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[when teams get a run at us eg. Donegal scoring 7 unanswered points, neither management or players seem to have a clue how to stop the rot.]

A harsh dose of realism lads, beat by Tyrone who had 6 debutantes,and Donegal who have not been training seriously. It is possible that we could go through this whole league campaign without a win thus taking a losing mentality into the championship. There are some positives, the emergence of Boyle and O Hare in particular, but when teams get a run at us eg. Donegal scoring 7 unanswered points, neither management or players seem to have a clue how to stop the rot. Following a good performance against Tyrone, i had hoped that the currently injured players would have trouble forcing their way back onto the first fifteen, but alas and alack its back to the old dogs to save us. I am not optimistic

Similar to last night in Newry. U-21's were 9 points up on Tyrone at one stage and ended up losing by a point. Down only scored 2 points in the second half. Management had no idea how to stop the rot. Ryan O'Hare was sent on and a selector kept shouting at him to "run around as he was fresh"

Kilcoo v Burren will now be swiched to Burren tonight as Pairc Eoghan Rua is unplayable.

what times throw in?

I'd go for

McVeigh
Cole
Garvey
Howard
Carr
Rooney
Murphy
Lynch
Gordon
Kearney
Coulter
Rodgers
McComiskey
Fitzpatrick
Hughes


Lynch played at midfield in a challenge game on saturday with Fitzpatrick at full forward.

[15. D Rafferty]

1. B. Mc Veigh
2. Luke Howard
3. Conor Garvey
4. Monk Cole
5. Paul Murphy
6. Declan Rooney
7. Aidan Carr
8. Ambrose Rogers
9. Dan Gordan
10. Ronan Murtagh
11. Benny Coulter
12. Fegan
13. Danny Hughes
14. Paul Mc Comiskey
15. D Rafferty

Thats my starting 15. Not sure if Ambrose is injured or not?? but if he's fit he has to start! He was awesome in last years championship. Full back line is grand, good man markers in there. Half back is a bit dodgey with very attacking minded footballers. Murphy can foul quite a bit but then again Fermanagh didn't really have a free taker last year. Will always rise to the big occassion though! Aidan Carr has to start also, plays well in big games. Murtagh at 12 because he loves winning break ball. Benny is a nightmare for any team bombing down their throats and we all know what mccomiskey and danny can do on their day with decent ball in. Not sure about D rafferty. Put him in there because no one else. John Clarke if available but he's obviously not going to be putting on a jersey this summer.

Really think ross should swallow a bit of pride. Colgan, Clarke and Mickey Walsh are 3 quality quality players that Down could do with and it's obviously a personal issue with all 3.

Down to win by 4 points

Thats abit of an insult to the rest of the forwards on the panel. Looking at this thread most fellas havent a starting place for rafferty in the defence never mind attack.

<http://www.google.co.uk/maps?daddr=Castlewellan+BT31+9NR,+UK&geocode=&dirflg=&saddr=BELFAST&f=d&sll=54.302452,-5.908027&sspn=0.010092,0.027637&ie=UTF8&z=10]www.google.co.uk/maps?daddr=Castlewellan+BT31+9NR,+UK&geocode=&dirflg=&saddr=BELFAST&f=d&sll=54.302452,-5.908027&sspn=0.010092,0.027637&ie=UTF8&z=10>] <http://www.google.co.uk/maps?daddr=Castlewellan+BT31+9NR,+UK&geocode=&dirflg=&saddr=BELFAST&f=d&sll=54.302452,-5.908027&sspn=0.010092,0.027637&ie=UTF8&z=10

There ye go sur or type BT31 9NR into your sat nav.

Cheers passedit

lads, can anyone give directions of how to get to st johns pitch from belfast???

Anyone travel to the game yesterday?

who played well / not so well?

were does this leave our promotion hopes for the year?

Found this on the internet

http://www.tirchonaillgaels.com/profiles.php

Name: Aaron Somers
Age: 17
Height: 6' 1
Weight: 12.5st
Home Club: Tir Chonaill Gaels
County: London
Honours: U16 C'ship '06, U16 British C'ship 06, U16 Lge Winner '05, '06, U18 C'ship '05, '06, U21 C'ship 06, U18 Inter Continental C'ship '07, U16, U17 & U18 Provincial C'ship

seems to have won a few things

DOWN: Senior football manager Ross Carr has launched a scathing attack on the GAA's new experimental playing rules, claiming they are designed to halt the success of Ulster teams.

Former All-Ireland medallist Carr is adamant Gaelic Football is not a cynical game and insisted the game's decision-makers should be more concerned with punishing players who fake injuries and who try to get opponents booked or sent off.

Carr believes that next Sunday's McKenna Cup opponents Tyrone and Ulster champions Armagh are being punished for their recent success and that GAA top brass have "taken umbrage" by introducing the new rules.

He noted: "Everybody's standing off and it's more like sevens' football. Players are afraid to make tackles in case they get caught for yellow cards.

"I didn't think that football was cynical to begin with and the powers-that-be have taken umbrage against Armagh and Tyrone's style of play and Ulster's success and tried to stop it.

"Look at the amount of games played over the course of the year - how many serious violations are there? I don't think that football is any worse than any other sport.

"In all of the new rules, why has there been no outcry against feigners, fakers and divers? That's far worse, in my view, and a player should not play for six months if he attempts to get another player sent off."

Carr believes that overuse of the handpass leads to scrum-type situations on the field and he stated: "It's the handpass that needs to be looked at. The amount of handpassing is creating the problems and the one thing we can't do is take the physical confrontation out of Gaelic football.

"I just feel the success of Armagh and Tyrone has been interpreted by the media in a certain way which has led to begrudgery and I feel they have gone overboard in blaming those teams for the alleged cynicism now being levelled at Gaelic football."

Was at the game yesterday, and thought it was a promising display from the new guys.

The main thing that irritated me was entry fee. £8 to a McKenna cup match in Janurary against a university team, seemed abit much. And no student rate either. Another flop by the ulster council. May kill the supporters for the rest of the fixtures.

[Was he at Drumgath when they won the intermediate championship?]

Bill Geoghegan is from Lurgan direction,he took st Paul's Bessbrook, then Drumgath An riocht, there maybe someone else there

Bill is originally from gilford and played most of his football at Tullylish then moved to Banbridge to cut down on his travelling. A very handy footballer in his day, does he still have the tan? Was he at Drumgath when they won the intermediate championship?
In fairness it's hard to blame any of these lads, if there was no market for them they wouldn't be there. The further down the leagues you go the less willing or able the clubs are to develope their own senior coaches from within.

aye, geoghegan was in charge when drumgath wont the championship, but left the same season after we failed to get promoted dispite finishing second in the league.

Whose decision SB? His or yours?

Surely an intermediate championship and second in the league would make the decision his?

He was originally set to come back but mistakes were made on the managements part in the playoffs that many thought cost us promotion. A few players who hadnt been seen all year came back after we won the championship and went straight into the team, and thus changed a few positions within the team to accomodate them, but it obviously didnt work.

This was really the downfall as, as much as every team wants to win a championship, we started out that year to gain promotion, and ultimately failed, for one reason or another. Not entirely bills fault, but im in no doubt that had the same team that played throughout the championship played in the play offs, we would have been promoted.

[Was he at Drumgath when they won the intermediate championship?]

Bill Geoghegan is from Lurgan direction,he took st Paul's Bessbrook, then Drumgath An riocht, there maybe someone else there

Bill is originally from gilford and played most of his football at Tullylish then moved to Banbridge to cut down on his travelling. A very handy footballer in his day, does he still have the tan? Was he at Drumgath when they won the intermediate championship?
In fairness it's hard to blame any of these lads, if there was no market for them they wouldn't be there. The further down the leagues you go the less willing or able the clubs are to develope their own senior coaches from within.

aye, geoghegan was in charge when drumgath wont the championship, but left the same season after we failed to get promoted dispite finishing second in the league.

Sounds like a great solution......especially with the 30% rule being abandoned

[some of the PRFL teams could certainly compete at the top of Div 3.]

Regarding the proposal to have PRFL teams playing in Div 4, it doesnt really matter who is putting it forward - it would be more interesting to know why it is being put forward. And if Div 4 isnt strong enough why isnt Div 3 or Div 2 considered - some of the PRFL teams could certainly compete at the top of Div 3.
If we really want to provide competitive football for everyone, why not limit team numbers to say 20 (named players) and any club who can field an additional 20 named players can enter two teams in the mainstream league structures - ie do away with PRFL completely but also players cant play for two teams.

Otherwise leave it as it is (which is probably my preferred solution)

your some crack, Mayobridge PR footballers would do well against the likes of Glassdrumman

[Drumgath]

Annaclone and Drumgath have let be known they will be needing new Managers.As for the rates,I don't think
you'll see that written here.

Drumgath Arent looking a new manager, Mickey is taking over for another year