Down Club Hurling & Football

[stpauls]

JUNIOR FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
(a) Aughlisnafinn V Breachtain
(b) Droim Bearagh V Naomh Eoin
(c) Gleann V Naomh Michil

the above game will be played on Sunday 17th August

Roinn 1 (Quarter-final)
1 Achadh Dearg V Winners (c)
2 Naomh Pol V Misteiligh an Iuir
3 Baile Choinnleora V Winners (a)
4 Winners (b) V Droim an Easa

Tough draw for St Pauls

do you mean the draw as a whole, or our first round game against the Mitchels?
i think we should be able to beat the Mitchels in our first game, and I expect the winners of Glenn/St. Michael's to beat Aghaderg.
We have a win and a draw with Glenn, and have beaten St. Michael's twice this year, so the omens are good, but being championship football, anything can happen, and we won't be taking anything for granted.
We are definately on the toughest side of the draw though!

What you mean St. Pauls? Following the quarter finals is there not an open draw for the semi finals or has it been decided that winners of quarter final 1 will play the winners of 2 and the winners of 3 play the winners of four?

Minus, i was going by the way the games are listed above, the winners of game 1 play the winners of game 2, and the same with 3 versus 4!! it may not be the case though, i am not sure!!

[Lecale2]

What is the penalty for failing to field?

In Antrim it's a £400 fine.

[amallon]

I think its £50 quid a game.  If you miss three (?) games you are thrown out of the league and are fined £50 for every game thats left in the league.

[Lecale2]

If your right it hasn't changed in 20 years Amallon. In Antrim the refs come under pressure to submit a fake report and score line so that clubs can avoid the fines.

[off the laces]

can anyone shine light on the forth coming fixtures in the county esp div 2 and 3. When will the next week off championship football take place and how will it affect the league fixtures, need to know as we are looking to get flights home for the games and need them booked.
Any help would be appreicated

[T O Hare]

I think its £50 quid a game.  If you miss three (?) games you are thrown out of the league and are fined £50 for every game thats left in the league.

On Sunday our seconds were due to play Liatriom in the PRC and ou thirds were down to play Mitchells in the RFC... Both teams failed to field !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[st pauls mcgrath]

can any mitchels posters confirm the date of our championship game, im guessing it will be august 21/22/23/24/25 but any confirmation would be appreciated

[Mourne Rover]

Bredagh beat Drumaness by four points tonight to win the East Down minor league for the first time in their history ~ any word of when the draw is for the semis of the MFC ?

[eyeswideopen]

I heard about a controversial event regarding Div 4, I wonder can anyone confirm?

The situation is this...  St. Johns are unbeaten and assured of the top promotion spot.   There will be no playoff, with the top 2 teams getting automatic promotion.  The real promotion fight is for second place between Achaderg and Dromara, who are neck and neck.  However, St. Johns were to play Achaderg on Sunday and requested to have the game moved, but Achaderg refused.  St. Johns then did not field, and handed the points to Achaderg and thus damaging Dromara's chance of promotion.

I may be mistaken,but I think a similar event over non-fielding occurred last year in Div 3,involving Teconnaught and St Paul's. It contributed to the fiasco of Div 3 relegation last year.
Whereas Dromara are understandably angry,St.Johns could have bluffed it and played a shadow team and lost heavily anyway.The current league structures leaves us all open to these type of events.Another scenario that has occurred is teams close to the bottom 4,wanting to lose against the top team to automatically relegate teams below them.
Apparently it was the old chestnut of "one of our boys was getting married and they wouldn't switch it".In each team there is likely to be at least 2 summer weddings each year.If fixtures were glibly allowed to be changed for this there would end up being no games played.I do beleive that the fixtures secretary needs to consider a bye-law,that if there is a wedding directly involving players,that match can be switched back to the Thursday night,as long as 6 weeks notice is given.
If St.John's needed the points I am sure they would have found some way of fielding their strongest team despite the wedding-and to be fair to them,the fact that they didn't need to is a reflection of their dominance this year.However,failure to field is very much against the spirit of the game,and if it directly disadvantages a neighbouring club it is obviously going to stir up strong feelings.Given this event The county board will need to reflect on how it occurred and consider is the sanction for failure to field strong enough?

I am informed it wasn't even one of the St Johns players who got married, but a relation of a few of the players. As stated above, i'm sure if they had needed the points as strong a team as possible would have been fielded. In the past any team ( Aghaderg in the case) refusing to change a game, made us all the more determined to beat them. But maybe St johns don't fancy another 2 derby games next season!!!

[Mourne Rover]

Having taken a few days to get over Saturday, I think we need to take a wider look at the summer campaign. While the Wexford performance was pretty dreadful on almost every front, there is reason to believe that we are still heading in the right direction.

Going into this season, we had not beaten a team regarded as serious provincial contenders in that particular year for almost a decade (since we hammered Tyrone at Casement in 1999). we had failed to put together any sort of run in the qualifiers since their launch in 2001, and we had not played a championship game at Croke Park since 1994.

We have now managed all three objectives, through the Tyrone and arguably the Laois results, getting back to back wins in the qualifiers and having a run-out at HQ as well.

We should never have been favourites against Wexford, as, apart from the second half against Dublin, they have been operating at a much higher level than us over recent years. They stuffed us in the league last spring, before winning the division, and have also been regulars at Croke Park as well.

They also had the benefit of a two-week break, while our boys were out on their feet after hanging on with 14 men against Laois. Hughes in particular looked drained against Wexford, while we cannot expect Gordon to be MoM in every match.

Losing our only two experienced defenders, Cole and Doyle, left us very vulnerable, and McComiskey would also have given us a range of options up front. By the time Ambrose ended up having major surgery, after the other long-term injuries to O'Hanlon, Ciaran McGovern and Rooney, it was pretty clear that we were not having much luck in 2008.

If and when they all return, we now know we can take on at least some of the leading sides, we are capable of coming through the qualifiers with the right draw and we have a much clearer idea about what is required if we ever get back to Croke Park.

I hope that the present management stays in place, despite some of the rumblings in the background, and I believe there are two or three young players out there who could make a real difference to the present squad. Kevin Duffin of Castlewellan  is obviously one, while Peter Fitzpatrick of Ballymartin, if fit, and Kalum King of Bryansford, if committed, should also be in the frame.I think that Brendan McVeigh is a decent keeper who has simply let in too many goals, so I would also give McAllister his chance in nets.

The priority is to get into division two in 2009 and make it to the championship quarter finals within two years. I think we can do it.

[lfdown2]

Well folks, shameless plug:

LIATROIM GAC FESTIVAL

07/08/08   The Booze Bros
08/08/08   Brian Coll
09/08/08   The Committements
10/08/08   Monster Bingo (daytime)
                The Chevys

c'mon out and support us, sure what else would ye's be at!!

[maldini]

having watched a lot of games this season in division 2 i think the following players wud be worthy of at least getting a trial for the county side in 2009 -

Ciaran Brannigan - Bryansford
Conor Maginn - Bryansford
John Boyle - Warrenpoint
Owen Mageean - Darragh Cross
Kieran Sloan - Kilclief
Banbridge  have 2 very good defenders not sure of their names, corner back and full back.
Peter Fitzpatrick - Ballymartin


anyone else recommend others?
i don't think the whole county is being looked at, there are players at some clubs mentioned above that are better footballers than what was on show at croke park last Saturday

[Our Nail Loney]

any odds out for the championship lads, just the senior?

[Mourne Rover]

Ciaran Brannigan was an outstanding minor, and also excellent for the u21s, but it is difficult to see how a player of his size could make an impact in senior county football. His clubmate, Conor Maginn, would be a more serious prospect. John Boyle from the Point got a run before, but also looked too light at county level and dropped out fairly quickly.

[Our Nail Loney]

I wouldn't say John Boyle got a run?? He got a few outings in the mckenna cup this year I think, where he did ok for the limited time he got.