Down Club Hurling & Football

[befair]

The horns should be confiscated; really spoil the atmosphere. And once again, teams with similar colours; both black shorts, Kilcco black jerseys, Carryduff dark purple.  No consideration for the elderly/visually impaired. And Guinness just passed the ball straight to Kilcoo, so obs affects players as well.
Carryduff lacking conviction with their shooting, a few hen-kicks into the keeper's hands. Still have a chance, but kilcoo in the driving seat

[thewobbler]

The horns should be confiscated; really spoil the atmosphere. And once again, teams with similar colours; both black shorts, Kilcco black jerseys, Carryduff dark purple.  No consideration for the elderly/visually impaired. And Guinness just passed the ball straight to Kilcoo, so obs affects players as well.
Carryduff lacking conviction with their shooting, a few hen-kicks into the keeper's hands. Still have a chance, but kilcoo in the driving seat

With you 100% Befair. Why any club / management thinks there's more to be gained from playing in first choice colours over distinct colours, i will never ever be able to grasp.

Duff looked like they were firmly getting on top. Then the penalty.

I hope I'm wrong, but I can't see them clawing this back now. Nobody in Down has clawed back 4 points on Kilcoo in a generation.

[ONARAGGATIP]

The horns should be confiscated; really spoil the atmosphere. And once again, teams with similar colours; both black shorts, Kilcco black jerseys, Carryduff dark purple.  No consideration for the elderly/visually impaired. And Guinness just passed the ball straight to Kilcoo, so obs affects players as well.
Carryduff lacking conviction with their shooting, a few hen-kicks into the keeper's hands. Still have a chance, but kilcoo in the driving seat

With you 100% Befair. Why any club / management thinks there's more to be gained from playing in first choice colours over distinct colours, i will never ever be able to grasp.

Duff looked like they were firmly getting on top. Then the penalty.

I hope I'm wrong, but I can't see them clawing this back now. Nobody in Down has clawed back 4 points on Kilcoo in a generation.

.

You need to get over that row. Loathe them or love them. For the first time this year they played their strongest 15 and were miles ahead of Carryduff who I fancied bigtime. If a club can wait until a final to show their hand they have bigger fish to fry.

[Mournenan82]

Just home from Newry. Must say I thought kilcoo were finally going to get dethroned but can't help but applaud them, a wonderful controlled performance and we probably don't appreciate how good they are in the county. Wishing them the best in Ulster

[thebigfullforward]

Don't like being hateful but what's the issue in Down? I know Kilcoo are a brilliant team but they shouldn't be winning it every year. From a Tyrone man it makes me sick every year seeing the same team winning it. Is that the same within the county or maybe just well used to it by this stage?

[knowbetter]

As an outsider looking at the DOWN SFC you must think its tragically uncompetitive without realsing it probably one of the toughest championships in Ireland. If you take the next top teams Carryduff, Burren, Warrenpoint, Loughinisland, Clonduff, RGU etc and placed them in most other counties they would run riot.

Theres also like 10 others teams in down that on their day could challenge any team.

You have to give credit where its due. Kilcoo just have a never let die attitude on the pitch and it shows year after year.

Warrenpoint, Burren and Clonduff in particular have all come ridiculously close in recent years with extra time, penalties and last second scores but never got over the line. Still cracking teams though. 

[Maurice Moss]

A great day to be a Magpie!

Write us off at your peril!! Been reading all week about a changing of the guard, how we were going to get overrun in midfield and that Carryduff's runners would do serious damage!

Well...what a performance from our men yesterday, they were just outstanding. Not 1 of our men lost their individual match ups, will have to dig deep to pull the 2 Guinness brothers out of back pockets! The defending was clinical and our forwards ran riot against the Carryduff defense. Some of the score taking was unbelievable. PD scored one of the most outrageous points I think I've ever seen..a master at work!

We extend our lead as the club with the most Down SFC wins to 23. Burren being second on 14.

An interesting fact that was raised last night was that quite a number on the panel now have their 14th Down Senior championship medal, as many as the 2nd most successful club in the county in Burren, some feat!

Commiserations to Carryduff, their supporters were great around us. Read about the noise of the horns from their supporters being and online, was nonstop but became like white noise eventually. Also read some complaints about the colour clash for online viewers, must have been how the cameras were picking it up because it did not appear that way in person.

UP THE MIGHTY MAGPIES
#UTM

[snoopdog]

Kilcoo do what they do. Get through close games and win Down finals usually with ease.
It could be a long time before there is a changing of the guard. Carryduff weren't close to them yesterday and they hammerred Burren.possibly Clonduff could catch them.
Only hope for those clubs is if Kilcoo get caught in a qf or sf.
Best of Luck in Ulster to the Magpies. Hope ye win it. 

[thewobbler]

As an outsider looking at the DOWN SFC you must think its tragically uncompetitive without realsing it probably one of the toughest championships in Ireland. If you take the next top teams Carryduff, Burren, Warrenpoint, Loughinisland, Clonduff, RGU etc and placed them in most other counties they would run riot.

Theres also like 10 others teams in down that on their day could challenge any team.

You have to give credit where its due. Kilcoo just have a never let die attitude on the pitch and it shows year after year.

Warrenpoint, Burren and Clonduff in particular have all come ridiculously close in recent years with extra time, penalties and last second scores but never got over the line. Still cracking teams though.

"Run riot"? Based on what?

I guess is the kind of nonsense Armagh folks too would have come up with during Cross's golden era, to make themselves feel better.

The most baseless of claims.

——

Kilcoo, as expected, have been quicker to adapt to the new rules than everyone else.

Kerry showed everyone the basis of this game in the latter stages of the AI; when your opponent isn't in a deep defensive shape, move the ball quickly so you get a shot away before they can reset. Then press up on their resultant kickout, And do it again. And again.

Carryduff on the other hand spent the middle 30 minutes of the match exploding out of defence and midfield, before hitting an invisible wall at Kilcoo's 45, which seemed to shuffle them sideways and backwards.

Kilcoo are a brilliant team, and I'm taking nothing away from them here by the way. But everyone in Down it seems just turns to mush at the sight of black and white jerseys. Coaches over coach and over think. Brains falter. Legs falter. Risks are not taken. Overlapping runs disappear. One on ones never materialise. Momentum is never grasped.

[Truth hurts]

Should the SFC and IFC be reduced to twelve teams each to improve standards?

[clonian]

Should the SFC and IFC be reduced to twelve teams each to improve standards?

How does that help the SFC? Less teams won't close the gap to Kilcoo. If you have a lot of Div 3 teams in the JFC it would make it very hard for the div 4 teams but you could argue most struggle anyway.

You could say it would make us more competitive at IFC & JFC in Ulster.

[Truth hurts]

Should the SFC and IFC be reduced to twelve teams each to improve standards?

How does that help the SFC? Less teams won't close the gap to Kilcoo. If you have a lot of Div 3 teams in the JFC it would make it very hard for the div 4 teams but you could argue most struggle anyway.

You could say it would make us more competitive at IFC & JFC in Ulster.

Yes, our records in IFC and JFC at provincial level have been poor in recent years. A Junior B title could be effective for teams knocked out of the first round of the junior (seeded draw based on league placings).  I don't believe our championships met very high standards. It is a debate that I believe we should and it would be interesting to hear peoples opinions.

[Mourne Red]

Should the SFC and IFC be reduced to twelve teams each to improve standards?

How does that help the SFC? Less teams won't close the gap to Kilcoo. If you have a lot of Div 3 teams in the JFC it would make it very hard for the div 4 teams but you could argue most struggle anyway.

You could say it would make us more competitive at IFC & JFC in Ulster.

Yes, our records in IFC and JFC at provincial level have been poor in recent years. A Junior B title could be effective for teams knocked out of the first round of the junior (seeded draw based on league placings).  I don't believe our championships met very high standards. It is a debate that I believe we should and it would be interesting to hear peoples opinions.

Our championships have actual junior/intermediate teams playing in them. We aren't like Cavan having a senior team in junior championship

[thewobbler]

It's an interesting idea. Might have some merit.

But for now I think we need to focus our efforts on finding who it was that reintroduced the air horn to our games, and usher them off to another sport.

[ranch]

Should the SFC and IFC be reduced to twelve teams each to improve standards?

How does that help the SFC? Less teams won't close the gap to Kilcoo. If you have a lot of Div 3 teams in the JFC it would make it very hard for the div 4 teams but you could argue most struggle anyway.

You could say it would make us more competitive at IFC & JFC in Ulster.

Yes, our records in IFC and JFC at provincial level have been poor in recent years. A Junior B title could be effective for teams knocked out of the first round of the junior (seeded draw based on league placings).  I don't believe our championships met very high standards. It is a debate that I believe we should and it would be interesting to hear peoples opinions.

Our championships have actual junior/intermediate teams playing in them. We aren't like Cavan having a senior team in junior championship

Daft statement. Cavan's system is no worse than Down's. A team in Down could get promoted from division 4 to division 1 in consecutive years but fail to win the junior championship. That makes them a division 1 team, not a 'senior' team.

I actually like the fact that Down and Cavan don't link their league to championship grade as I think you should only move up a championship grade if you win the one below, rather than get a good league run. I wish Armagh would follow suit but it's unlikely to happen anytime soon.

Regarding the original point about 12 teams in championship, it has some merit.
12 teams in senior, intermediate,
Junior (4 groups of 3). Remainder in junior b. Bottom teams in each group enter relegation play offs. Top 2 go into quarters.