Down v Wexford

[clarshack]

at least we wont be hearing that corny phrase 'there's nothing like a confident down man' for a while!

[orangeman]

Down's undoing was the draw they got last Sunday night - complaceny set in - all they had to do in their minds was turn up  - that combined with Wexford playing out of their skins, gathering nearly EVERY break ball that was going, and a little luck threw in, condemned Down to looking ahead to 2009.

[Yes I Would]

Down's undoing was the draw they got last Sunday night - complaceny set in - all they had to do in their minds was turn up  - that combined with Wexford playing out of their skins, gathering nearly EVERY break ball that was going, and a little luck threw in, condemned Down to looking ahead to 2009.

Agree that complacency could have been a factor, obvious considering the unmerciful hiding Wexford got from the Dubs.
I have seen Wexford playing much better than that performance in recent years. I thought they were very ordinary at best for most of the game. Forde either wasnt fully fit or just didnt really care.
No Down man can say that Wexfords performance today was good, but yet they were comfortably 10 points the better team, which highlights just how fecking awful Downs performance was.

[Tyrones own]

In Fairness to Down they didn't really get going and I am of the belief that you make your own luck
but Jaysus Wexford's purple patch lasted most all of 70 minutes today while Very little went by way of Down.
Well done to Wexford all the same and someone should print some of the above comments for the dressing room
wall next weekend be very carefull what you wish for and all that..

[redandblack4ever]

As someone who watched the game in Culllen's Pub in Chicago, the bottom lline is that while the Down 15 performed below average today, there iis reason to hope. Granted Down won very few breaking balls in the middlle of the field. there's still reason to believe that this team, with a few changes, willl defintely challenge in the coming years. Fair play to Ross, DJ and your man Mussen from Burren. They're going in the right direction and that, at least for us is progress.

Up the Yellas,

Mr and Mrs. redandblack4ever

[INDIANA]

are you though? for a county thats prodcued excellent underage teams of late, you have no backline, no plan B and an over realiance completely on one player. You didn't get promoted out of div 3. you beat a laois team that wexford hammered,an offaly team that westmeath hammered and couldn't beat a wexford team that was hockeyed by dublin. i'm not knocking ross carr but have you really made progress? where have all the players gone?

[bridgegael]

Down played into wexfords hands yesterday!!  they did't play direct football which served them well in the last two matches!  why didn't they push a man up on the man that was double marking coulter??  why didn't they take him out when he was been doubled marked!!  overall the lads didn't perform, not for a lack of trying things just didn't fall for them.  ah well we'd have took a 3rd rd qualifier at the start of the year.  we'll be back next year!

on a side note,  really hope ambrose is ok,  gerry mcentee had to operate on him couple of hours after match. i've heard conflicting stories on this.  anyone know more??

[downgirl]

Gutted about yesterday, I expected it to be a tighter match and thought that with Gordon back it would make all the difference; obviously the goings on of last week must have knocked his confidence a wee bit.  I'd say the main problem is what everyone has already said, they thought it would be a breeze.  Down probably would have performed better if they had been the underdogs.

[Canalman]

The better footballers won yesterday.....end of. They would have humiliated Down if Lyng hadn't slipped in front of the open goal.

Was watching out for Dan Gordon yesterday because of all the talk about him....he was anonymous .Wexford's midfield was dominant and Down's inability to win breaks was imo embarassing.

Ross Carr should wear the lenses at games as wearing glasses in the wet cannot be anything else but a hindrance. I shoud know as i wear glasses also.

[sean og]

Down won what they set out to do at the start of the
year, the MC KENNA CUP .
As M Mc Hugh said there defence couldn't catch straw
and they depend to much on benny

[corn02]

I must say the cockiness displayed by Down fans this year was a bit unwarranted. If you had of listened to your manager and been realistic about the team you would have been dleighted to get that far - too many got carried away on the Tyrone win.

Redandblack4ever you say you will challenge in the coming years - I can't see it with this crop of players. It is thew same every year, when the going gets tough they rely on Benny to get them out of trouble. The work rate around Coulter was terrible yesterday - only Hughes and himself seemed to be tracking back and busting a gut.

Murphy had a very poor game - I don't think he liked his role and didn't seem to know where he was meant to be.

McVeigh , bar yesterdays mix-up, is a quality keeper and probably saved yous a bit more yesterday.

Down are still an average team, but Carr is the right man. Surely there are better defenders out there? Some of the mistakes made in defence yesterday were laughable.

McGovern was good off the bench and sprayed a couple of nice passes about, why wasn;t he on earlier, was he injured still?

[Mandown]

Through no fault of his own, the Dan Gordan saga had a negative effect on the Down team. Had his suspension been upheld I'm sure each and every player would had raised their game 20%. Him being available meant Down were expected by many to win resulting in each player dropping their performance. From a physical point of view i also thought Down looked exhausted, with the management having very little time to prepare for this game. It was impossible to train hard or have any tough physical ballwork with 4 games in 4 weeks.

[twotwocharlie]

come on ARMAGH

[corn02]

Through no fault of his own, the Dan Gordan saga had a negative effect on the Down team. Had his suspension been upheld I'm sure each and every player would had raised their game 20%. Him being available meant Down were expected by many to win resulting in each player dropping their performance.

Absolute bullshit. So your trying to say that having the captain available reduced the player's performance by 20% - nonsense. If that is the case the players should just hang up their boots now.

From a physical point of view i also thought Down looked exhausted, with the management having very little time to prepare for this game. It was impossible to train hard or have any tough physical ballwork with 4 games in 4 weeks.

Don't lose in your province then.

[Mandown]

Through no fault of his own, the Dan Gordan saga had a negative effect on the Down team. Had his suspension been upheld I'm sure each and every player would had raised their game 20%. Him being available meant Down were expected by many to win resulting in each player dropping their performance.

Absolute bullshit. So your trying to say that having the captain available reduced the player's performance by 20% - nonsense. If that is the case the players should just hang up their boots now.

From a physical point of view i also thought Down looked exhausted, with the management having very little time to prepare for this game. It was impossible to train hard or have any tough physical ballwork with 4 games in 4 weeks.

Don't lose in your province then.

So are you trying to say mental attitude of players has no baring on a game??? Now thats Bs.
Big Dan is a very good midfeilder and it was obvious his performance yesterday was effected!!!
We have all seen how a team reduced to 14 men during a game can raise their game to compansate for the lose.
As for losing in our province. We were beat by a strong Armagh team who were the better team on the day. Good luck to Armagh and the rest of the Ulster teams involved.