Down v Wexford

[Hound]

Thanks for the updates. Well done Wexford!

[AFS]

I'd echo those sentiments about Jason Ryan, very impressive considering his age.

Can't believe how bad Down were with so many unforced errors. Much of the reason that Wexford won wasn't because Wexford were particularly impressive but because Down kept making stupid mistakes.

Also, what happened Dan Gordon? Nowhere to be seen, maybe the events of the last week got to him.

[DUBSFORSAM1]

rather than talking about dublin, surely jason ryan should get a huge amount of credit? 31 and possibly pound for pound the best manager in the game. You have to factor in down beat laois and offaly, so that doesn't show leinster up too well. look fair play to wexford, but it was brutal stuff lads. wouldn't give dublin any kudos yet. there is a soft draw for armagh,cork and galway.
Jesus its hard to know have down made any real progress based on that.a div 3 team. you'd worry for tyrone now.

Agree Jason Ryan should get credit but think the abuse they took after the Dublin game was way over the top. Laois/Offaly are both weak teams and Wexford comfortably beat Laois also...Down beat Tyrone and gave Armagh a tough game as did Fermanagh another Div 3 team so nothing there to say that Armagh etc will find them easy at all..

[INDIANA]

true but armagh were brutal that day. 2 armagh fans today told me to put money on wexford because they felt down were awfully poor. i thought they were better than  that but as is said league tables don't lie and down didn't even promoted.

[AFS]

Yeah we were brutal against Down alright, but were always in control in that game and still won by a handy 4 points despite playing the whole second half a man down.

[The Real Laoislad]

Not a bit surprised Wexford won,I saw both Wexford and Down play and beat Laois this year.
I always thought Wexford were/are better than they showed in the Leinster Final and i fully expected them to win today,and thats why i predicted this in the qualifiers prediction thread and also had a €50 on them to win

[Yes I Would]

At least thats the Down folk pilgrimage to Croker out of the way for the next 15 odd years.

Looked at one stage that neither team genuinely wanted to win the game. Forde seemd to be motoring in about third gear. Middle third Down wiped out.
Be amazed if Wexford go much further but at least they have erased some of the ghosts of Leinster final.
Cant see where An Dun go from here.

[PatDaly]

Down fans thought they'd be playing Armagh again this year 

They were an embarrassment to Ulster today. An injured Mattie Forde almost single handedly beat them.

[pintsofguinness]

They were an embarrassment to Ulster today

Yeah but it was worth it for the laugh. 

[INDIANA]

well wobbler earlier in the week stated the christy ring had no business being on ahead of a qualifier match in terms of Tv coverage, after that today i'm not so sure.

[Mourne Rover]

Congratulations to Wexford, who should have won by a wider margin. We have made strong progress this season, but we were brutal today. The business with Dan did not help, and the Laois game took a lot of out us, but we still picked the wrong team, had no real tactical plan and played with little spirit or shape. It was hard to watch in a barin in Spain,and only Aidan Carr and to a lesser extend Peter Turley and Benny Coulter can hold their heads high. McGuigan, Murtagh and particularly Fegan should never have started, and the rest were largely anonymous. We will pick ourselves up and start again.

[the milkman]

Down fans thought they'd be playing Armagh again this year 

They were an embarrassment to Ulster today. An injured Mattie Forde almost single handedly beat them.

Yeah that show last sunday was a great advert for Ulster football.....................ZUKE!!!!

[Down Gael]

Down just didnt get going today, they looked very tired. Some very basic errors cost us dearly. Two very slack goals, but I think they summed up our defence all year. Comical at times.
Never the less real progress has been made this year, so now is not the time to slag anyone off. Lads who played badly today will be feeling it a lot more than us. We need to build on this and make more progress next year. Down have been training for 9 months now so a break will do them no harm.
Promotion from Division 3 is a must next year.

[thewobbler]

It's hard to know what exactly went wrong today, but we can't keep blaming poor performances in the rain on the conditions. It definitely looked like we were too complacent, that we weren't expecting much of an opposition from Wexford.

Down never really got going, and principally because we got cleaned out at midfield. I can't be sure, but I'd wager that from the 15th minute onwards we never once won two kickouts in succession. All our success this year has been a direct result of blowing teams away at midfield, but today we were worse than very ordinary.

As a result, we never got any fluidity, any intensity. None of our forwards got a chance to stamp their authority on the game.


That aside, the problems with handling and handpassing were, frankly, disturbing. I've seen this things happen so many times at club football, i.e. one or two players are off the game and can't manage the basics, and before long it spreads throughout the team. I've rarely seen it happen at county level though.

Truly a day to forget. Joe Brolly summed it up nicely when suggesting that all the good things Down have done in this Championship have been blotted from memory with that performance.   

[Hardy]

I thought O'Rourke and Brolly went way over the top in criticising Down and their analysis tested the line between valid comment and sneering.