Down Club Hurling & Football

[DownGael71]

My understanding is Clubs own the property and as a GAA Unit the GAA are either part or full Trustee on the facilities which is why they need to approve loans etc.

[DownGael71]

Disdain?

Couldn't be further from the truth. I've nothing but pride in my club mates who have developed an lGFA club in Ballyholland over the past two years. My daughters are both playing and loving it, and I really enjoy watching the sport.

But the reality is that until our club expands its facilities, then the onus has to be on LGFA to slot in and the GAA club to accommodate wherever possible. Not the other way around. This is just a blunt reality. Ignore these things if you want, but doing so won't help anyone.

Sounds like GAA clubs could be a match for the DUP and their attitude to the nationalist community.  You can come to the table but don't expect to be our equal you pesky woman, this is ours!

Honestly this kind of commentary is bewildering and unhelpful.

If you don't believe here's a logistical challenge in integrating another sport - one which runs on the same annual schedule, uses the same referees, and is every bit as vested into youth development - into an existing pool of oversubscribed facilities, then any conversation is pointless.

If you can accept that this situation poses a logistical challenge, but would prefer to stick your head in the sand and hope it all works out, then this conversation is pointless.

But most of all, if you are going to always react to any attempts by the GAA to put some order onto proceedings, as a show of misogyny, then you're just being obstructive.

I think using words like 'slot in' shows a total disregard to partnership, inclusion and integration in general.  I did not react to any attempts by the GAA to put order into proceedings.  In fact, I haven't seen any attempts to be able to comment!  But, I reacted to the suggestion Clubs expect other codes to just slot in. 
There are massive challenges to integration but in order to achieve it, it takes everyone involved to be willing participants, listen, adjust, compromise, invest, be creative, be respectful and be open to change.  And no, I don't mean the GAA, I mean all codes from national level to Clubs. 

[ClubScene13]

Real solid performance Saturday evening. Controlled and exciting moving forward. Defence organized themselves after a poor first 5 minutes. Be interesting to see what team is picked for Antrim. Thought everyone performed well and was a nice balance to the team. Great to see Mooney and Annett back, be some additions.

MacRory cup final week had me thinking of Mooney the other day, the best schools player I've ever seen. That's a brave statement but I haven't seen such a combination of size, skill, pace and power out of a 17/18 yo since. Done it for 2 years as well.

Marty Clarke taking Kilkeel to back to back finals would also be at the very top of that discussion

[Truth hurts]

I'm a bit lost here with all this... what have the LGFA done???

What I have heard is that the camogie and LGFA boards got together to decide when to schedule games. After a deal was reached, the county ladies' secretary reneged and sent out fixtures that were all over the place. The LGFA were forced to revert to their previous timeslots due to the outcry it provoked.

[Targetman]

Real solid performance Saturday evening. Controlled and exciting moving forward. Defence organized themselves after a poor first 5 minutes. Be interesting to see what team is picked for Antrim. Thought everyone performed well and was a nice balance to the team. Great to see Mooney and Annett back, be some additions.

MacRory cup final week had me thinking of Mooney the other day, the best schools player I've ever seen. That's a brave statement but I haven't seen such a combination of size, skill, pace and power out of a 17/18 yo since. Done it for 2 years as well.

Marty Clarke taking Kilkeel to back to back finals would also be at the very top of that discussion

You must be too young to remember James Mc Cartan playing Mac Rory

[Nanderson]

Real solid performance Saturday evening. Controlled and exciting moving forward. Defence organized themselves after a poor first 5 minutes. Be interesting to see what team is picked for Antrim. Thought everyone performed well and was a nice balance to the team. Great to see Mooney and Annett back, be some additions.

MacRory cup final week had me thinking of Mooney the other day, the best schools player I've ever seen. That's a brave statement but I haven't seen such a combination of size, skill, pace and power out of a 17/18 yo since. Done it for 2 years as well.

Marty Clarke taking Kilkeel to back to back finals would also be at the very top of that discussion

You must be too young to remember James Mc Cartan playing Mac Rory

Yea Marty was a freak. Not physically imposing but he could do things with the ball that experienced players could only dream of. The lad was playing county minor, county u21 and macrory football as a lower 6th in school.

[statto]

Real solid performance Saturday evening. Controlled and exciting moving forward. Defence organized themselves after a poor first 5 minutes. Be interesting to see what team is picked for Antrim. Thought everyone performed well and was a nice balance to the team. Great to see Mooney and Annett back, be some additions.

MacRory cup final week had me thinking of Mooney the other day, the best schools player I've ever seen. That's a brave statement but I haven't seen such a combination of size, skill, pace and power out of a 17/18 yo since. Done it for 2 years as well.

Marty Clarke taking Kilkeel to back to back finals would also be at the very top of that discussion

I thought that Clarke was the greatest macrory player I ever saw absolutely sensational.Year abbey beat them and won Hogan Kevin Dyas marked him and got a headlight, he was outstanding for abbey in their other games.was really unfortunate his career was cut short by injury.

[statto]

Real solid performance Saturday evening. Controlled and exciting moving forward. Defence organized themselves after a poor first 5 minutes. Be interesting to see what team is picked for Antrim. Thought everyone performed well and was a nice balance to the team. Great to see Mooney and Annett back, be some additions.

MacRory cup final week had me thinking of Mooney the other day, the best schools player I've ever seen. That's a brave statement but I haven't seen such a combination of size, skill, pace and power out of a 17/18 yo since. Done it for 2 years as well.

Marty Clarke taking Kilkeel to back to back finals would also be at the very top of that discussion

I thought that Clarke was the greatest macrory player I ever saw absolutely sensational.Year abbey beat them and won Hogan Kevin Dyas marked him and got a headlight, he was outstanding for abbey in their other games.was really unfortunate his career was cut short by injury.I think he scored 18 points one day for kilkeel in Herald cup  at fifth year.

[Nanderson]

Real solid performance Saturday evening. Controlled and exciting moving forward. Defence organized themselves after a poor first 5 minutes. Be interesting to see what team is picked for Antrim. Thought everyone performed well and was a nice balance to the team. Great to see Mooney and Annett back, be some additions.

MacRory cup final week had me thinking of Mooney the other day, the best schools player I've ever seen. That's a brave statement but I haven't seen such a combination of size, skill, pace and power out of a 17/18 yo since. Done it for 2 years as well.

Marty Clarke taking Kilkeel to back to back finals would also be at the very top of that discussion

I thought that Clarke was the greatest macrory player I ever saw absolutely sensational.Year abbey beat them and won Hogan Kevin Dyas marked him and got a headlight, he was outstanding for abbey in their other games.was really unfortunate his career was cut short by injury.I think he scored 18 points one day for kilkeel in Herald cup  at fifth year.

He scored 1.16 out of Kilkeels 1.18 score in their treanor cup win. Then scored 7 out of their 1.9 in herald cup win

[supersub]

Martin Clarke and Michael Murphy must be the two best MacRory/schools players there have been for a long time. Their longevity and performances in the competitions were sublime.

[Splash]

Tough game for the hurlers tomorrow to start their league campaign.

Portlaoise diffcult place to go to, even for Division One sides like Waterford and Dublin, as we well found out last year in the McDonagh Cup.

Down have a real chance of getting to Division One this year, but have to play better than they did last year.

Some serious hurlers in Laois, but they really don't look like the same team that they were 3-5 years ago. Definitely come back down closer to the level of us/Kerry.


Down missing some serious players. No Sheehan. No Doran. No McCusker. Good to see a few lads back (Donal Hughes should be a great addition all being well, the Sands, too), and plenty of good fellas to make the break through yet.

Hopefully we can stay neck and neck with Laois for most of the game at the very least. Would be good to know we're there or there abouts, and would be terrible to start the year with our backs against the wall.

I think it's well worth remembering, I think last year, the consensus was that it was a very poor year, despite us retaining Division 2A status for the third year in a row. For a long time, we couldn't get out of 2B. That surely says something for the progress of our hurlers.

Hopefully it's onward and upwards 

I wasn't at the game but was speaking to a few lads who were at it last night and by all accounts we were well in the game with 10 minutes to go with the scoreline being level pegging then the wheels came off with a few injuries to key players, Eoghan Sands and Turpin, both with hand injuries (and will miss the Kerry game) as well as Matt Conlon going off with a cut to the head. Replaces just a bit of that level.
It wasn't helped by our clubman getting a straight red for one of his trademark stupid tackles with no need for it.

Kerry game is a must win now with how the other results going against us, especially with Meath picking up an unexpected win against Kildare.

Laois and Carlow expected to top the group, so it's a dog fight between the other 4 to avoid relegation.

Were very much within touching distance until the last few minutes, with Laois' goal just keeping them ahead.

Around the time of Fisher's sending off Laois managed to find their feet and see it out (that is not to say Fisher's red cost Down the game, as Laois had a player sent off a couple of moments before, and probably restored something of a level playing field. As you say though, it didn't help, and it is important that Down maintain good discipline this year).

Disappointing not to come away with any points, but I am encouraged by the result. Compare it to the last time we went down to Laois. Massive improvement. I'd expect us to be fit to rattle any team we may meet this year, and hopefully take an odd scalp against someone a bit further up the pecking order.

Looking forward to the Kerry game today. I find Kerry to typically be the team most consistently at our level.

Despite ultimately suffering the same fate last week, I'd much rather be in our position than Kerry's. Far more encouraging performance from Down than Kerry last week. Kerry team also look to be weaker than normal (Shane Conway being the obvious big blow for them).

Last time we met, was very disappointing from a Down perspective. Shocking amount of wides if I recall correctly. If Down can convert their chances today, it should be a lot more competitive than last years Joe McDonagh meeting.

Good to have Tom McGrattan back today, and thought Tim Prenter played well last week, so the scoring potential is there. Ruairi McCrickard back today is another big plus.

With Meath beating Kildare, I think it opens up the division a bit more. Would want to be very wary of both teams, and have suffered disappointing losses to both in recent years,  but Down are certainly well fit to beat either. And based off of Laois' performance last week, it's not out of the realms of possibility someone gets a shock win and opens up the whole thing further. Exciting times in Div 2 , eh?

Anyway, it is up to Down to secure the best outcome for themselves. Hopefully get some points on the board today and beat a Munster side.

BBC providing coverage of the game on the iPlayer is good to see. Was it Cusack or Daly last week on the Sunday Game made a good point about how counties such as ourselves in these tiers need exposure in order for people to develop an interest in a team? Now, I know, I know, who watches the BBC iPlayer and all that- but it's nice to see the BBC offering some sort of coverage for a Down hurling game, particularly given the poor coverage the leagues get in general. Wasn't expecting it at all. Any BBC coverage of GAA is welcome in my opinion, and a sign of the times.

[Saffrongael]

Checked for updates on this game on Downs Twitter, no mention of it. Really poor form

[imtommygunn]

That's a great win for down.

[supersub]

Checked for updates on this game on Downs Twitter, no mention of it. Really poor form

Check Facebook for information on the reason.

[thewobbler]

I've been around a long time and I don't think I've ever seen a player as exciting to watch - at any level -  as Wee James in his peak years, some of which included his multi-year MacRory stint.

Marty Clarke was perhaps a better player. But rough and all as it sounds, I don't believe anyone should be considered the best (Down) MacRory player of all time unless they actually lifted the farkin thing.