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[Clonduff]

Round 3 (Losers Round)

SFC

Clonduff V Cumann Pheadair Naofa
Longstone V Carryduff
Glenn V Castlewellan
Bredagh V Mayobridge


IFC

Clann na Banna V Saval
Atticall V St Paul's
Darragh Cross V Newry Shamrocks
Drumgath V Ballymartin

Rostrevor desperately unlucky to be facing SFC playoffs given the problems they've had and their second half performance last night. Lads pulling on the jersey deserve credit... Castlewellan very fortunate at the end. Don't think anyone really knows if it was a goal. Saul or Bryansford probably most likely to end up at IFC level next season, but its all on the day - I would say Saul. They have just found the going tough, but their draw was very difficult compared to what they might have got in fairness... Loughinisland seem to be getting somewhere closer to what we expect from them and Rostrevor have had a recent run of wins against Ford and have the players to outgun Bryansford in a scoring match. Kilcoo just seem to find those scores and extra bits and pieces over an hour of play. Clonduff played quite well but yet found themselves beaten with a little to spare. Downpatrick getting a bit of momentum. Will be interesting to see how they get on if /when they hit the knockout...

[Burren]

SFC Winners Draw

Glenn v Burren
Downpatrick vs Longstone
Bredagh vs Ballyholland
Clonduff vs Kilcoo

SFC Losers Draw

Carryduff vs Saul
Loughinisland vs Mayobridge
CPN vs Bryansford
Castlewellan vs Rostrevor

IFC Winners Draw

Atticall v Annaclone
Darraghcross v Liatroim
Clann Na Banna v Tullylish
Drumgath v An Riocht

IFC Losers Draw

Shamrocks v St Johns
Ballymartin vs St Johns Bosco
St Pauls vs Bright
Dromara vs Saval



JFC Losers Draw

Aghaderg v Ardglass
Teconnaught v Kilclief
Mitchels vs St Michaels

[CPN]

SFC

CPN V Longstone
Saul v Burren
Bredagh v Castlewellan
Mayobridge v Kilcoo
Clonduff v Rostrevor
Loughinisland v Ballyholland
Bryansford v Glenn
RGU v Carryduff

IFC

AnRiocht v Ballymartin
Clann na Bannav Dromara
St Johns Bosco v Atticall
Shamrocksv Drumgath
St Johns v Liatroim
St Pauls v Annaclone
Saval v Darragh Cross
Tullylishv Bright


JFC

Mitchels v Glasdrumman
Drumaness v St Michaels
East Belfastvs Aghaderg
Aughlisnafinvs Teconnaught
Ardglass v Dundrum

Correct me if I am wrong but since the turn of the Millenium there have been 20 champs and league trophies presented (40 in total), only Kilcoo, Mayobridge, Burren, Ford, Castlewellan, The kingdom and Clonduff have collected any titles, Maybe Rostrevor won one league title?? But for clubs to say they don't care about a league is crap, yes if there is an injury you won't risk your player but clubs should be disrespecting a Down division one league, as the teams down below would lose a limb for it. Its easy to say you don't care when you had a shit campaign.

Rostrevor beat Mayobridge in the league final in 2005...

RIP

Some interesting results tonight...
Kilcoo edge out Ballyholland by 4... 0-11 to 0-07 at Pairc Eoghain Rua.
Donagh McAleenan and Ross McGarry scored late points, as Cumann Pheadair Naofa battled back to draw in Mayobridge, 1-11 apiece. Two sides that are looking very slick so far.
Late show from Carryduff with a penalty in the final minute of normal time seeing them past Loughinisland at St. MacCartan Park... 1-11 to 0-9 after a bit of gloss was put on the result
... and Rostrevor held off a late Bryansford rally to pick up two deserved points in Newcastle... 1-10 to 2-6. Ford rooted to the bottom and Reds looking up.

Elsewhere, RGU looking very impressive in Division 2 at the moment. Themselves and Longstone my pick for promotion. Liatroim and Saval maybe in Division 3... It's looking like Covid 19 is putting paid to a lot of games, the further you venture down the leagues.

Elsewhere

Good game; Hilltown looked up against it early on, but gradually dominated an ultra-defensive Burren set-up, and fully deserved to win. With Darren O'Hagan to come back in, they could be Kilcoo's biggest challengers this year.

Was McCorry as defensive with Kilcoo?

I don't recall McCorry's Kilcoo sides being overtly defensive... I think they tailored their cloth to suit most of the time

I might be wrong here, but is that Clonduff's first senior title since a league/championship double in 2000? Fair play to them, as they've been a very competitive Division One side fot a very long time... Despite being in a few championship finals / semi finals in the past decade, it seems that they play their best football earlier in the season and then it all goes a little flat. Their championship record is fairly good though, and they certainly have the forward players to compete. Burren will be disappointed in the end, but as always they'll be there or thereabouts. It'll take a few years to get the younger players up to senior level - it can be a different game altogether. Disappointing to see some clubs struggling, as you say. Covid playing its part of course, but never nice to see clubs not fielding

Don't think anything will change in the foreseeable in that regard... Is there an official date set for the commencement of the club championships?

Replay defeat in 2007 that should be - I don't know what can be done. There needs to be some more housing developments and less flats, but I suppose that's a question for other people

It seems to be shoulder; could be a collar bone maybe. He was taken off after some treatment on the park... Mixture of all sorts of things it would appear with Rostrevor. Work, other commitments, injuries, miscellaneous - some good men will hardly feature this season, but some other young players are showing well. You're right about the saving grace a few clubs will see with the no relegation. It even sets them up nicely for next year with the right circumstances with two sides coming up that no matter what, you'll fancy that you can get over in the league.

Sorry to be blunt, but is there an issue with holding onto players in your club? Did you not have a really successful underage spell?

We had a nearly two decades worth of continuous underage success, but it's a bit more complicated than not being able to hold onto players... I suppose it even comes down to costs of housing and things like that where young adults are not able to readily afford housing in Rostrevor and move to neighbouring places or further afield - particularly first buyers which would take in much of the senior age bracket - It's definitely simplistic to say that it's the only reason, but it's an issue that even falls outside of the club's ability to change. Having said that, it's definitely disappointing not to have had more success. I think the mid 00s were promising, but we probably felt the effects of our extra-time defeat to Mayobridge in the 2007 QF for a few years and lost some momentum.

It seems to be shoulder; could be a collar bone maybe. He was taken off after some treatment on the park... Mixture of all sorts of things it would appear with Rostrevor. Work, other commitments, injuries, miscellaneous - some good men will hardly feature this season, but some other young players are showing well. You're right about the saving grace a few clubs will see with the no relegation. It even sets them up nicely for next year with the right circumstances with two sides coming up that no matter what, you'll fancy that you can get over in the league.

Was at Rostrevor/Kilcoo on Friday night - Reds are missing quite a few players in different areas of the pitch for a number of reasons and fielded a reasonably unfamiliar side. Dylan Ward picked up a nasty enough injury very early in the game, but the Magpies have so many options and seem to be motoring along well. Kilcoo rested the Johnstons and othrrs and Aaron Brannigan, PD were unavailable etc - so they gave a number of players a good workout on a miserable enough night. At the current rate of going, there are a few teams that would be happy enough with no relegation this season and Rostrevor look like a dry run in Division One before a potential scrap next season could do them the world of good... From their point of view, you would hope they would have closer to their full hand then, but they are missing a hosy of players at the moment (of course, other teams miss players at different times and it's even happening at the minute in some teams, but Rostrevor are definitely up there with the worst in that regard when you look at it)

A great campaign
Unlucky in defeat last night
Now appoint this management team for the senior post

Conor Laverty will no doubt manage Down in the future, if he wants it - I would maybe give him another year or two at U20s... unless there is noone else that can viably manage the senior side with experience and vision.