USFC - 2/6/27 - Derry v Down

[DuffleKing]

Thought King was immense - Man of the match narrowly ahead of Poland. Both those men dragged Down back into it when they looked beaten. McKernan is a good footballer and does nice things when Down are on top

[BarryBreensBandage]

Thought King was immense - Man of the match narrowly ahead of Poland. Both those men dragged Down back into it when they looked beaten. McKernan is a good footballer and does nice things when Down are on top

Ah come on - Would have been a critic of McKernan in the past but you have to admit he was brilliant today. His points at the end closed out the match. His and King's display is the best I have seen in a long while from a midfield duo.

Absolutely delighted with the win - Great Feeling

[Walter Cronc]

Thought King was immense - Man of the match narrowly ahead of Poland. Both those men dragged Down back into it when they looked beaten. McKernan is a good footballer and does nice things when Down are on top

Catch yourself on. Mc Kernan was superb throughout and worked constantly for the team!!

[Line Ball]

A win in any Championship game is always brilliant but Today's will potentially mask over some serious problems for Down. Derry could've had the game dead and buried by HT but somehow managed to take the foot off the pedal. I just fear Donegal will be too strong and physical for us and their levels of fitness superior, especially in the Second Half of the game.

McVeigh - Fantastic save from Bradley in the first half that kept Down in the game. Poor kick out that resulted in a Derry Point when

Turley wasn't even facing him.

McCartan - Done rightly. Kept tight and was the best player in the Full-Back line.

McArdle - Anyone trying to promote him as the answer to Down's FB problems needs their head examined. Gave Bradley far too much respect and room and got tortured all day. Only for Turley on several occassions his day would've got a lot worse. Simply never tight enough.

Boyle - Tough Championship debut against the elusive Lynn who was probably Derry's best player in the Second Half. Poor wide after a great run summed up his day.

Rooney - Got a bit of a roasting at time from James Kielt who kicked some fabulous points. Very strange decision to start him in front of Mallon who would've been better suited to this game with his direct runs at Derry's poor defence.

Turley - Done the job he was asked to do in helping out McArdle. Saved his Team Mate on several occassions. Does it simple.

Quinn - Poor game in my opinion. Never got going. Big improvement needed.

King - Fabulous tackle on Lynn in the later stages but generally has faded from the player he was in 2010. Needs to offer more.

McKernan - Kicked 4 great points that effectively won the game for Down. Great passer of the ball and offers a good source of quality supply for his inside Forward's. Down's best Player.

Rodgers - Physical presence around the middle and won a lot of break ball in the first half. Good to see him get some Championship game time.

Poland - Better game than recent form. Got on a lot of ball and generally used it well. 1-2 is a great return.

Madine - Great game. Kicked 0-3 and is a big physical presence. Faded towards the end.

O'Hare - Good finish for the goal but just feel we need more from him in general play. Will find it much tougher against Donegal.

Coulter - Tough day for Benny. Mixed the good with the bad. Seemed to spill more ball than he usually would.

Laverty - Lucky man not to see Red for persistent fouling and then a stupid ankle tap when on a Yellow Card. Needs to get on the score board more.

Obvious sentiments from an armchair supporter and a very poor analysis as well.

[Wildweasel74]

I wouldnt read too much into the midfield the day, the next day against donegal in midfield will be a better measure.It was know that patsy Bradley has been injured since the league final and although listed we expected a change before the throw in. bell played ok but got lost in the overcrowing round the sector. Derry dropped Joe Diver of the panel at the start of the year and Michael friel wasnt not even on the panel today. 2 yrs ago this pairing beat any midfield they came up against hands down. Derry practically collapsed today, and why am not sure,but  between players  starting and coming of the bench 4/5 of the lads hadnt even featured in the league which i would understand if they were experienced players coming in. In saying that Down deserved the win, but they will know themselves the keeper got them outa jail at the end of the 1st half, otherwise the result may have been different

[Sheedy]

delighted with the win today. thought king had one of his best games in a down jersey. Poland and mc kernan got through a mountain of work and dragged us back into it in the 2nd half. good feeling to be travelling back with 2 wins.

[5 Sams]

Thought King was immense - Man of the match narrowly ahead of Poland. Both those men dragged Down back into it when they looked beaten. McKernan is a good footballer and does nice things when Down are on top

Good man. Poor attempt at a wind up. McKernan was magnificent today. Best player on the field.

[whitegoodman]

I was at the game WG. Agreed Kalum does a lot of the dirty work around the middle that isn't seen or noticed a lot of the time but in my opinion and its only that, he isn't having the same impact on games like he was a few years ago. Lets not forget Derry had an injured Patsy Bradley & a 19 year old debutant in Bell so Down were expected to dominate in that sector.

On Rooney I thought he looked sluggish and Kielt had a big impact for Derry in the first half. Mallon should have started ahead of either Rooney or Quinn. To say Mallon wasn't the man for Kielt is based on what?
Benny McArdle was very poor. No matter how good Eoin Bradley was, Benny had Peter Turley sweeping in front and still managed to foul on countless occasions when there was no need. These converted free's kept Derry within touching distance at a crucial stage of the first half and in Championship Football you will get punished for this. We got away with it Today in my opinion but anyone who can't see the problems there is naive.

Based on a) it being his championship debut b) being renound as an attacking half back and not a particular good man marker and c) being rusty having injured for the past 4 wks.

He is a good lad and is a potential option at half back but certainly not to man mark one of derrys best forwards.

[Dont Matter]

When I left earlier Derry were well in control. They announced the score down the pitch and I couldn't believe it. What were Derry at in the second half? Or were Down just so good.
Seen Down in a challenge game recently and that King lad is some animal.

[Mourne Rover]

It was a flawed Down performance certainly but still one with plenty of pace, skill and above all guts. We could easily have folded on either side of half time, and we were under huge pressure with five minutes left, but we stuck to our game plan and ended up turning a four point deficit at the break into a five point win - something we very rarely do in the championship.

The people who keep saying we are weak at the back are stating the obvious but not taking into account our missing faces. If we were at full strength, Gordon, Carr, Garvey and Doyle would be certain starters, with O'Hagan and McParland very much in contention. With all six unavailable, James deserves considerable credit for the way he has juggled limited resources.

McVeigh has clearly worked hard on his short kick-outs, apart from the near disaster when he hit the ball too quickly towards Turley and we were happy to concede a point rather than a goal. Funnily enough, we did very well from his longer clearances today and the slow build up from the back does not always suit us. His save just before half time was crucial.

McArdle could not get close to Bradley in the first half, although Derry's supply line was first class and Turley took quite a while to get used to the double marking job. Both of them improved dramatically after the break when our midfield got on top and Bradley was reduced to dropping so deep that he made no impact.

McCartan had relatively little to do, but was always composed, while Boyle showed both some uncertainty and impressive mobility on his debut. Quinn, also on his first championship appearance, had a mixed afternoon, covering a huge amount of ground but not really imposing himself on the game. Rooney lost Kielt a couple of times but was always available to push up, kicked a fine point and was probably our best defender .

If our defence is still a project under construction, our midfield has matured into what could become something special. It was amazing to read a couple of posts questioning King's performance, as he was awesome from start to finish. An early booking is always a problem for his combative style, but he caught almost everything in the middle, tackled aggressively without fouling , kept producing simple and effective passes and even sauntered forward for a point.

McKernan was even better, spraying diagonal passes and repeatedly leaving opponents for dead with his stunning change of gear. For a forward to finish with four points from play in a tight contest would be an excellent return but for a midfielder it is outstanding.

Ambrose may just have found his best position when his fitness fully returns, as he also had a tremendous game until he understandably tired. Benny started well but got involved too much with his marker and ran out of steam long before the end. However, his is a confidence player and one score will hopefully get him up and running again. Poland was taken out off the ball after kicking a fine early point, and took some time to recover, but he was brilliant when the game was up for grabs. Derry could not cope with him, and the standing ovation from the Down support he greeted with a clenched fist salute when he went off in injury time was well deserved.

Madine was a little nervous in the opening stages, but he has the power and acceleration to get into the scoring zone and his three points were all well taken. Laverty could not get into the game for ages, but quality usually tells and his interception to set up the second goal was a killer moment. O'Hare was another slow starter who got better and better and 1-4 tells its own story. He might have taken an easy point which would have left us four up rather than hitting the post while going for another late goal, but for his age he is really looking the part.

Mallon looked as confident as ever when he came on but two consecutive handling errors will not help his chances of starting the next day. Savage and Johnston are on the light side but were buzzing as the space opened up towards the end.

It was a very good day at the office for James overall, as he made the switches in both tactics and personnel at all the right times, and the squad seems to responding positively to Moyna as well.

[Orior]

Very entertaining match. I like this Down team and hope they win Ulster.

Ten minutes into the second half Down were pedestrian and looked to be going out. Then, whoosh! Did the players just click or did James make a change?

[thewobbler]

Well done Down.

It's good to see Poland, McKernan and King taking on the the mantle of leaders, though there's definitely an oddity about the current Down team that they don't play two good halves of football. Much prefer it when the good half is the second half.

Without trying to wear out my red and black glasses, the foot-passing and shooting by Down today was as good as anything I've seen in the Championship so far this year.

Some negatives include Benny looking like a veteran (hopefully he's just finding his feet for the summer), and the handful of "name on the back pages" moments of selfishness by Down players, which is a bad habit, and not something you'll see from the top 3-4 teams who know the value of every score. But it was a good display.


Perhaps the most noticeable thing to day for me, apart from it being an entertaining game, was just how little subtlety both Down and Derry display in the darker arts of the game. The pulling and shoving off the ball, the third man tackles, the slowing down of frees, the time wasting, the diving was all so blatant that the referee would have been within his rights to book just about every player. Wee James could do a lot worse than pay a video specialist a sum of money to put together a presentation of the differences between how Down/Derry do things and Donegal/Mayo do things. There's only split seconds in the timing most of the time... but Down look like their obstructing, Donegal look like they're being obstructed.

[orangeman]

Down have Brendan Mc Veigh to thank for being in the next round.

Had Skinner bagged the second goal on the stroke of half time, Down were dead and buried.

I culdn't believe Skinner got the room he did in the first half.

Down's work rate improved immeasurably in the 2nd half.

It was interesting to hear Gerard O'Kane say at the end of the match that the Derry defenders didn't know at times who they were supposed to be marking as Down we're interchanging constantly.

Donegal would not have been too worried about whatever team won today.

Down on the other hand will want to exorcise the ghosts of Ulster final 2012 and a good few other recent heavy championship defeats by Cork.

[seafoid]

Nice to see Down doing well. It would be great if they could put Donegal back in their box.

[babarino]

Nice to see Down doing well. It would be great if they could put Donegal back in their box.

It would be great, but Donegal are going to tear that Down defence asunder.