Limerick v Down

[Zulu]

BM, Limerick have been short a few players during the league and they don't have the strength in depth of a lot of other counties but outside of their awful performance against Louth they haven't been bad at all and their league position belies their ability. IMO Limerick are at least as good as anything in division 3 and better than most.

[BallyhaiseMan]

BM, Limerick have been short a few players during the league and they don't have the strength in depth of a lot of other counties but outside of their awful performance against Louth they haven't been bad at all and their league position belies their ability. IMO Limerick are at least as good as anything in division 3 and better than most.

Cavan were without Paul Brady,Mickey Lyng,Ronan Flanagan,Ray Cullivan and Gerard Pierson against Limerick and McCabe only came on for a cameo.
Zulu im not trying to imply Limerick are rubbish by any means,
i dont think they are as good as you believe they are,but il respect your opinion as you do know alot about the game nationwide.
The reality is outside Tipp who have been better than all the rest,
theres not much of a difference between(in no particular order    Down,Offaly,Roscommon,Cavan,Louth,Longford and Limerick)
i dont think anyone team of that group could realistically claim they were much better than any of the others,going on their performances this year.

[Trevor Hill]

This has got to be Down`s worst performance under Ross Carr, or was today Ross Carr`s worst performance as manager, I simply cannot make up my mind, but todays performance was woeful. Dan Gordon didn't start today and Down were getting cleaned out in the middle of the field for most of the first half. Kearney battled away, but I doubt that Joe Ireland touched the ball once in the first half. At one stage Kearney caught a ball on the Limerick 65 and he passed the ball backwards to Boyle, he in turn ran towards his own goal and passed to McKernan who was behind the Down 45 metre line, when they weren't playing the ball backwards they were playing across the field without making any progress and usually losing possession. The team lacked a game plan, direction and spirit until the last 15 minutes of the game when they were seven points behind.
I really hate having a go at amateur players, but today was terrible, very few if any of the Down squad can walk away with their heads held high after that. Paul Murphy, who has shown that he is a great player in the half back line, he made Dooher look anonymous last year, is NOT a full back. He isn't comfortable there, he cant read the game from there and he cost Down dearly today, he was roasted. Can Ross not see this? With Dan Gordon not playing today was a game that was made for Jack Lynch. Limerick had a big physical pairing in midfield and Lynch would have had a field day, he may not have caught every ball cleanly, but he would have let the Limerick midfielders know he was there and they wouldn't have gone for most balls unchallenged. Ross put Joe Ireland on instead. Other than McKernan the half back line and the half forward line were indistinguishable. None of them seem to know what position they are playing and in truth none of them seemed to know what direction they were playing for the first 50 minutes of the game.
Down were all over the place in the first half and five points adrift, yet Ross didn't think of making a change until the 34th minute, when Aidan Carr came on for Hugh Davey. Joe Ireland was replaced by Declan Rooney at half time and Coulter came on for Jamie O`Reilly. Down had two promising attacks in the first few minutes of the second half, two clear cut goal chances were wasted due to players taking too much out of the ball or others not wanting to take responsibility of shooting and Limerick went straight up the field and scored a point from long range, something that Down were unable to do all day.
Ronan Murtagh seems to have a knack for getting a ball in space and running into defenders instead of running at them. On at least half a dozen occasions today he got possession within 30 metres of the Limerick goal and ran himself into trouble. If players cannot shoot from 30 metres at this level then serious questions have to be asked all round.
Down got themselves back into the game with a goal which was carbon copy of last weeks disallowed goal against Longford and a few points, but Limerick scored a 45 with the last kick of the game for a deserved two points. Down used a series of different place kickers today who all failed to score from a similar distance. Down also had numerous wides, I gave up counting after Limericks second goal, which came direct from a free kick 40 metres from goal.
Down were dire today and the management looked on like uninterested spectators. The normally vocal/volatile DJ did not open his mouth once. I still cant decide wether this is a good thing or not. It looks like Down will spend another year in Division 3, which is no more than they deserve on todays performance. If that is the case, then a lot of people need to take a long hard look at themselves, it seems that there are a lot more than the players and management getting a free trip to Limerick.

[dodgy umpire]

things must have been bad if you were calling for jackie lynch to be playing

[mournerambler]

This has got to be Down`s worst performance under Ross Carr, or was today Ross Carr`s worst performance as manager, I simply cannot make up my mind, but todays performance was woeful. Dan Gordon didn't start today and Down were getting cleaned out in the middle of the field for most of the first half. Kearney battled away, but I doubt that Joe Ireland touched the ball once in the first half. At one stage Kearney caught a ball on the Limerick 65 and he passed the ball backwards to Boyle, he in turn ran towards his own goal and passed to McKernan who was behind the Down 45 metre line, when they weren't playing the ball backwards they were playing across the field without making any progress and usually losing possession. The team lacked a game plan, direction and spirit until the last 15 minutes of the game when they were seven points behind.
I really hate having a go at amateur players, but today was terrible, very few if any of the Down squad can walk away with their heads held high after that. Paul Murphy, who has shown that he is a great player in the half back line, he made Dooher look anonymous last year, is NOT a full back. He isn't comfortable there, he cant read the game from there and he cost Down dearly today, he was roasted. Can Ross not see this? With Dan Gordon not playing today was a game that was made for Jack Lynch. Limerick had a big physical pairing in midfield and Lynch would have had a field day, he may not have caught every ball cleanly, but he would have let the Limerick midfielders know he was there and they wouldn't have gone for most balls unchallenged. Ross put Joe Ireland on instead. Other than McKernan the half back line and the half forward line were indistinguishable. None of them seem to know what position they are playing and in truth none of them seemed to know what direction they were playing for the first 50 minutes of the game.
Down were all over the place in the first half and five points adrift, yet Ross didn't think of making a change until the 34th minute, when Aidan Carr came on for Hugh Davey. Joe Ireland was replaced by Declan Rooney at half time and Coulter came on for Jamie O`Reilly. Down had two promising attacks in the first few minutes of the second half, two clear cut goal chances were wasted due to players taking too much out of the ball or others not wanting to take responsibility of shooting and Limerick went straight up the field and scored a point from long range, something that Down were unable to do all day.
Ronan Murtagh seems to have a knack for getting a ball in space and running into defenders instead of running at them. On at least half a dozen occasions today he got possession within 30 metres of the Limerick goal and ran himself into trouble. If players cannot shoot from 30 metres at this level then serious questions have to be asked all round.
Down got themselves back into the game with a goal which was carbon copy of last weeks disallowed goal against Longford and a few points, but Limerick scored a 45 with the last kick of the game for a deserved two points. Down used a series of different place kickers today who all failed to score from a similar distance. Down also had numerous wides, I gave up counting after Limericks second goal, which came direct from a free kick 40 metres from goal.
Down were dire today and the management looked on like uninterested spectators. The normally vocal/volatile DJ did not open his mouth once. I still cant decide wether this is a good thing or not. It looks like Down will spend another year in Division 3, which is no more than they deserve on todays performance. If that is the case, then a lot of people need to take a long hard look at themselves, it seems that there are a lot more than the players and management getting a free trip to Limerick.

Is Jackie still on the panel because I heard that he had a fallout with Ross?

[bcarrier]

                      pts     pt diff
Tipperary      8   11
Down      6   9
scommon      6   7
Offaly      5   -10
Louth      4   12
Cavan      4   -8
Limerick      4   -9
Longford      3   -10

all to play for still...

[Mourne Rover]

I didn't make to Llimerick, but, despite what seems to have been another disappointing display, the other results mean that we are actually still well placed for promotion. If we win our last two games, at home to Offaly and away to Roscommon, we definitely go up. Even if we drop a point, we still have a decent chance of making it on scoring difference.

However, the bottom line is any team with realistic ambitions for the summer should have cruised out of this division. Ross and DJ know they will be judged on their championship record, which is just as well as their league efforts have been poor. In their first season, 2007, we managed one point out of 14 and got relegated to D3. Last time, we were clear favourites for promotion and blew it. If we miss out again, it will be another bad sign.

I would prefer to concentrate on the positive, as we really should see off Offaly in Newry and will then have everything to play for at Hyde Park. If Dan, Benny and possibly Ambrose are all  fit, we are well capable of pulling it off.

At  the same time, it is high time that we field our strongest squad. That means getting certainly Clarke, probably Colgan and possibly Walsh back on board now.

[DownFanatic]

We will probably still get promoted. That was a very bad result today but Offaly are very beatable in Newry and I think we will have enough in us to take Roscommon.

A good 20-30% improvement is needed in all areas. For Down to progress over the coming months, we are going to have to have our strongest 15 out on that pitch for as much of the 70 minutes in every game we play.

Some of the boys filling in the gaps at the moment are no doubt bursting a gut at training and giving their all but time and time again they are being thrown in at the deep end in unsuitable positions and having to adhere to a system which they are not used to.

I am 100% behind the current management but we need to see some continuity in team selection (obviously taking in to account injuries) over the next few weeks so as to get the basis of a system in place for the Championship.

[western exile]

Down did very well to come from 7 points down to level the game. It took a 45 as the last kick of the game for Limerick to win it.
Some posters who say that it is the worst game Down have played under current management must not have been at Carrick-on-Shannon last year 
It was not as bad as all that. They lost the game because of the following:
1. They conceded 2 goals that never should have  been scored. They were the indirect result of poor communication between goalkeeper and defenders. These 2 goals meant that they had a mountain to climb to win, which they almost did.  It feels like déja vu.  When will this problem ever be addressed?
2. Paul Murphy is not a full back. He has proven in the past that he is an excellent half back, and in fairness to Ross Carr he switched him with Kevin McKernan before the end of the game, but it was a little too late. He must now stop this experiment as it is now too close to the Championship.
3. They struggled to win possession in midfield without Dan Gordan.  Joe Ireland was Down's worst player today. Any possession he had resulted in a turnover for Limerick.  Kearney did well but big John Galvan and his partner were too much for him alone.
4. There were half a dozen shots straight into the Limerick goalkeepers hands. Scoring opportunities wasted.

This is certainly a setback to Down's chances of promotion, but it is still in their hands.  If they win both their remaining games (v. Offaly in Newry and v. Roscomon away) they will still get promoted.  But they cannot afford to drop any more points.

[Mourne Rover]

Western Exile, amazing as it might seem, we can afford to drop another point. If we beat Offaly by a respectable margin, a draw with Roscommon will probably take us through on scoring difference.

However, you are right about Murphy. I thought it was worth trying him out in our problem position but it plainly has not worked. Rooney was not a huge success there in the past but may be worth another look, and Turley will hopefully be back soon as well.

It is still surprising that, with our defence still struggling in almost every game , Howard is on the bench and Cole seems to be even further down the pecking order.

[Trevor Hill]

Some posters who say that it is the worst game Down have played under current management must not have been at Carrick-on-Shannon last year 

I was in Carrick last year and I still think that the first 50 minutes of yesterdays game was as bad as I have ever seen.
Why did the management wait until the 34th minute yesterday to make a change when Down were second best in nearly every position on the pitch? Why are we using players who are clearly out of their depth at this level and why are so many players who should be first choice players not even on the squad?
Also it is clear to even the most clueless supporter that Down have very few good defenders, why then are we playing entire games with a 2 man forward line and having 13 players camped in our own half. We don't have players who can man mark or tackle, we should be playing to our strengths which is our forwards. We beat Tyrone last year by out scoring them, if we had camped in our own half like we have done for most of the league, Tyrone would have destroyed us. Is the Tyrone game a one off or can Down perform like this on a regular basis? If we are to perform like this regularly we need our strongest team on the field week after week, not sitting at home or watching from the stand.