Down Club Hurling & Football

[naka]

I see St Colmans are into semi final and have a great chance in getting to a final. A question for the south Down members. Is the abbey a smaller school and do the college get the first pick in players. It seems as if the college always get better teams, why is this?

putting it simply, same catchment, probably a similar split in potential but st colman`s have a tradition with teachers who have bought into the  gaa ethos
abbey poorly coached , there have been some seriously good teams through the school which have been let down on the side lines.
next year is massive because probably the best mc rory team they have had in 15 years but reality is yet again it will be let down by the coaching staff and fail at last 16 or quarters yet again.

[Aristo 60]

See you all Saturday evening in Newry be you from St Colman's or the Abbey, have GSCE's or A-Levels or neither!

An Dun Abu

[snoopdog]

I see St Colmans are into semi final and have a great chance in getting to a final. A question for the south Down members. Is the abbey a smaller school and do the college get the first pick in players. It seems as if the college always get better teams, why is this?

Numbers wise they're roughly the same.

Reasons why St Colmans do better - probably a few.

St Colmans have a larger and more rural catchment (this probably comes from the fact it was a boarding school in the past) - the decline of football in Newry can't help Abbey.

St Colmans have the tradition - even when Newry football was strong St Colmans did better than Abbey.

With that St Colmans have the coaches who have been there and have the know how to win McRory.

St Colmans will keep good footballers even if they academically under achieve @ GCSE whereas Abbey would not - although I'm not sure if this is still the case - definitely was throughout 80s 90s and 2000s.

This year has definitely opened up with Omagh getting knocked out - Omagh thrashed St Colmans in the McCormack they'll be glad to see them out. Very open McRory now.

The only comment I'll make here is that the bit on bold couldn't be any further off the mark if an Abbey forward needed to kick it to win a MacRory knockout match.

I agree. That comment is incorrect. I went to the college in 80s and 90s. . If you weren't up to it in exams you were gone after GCSE.  As for Omagh hammering College in MaCormick , poison chalice I dont think Anyone who has won that cup have ever won Macrory. Violet Hill wouldn't be too worried about that tin pot. Cathal Murray  knows what it takes. Best of Luck against pats Armagh in athletic grounds next friday night.

[Ed Hardy]

Down team to play longford;

Burns, Fegan, Murdock, McAleenan, Collins, O Hagan, Mc Ardle, Flynn, Poland, O Hagan, Doherty, Kerr, O Hare, McCabe,   Quinn.

Few changes,  very surprised to see Doherty at chf tho, bit out of the blue. 4 ouf 6 forwards are very small, very lightweight. MF is a massive concern, neither player looks very comfortable there. I thought thats where Tally would make a change or even 2. Massive game, must win really.

[Mourne Rover]

If this team starts, McKernan, Johnston and Devlin are among those dropped after the Cork game. Doherty looked a decent prospect at this stage last year but missed Kilcoo's entire championship run with a long term injury. While it is certainly one of the lightest forward lines we have named for a long time, Tally will probably be watching the weather before making final decisions.

[Smurfy123]

Massive 2 points for Down and still all to play for
But by god it is a boring boring brand of football we play.
I am struggling to watch that crap
The first half especially was a borefest
Darren O Hagen is a great played

[Ed Hardy]

Credit to the players for battling away to the end but thats awful to watch 2nite, made ridiculous hard work of that, should have been out of sight by 45mins, instead they persisted in playing the ball back and forth and ended up being 1pt behind with 15mins left. Showed great character to go on and win it from there, but some of decisions were strange. Felt sorry for Annett being subbed off, didnt really understand that call. Tally definitely not sure of his strongest 15.

[Mourne Rover]

Down made very hard work of what should have been a straighforward win but we should still give our players and management full credit for turning round a crucial game in hugely pressurised circumstances. We are in D3 because our results in recent seasons have not been good enough, so we need to rebuild, get promoted and play in the first tier championship. We don't have a squad which is capable of producing sparkling football at this stage but it is pretty clear that we are improving and are just about where we need to be with three league games left.

It was an unusual match against Longford in that we seemed to be steadily pulling clear in the final quarter only to concede a comic book goal and allow our kick out strategy to suddenly collapse in the space of a couple of minutes. Finding ourselves two behind with just over ten minutes left and facing a gale force wind was a huge test of character which we were able to come through.

Darren O'Hagan is a true leader and the goals from Quinn and James Guinness showed a touch of class when we really needed it. Kerr is also emerging as the kind of forward who can bring us to a different level.

There were plenty of negative aspects to our display as well but we are starting to make a habit of edging tight contests and the changes Tally made were effective throughout. While we are dealing with narrow margins, two points in Tullamore next week will have us on the brink of a considerable achievement.

[Ed Hardy]

Good win for the U20's yesterday also, just seen the line up on Twitter,  John McGovern and Justin Clarke not on panel? I thought those 2 boys would have been good enough for that team.

[Nanderson]

Scrappy enough game last night. Down seem to play there best football when they are coming from behind. They opened up Longford with ease for the 2 goals. Liam Kerr really looks like a generational talent. Definatley our most talented forward since Marty Clarke (although we never got to see the best of him)

[Truth hurts]

It was a hard fought win on Saturday night and fair play to the lads who are still in with a good shout at promotion.
But......the product is extremely hard to watch, the first half was really boring and the crowd were not engaged at all, there seems to be a disconnect or something.
I love my football but I am really considering whether i will go to any more games. Liam Kerr was very good and i still do not know why young Annett was called ashore.

[Smurfy123]

Suppose PT job is to get results regardless of how they get it so he has to get credit for the win against Longford on Saturday night
Guinness Quinn Kerr and as always Darren O were very good
Think Donal O has been pretty average this league but certainly can't fault his effort and workrate as he seems to be playing further out the field this year.
In reality Down Cork and Derry would not look out of place in division 2 but after that the step up is huge.
The thing about the way Down set themselves up they are never going to get a hammering and they will never blow teams away. They just grind teams down and normally have that touch of ckass to come out on top in this division
I just can stand the ultra defensive game and that first half was as boring a half of football I have watch in years. That's just my opinion I don't like defensive football as it is but 15 men behind the ball I just can't take.
But the results have left us in a good position within 3 matches to go
Look at Galway yesterday when they play football. What a waste of 3 years for some of them Galway players

[Truth hurts]

I was at the East Down Scor final at the weekend and I was shocked to see that 8 clubs never got involved in Scor this year, 6 of which are big div 1 and 2 clubs in East Down.

I would like to remind clubs that the Rule 4 of the GAA's official guide states:

The Association shall actively support the Irish language, traditional Irish dancing, music, song, and other aspects of Irish culture. It shall foster an awareness and love of the national ideals in the people of Ireland, and assist in promoting a community spirit through its clubs.

Scor gets people involved in the GAA who may not be from a sporting background, any club not promoting our  culture are leaving out a lot of people in your communities. Clubs should be proactive in having a cultural/Scor officer to increase participation.

Carryduff and Bredagh have the biggest memberships in the county, come on folks you can do better.

[johnnycool]

I was at the East Down Scor final at the weekend and I was shocked to see that 8 clubs never got involved in Scor this year, 6 of which are big div 1 and 2 clubs in East Down.

I would like to remind clubs that the Rule 4 of the GAA's official guide states:

The Association shall actively support the Irish language, traditional Irish dancing, music, song, and other aspects of Irish culture. It shall foster an awareness and love of the national ideals in the people of Ireland, and assist in promoting a community spirit through its clubs.

Scor gets people involved in the GAA who may not be from a sporting background, any club not promoting our  culture are leaving out a lot of people in your communities. Clubs should be proactive in having a cultural/Scor officer to increase participation.

Carryduff and Bredagh have the biggest memberships in the county, come on folks you can do better.

At least they play hurling and also camogie in Bredagh's part, so swings and roundabouts!

[6th sam]

I was at the East Down Scor final at the weekend and I was shocked to see that 8 clubs never got involved in Scor this year, 6 of which are big div 1 and 2 clubs in East Down.

I would like to remind clubs that the Rule 4 of the GAA's official guide states:

The Association shall actively support the Irish language, traditional Irish dancing, music, song, and other aspects of Irish culture. It shall foster an awareness and love of the national ideals in the people of Ireland, and assist in promoting a community spirit through its clubs.

Scor gets people involved in the GAA who may not be from a sporting background, any club not promoting our  culture are leaving out a lot of people in your communities. Clubs should be proactive in having a cultural/Scor officer to increase participation.

Carryduff and Bredagh have the biggest memberships in the county, come on folks you can do better.

At least they play hurling and also camogie in Bredagh's part, so swings and roundabouts!

JC , share your sentiments re spreading the hurling/camogie gospel but Tbf it is very very hard to start up hurling/camogie from scratch . Providing cultúr/singing/dance/music/drama is relatively easy. I think every club has a responsibility to provide male/female sport and culture if they are to meet the ideals of the association. Scór isn't for everyone however and the GAA needs to be imaginative regarding promoting culture.