Muineachán v An Dún - 24/06/12, Ard Mhacha

[yellowcard]

Duffy should be removed from the championship listing after yesterdays performance. I'm not sure of the ruling when a player is being booked but the ref went to book the Down defender before the quick free for the Monaghan goal. Surely if he goes to book a player then he has to halt the play? Whilst I think that the benefit of the doubt should go the attacker in this instance just as I think an advantage rule should be brought in, I am nearly certain that no such rule exists. Can anyone clarify? Apologies if this has been brought up already, I haven't trawled through this thread....

On the match itself Laverty and Poland were very impressive for Down and McManus likewise for Monaghan and I thought it was a decent game quality wise and provided plenty of entertainment. Down are a much better team when they abandon the defensive tactics that they employed in the first half. Coulter will be a big help if fit the next day and they will need him to stand any chance against Tyrone or Donegal. Monaghan on the other hand will be kicking themselves as they grasped defeat from the jaws of victory. I'd say this season will be the swansong for the manager and a few of the elder statesmen on that Monaghan team.

[southdown]

Great win but the first half must be a concern, that simply cannot happen against Donegal/Tyrone.  Polie, Laverty, Carr, McArdle and king were immense in the second half.  O'Hare played in front of where I sat in the first half and seemed to be second to the ball almost every time but hit some decent free kicks.  All that can be said about the ref had already been said.

Was great to win in such a manner, especially after seeing the smug celebration of Freeman after his goal.  It reminded me of how Down threw away a 9 point lead against Tyrone in 2003!

Benny's point was something else and provided a huge llift just when it was needed.  Special mention also to Paul Finlay for one of the most stylish points you will see for a long time.

On another note (and the obstructed views of the main stand were mentioned before on this thread) - some kids near us were sat on the front row and could not see the pitch due to the high fence/advert boards.  They informed the stewards and were moved to the terraced area, I would like to think they received the price difference back.

[everymanaman]

Duffy should be removed from the championship listing after yesterdays performance. I'm not sure of the ruling when a player is being booked but the ref went to book the Down defender before the quick free for the Monaghan goal. Surely if he goes to book a player then he has to halt the play? Whilst I think that the benefit of the doubt should go the attacker in this instance just as I think an advantage rule should be brought in, I am nearly certain that no such rule exists. Can anyone clarify? Apologies if this has been brought up already, I haven't trawled through this thread....

On the match itself Laverty and Poland were very impressive for Down and McManus likewise for Monaghan and I thought it was a decent game quality wise and provided plenty of entertainment. Down are a much better team when they abandon the defensive tactics that they employed in the first half. Coulter will be a big help if fit the next day and they will need him to stand any chance against Tyrone or Donegal. Monaghan on the other hand will be kicking themselves as they grasped defeat from the jaws of victory. I'd say this season will be the swansong for the manager and a few of the elder statesmen on that Monaghan team.

Monaghan goal should not have stood for 3 separate reasons. He was booking the Down player, it was taken from the wrong place and no way was Freeman 13m from the taker. Duffy belongs in the circus of his name sake.

[Catch the high ball]

Anyone know where I could watch the highlights of yesterdays game?

[RadioGAAGAA]

Anyone know where I could watch the highlights of yesterdays game?

rte.ie

The Sunday Game is on the rte player.

[Agent Orange]

Duffy should be removed from the championship listing after yesterdays performance.

Derry wans will be delighted to know that they have the same referee for their game against Longford.

[babarino]

Thought beforehand that Monaghan had a good chance because Down thought they were going to run out easy enough winners. It was following the script, a la Monaghan v Armagh, at Casement, a couple of years ago. Monaghan were well up for it and we were beginning to feel a bit embarrassed for Down. Maybe we should have been wearing jersies, like the Down players before the game, with "RUTHLESS" in big, bold fonts. We should have been completely out of sight at half time. Mc Manus was running riot and Hughes was well on top of his man. He wasn't quite the same after he got a "knock" in the head.

Still it's hard to believe we let that lead slip. It was discussed at half time and it was felt we had too much experience to let this one go. But let it go we did.

We can only hope that the players can pick themselves up for a good rattle through the back door. It's the first time we've had anything resembling our 1st choice 15 in a few years. A bit of rustiness showed in one or two of the seasoned players, but the attitude can't be faulted. Down's defense is porous, and if we had maintained something resembling the quality of supply of the first half, we would have run out easy winners.

This voice keeps saying something like, "don't give a sucker an even break". Let's prepare to face Kerry in the qualifiers again. And we'll do them this time, big time, out the back door.

[Aristo 60]

Clawing back from a nine point deficit does remind me of a certain game in 03 (albeit the team doing the clawing back that day had the referee on their side for most of the game and a certain, shall we say, diving pedigree about them which O. McConville acknowledged "too honest" Down just don't have).

Final word saved for Benny The Great. Even the most cynical man wouldn't deny this magnificent guy his day in the sun and the (slim?) chance to put right what tramps like McGuigan and Jordan cheated their way to in 03...almost 10 years later.

Long live Benny The Great , long live County Down.

[omagh_gael]

Clawing back from a nine point deficit does remind me of a certain game in 03 (albeit the team doing the clawing back that day had the referee on their side for most of the game and a certain, shall we say, diving pedigree about them which O. McConville acknowledged "too honest" Down just don't have).

Final word saved for Benny The Great. Even the most cynical man wouldn't deny this magnificent guy his day in the sun and the (slim?) chance to put right what tramps like McGuigan and Jordan cheated their way to in 03...almost 10 years later.

Long live Benny The Great , long live County Down.

Would love to see a hard man keyboard warrior like yourself repeat that to those guy's faces.

Rewatch your game at the weekend and comment on Benny the Great (with all those Ulster/AI medals hanging out of his back pocket  ) taking the mother of all dives when he ran into a Monaghan player while they were breaking up the field in the last couple of minutes.

[Fuzzman]

Aristo, would ye rather meet Donegal in the final or us divers?

[Main Street]

Talking about dives, did anyone think Keogh could have saved that penalty?
I thought he did very well to get down to meet the ball in time but seemed to let it slip through.

[Aristo 60]

Good man Omagh I'll do that for you surely.

You do this for me now, repeat out loud:

"Medals in back pockets are for back door medals".

[timmyot501]

I see the Ref has admitted that he was wrong to allow the Monaghan goal after calling the Down full-back towards him to be booked

[Main Street]

We'll forgive him. Understandably he was awestruck at the audacity of the Monaghan forwards and forgot what he was about to do.

[Orchardman]

not sure if anyone has mentioned it already, but surely the winning point at the death was a throw ball? he tried to fist it over the bar but the speed and height that he had his hands at when the ball left him was the kind of pass outlawed a few years ago.

Down also got a nice peno and a few handy frees in the last lock of mins to get back in the game, ref wasn't too bad on them