Down v Leitrim: 9/7/11

[knockitdown]

what time is throw in tomorrow?

[bcarrier]

Hopefully Murphy will get a run, as substituting him less than 15 minutes after he came on in Ennis, at a time when most of our team were struggling, made little sense.

Murphy has been a fine player for Down in the past ...superb on Dooher a few seasons ago. For whatever reason ,be it lack of county match practice or injury he just couldnt get into the game in Clare and was having a shocker. Taking him off was a tough but correct call imo.

Good to see Garvey back .

[PAULD123]

Agree with everything that Bcarrier said. There was one pass in particular that Murphy hit where he was in complete open space and drilled it toward the sideline. Nowhere near a team-mate or indeed even a Clare player. Just seemed to hit it the way he was facing which happened to be directly at Jamesy. He was hooked shortly after that.

there had been two runners for him and if he had released it correctly we would have been on for a score which at that time of the match would have been crucial. He offered nothing that day but that is not to say that I don't think he is capable of working his way into the team. he saved us against Tyrone with his display in 2008 when he came on for Murney. we were 2-03 to 0-02 down after 20 minutes, Murphy came on and stemmed the flood of Tyrone attack.

Anyway is Dan Mccartan still injured? I would certainly prefer him to three-scores-a-game-from-frees Brannigan.

[SHEEDY]

not only is this a game down must win, james is also demanding a performance for the full 70mins. since we beat sligo last year we have struggled badly in the 2nd half of every competitive game including every league game, the armagh game and most recently the clare game.

martin clarke has been moved back into the forwards after the decision to play him in midfield against clare backfired badly. martin didnt win enough ball and forgot to track back. back in his customery chf postion will hopefully bring the best out of him again.

hopefully playing decky rooney in midfield will solve some of our problems in that area, even though he'll be missed in the half back line.

dan mc cartan is back in the squad and will be available. apparently he was close to starting and probably would have if he had abit more training under his belt. good to see garvey and rafferty are available again as we will need a full squad to choose from for future games if we get past leitrim.

[SHEEDY]

i see paddy power have leitrim @5/6 with a 10point start against down. think down will win by probably 5 or 6pts. 10 points is alot to make up in football. do people think down will cover that handicap?

[Blowitupref]

C McCrann; D Reynolds, J McKeon, P Maguire; D Beck, G Reynolds, B Prior; D Lowe, D Sweeney; R Lowe, E Mulligan, C Clarke; B McDonald, J Glancy, A Croal

Some interesting changes on the Leitrim line up (five in total) Wayne McKeon kicked off the panel, Ronan Gallagher,Brennan are dropped but the biggest surprise is to also drop both Beirne's Tomas & Conor* whom both played well v Sligo.

*Have just checked the subs & both Beirne's are not on that either so all is not well in the leitrim camp.

Apparently those players dropped broke a strict drinking ban. Unfortunately it means Leitrim will be without their physical strength for this game & i can't see past a heavy beating for them now.

[redandblack4ever]

Here's hoping that the boys will win and win well tomorrow.

I know this has been asked before but will 5FM be broadcasting the game tomorrow morning?

Mr. Wonderful bought the GAA Season Pass from Premium Sports over here, but they're only showing Laois v Kildare tomorrow. The only game that they broadcast was Armagh v Down back in May. We paid $200.00 to get this and I'm beginning to think it was a waste of money.

I hope that Armagh get beat by Wicklow tomorrow afternoon, but with the game being in Armagh, I doubt that's going to happen.

Well, let's hope the boys can get their heads and hearts straight tomorrow and give everyone 70 plus extra time minutes of solid Down football.

Mrs. redandblack4ever

[Rossfan]

Did Moran think staying off the drink was the missing magic formula all those years?
Feck sake they might be as well off sluggin porter as having him coming from Derry at great expense to keep them in Div4 and win 1 Championship game in the 3 years he's there.

[armaghniac]

The only game that they broadcast was Armagh v Down back in May.

That's all right then. I am sure you enjoyed a wonderful game.

[western exile]

C McCrann; D Reynolds, J McKeon, P Maguire; D Beck, G Reynolds, B Prior; D Lowe, D Sweeney; R Lowe, E Mulligan, C Clarke; B McDonald, J Glancy, A Croal

Some interesting changes on the Leitrim line up (five in total) Wayne McKeon kicked off the panel, Ronan Gallagher,Brennan are dropped but the biggest surprise is to also drop both Beirne's Tomas & Conor* whom both played well v Sligo.

*Have just checked the subs & both Beirne's are not on that either so all is not well in the leitrim camp.

Apparently those players dropped broke a strict drinking ban. Unfortunately it means Leitrim will be without their physical strength for this game & i can't see past a heavy beating for them now.

According to the journalist Rory Houston on RTÉ website:
The circumstances are unknown with Moran saying that McKeon 'put himself in a position that he had to be told to leave the panel'.

[Leo]

hopefully playing decky rooney in midfield will solve some of our problems in that area, even though he'll be missed in the half back line.

Ah jaysus.... Fitz, Clarke, and now Rooney ....play anybody in midfield except our best midfielder - who is so obviously uncomfortable at full back. It is getting to the point of laughable and you have to wonder where being stubborn becomes stupid.

[ross4life]

C McCrann; D Reynolds, J McKeon, P Maguire; D Beck, G Reynolds, B Prior; D Lowe, D Sweeney; R Lowe, E Mulligan, C Clarke; B McDonald, J Glancy, A Croal

Some interesting changes on the Leitrim line up (five in total) Wayne McKeon kicked off the panel, Ronan Gallagher,Brennan are dropped but the biggest surprise is to also drop both Beirne's Tomas & Conor* whom both played well v Sligo.

*Have just checked the subs & both Beirne's are not on that either so all is not well in the leitrim camp.

Apparently those players dropped broke a strict drinking ban. Unfortunately it means Leitrim will be without their physical strength for this game & i can't see past a heavy beating for them now.

According to the journalist Rory Houston on RTÉ website:
The circumstances are unknown with Moran saying that McKeon 'put himself in a position that he had to be told to leave the panel'.

Media haven't picked up on the Beirne's been dropped. Strange as Conor got alot of the headlines v Sligo.

[SHEEDY]

hopefully playing decky rooney in midfield will solve some of our problems in that area, even though he'll be missed in the half back line.

Ah jaysus.... Fitz, Clarke, and now Rooney ....play anybody in midfield except our best midfielder - who is so obviously uncomfortable at full back. It is getting to the point of laughable and you have to wonder where being stubborn becomes stupid.

100% agree. you need to play your best players in their best positions. big dan is the best midfielder is the county but wee james is relucant to move him out. another question is who do we play at full back if we move dan out. you could be solving one problem but creating another. that the dilemna for wee james and co.

[dodgy umpire]

hopefully playing decky rooney in midfield will solve some of our problems in that area, even though he'll be missed in the half back line.

Ah jaysus.... Fitz, Clarke, and now Rooney ....play anybody in midfield except our best midfielder - who is so obviously uncomfortable at full back. It is getting to the point of laughable and you have to wonder where being stubborn becomes stupid.

Have to disagree with your analysis Leo. Fitzpatrick has proved himself to be a good midfielder but with recent form it was probably fair that he be replaced, something needed to be done about midfield. While Dan would be the obvious option for midfield, he is clearly needed at FB and you are wrong to say he has been uncomfortable there. The management have experimented in challenge games etc and I have faith in their judgement, though I would not be surprised to see Dan and Rooney switch at some stage of the game

[ross4life]

Down 1-3 Leitrim 0-4 Down goal from a Clarke penalty (foot block)