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Louth have reportedly been in intensive training over the winter and fielded their strongest available side during their O'Byrne Cup campaign. Their performances in January have been solid, they won division two in the league last year and they outplayed Tyrone in the championship. They are clearly a team on an upward curve, and, with home advantage, they will be expecting to start their 2007 league programme with a win.

Down were a shambles last summer, and have quite rightly used the McKenna Cup to experiment with fringe players. Only a handful of them will be retained, and we will mainly be relying on the familiar faces who have just started back to full training plus a few promising youngsters. We don't want to get relegated, but all the indications are that it will take a few matches before the squad really takes shape.

Down are always capable of surprising us, usually for the worst reasons, but Louth are very much the form side. If they are available at anything better than even money, they are an excellent bet.

Down started the league last year with some promising displays, but gradually lost their confidence and hit rock bottom in the last game against Galway in Newcastle. This set the scene for the embarrassments to follow in the championship.

I hope we do things the other way round in 2007, and we need to take some time to completely re-build our defence, so I am not too pushed about the result against Louth.  Mind you, I still wouldn't mind a win...

To the best of my knowledge, Ambrose took and missed every 45 we were awarded in both the league and the championship - except the very last one in the closing stage of the Sligo disaster. When we were already a well beaten team, Aidan Carr was given his chance and put it straight over the black spot. The 45s were unfortunately another indictment of Paddy's approach. He decided that Ambrose was our long distance free taker and stuck with him even when it was obvious that his confidence had (hopefully temporarily) gone. One of the 45s which was missed from a fairly central position against Donegal would have given us a draw which we would not have deserved. The message for Ross, who knew a thing or two about freess, is that you have to have options. His son is a decent place kicker, but we need at least two others in our squad.

The county board should explain why today's game was taken away from Newcastle, which has a stand, to Downpatrick, which has no covered accommodation, on the first Sunday in January when it was bound to rain. The match started in a downpour and it got steadily worse during the afternoon. The conditions were barely playable by the closing stages, so it was probably unfair to judge anyone. However, apart from a sound diisplay from our keeper, there was little to get excited about. Jackie Lynch lacked confidence at midfield, but deserves another look, while Brendan Loughran has a bit of pace but is probably too light for county football. Stephen Kearney apparently ended up in hospital, and we could easily have picked up other injuries. The decision to keep the established players out of the McKenna Cup squad was definitely the right one, and at this stage it is difficult to see too many new faces joining them for the league campaign.

Ross and DJ seem to have named a development squad for Sunday, with only Marty Cole and Mickey McVeigh included from last summer's championship panel. Presumably there is a separate national league squad, with five or six places left vacant for new players emerging from the McKenna Cup. That seems fair enough to me, but, given the completely experimental nature of our likely team, the chances of an Antrim win at Downpatrick must have risen sharply. Is any bookie offering odds ?

The result on Sunday is of very little consequence for Down, and it is really only the performance which matters. I would be happy enough if we lost all three games in the McKenna Cup and came up with a decent squad in time for the National League in February. A run in the McKenna Cup would be OK, but it is far too early to be building up expectations. Sunday is for experimentation and in particular starting to put together the kind of reliable defence which we have lacked for around a decade. Our aim has to be survival in division one of the league before clearing the way for the game in which Ross and DJ will really be judged, against Cavan in the championship. We would prefer not to lose to Antrim, but no one will remember the score when the summer comes. My only concerns about Sunday are the traffic jams in Downpatrick if a decent crowd turns up and the prospect of an elderly fan (me) slipping down the grassy slopes if it rains.

It was a fantastic series of matches but, at the end of the day, it still only qualified the winners for the first round of a provincial championship. The greatest achievement of 1991 was Down's Sam Maguire win, which was the first by an Ulster team in 23 years and set the scene for the northern domination which followed.

Players from the Dublin/Meath tie got ten all-stars in 1991, but Down only got four. At that time, Ulster players were regularly told that they had to prove themselves on the all-Ireland stage to be considered for all-stars. When they did, the selectors still managed to look elsewhere.

James McCartan, Mickey Linden and Neill Collins were all badly treated in 1991. At least McCartan and Linden finally got their all-stars three years later, but Collins - who won the 1994 final for Down by saving the late penalty from Charlie Redmond - was overlooked again. Hopefully, the days when Ulster players can be marginalised in this way are gone for good.

Any result from the minor hurling final at Cherryvale, if it went ahead ?

Manion's goal was something special, but surely he must have taken about 12 steps before the shot. Although St Bridget's deserved to win, I'd say Corofin will be pretty sick when they watch the tape. It's difficult to understand how the referee managed to miss both Dolan's punch and then the overcarrying from Manion. If the video evidence puts Dolan out of the All Ireland semi, St Bridget's are in big trouble.

Bredagh eventually lost to St Bride's of Donegal by 2-12 to 0-9. It was a really terrible day at Breffni and St Bride's got two early goals when they had a very strong wind behind them. The first was a flick from a free which could not have been prevented but the second was caused by an unfortunate defensive slip. That left Bredagh chasing the game, with St Bride's, who were a fine side, hitting some super points on the break. Enda Gormley did not have a great day from frees, although he was unlucky not to get a goal before halftime. When the St Bride's keeper made a fanastic save from Conor Owens with ten minutes to go, the game was as good as over. It was all a great adventure for Bredagh, and, with the younger players coming through, back to back promotions and a rattle at the Down intermediate championship is certainly not impossible next year. Overall, they are probably the most improved side in the county and they are not finished yet.

The Mayobridge result was a pretty grim indication of the task facing Ross Carr as our new county manager. The Bridge have been the best team in Down for the last six or seven years and about half their players have featured at county level during that period. In managing a single point in the course of an entire match today,they probably produced the worst performance by a team from Down or possibly anywhere else in the history of the Ulster club championship. Ross is going to have to find quite a few new faces who are physically strong enough to play county football.

The only good news for Down football today was Bredagh's display in hammering Drum from Derry in the junior club championship. Drum looked very poor, but for Bredagh to score 5-13 on a heavy pitch was still quite an achievement.  Contrary to some suggestions on this board, Bredagh do have some decent home-grown young players. However, they are more likely to make an impact at u21 than senior level. Bredagh also won the u16 B hurling championship today, beating Carryduff in the final, so the club is in reasonable shape in both codes.