I'm heading up for this match at the weekend. We should be in the north by lunch time Saturday. We've no idea where to stay and other than looking at a map I know nothing about county Down. WWW.GAA.IE says the game is in Portaferry. I thought Down played in Newry. Newry is handier but how far away is Potaferry from Newry? Where is the pitch exactly? What's the ground like?
I think the Down team are a pale shadow of the team they were a couple of years ago but we'll see on Sunday.
More importantly - can I have some advice on where to stay? Some where cheap that won't mind us coming in late and and having a few drinks. There's 4 of us. Would it be best to stay near the ground in Portaferry or could we stay somewhere else and travel to the game in the morning?
Since none of the Down lads are offering advice I'll try to help. The pitch is on the edge of the village. Portaferry is very small just ask someone for directions, you won't have any problems. Last time I was down the pitch was excellent but there were no other facilities such as a stand or toilets (although they had plans for both). The changing rooms are at the old pitch on the opposite side of the road.
There are a couple of hotels and a hostel. I've no idea what they are like or what the night life is like in Portaferry but I have heard that most young people prefer to drink carry-outs on the street rather than go to a pub.
Your best bet may be to stay in Belfast and travel down on Sunday. It's a 45 minute drive from Belfast to Portaferry. As for hotels, Jury's Inn or Day's Hotel in the city centre would be your best bet. The Parador in south Belfast is also cheap and would be very welcoming to GAA supporters. You may even bump into one or two of our regular posters. Enjoy your trip and remember; enjoy alcohol sensibily!
The majority of hurling gmaes are played in Ballycran or Portaferry, although the odd game is played in Newry or Newcastle.
As for accomodation, the hotel in Portaferry is dead on for accomodation and does have a decent restaurant especially for sea food.
Night life wise, Fiddlers green in the square is the best spot and you'll probably meet a few of the Down team getting in their fluids for the game the next day. They've got their trad music on on a saturday night.
Ignore Guillems comments as to the young fellas drinking carryouts on the street, that's bollocks but you may want to bring an umbrella with you as there isn't a stand at Portaferry as he says. I can't understand how Ballycran is unplayable as it's natural slope was always dry in the winter>>
Never mind going to Belfast or Newry you'll be more than welcome in Portaferry. You won't have to worry about wearing your Clare shirts around the town and you'll meet plenty of lads more than willing to talk hurling into the wee small hours. If you decide to come up I'll PM you my mobile number and I'll show you around.
Here's a link to the two hotels: Barhom is self catering and very reasonable. It's a community owned business run on a not for profit basis.
http://portaferryhotel.com/index.htm (http://portaferryhotel.com/index.htm)
http://www.narrows.co.uk/ (http://www.narrows.co.uk/)
http://www.barholmportaferry.co.uk/ (http://www.barholmportaferry.co.uk/)
What's the craic with Davy Fitz? Is he on the panel or off it? I was always a great fan of the man. He's still the best keeper in Clare & I hope it doesn't end like this.
Quote from: Colonel Cool on February 13, 2007, 05:58:05 PM
Never mind going to Belfast or Newry you'll be more than welcome in Portaferry. You won't have to worry about wearing your Clare shirts around the town and you'll meet plenty of lads more than willing to talk hurling into the wee small hours. If you decide to come up I'll PM you my mobile number and I'll show you around.
Here's a link to the two hotels: Barhom is self catering and very reasonable. It's a community owned business run on a not for profit basis.
http://portaferryhotel.com/index.htm (http://portaferryhotel.com/index.htm)
http://www.narrows.co.uk/ (http://www.narrows.co.uk/)
http://www.barholmportaferry.co.uk/ (http://www.barholmportaferry.co.uk/)
What's the craic with Davy Fitz? Is he on the panel or off it? I was always a great fan of the man. He's still the best keeper in Clare & I hope it doesn't end like this.
The Portaferry hotel is the obvious choice as it's owned by a Ballygalget man, come to think of it, most of portaferry is owned by Ballygalget men, business wise anyway, isn't that right Colonel?
Thanks for all the advice lads. I was talking to the lads last night at training and we'll be heading straight to Portaferry. They weren't that keen on Belfast and Newry seems a bit far from the ground what with hangovers and all. One thing lads, The AA route finder site recommends travelling through Belfast to Portaferry. It looks a fair bit longer than the route through Newry and I'd be worried about getting lost in the city with a southern reg. Are the roads in Down very poor or something?
Colonel Cool/Johnnycool - are you guys from Portaferry? Thanks for your help.
How have Down been going pre-season? I know you lost to Laois in the Walsh Cup but have there been any friendlies? Is Paul Braniff still injured? I saw him put in a great performance for ye against Westmeath acouiple of year ago in Limerick.
The story with Davy is all up in the air. His club are putting pressure on the Co Board to resolve the issue but it hasn't been sorted yet. We''ll know more when the team is named on Thursday night but I don't expect Davy to be in it or even on the bench.
Colonel Cool/Johnnycool - are you guys from Portaferry?
Quote from: Silky on February 14, 2007, 09:21:38 AM
Thanks for all the advice lads. I was talking to the lads last night at training and we'll be heading straight to Portaferry. They weren't that keen on Belfast and Newry seems a bit far from the ground what with hangovers and all. One thing lads, The AA route finder site recommends travelling through Belfast to Portaferry. It looks a fair bit longer than the route through Newry and I'd be worried about getting lost in the city with a southern reg. Are the roads in Down very poor or something?
Colonel Cool/Johnnycool - are you guys from Portaferry? Thanks for your help.
How have Down been going pre-season? I know you lost to Laois in the Walsh Cup but have there been any friendlies? Is Paul Braniff still injured? I saw him put in a great performance for ye against Westmeath acouiple of year ago in Limerick.
The story with Davy is all up in the air. His club are putting pressure on the Co Board to resolve the issue but it hasn't been sorted yet. We''ll know more when the team is named on Thursday night but I don't expect Davy to be in it or even on the bench.
Colonel Cool/Johnnycool - are you guys from Portaferry?
I'm from Ballygalget myself which is only three miles outside Portaferry. The Colonel is from Ballycran which is 7 or 8 miles from Portaferry, but I think the Colonel lives in Portaferry by the craic of him.
Down aren't going well at the minute, a bit of a transitional period with a lot of new players in the ranks, with a good few making their debuts on Sunday. Paul Braniff is a huge loss to the team and if he's any sense won't feature this year and give his knee a proper recovery after his second ACL operation on that same knee. I can't see there being much of a challenge in it for Clare to be honest and I'd be predicting a 15+ point defeat.
on a different Johnny whos taking Ballygalget this year? is it still Seamy nad Cody? and Colonel whos taking Portaferry? is is Marty and noddy?
AFAIK Gerard Monan is back in charge of Ballygalget and Marty Mallon and Noel Sands are staying with Ports.
Quote from: Bacon on February 14, 2007, 11:45:02 AM
AFAIK Gerard Monan is back in charge of Ballygalget and Marty Mallon and Noel Sands are staying with Ports.
Bacon is on the money on both accounts.
I've heard a 100 theroies about whats going on. No point in repeting them here. Here's thge latest from Hoganstand. I'll see you Down lads Saturday or Sunday.
Banner row remains unsettled
15 February 2007
The disharmony in Clare hurling shows no signs of dissipating with the news that trainer Dave Mahedy has severed his links with the county setup and a meeting between hurling boss Tony Considine and goalkeeper Davy Fitzgerald has seen no agreement reached between the pair.
It is understood that no resolution of the disagreement was reached as a result of the meeting and Fitzgerald has still not returned to training with Clare with Sunday's NHL opener coming up fast.
Neither Considine or Fitzgerald have chosen to discuss their meeting but Considine rejected suggestions that senior players in the panel are annoyed by Fitzgerald's non-inclusion in the panel.
Considine told Clare FM: "I haven't heard anything; maybe you have, but then again, there are a lot of sideshows going on."
Meanwhile, Mahedy has quit as the panel's trainer, claiming that he was "not in a position to continue."
Considine respects Fitzgerald's decision
15 February 2007
Clare hurling boss Tony Considine says Davy Fitzgerald wasn't axed from the Banner County panel but opted out himself and he respects that decision.
As the erstwhile Clare number one continues to be a high-profile absentee from the Clare senior squad, Considine says Fitzgerald quit the panel of his own accord.
"I'd like to emphasise one thing - Davy Fitzgerald has not been dropped from the Clare panel, he withdrew, opted out, as did several other players," Considine declared.
"It was entirely his own decision, made for his own reasons - that's something he's going to have to sort out for himself. He walked out of his own accord, he knows the way back, and I'll say no more about that.
"Brian Shalley withdrew from the panel, Colin Lafferty withdrew from the panel, again for their own reasons. I respect those decisions, all those decisions."
Anyone hear a score yet?
Clare 2-13 Down 0-5 at the break
are you listening to the match? If so where is it on?
www.clarefm.ie there's a link to stream in the top right corner of the site man
Cheers, score now 3-16 to 0-8 and one way traffic
15 Minutes gone in 2nd half: Down 0-08 3-17 Clare
Not looking good for the season.
Think Magic and Mc Gourty should stay with the football - obviously no future in Hurling with this score.
and they can look forward to a big future in the football
As bad as the footballers are, in recent times, I can't see them ever being beaten by 20 points.
would not like to see them play tyrone any time soon
Footballers can always rise their game against better opposition. Our Hurlers always seem to be destroyed when they come up against superior teams - these are the facts and the results reflect this. As bad as footballers are - 20 pts, dont think so.
Clare 3-25 Down 1-13 Result
A bit of a strange game where both Down and Clare played the better against the wind than with it. Firstly Clare were the vastly superior team with Down at sixes and sevens early on. If it hadn't of been for some great saves from Graham Clarke it would really of totally been disasterous. Funnily enough in the second half Down seemed to grow into the game and started to play a bit, whether this was because Clare eased off or not I don't know. Big Magic was causing Gerry Quinn a few problems under the dropping ball and was the only outlet Down had but it was becoming too obvious as the game wore on and he wasn't helped by some poor buck outs by Graham ballooning them too high and by the time they were dropping there were at least three Clare men around magic even if he did catch it. None of the other forwards really counted although Eoin McGuinness worked hard for the few opportunities he got but Brian O'Connell had too much for him on the hurling front and was able to get the flick and hooks in before Eoin could get the stroke in. Clare had probably the physically largest set of forwards I've ever seen. Fergal Lynch and Barry Nugent were towering over their direct opponents, even Andrew Quinn has filled out now, then they bring on Tony Griffin who must be 6'4" himself.
As I said before, this young Down team would be better suited to Div 2 at the minute and it's going to be a long winter/spring for the team with a few more big defeats coming their way.
Cloc Mor
IMO a 20 point defeat in hurling is akin to a 7 or 8 point defeat in football as it's quite easy to rack up a big score in hurling quite quickly and there's no such thing as a blanket defence in hurling with lads able to take points from 80 yards out the field.
I'm not going to turn this into a childish football/hurling debate as it's done to death on the hoganstand but you should really try to compare like for like before commenting.
I'm entitled to my opinion - this is a discussion board after all (doh). Tough if you dont like it.
Great weekend in Portaferry lads. Hospitality second to none! I only recovering now. The match was one sided as expected but the level of skill displayed by the Down lads was very high. The difference is in the speed of action. Too often Down lads need an extra touch or a second to get their bearings. That gives their oppontents a chance to close them down. If they can work on the speed of ball work and fittness they will be more competitive in future.
The Chisty Ring Cup has to be their target this year, and maybe Ulster. I had forgot until reminded on Sunday how Down stuffed Antrim in the Christy Ring last year. They'll want to give them a run for their money this year too.
Any way good luck. The weekend in the Ards will be remembered for a long time.