Down Club Hurling & Football

[Ardstick]

Liatroim have every right to feel aggrieved in the way that they were disrespected by the County Board and the media pundits who had them written off before the match. The CB appointed an outside referee for the other semi final thinking that it would be the tougher of the two semis. But was it? In the interests of the integrity of the competition that Ardstick is so worried about both semis should have had outside referees appointed. It also raises the question are there no other referees in Down capable of officiating at this level that don't have skin in the game? If not why not? Ask any Ballycran person involved with the team did they welcome yesterdays refereeing appointment, I think the number that did you could fit them all into a phone box! The Ards teams are not whiter than white in regards to transfers and outsiders playing for them and should be playing for their "own" club - McAllister, Sheehan & Prenter. You could make a case for Prenter all right with RGU not having a hurling team. So how do some of the Ballycran players feel about the two outsiders taking their positions, you can't just pin that scenario on just happening in Liatroim, it is not unique to there. I sense a bit of fear in the Ards that there is a threat to their dominance of the SHC so is it a case of wanting those players to return to where they come from and so dilute the threat. As JC has pointed out on many occasions there will be no underage trophy residing in the Ards for another year but I have no doubt that will change sometime soon. 

Those Cran players live and are settled in the area, so that's a weak argument. Would love to know the address of the Murphy's in Liatroim and does McCusker not live beside Ballela pitch.

Look all I'm saying is instead of seeking glory hunters we need to keep working on developing players within our clubs instead of looking for a quick fix solution to winning. Taking players away to the detriment of their own clubs Lagos a real lack of class and morals.

With regards the reffing I'm sure if you talked to Ballycran supporters they would tell you all the frees that were missed for them, that's the nature of the game, ref will make mistakes just like the players on the field.

Might also be an idea to cut the Senior Championship to 5 teams, play each other once, top goes into final 2v3 in semi just to keep the quality and standard higher but that's for another day.

Good luck to Liatroim in their finals a win against Rostrevor would be an almighty victory for the parish.

Really newbie ?  bit of back tracking here

Let's have the discussion surely Oldie, however there's a massive different between a legitimate transfer and a self serving transfer. Surely your not suggesting Sheenan should still be taking a 90 mile round trip to play for Shamrocks. Fair play to him for staying with them up to last year.

How did the Murphy's ever get a transfer?? Because their dad manages them??

CB need to have a watertight system to stop clubs exploiting the system. Otherwise let's just have open season and let clubs pick and chose who gets to play for them.

this oldie thinks there's a lot of bitterness there newbie?? - sad to see. welcome to down discussion and hopefully future posts will be positive - should there be anymore 

I notice you can't challenge any of the arguments there, which is fair enough as I take it you probably agree which is great to see, the more common sense about the better I think it's pretty positive just wanting clubs competing on a level playing (Hurley)field. Looking forward to the final and hopefully the County winners can do us proud in Ulster. We are long overdue a good performance at that stage.

[Delgany 2nds]

Liatroim have every right to feel aggrieved in the way that they were disrespected by the County Board and the media pundits who had them written off before the match. The CB appointed an outside referee for the other semi final thinking that it would be the tougher of the two semis. But was it? In the interests of the integrity of the competition that Ardstick is so worried about both semis should have had outside referees appointed. It also raises the question are there no other referees in Down capable of officiating at this level that don't have skin in the game? If not why not? Ask any Ballycran person involved with the team did they welcome yesterdays refereeing appointment, I think the number that did you could fit them all into a phone box! The Ards teams are not whiter than white in regards to transfers and outsiders playing for them and should be playing for their "own" club - McAllister, Sheehan & Prenter. You could make a case for Prenter all right with RGU not having a hurling team. So how do some of the Ballycran players feel about the two outsiders taking their positions, you can't just pin that scenario on just happening in Liatroim, it is not unique to there. I sense a bit of fear in the Ards that there is a threat to their dominance of the SHC so is it a case of wanting those players to return to where they come from and so dilute the threat. As JC has pointed out on many occasions there will be no underage trophy residing in the Ards for another year but I have no doubt that will change sometime soon. 

Those Cran players live and are settled in the area, so that's a weak argument. Would love to know the address of the Murphy's in Liatroim and does McCusker not live beside Ballela pitch.

Look all I'm saying is instead of seeking glory hunters we need to keep working on developing players within our clubs instead of looking for a quick fix solution to winning. Taking players away to the detriment of their own clubs Lagos a real lack of class and morals.

With regards the reffing I'm sure if you talked to Ballycran supporters they would tell you all the frees that were missed for them, that's the nature of the game, ref will make mistakes just like the players on the field.

Might also be an idea to cut the Senior Championship to 5 teams, play each other once, top goes into final 2v3 in semi just to keep the quality and standard higher but that's for another day.

Good luck to Liatroim in their finals a win against Rostrevor would be an almighty victory for the parish.

Really newbie ?  bit of back tracking here

Let's have the discussion surely Oldie, however there's a massive different between a legitimate transfer and a self serving transfer. Surely your not suggesting Sheenan should still be taking a 90 mile round trip to play for Shamrocks. Fair play to him for staying with them up to last year.

How did the Murphy's ever get a transfer?? Because their dad manages them??

CB need to have a watertight system to stop clubs exploiting the system. Otherwise let's just have open season and let clubs pick and chose who gets to play for them.

this oldie thinks there's a lot of bitterness there newbie?? - sad to see. welcome to down discussion and hopefully future posts will be positive - should there be anymore 

I notice you can't challenge any of the arguments there, which is fair enough as I take it you probably agree which is great to see, the more common sense about the better I think it's pretty positive just wanting clubs competing on a level playing (Hurley)field. Looking forward to the final and hopefully the County winners can do us proud in Ulster. We are long overdue a good performance at that stage.

Inter County transfers are handy enough to put through.

[ck]

Watch for Kilcoo sledging, diving, feigning injury and manipulating the referee. It's what they do. No doubt Lacey will divert attention from their antics by saying they're being targeted.

Good luck to Burren. Hope Football wins.

[Walter Cronc]

Murdock in Oz? Not exactly ideal prep to win your first champ in god knows how long!

[elk]

Thought they won it 4 or 5 years ago

[downtothecore]

Ck I dont think you see much of this on sunday. Burren and kilcoo have been disciplined in this years championship to date and have learned from past experiences. Both teams have some very good players and I expect this to be a really good game. I could make a case for both teams to win it. I wud expect kilcoo to grind a win out but Burren are very capable and it wouldn't surprise if they deliver a big performance and win it.

[Mourne Red]

Let's keep this thread for prediction competition - Use the Down Football thread for talking about the game

[johnnycool]

That looked a bad enough row between Ballycran & Laotrim in the hurling, supporters over the fence and into the middle of it

I see Liatroim posted on social media that the game was ruined by the ref. Any neutrals see the game and know what that is about?

Wasn't at it but not surprised as I'd predicted something to happen during the week. 

Liatroim were leading pretty well right into injury time when Ballycran scored two very late goals to win it by two points, it would have been a massive shock for Liatroim to win this one but from all accounts a few decisions didn't go their way at the end or as is the case not given to be more precise.

We'll be very interested in how this pans out considering our U15's along with Carryduff got put out of the U15 championship after our match was abandoned for absolutely next to nothing, two young lads rolling around on the ground, with a few other's pushing and shoving. Thing was over in less than 30 seconds.

Easy making an example of a bunch of kids, but lacking fortitude when it comes to the bigger teams!

Looks like I'm right, County Boards big push on discipline comes to a shuddering halt, no suspensions, just a weak fine for both teams and carry on regardless, nothing to see here, yet two U15 teams booted out of their championship for a bit of pushing and shoving..

[GAABoardMod5]

New board not playing ball with "Merge Topics" function...keep the predictions competition thread free from comments please.

[Splash]

Portaferry v Ballygalget seemed to be nothing to write home about. Ballygalget not bad by any stretch, but still missing something to compete with their neighbours. Sure this will change in the coming years. Seem to have a good drop at underage.

Not much to be said about ballycran v Liatroim other than what has been said. Would have loved to see Liatroim over the line. It will only help down hurling grow. Liatroim didn't do enough to get the win, but you have to feel for them. Definitely will feel hard done by. Can't blame the ref, but can understand Liatroim's frustrations.

In regards to the integrity of the Liatroim panel- I don't think it's fair to stay Liatroim went looking for these players and brought them in. As far as I know, McCusker wanted to transfer to them, not vice versa, and the same can be said about the Murphys? May be wrong there but that is the story as far as I know. Also worth pointing out Liatroim have their fair share of exports. Oisin McManus would have been a great aid. If he hadn't have transferred, he would surely be taking the spot of some young fella? This is simply how things have ended up.

The Ards clubs are no strangers to transfers. Plenty been outlined, most notably probably Paul Sheehan this year. Ayrton Griffin probably is a bigger point to raise? Did ballycran not seek him out? Would he not be under the kilclief catchment area? Griffin is absolutely free to choose what he wants to do. No different to the Murphys or McCusker. To try and tell lads where they belong isn't right.

Perhaps it's a south down thing, but clubs in south down are always going to pull fellas from other clubs, simply because they offer hurling. Ballela will always pull in lads from annaclone, shamrocks will always pull in fellas from ballyholand, Ballyvarley will always pull in fellas from Glenn. Clonduff will pull in boys from all over Ireland 

Such is the way of hurling in Down. If the game was broader spread, perhaps things would be different.

Liatroim needed to put the fear into Ballycran. Some people (and it is important to stress, some, not all) on the Ards think they are a step above and south down teams will never touch them. This is probably a vocal minority, as anyone I am friendly with on the Ards is 100%. However I was at a Liatroim game not so long ago, when someone shouted at Liatroim, "What would you know about hurling anyway?"

I am sure this not a common way of going on, but it is good to keep everyone on their toes. The more competition ballyxran have now, the better this will serve them in the Ulster Championship.

If we want Down hurling to be successful, we should want our champions to be competitive when they reach the ulster and all Ireland series. At the minute, our junior and senior clubs probably aren't (neither kilclief nor east Belfast will probably win ulster, and ballycran and Portaferry look to be a bit off Slaughtneil and cushendal/loughuile).

If we want hurling to thrive in down, we want to be competitive again. Last year Portaferry were swept away by Slaughtneil, and it's hard to see either them or ballycran winning ulster this year. More competitiveness is only good for Down.

We need to bring hurling out of the Ards. The Ards have played a massive role in keeping Down at a level above most of ulster, but if we are to become an team to challenge for an all Ireland, we need to be pulling quality players out of more than 3 clubs.

I understand the argument that Liatroim men should play for Liatroim, but down hurling is too complex for this to ever happening.

Fair play to Liatroim. They've done themselves proud this year. Hopefully they have a senior championship in them yet. That article in the Irish News last week on them was heartening. It would be great if every club adopted the mindset of Liatroim. We would be well in contention for a Joe McDonagh if that was the case.

Said there were kilcoo and longstone men lining out for the hurlers- who would that be? Bit of hurling in the past in kilcoo wasn't there? Would be great to see them back. Glad longstone have a path for the future in the shape of clann mhúrn.

Still fancy ballycran to win the final. Simply clicked better than Portaferry from what I've seen of them. Would like to see Sheehan get a senior championship, too. A real good team. Wanst too much between them and Portaferry. Will be a good game.

[5times5times]

2 Kilcoo stories this week, 2 standard acts from that shower.

1) Brannagan biting a burren player in reserve game
2) Demanding that CB remove P.F as referee on Sunday

[Truth hurts]

The weekly lets hammer Kilcoo posts

[ck]

2 Kilcoo stories this week, 2 standard acts from that shower.

1) Brannagan biting a burren player in reserve game
2) Demanding that CB remove P.F as referee on Sunday

On what basis are they demanding the change of referee? They have some arrogance to even suggest it.

[razor]

2 Kilcoo stories this week, 2 standard acts from that shower.

1) Brannagan biting a burren player in reserve game
2) Demanding that CB remove P.F as referee on Sunday

On what basis are they demanding the change of referee? They have some arrogance to even suggest it.

Burren were just as bad with some of the antics they were up to
Also if you knew exactly what the whole truth around Faloon then they have every right to object to his appointment.

[befair]

Kilcoo have been great champions, but are letting themeslves down again. Paul Falloon is one of our best referees