a direct taxi from Belfast to minor training for Carryduff players. They were among the first home every night.

- if you can find any clubs in the county who are willing to provide guaranteed floodlit facilities several times throughout February, March and April, then please pass their details to the County Board. I mentione recently that there's a thousand things they're getting wrong at present, but training at Abbey or Colmans isn't a choice, it's a necessity. They're the only places in the county where the facilities are guaranteed, which allows minor management to plan accurately.

- bredags's performances in minor leagues and championships the past few seasons would suggest that the club has a genuine problem in keeping lads interested and motivated past 16. Personally I reckon this is a problem that needs addressed internally at that club, instead of looking externally for causes.

[johnneycool]

you lads seem to place great importance on the McCrory cup and the players who play in it when it comes to ability to play for Down minor footballers, but do the Bredagh and Carryduff lads have this same opportunity?

I know a lot of those city kids go to Our Ladies and St Pats, Knock, but do they put out a school football team?

[Mourne Rover]

We can all make points about our own clubs but the bottom line is surely that we have not won an Ulster minor title for 16 years and the performances of recent seasons would suggest that the gap with the leading contenders is widening. The structures and policies in place are not delivering so some kind of review is long overdue. Establishing why decent players are not making it as far as some fairly limited squads would be a start.

[snoopdog]

I heard a rumour tonight that the county board are going to name Paddy orourke as the manager of Down. Surely not. This cannot be true. Has anyone else heard anything?

[qubdub]

Good viewing in Newry for the neutral observer. Kilcoo don't know when they're bate. Burren are a bad lot. A team of individuals. Ryan Johnston was sublime tonight

[SHEEDY]

Fair play to kilcoo, they  never know when they're beat. Thought burren had it won when they went 6 up at start of 2nd half, they didn't score again for the rest of the match. They couldn't match kilcoo's hunger or workrate and kilcoo finished much the stronger. Taking McKernan off was a big call, was he injured?

[qubdub]

Burren are scared of Kilcoo. So easily intimidated, and absolutely leaderless on the field. Mckernan hardly touched leather, not sure that he was injured though?

[DownFanatic]

Aidan Burns put on a Tour de Force for the Town in the first semi final. He took some mighty scores. Warrenpoint had a bad day at the office.
Burren bottled it against Kilcoo. Threw away a six point lead. Magpies never panicked and eased themselves back into it without setting the world alight.
Big scope for improvement from them as they go further.

[Brick Tamlin]

Fair play to kilcoo, they  never know when they're beat. Thought burren had it won when they went 6 up at start of 2nd half, they didn't score again for the rest of the match. They couldn't match kilcoo's hunger or workrate and kilcoo finished much the stronger. Taking McKernan off was a big call, was he injured?

No.he was just shite.again.

[Leftmidfield]

Not sure if burren bottled it just kilcoo never lay down. Laughed when laverty thought he was black carded and started to walk off the pitch only for ref to call him bAck and gave him a yellow only. I think he then won the penalty lol. There were 3 penLties tonight in newry and they were all brilliantly dispatched. Niall McGovern for cpn ohare for burren and darragh for kilcoo. 2 x johnstons were excellent tonight. Castlewellan deserved to beat us tonight. A strange team/set up for con tonight I thought.

[befair]

Strange game; Burren looked unstoppable in the first 20 mins, but Kilcoo hung in, and gradually became dominant. Burren looked a beaten team in the last ten minutes, even though they were only a point behind, seeme to give up; Kilcoo have the Indian sign.

[OgraAnDun]

Strange game; Burren looked unstoppable in the first 20 mins, but Kilcoo hung in, and gradually became dominant. Burren looked a beaten team in the last ten minutes, even though they were only a point behind, seeme to give up; Kilcoo have the Indian sign.

Think Kilcoo did a great job of halting Burren's momentum, between the 20th and 30th minutes there was probably about two minutes of football played due to the number of fouls and bookings. Then Kilcoo got a goal and a point right before half time which was great for them. I think Burren were too afraid of losing the game in the second half rather than going on to win it and it ultimately cost them.