Sligo V Down Rd 4 Qualifier

[SLIGONIAN]

Sligonian, I'm angry too... but I'm not going there. You need to get out a little. Enjoy the rest of the summer.

I need to get a Job, is what i need to do.

Sligonian, if you're reading this the day after your post, do you still really want Walsh to resign? Who do you think you could bring in that would do a better job? Or are you just saying that there is a decline coming regardless of whether he stays or goes?

I think you need to just forget about yesterday, the Mayo and Galway wins made you look better than you actually were (given what happened to both teams afterwards) but similarly the Down game is no reflection of your abilities either.

I cant see Walsh staying on, surely he can see whats coming himself? I dont need to tell him, he tryed his best yesterday with all the changes, but they didnt work and there was too many positional switches in defence but i dont blame him, however last week he cost us dear. Hes been better than most of our previous managers, and hes improved alot in the 2 yrs with us, can he himself improve again and bring this team on again? The thing that worries me is this team have given it everything last 2 yrs under him and we have feck all to show for it, at the end of the day the league doesnt mean jack shit to me. Some players wont give it the same commitment in 2011 and you saw how mentally frail we are yday. I agree not a true reflection but when the chips are down like yday we were gutless. It'll  be interesting to read EOH article on Monday.

[Dubh driocht]

Well, is this the turning point or another false dawn for Down football ?
For Sligo, it's a shit end to a promising season. Back to back promotions, a demolition job on Antrim at Croke park and beating Mayo and Galway. Most seasons Sligo supporters would take that hands down yet it was like a wake in Breffni last night. I think Walsh has done a hell of a job, there is the nucleus of a good team and a huge fan base ( I think we were outnumbered 4 to 1 last night- shame on Down fans on the ditch or in Spain). At the warm ups there was a fair amount of intensity but there is no doubt that the scars of a provincial defeat take more than 6 days to heal. But sometimes they take even longer so it's not a simple debate. Many of my countymen still talk about Gregory's sending off( or Mc Guigan's death from a ball) or Canavan's dive from 2003 !!
In the first 15 minutes Kelly and Coen had the measure of our CBs but Davey's injury clearly knocked the team. I disagree about Eamon O'Hara - he was a brilliant servant but brought nothing to the party last night and looked like he wanted to take someone out and go out in a blaze of glory before he was substituted.
I could go on for days about Down but suffice to say that all the players deserve at least 8 out of 10 and more than half deserve 9. We had a big debate about MOM on the way home - Ambrose was still diving full-length after 65 minutes to block a ball on our 13M line when we were 14 points up- this led to the 3rd goal.Kalum King just bossed everyone, everything,everywhere.Mc Kernan drove forward like a leader, Garvey was the epitome of focussed aggression, Dan the man is so calm at FB, John Clarke was our best player in the first half ( again),Benny, while not scoring, was wonderful (and his replacements did OK!!), Danny Hughes could be looking at an All-Star nomination (minimum) but the posters on this Board who have come out with the crap 'he's done nothing to impress, he's no superstar, he has a lot to prove' etc ( and you know who you are) should get a recording of Marty Clarke's performance ( on and off the ball), show it to children and tell them this is the way you play Gaelic Football.

[snoopdog]

Just back, i didnt expect Sligo to win, but i didnt expect us to get hammered. The 6 day turnaround is huge reason, there was no effort today at all, it was back to the wexford game. Down will go crazy with hype now but ye beat nothing, absolutely nothing. This was a pale shadow of the Sligo team that beat Galway and Mayo. Ye cant judge Sligo on this, we showed nothing from the start to finish in atitude or workrate. In fact some of Down points were goal chances and they missed 2 in 1st half. After 10 mins Down sensed we werent up for it.

The only man to come out with any credit is Eammon O Hara, jees did he battle hard, even after a serious looking hand injury he battled on. Could be his last game for Sligo. A sadder day if thats the case.

I would of made a few changes for the game myself but Walsh went crazy, ok i was ok with Coen for McGee, Kennedy for Phillips and S Davey for Gilmartin, But he started McGuire CORNER BACK, I agree with Ross at FB, Harrison started CHB, then 15mins in again he changed 2 backs,it was like musical chairs, the defending was naive and atrocious but the bulk of our problem was coming from midfield, we got ate there, there 2 midfielders basically had a free role in the pocket and just turned and ran at us, the  wing forwards roasted our wing backs aswell. When we got the ball we looked clueless, S Davey couldnt pass the ball 15 yrds with marren showing, he'd somehow kick it the backs advantage everytime, i remember costello looking up and kelly in loads of space and he'd garyowen it, the wrong option was taken every time, it was a nightmare from start to finsh. I dont care what anyone says the bulk of the Sligo players only gave 50% effort today, everything was half hearted.

You can exclude Kennedy, mcgovern out of the above as they did there best and were thrown in at the deep end, Keelan Calwey whilst had a very bad day today and had better 1st yrs than EOH and Kelly but he needs to work alot harder, McGee was inconsistent but needs a few yrs conditioning. Donovan i thought was the only defender to turn up today, but hes had better days. I wish Johnny Davey a speedy recovery, with what looked a serious injury.

I want to thank McGuire, Sean Davey for all there effort over the yrs but its time to hang up the boots, i hope O Hara sticks around, but doubt he will, he will go mental in that dressing room tonight, no doubt.

I said off the board if we lose to Roscommon it will put us back yrs, and i said if we win it would put us forward yrs, i think im right, it has put us back yrs, undone whatever positive work KW has done. If KW has any sense it will resign for the benefit of himself and us. Hes brought as far as he can and he should sense a sharp decline now. Looking back he done a decent job but loads of mistakes, and is still learning, i think he will be a top class manger some day but he is well overhyped at present especially by Galway folk who really want him to be good but hes not as good as ye think.

This has compounded the disaster of last week and multiplied by 10.There was close to 10,000 at todays game and  i reckon 7,000 from Sligo, huge crowd imo, great roars and lots of chanting, and i was proud of the fans today, we really tryed to get them going but nothing would.

We need Brendan Egan back next yr, I need to see Quinn at CHB in championship, we need to blood Conor Davey at FB in the league. The best thing about Div2 is will seperate the men from the boys early on rather than imploding in championship. Im angry, im annoyed, im embarrased, im depressed, and im pissed off. 3-20 to 0-10, still cant fcking believe it. Where did it all go wrong? Disaster.

Down wont go crazy just because we beat an over rated Sligo team.Even at your best we would still have beat ye. No need for your sour grapes

[snoopdog]

i understand it cant be easy to get beat in a provincial and then play again 6 days later. But surely now what nearly 10 years into the qualifiers teams and their management should have already planned for the prospect of defeat in a provincial.
The days have no ref to it, Kildare have played 5 weeks in a row Down 3.
I would say if Tyrone or Kerry, Cork etc had lost a provincial final last weekend they would not have put in the terrible performances shown by Sligo, Monaghan or Louth yesterday.
Counties need to prepare better.
My previous post may have been a bit harsh but Give Down credit if they are let play like that they have the Forwards to inflict maximum damage only for sligo keeper id say at least another 2 goals would have been scored.
Down will need to up their game for whoever we draw this evening.
Hard luck Sligo.

An Dun Abu

[INDIANA]

Sligonian, I'm angry too... but I'm not going there. You need to get out a little. Enjoy the rest of the summer.

I need to get a Job, is what i need to do.

Sligonian, if you're reading this the day after your post, do you still really want Walsh to resign? Who do you think you could bring in that would do a better job? Or are you just saying that there is a decline coming regardless of whether he stays or goes?

I think you need to just forget about yesterday, the Mayo and Galway wins made you look better than you actually were (given what happened to both teams afterwards) but similarly the Down game is no reflection of your abilities either.

I cant see Walsh staying on, surely he can see whats coming himself? I dont need to tell him, he tryed his best yesterday with all the changes, but they didnt work and there was too many positional switches in defence but i dont blame him, however last week he cost us dear. Hes been better than most of our previous managers, and hes improved alot in the 2 yrs with us, can he himself improve again and bring this team on again? The thing that worries me is this team have given it everything last 2 yrs under him and we have feck all to show for it, at the end of the day the league doesnt mean jack shit to me. Some players wont give it the same commitment in 2011 and you saw how mentally frail we are yday. I agree not a true reflection but when the chips are down like yday we were gutless. It'll  be interesting to read EOH article on Monday.

Walsh is the best thing to happen to Sligo football. Show a bit of respect for the guy.

[RedandGreenSniper]

Walsh might go. But it will and ought to be on his terms. He has brought Sligo from a Division 4 team who were hammered by Mayo to a Division 2 team who were within minutes of a Connacht title. He has made huge progress and if he feels there is another bounce in this team, then he'll wait. In my opinion Sligo will still be fancied for Connacht next year if they react reasonably positively to this year's ending.

[Mano]

Sligonian stop with the overreaction. Yesterday match was a meaningless game to the players. After last weeks devasting defeat in a game they expected to win it would be extremely difficult for them to pick themselves up within 6 days. The margin of defeat yesterday was obviously disappointing but i would be much more disappointed with losing the previous week.
I hope Walsh stays for another year. We will have astronger panel next year with hopefully McGovern, McNamara, Egan back in the fold from the start. Hopefully other players who didn't commit to the cause last year will have a change of heart and we can have a right good crack at it again next year and learn from this years experience.

[eyeswideopen]

Well done To the Down lads and management. Starting 15 all lined out in what i would consider their proper positions.
One point everyone seems to have missed. Down scored a record number of scores by hand. I am guessing about 2-8.
This could be a worry as apart from Marty Clark we were unable to score outside 30 yrds.
How many teams will allow us to get inside the 30 with ease at HQ?

[ross matt]

I'm very surprised at the result never mind the margin. Expected Sligo to regroup after the Connacht Final and see that they had a serious chance of making the quarterfinals. The margin of victory does suggest the players didnt believe this and just couldnt pick themselves up after Castlebar. I dont accept yesterday take anything from their league title and wins over Mayo and Galway. They made serious progress and played some great football. How anyone can even suggest KW's resignation just shows you how delusional some fans are.

[waitingforsam]

Delighted with the win last night.

By no means thinking any further than the quarter finals. If we were told in Feb that we would get promoted to Div 1, we would have the tightest defensive record in all divisions & we would get to the AI Quarter Final stage, we would have taken this & would consider it to be a successful 1st Season for Wee James & Co.

Glad to see Dan McCartan back last night & delighted for Ronan Murtagh - i was under the impression that Murtagh had left the panel?

Does anyone know where Paul Murphy is? injured?


This year marks positive progress for Down football.

[ApresMatch]

Few people getting carried away as usual,esoeically regarding Dan at full back,he wasnt tested last night,any time his man got the ball he was out round 50.The test for him will come next time when he has to mark Donaghy, Donie Shine or Shane O'Rourke.So far no real complaints about him though.
Midfield excellent at min, and defence too,although would like Paul Murphy in squad and Murtagh has to start for me.

[Shrewdness]

Sligonian stop with the overreaction. Yesterday match was a meaningless game to the players. After last weeks devasting defeat in a game they expected to win it would be extremely difficult for them to pick themselves up within 6 days. The margin of defeat yesterday was obviously disappointing but i would be much more disappointed with losing the previous week.
I hope Walsh stays for another year. We will have astronger panel next year with hopefully McGovern, McNamara, Egan back in the fold from the start. Hopefully other players who didn't commit to the cause last year will have a change of heart and we can have a right good crack at it again next year and learn from this years experience.

Mano, What do you mean yesterday's game was ''meaningless to the players''

Did anyone bother to tell this beforehand to the thousands of loyal Sligo supporters who put their hands in their pockets to travel to Cavan to support their team?

How could it be meaningless? They were only one game away from Croke Park. Even Kevin Walsh is on record as saying that was their target at the start of the year. If that wasn't incentive enough for them, then they should be ashamed of themselves.

[Mourne Rover]

Dubh Driocht - no more slagging off those who are out of the country for reasons beyond their control. Your seat was mysteriously vacant for the crucial first round qualifier against Longford, if I remember correctly.

It is incredibly hard to listen to these matches on a dodgy wi-fi link, but the important point to remember after the Sligo win is that we have already over-achieved for the season and all the pressure is now on Kerry.

We still need to think carefully about team selection, and, while Murtagh´s 1-5 from play as a sub was a tremendous effort, it was also out of character in reason championship seasons. The last time he did anything like that was against Offaly in 08, when the opposition again failed to turn up, but his return to form puts it up to all the other forwards and leaves James in a brilliant position.

We may realistically be a few steps behind Kerry but they nearly lost to Antrim and Longford last summer and could have been caught by Limerick in the Munster final this year, so nothing is impossible if we believe in ourselves.

[Rudi]

Expecting a team to turn around after a heart breaking provincial defeat to produce a championship performance 6 days later is absurd. 10 years of c**k ups by the gaa fixtures committees, feel sorry for Sligo and Monaghan. Limerick had 20 days to get their heads right, Sligo had only 6 boll*x to that. keep the chin up Sligonian.

[SLIGONIAN]

Sligonian stop with the overreaction. Yesterday match was a meaningless game to the players. After last weeks devasting defeat in a game they expected to win it would be extremely difficult for them to pick themselves up within 6 days. The margin of defeat yesterday was obviously disappointing but i would be much more disappointed with losing the previous week.
I hope Walsh stays for another year. We will have astronger panel next year with hopefully McGovern, McNamara , Egan back in the fold from the start. Hopefully other players who didn't commit to the cause last year will have a change of heart and we can have a right good crack at it again next year and learn from this years experience.

Johnny Martyn has to be given a kick up the hole and drafted in, keep mcnamara as far away as possible. McGovern yes but feck sake your either in or out, not coming back half way through. Hopefully Quinn will come back in and stay injury free. Egan back will be a huge boost, any news there? McGlynn and Rooney need to be looked at alot closer. Thats all HBs, which we need.

Farrell has to be seriously looked at, if he gets only 1 FBD game in 2011 walsh is not a good manager, Greenes kickouts are killing us.

Colm McGee, Keelan Cawley and David Maye need a programme of weights RIGHT NOW to get there conditioning up to scratch.

Midfield is a worry, Mullen doesnt look up to it, Taylor will only perform when team is going well, for me thats not enough, Gilmartin like Mullen fell away badly. James murphy is the tallest but im not sure has the tenacity to win tough ball here, a fine footballer for his size but maybe to slow. Cant be any slower than mullen or gilmartin. Kevin Bierne was tryed in 08 and showed potential but that was a disaster yr for us, may do better under this management, anyone else?

Coen and Kelly for me are playing for one position on the team simple as that. Tough shit for 1 of them. Coen had a poor league and isnt strong enough. Kelly is better but needs decent supply.

Marren and Sweeney are fighting for 1 spot aswell, Sweeney is the better option imo, as he wins alot of dirty ball, marren comes too deep, isnt reliable from frees but has ruthless shot in him. I think if we had started sweeney against Ros we would of won, he was exactly what we needed at FF that day although even i overlooked that before the game.

McGee and Brehony are fight for the last place in FF line. Both free takers but poor from play. Brehony is not our anaswerr to CHF.

My options for CHB are Mark Quinn and Johnny Martyn. I couldnt give a shite what anyone else thinks. Just let the fight for that place and stop wasting time.

My option for CHF is Costello full stop, our best passer end of.

My option for wing HF is Egan. Not the greatest footbaler but feck sake we have enough footballers and no ball winners around the middle. We need to toughen up this area.

Other HF position is up for grabs, can O Hara do another yr? Hope so to this level. Other options Gaughan, F Quinn, we know what gaughan can do but he is ridiculous inconsistent, but hes got pace to burn, Quinn is an unknown entity but trust me he has serious potential and can win dirty ball and play football. Darren Gilsenan ridiculous as its sounds maybe a option, pace to burn aswell but end product needs working.

FB is a problem, i would like ideally to keep Ross at corner back, is Conor Dvaey the anaswer? I dont know but he should get all the FBD there at least, James Connolly definitly is FB in the making but hes 2/3 yrs away yet.

Corner Backs, Id like to Brian Kennedy getting looked at seriously here, and maybe push Harrison to wing back, harrison for me is a half back playing corner back simple as  that. Daniel Maye and Noel Gaughan should be given exposrue here aswell.

It looks likely i'll see a fair few club matches so i'll keep an eye out.