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Pretty sure Turley wasn't named in the team announced for either Armagh or Monaghan but he's started both.

2013 we beat Derry in Ulster, lost narrowly to Donegal in the semi final and were then required to go back to Celtic Park and put out by Derry in our first qualifier game.

Thanks James for all the very good effort and so nearly bringing us to the promised land. We won't forget 2010 for a long while. For me the buzz of feeling our ship turn round was newbridge in feb 10 so I suppose it was karma that kildare also played a part in the final act.

What a year that was. Easy to forget how good we were in the league as well, unbeaten until we were caught on the hop by Armagh in the final. Looking back on 2010, the most frustrating aspect is that we never managed to push on from there. Amazing to think that that was the last championship Ronan Murtagh ever played for Down. Peter Fitzpatrick and Paul McComiskey have only played in one championship each since then, both in 2011, playing peripheral roles. James Colgan hasn't featured for Down since then, John Clarke retired after the first game of the following championship, Damien Rafferty barely featured again, and 2011 was Martin Clarke's last year. I know there have been various factors behind each of these, injuries, emigration, disillusionment and the like, but it's amazing how quickly that team came apart.

The most depressing thing about that defeat yesterday was that it was going to arrive sooner or later. The facile victory over Leitrim just prolonged the inevitable. There has been no direction, drive or purpose behind Down's entire year, never mind the championship. It was obvious from our league performances that it was going to be a short summer, and the further we progressed through the qualifiers the bigger our final tanking was likely to be. Why have we been capable of producing a maximum of 10-15 blistering minutes of football per game? We still have enough good footballers in the team to be playing above the level we are currently at but can't help but feel that this is the point of no return for James and a few of the older boys.

1 Michael Cunningham - Castlewellan
2 Dan McCartan - Burren
3 Niall Donnelly - Tullylish
4 Darren O'Hagan - Clonduff
5 Ciaran McCartan - Warrenpoint
6 Conor Garvey - Mayobridge
7 Kevin McKernan - Burren
8 Dan Gordon - Loughinisland
9 Peter Turley - Downpatrick
10 Benny Coulter - Mayobridge
11 Conor Maginn - Bryansford
12 Mark Poland - Longstone
13 Donal O'Hare - Burren
14 Niall Madine - Saval
15 Conor Laverty - Kilcoo


So McCartan & Donnelly both keep their places. Benny McArdle seems to have been ruled out, any word on whether Carr is injured? Garvey, if fit, is a solid selection at CHB anyway. As always with James you can't help but feel there'll be changes before the game.

Ciaran McCartan did rightly the last day out but it'd surely be unwise to base his suitability to start against Kildare on what was effectively a practice match against Leitrim. In terms of quality, intensity and physicality it will be a massive step up. I'd expect Carr to come back in at CHB and McArdle returning in the full backs, possibly with Gordon or Turley for cover as we saw in the championship last year. Also hope we stick with Cunningham in goals, the time has come to install him as long-term keeper instead of playing him in fits and starts.

Just saying, Morrissey and McStay seem incapable of calling this for what it is... an appalling game of football.

If this was an Ulster game both sides would be getting absolutely crucified by the commentators. Brutal stuff.

If you'd been offered a chance to play Tyrone in Newry after the draw was announced last year, you'd have taken it in a second. Should have closed out the game, but a draw was more than I expected at 2-9 to 1-5. Full credit to Down for pulling that one out of the fire. Thought Carr, Maginn, Laverty, McKernan and Madine really stood up in the second half. Coulter single-handedly turned the game on its head, best player on the pitch by a country mile. We need a better showing at midfield next week and he might be a good option from the start. Boyle is not a natural defender and looked jittery today, Costello or Turley might be better options.

Tyrone are definitely there for the taking if we get a big crowd behind the team in Newry. Over the past few seasons we've beaten Dublin, Donegal and Mayo there. Hopefully we'll be able to attack from the off and take the game to Tyrone - this conservative defensive style of football is incredibly demoralising and reaps virtually no scores from play. The free that Donal O'Hare missed at the end is the kind of chance he could take in his sleep, but he shouldn't be too downtrodden about it - he played well and shows signs of being a really classy footballer.

There's a big incentive for Down to win the replay with a home draw against Monaghan awaiting.

Killyleagh. Crossgar. Ballynahinch. Fcuk them.

"Get wired into the Stoops?"

Go to Castlewellan, Newry, Loughinisland, Kilcoo, etc, etc, and say that.

An Dún Abú.

It was utterly dismal stuff MR, particularly in the first half. Not sure whether our players viewed this fixture as a dead rubber, or if they were affected by the fact that they only came out onto the field five minutes before the start of the game, but there were countless losses of possession, basic handling errors, misplaced passes and defensive lapses. Kickouts were abysmal, with Laois winning virtually every single one, and we were probably lucky to only be 9 points down at half-time, if that can be believed.  A better team than Laois would have destroyed Down.

What started as a promising league campaign has ended a pretty mediocre one, after three dispiriting defeats in the last four games. The alarm bells may be ringing before Omagh, although we had a poor league last season and recovered well to beat Derry in the first round of the championship. We need to spend a lot of time working on our kickouts, as Laois won a massive amount of possession and scores from our own ones. Much work needed across all areas, however, if we are to be competitive against Tyrone.

Had a bad feeling heading down to this one, having seen the big difference that home advantage seems to make in Division 2 this year, and that was confirmed by a bad result in a pretty poor game overall. Staying in Division 2 for next year might not be a bad thing for the development of the team, but we have a lot to work on ahead of Tyrone in the championship.

Not going to criticise individual players/performances, instead want to highlight two of the positives. Peter Turley is really growing in this team, he produced another very solid performance tonight and pulled his weight all over the show. He must be kept at midfield for the championship. It was also great to see Ambrose Rogers back - thought he was excellent, and really showed Down what they've been missing. A performance full of powerful, direct running, capped by a brilliantly-taken goal. He might not be fully match-fit, but I thought his substitution coincided with Down's collapse in the match. Having him back and fully fit for the Tyrone game would be a huge advantage.

Great win today, excellent recovery from last week's setback. We are doing rightly with a fairly depleted squad. Whether or not we win promotion, we could be heading to Tyrone feeling quietly confident, providing we work on improving and tweaking a few things from now until then. We might have beaten Donegal by more, but our defensive display was excellent. Keeping a clean sheet against that forward line is some going.

  There were a rake of excellent performances on the Down team, but the best came from Mark Poland, Peter Turley, Benny McArdle and Conor Garvey. McArdle did a superb job on Michael Murphy and should be nailed-on at full back for the championship; Turley is quickly emerging as a first-rate midfielder (the odd wayward pass aside) while Garvey was exceptional both in defence and going forward. Aidan Carr was also brilliant at 6. To be fair to the team, questions were asked after last weekend, and they've answered a lot of them in style today.

The game was littered with errors, mostly from Down, but we never deserved to get anything from the game anyway. It was a really poor performance, never got out of second gear and Galway deserved the win. Garvey was MOTM for Down, for Galway James Kavanagh tore our backs to shreds and Gary Sice was brilliant as well. Donegal will embarrass Down if we produce another performance like that next week.

Great game in Newry. Thought Turley was MOTM with Carr a close second, we were getting murdered in midfield until he came out the pitch. There's an argument to be made for Turley to partner McKernan in midfield - he has the same physical presence as King and offers much more in terms of overall play. Real Jekyll & Hyde performance from Down, most of the first half was brutal but a lot of players redeemed themselves in the second. Great to see Conor Garvey back, he should be an automatic starter in defence, and we will also see the benefit of getting players like McKernan, McArdle and Laverty back. Unfortunately for Shane Harrison I'm not sure whether he'll be seeing much more action in the league, had a bit of a nightmare and was really lucky not to get a black card after a mistake.

  Monaghan fans didn't seem the happiest at the end but in reality they should have put the game to bed. They squandered numerous goal chances. It has to be said as well that their number 14 was a disgrace, clutching at his face in a pathetic attempt to get Mark Poland in trouble when the two were niggling at each other. Good point for Down, would have taken off your hand if offered it at half-time.