Down Club Hurling & Football

[razor]

Integration is the LGFA amd camogie boards fault throughout Ireland.

Integration is a three way thing between the LGFA, Camogie and Mens Football

But typical Mens County Board NO respect for the LGFA in this county.

[thewobbler]

I hear the Premier Reserve League games are now being played on Saturday night.

Surely this going to clash with the ladies club matches and will not be enough referees to cover both. 

Integration is going well in Down. NOT

FWIW I support this move if it's happening.

Reserve football squads tend to have a lot of students, which makes midweek matches difficult, and rely on family men, which makes long Sunday away matches troublesome.

Saturday evening  then pints afterwards might inject some much needed player interest in the competition.

[downjim]

Lgfa should recruit more referees then.

Reserve games on Saturday will be great for clubs.

[Aristo 60]

Well what's everyone's thoughts for this weekend?

Will Tally add to his tally? Or will the Smokey Heads prevail?

[Smurfy123]

Any team news for tomorrow night? It's a big one

[east down gael]

The premier reserve league desperately needs to be split back into two divisions in my opinion.there is a clear divide between the top seconds teams such as burren,kilcoo,mayobridge and castlewellan,and the teams who would previously have made up premier reserve league two.if I recall correctly,the leagues were merged into one due to teams not fielding.i don't think this has helped,and now you have teams struggling to field in an away fixture,that even if they had their strongest 15 they wouldn't win.however due to cry offs they are going to a difficult away fixture to take a hammering.
   
If the leagues were split again you would have teams playing each other at a similar level,meaning more enjoyable games,and less cryoffs as most games would be theoretically winnable.it would also mean the team promoted should be able for the step up.also,a team looking to step up from east or south down reserve league wouldn't jump from playing a thirds team to kilcoo seconds.
   

[Ambrose]

Any team news for tomorrow night? It's a big one

DOWN: Rory Burns; Darren O'Hagan, Ruairi Wells, Gerard Collins; Stephen Fegan, Colm Flanagan, Johnny Flynn; Caolan Mooney, Conor Poland; Conor Francis, Paul Devlin, Kevin McKernan; Ryan Johnston, Pat Havern, Donal O'Hare.

WESTMEATH: Eoin Carberry; Killian Daly, Ronan Wallace, Boidu Sayeh; David Lynch, Jamie Gonoud, James Dolan; Denis Corroon, Noel Mulligan; Ronan O'Toole, Callum McCormack, Ger Egan; Kieran Martin, Joe Halligan, Sam Duncan.

[Lecale Gael]

Any team news for tomorrow night? It's a big one

DOWN: Rory Burns; Darren O'Hagan, Ruairi Wells, Gerard Collins; Stephen Fegan, Colm Flanagan, Johnny Flynn; Caolan Mooney, Conor Poland; Conor Francis, Paul Devlin, Kevin McKernan; Ryan Johnston, Pat Havern, Donal O'Hare.

WESTMEATH: Eoin Carberry; Killian Daly, Ronan Wallace, Boidu Sayeh; David Lynch, Jamie Gonoud, James Dolan; Denis Corroon, Noel Mulligan; Ronan O'Toole, Callum McCormack, Ger Egan; Kieran Martin, Joe Halligan, Sam Duncan.

that's prob the strongest starting 15 yet

[grounded]

Great heart shown to clinch that.

[Smurfy123]

Not a great performance and it could have  went either way. Big 2 points all the same

[Targetman]

Timely decision to take Harrison off, great winning score!!

[Mourne Rover]

We may not exactly be producing sparkling football but it tells you something about a squad when you come from behind to hit an injury time winner for the second week in a row. The manager deserves enormous credit for the changes he made in both games, and he completely outsmarted opponents who had an extra man for two thirds of the match.

He has us brilliantly organised at the back, and our tackling has improved beyond recognition.To only concede four points in the second half with the numerical disadvantage was an outstanding performance. It helped that Westmeath were so conservative throughout but we were the team who wanted it more at the decisive stage.

Burns had an excellent penalty save, after a little advice from his coach, and is good with the ball in his hands even if he had very few options with his kick outs. The entire defence combined well, with O'Hagan an outstanding captain and McKernan supervising everything.

Our midfield is not really big enough to win primary possession but has plenty of pace and did a decent job on the limited opportunities from breaking ball which came our way.

Havern has ability but his follow through after the missed goal chance was foolish and could easily have cost us the result. Fortunately Ryan Johnston had his best ever game for Down and O'Hare ran himself into the ground and was man of the match by a mile.

Tally sent on Harrison at the break but realised he was not fully fit and took him off again in favour of Jerome, who was replaced early last week but had the maturity to secure and score from the crucial mark.

We have a tough trip to Longford coming up but two points from our last two away fixtures, and hopefully a maximum return at home, may well get us over the line.

[urbangael]

The giving up primary possession surely needs addressed. We were doing it before the sending off so that's no excuse. Then our knockouts just bombed down the middle is hardly a creative kick out strategy. Better teams will destroy us. Great point from  JJ to win it though. Mooney ohare and ohagan stood up to the plate again. The Co Board need to look at themselves with not letting children on the field at Half time. What is the H&S risk with kids running on grass with a ball. Wise to f**k up!!!!

[Ed Hardy]

Same as Sligo game for Down, effort and heart cant be questioned at all, you could see at the final whistle how delighted the players were. Some hit from JJ to win it, will do his confidence no harm.

Great penalty save from Burns, he didnt seem to have any other options available to him other than boom it out to the packed side of the pitch, were Westmeath definitely came out better, sending off didnt help as very difficult to work short kickout with player less on the pitch. Pick of the defence were O'Hagan, Collins and Wells for me. MF fought hard, but bit worrying how little ball they won.  Ryan Johnston, O'Hare both put in serious shift again but without doubt the substitution of Maginn was the winning of the game, thought he was excellent in 2nd half. Harrison cleary not ready for 35mins and will improve.

Still plenty of players to come back into the team, that will no doubt in improve it, Ryan McAleenan in at corner back would release O Hagan to no 6. He's such a good footballer, be good to see him on the ball as much as possible. Niall Donnelly in at MF beside Mooney would make big difference also.
No pretty to watch, but hats off to the team for their  fight and desire, that definitely cant be questioned.

[Smurfy123]

Down need to try get another midfielder to play alongside Mooney and Donnelly is probably the right man for that role. He has been played fullback but he is probably our best midfielder this past few years. Performance should get better as last night was not great. Harrison clearly a mile off the pace and give away 3 or 4 balls needs to get himself in shape. One season wonder comes to mind as he has done nothing before or after that year where he had 2 great matches against Monaghan