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Now that the dust has settled, a few points on last night.

Adam Lynch was outstanding on Kerr, McCartan kept Magill fairly quiet too. CPN seemed to get their big match ups right. Couldn't understand Gerard McGovern picking up Boyle, thought Boyle was magificent too, a real rolls Royce. Young Byrne exceptional for W'Point at breaking lines. Gary McMahon with balls the size of watermelons for the free at the end of normal time and his penalty was not wise.

You can tell Burren thought it was just a matter of turning up and beating the point. Very disappointing Championship for them and Kilcoo will fancy a stroll home now to another SFC. Would've been for some craic if Clonduff had made it over the line but The Bridge will be no walk over. Loughinisland Kilcoo final repeat of 2009 final. Championship has come to life this weekend💪

The championship has come alive because no back door,  time it was done away with and u will have more games like this

Does Ross McGarry still play for Warrenpoint?

Injured,  broken jaw in training accident

Cheap weekend in Donegal going for any club interested 

Jimmy mc G

What is going on in Castlewellan,  that is some hammering the week before the championship starts??

James McCartan has been talked around into staying with the Down seniors after yesterdays drinking session
A few lads left the training camp early in disgust
When do the County board just say to James get rid of them and bring in younger lads who want to play

What's this about?

How many players will hang about after the monaghan game? I think  a few boys will head for the USA

U20 game,  u can only beat what's in front of u, but fermanagh were very poor . Tyrone will tell us about this years team.

No need on the attacks on individuals who have given their lives to the gaa.  We can be constructive without attacks

Attacks and constructive criticism are a waste of time.Until most Clubs get real with the appointment of their own County delegate and Convention attendees the rot will continue.

And what do you want the delegates to do, go in shouting to get rid of managers because that worked out well in the past.

Our present failings are down to funding and which this current crop has had to deal with. The past few years have seen an excellent improvement in the handling of the crippling debt which was placed on the county after the Newcastle debacle.

The officials who are on the county executive are good administrators but I think more delegation needs to take place and trust to be given to other young officials in the county. There are plenty of young brains who would be able to trash out a coaching plan,  an athletic development plan etc the county executive would rubber-stamp it then.

A coaching pathway could be set up by men like Mark McCartan, Mark Doran, Benny Coulter, DJ Morgan, Mark Doran, Ambrose, John Fegan, Steven Poacher, Conor Laverty, Martin Clarke, Ronan McCartan, Joe Tunney, Danny Hughes, aided and supported by Wee Pete and Barney. There are a lot of other good brains that could be added to this but getting these people together would be a start to get the process rolling.

A strength and conditioning plan should be fronted by Aaron Brannigan and Mickey Walh who could then get other coaches on board to develop a long-term goal for

No need on the attacks on individuals who have given their lives to the gaa.  We can be constructive without attacks

Attacks and constructive criticism are a waste of time.Until most Clubs get real with the appointment of their own County delegate and Convention attendees the rot will continue.

And what do you want the delegates to do, go in shouting to get rid of managers because that worked out well in the past.

Our present failings are down to funding and which this current crop has had to deal with. The past few years have seen an excellent improvement in the handling of the crippling debt which was placed on the county after the Newcastle debacle.

The officials who are on the county executive are good administrators but I think more delegation needs to take place and trust to be given to other young officials in the county. There are plenty of young brains who would be able to trash out a coaching plan,  an athletic development plan etc the county executive would rubber-stamp it then.

A coaching pathway could be set up by men like Mark McCartan, Mark Doran, Benny Coulter, DJ Morgan, Mark Doran, Ambrose, John Fegan, Steven Poacher, Conor Laverty, Martin Clarke, Ronan McCartan, Joe Tunney, Danny Hughes, aided and supported by Wee Pete and Barney. There are a lot of other good brains that could be added to this but getting these people together would be a start to get the process rolling.

A strength and conditioning plan should be fronted by Aaron Brannigan and Mickey Walh who could then get other coaches on board to develop a long-term goal for the county.

Let the lunatics take over the asylum  ....My God

Why is Donal O'hare not playing for Down?

Maybe ask some of your prominent friends in the East?

We don't hear the going on of the traditional liberal elite clubs in the south of the county. He would be some additional even if just for frees.

Jesus, your starting to sound like Jamie Bryson with your liberal elite.

He's starting to sound like Down Jim

Some people on here need to have a word with themselves.

We've a Down team very much in rebuild mode, not helped with the farce of the delay in appointing a manager. They came up against a Roscommon side that many of you are saying "are hardly world beaters" but they've been in four Connacht finals in a row 2016-19, winning two of those in a province with very good Mayo and Galway sides, and had just dropped out of Division 1 last season. While that doesn't make them "world beaters", they are much more established as a team and further along in their progress.

How about some of you get behind the team for a change instead of waiting with the pitchforks?

100% spot on! There wasnt many who put their name forward to take the job on, people need to give the team and management a bit of time. A lot of Down fans needs to be more realistic with their ambitions also, minor and u21/20 results have been brutal for 15 years  or so bar last year. We get one decent team through and boys think they will  turn the senior team around.
Going forward hopefully Barry O Hagan back, along with the Kilcoo boys, Daniel Guinness should hopefully be fit to start and Corey Quinn. That will definitely improve the team. Any word if McCrickard is able to committee? Some ask travelling from Cork tho.

Ed the management fell into the job, as James always does, and takes his friend's in with him.  So none of this rubbish  they stepped up, they getting well paid

The biggest surprise for me, was that people on here actually fought we would beat Roscommon. Can someone tell me what Aiden o rourke has achieved in the game as a coach/manager?

Oh my god could Mark Doran be any further up Kilcoos behind??? Listened to that load of balls podcast earlier and oh my good - talk about putting yourself into the window to manage them at some stage - sweet lord..

Johnny don't know what's worse, u think Doran would be even be considered by kilcoo, or someone actually listens to them idiots on a load of balls

Kingdom looking for new management team

Is Bernie Ruane not with them again?

He's away

I'm really not sure why points are retained for what is in effect a separate competition. But apart from that gripe it makes for one very exciting season.

So you think that a team who finishes in 5th after the first round had 10 points should start the second round of fixtures with a team who has zero points Clubs have not thought this true properly and trust me there will be a lot of complaints about this format. When the league starts there will be a raft of Down seniors who are fringe players who will leave the panel if they are starred. Down senior team is always hampered by the senior leagues.  If you make the league final you will have played a team 4 times before the start of the championship. Familiarity breeds contempt.

Sometimes I wonder what sort of clowns vote for these things.

The problem here Truth is with perspective, and whether you believe it's one competition or multiple competitions. I believe it's the latter, except it's been infected by the former.

——

For over a decade after the starred system came into Down football, the leagues operated like this:

- 12 teams per division (with d4 usually smaller)

- Top 4 round robin playoffs for titles / promotion.

- Bottom 4 round robin playoffs for relegation.

And throughout this time, never once did anyone ever suggest, "maybe everyone should start the playoffs with their league points carried over". Do you know why? Because it would have been batshit mad to do so. They wouldn't have been playoffs. Half the games wouldn't even have been played due to foregone conclusions.

——

Personally, I believe that when we choose to split a season and create new leagues based on positions at a point in time, it is not a continuation of a competition. It's the creation of a new one.

This belief is compounded by the simple, inarguable fact that the principle of starred games only worked successfully in tandem with playoffs, as it meant that although clubs with heavy county commitments would likely suffer during the season, that they would at least have a full-squad opportunity to retain their league status.

We all know that long Down summer is unlikely this year. But the availability of players is going to be sore point for a few clubs.

I do get what you are saying and I fully agree that the availability of the players is going to be massive and will hurt a lot of clubs. Take Gilmore out of St Johns forward line for example, holy christ. Is it fair to penalize Clonduff for having 4 or 5 county players?
The correct thing was to play the full league,
They should have played a lot of Fridays and Mondays. The players love games and it would be better playing a Monday night game than to run around Castlewellan lake.
The fairest thing would have been a full league. This is not a fair system and I fear it could hamper our county squad.

How many starred games is there ?

 Congratulations kilcoo.
Down what can you say, poor team poor management.

Well Burren seem to have bigger numbers at all levels compared to most. The Belfast teams don't generally stand out in reserve football
Burren
Kilcoo
Mayobridge
Clonduff

Would all contest division 3

When was the last time Clonduff have won a reserve title of any description? The other 3 would have strong enough squads to compete in Division 3 and 4 but that's would be as far as they would get. I would like to see it happen for a year to see how it would pan out, If you play 1 minute of division 1 football then you are ruled out of division 4 football. It would be a mixture of seconds and thirds players.

They wouldn't count outside Div 4,