Down v Donegal, Newry - 16 March 2014

[Aristo 60]

I'd agreed with all that Mourne Rover. One other concern I had was that Donegal's physical strenght apperared much greater than ours.

We still had handling errors and some loose passing. Also some final passes went astray, which had they of come off we'd have won by a few more.

Think Donegal have Galway and Louth left, Monaghan have Galway and Laois? We have Meath and Laois.

From that you'd have to believe Donegal will win both and Monaghan too probably. So all to play for and Down have it all to do to get back to D1.

Well done to James & Co today.

[donegal lad]

I'd agreed with all that Mourne Rover. One other concern I had was that Donegal's physical strenght apperared much greater than ours.

We still had handling errors and some loose passing. Also some final passes went astray, which had they of come off we'd have won by a few more.

Think Donegal have Galway and Louth left, Monaghan have Galway and Laois? We have Meath and Laois.

From that you'd have to believe Donegal will win both and Monaghan too probably. So all to play for and Down have it all to do to get back to D1.

Well done to James & Co today.

We have Louth and Armagh left. Have said all along that I had hoped we wouldn't have to go to Armagh needing a win to get promoted.

[Aristo 60]

Fair enough. I hope we're in a position to accept a gift from our orchard friends on the last day then so!

[whitegoodman]

Was a decent enough performance today but boy do I hate that messing about towards the end where we were passing the ball around to waist time.  We did that against Cork last year and got caught out and nearly did today again.

Mcveigh didn't have much to do but did well when he had to.
McArdle, Carr and Garvey stood out and the other guys were competent in defence.
Turley really is a brute and his mobility maybe gives him a slight edge over King. McKernan mixes the brilliant with the outrageous.
Laverty and Maginn work very hard but the lack of scores coming from this area would be a slight concern.
Poland is a class act.
O Hare was quiet enough and was too far from goal too often.  Madine is still a bit raw but there is a lot of potential there.  Jerome was on a very good footballer but struggled.

Would like to see Rooney and O Hagen back in defence and Ambrose in half forward line in the short term and Gordon and McCumiskey (if he is about) back in the medium term.

On another note if teams are equal on points does it come down to score difference or head to head??  If score difference then Down will struggle to go up but if head to head they would have best record of the three teams.

[StephenC]

Poor performance by Donegal by the sounds of it. 12 wides ... 6 more dropped into the keepers hands ... McFadden missing several easy free kicks. We seemed to get turned over very easily in the tackle - is this an area we've seen problems with in several games. If Derry set up defensively like Down (and Meath) did, we could have a lot of problems - I'm not sure that they'll take that approach though.
I think Leo is struggling at CHB. Will Paddy McGrath be back and be fit enough come championship, allowing Lacey to come out of the corner? If not then Leo or Frank seem to be our only options.
We are not impressing in a (relatively) weak division while Derry are flying in a very strong one ....   

[Mourne Rover]

WGM, the suggestion is that the finishing order is decided on head to head results if two teams are level on points but on scoring difference if three or more are tied.

It is possible that Donegal, Monaghan and Down could all finish level, in which case we would almost certainly miss out. Monaghan would have to be fancied to beat both Laois and Galway, while Donegal should win comfortably at home to Louth but face a sticky last match in Armagh. We have tough trips to Meath and Laois, so we would have to be regarded as the outsider of the trio.

Another option is that Monaghan win the division, and Donegal and Down each drop two points in their last two games and finish level in second place. In those circumstances, we would get the second promotion spot, unless either Armagh or Meath or both of them win their last two matches and there is a multiple tie for second place.

It's all full of maybes, but most Down fans would have settled at the start of the season for consolidation in division two and and a steady approach to the championship. The Galway game apart, we would have to be very happy to the way we are progressing so far.

[donegal lad]

Poor performance by Donegal by the sounds of it. 12 wides ... 6 more dropped into the keepers hands ... McFadden missing several easy free kicks. We seemed to get turned over very easily in the tackle - is this an area we've seen problems with in several games. If Derry set up defensively like Down (and Meath) did, we could have a lot of problems - I'm not sure that they'll take that approach though.
I think Leo is struggling at CHB. Will Paddy McGrath be back and be fit enough come championship, allowing Lacey to come out of the corner? If not then Leo or Frank seem to be our only options.
We are not impressing in a (relatively) weak division while Derry are flying in a very strong one ....   

Don't need to start panicing just yet Stephen. To say we aren't impressing is a bit ott as well did you see our 1st 3 games especially the Monaghan game and this is probably 1 the stronger div 2 in the last few years.

League form doesn't have much of a bearing when it comes to the summer and the championship. We struggled all league last year while Tyrone were flying and w turned them over in the 1st round. I will admit Derry have surprised me a bit this year but its not the 1st time a Derry team have been flying win the league only to be a disappointment cone championship. Today did seem to be an off day for the team but similar to last week they created enough chances to win the game which isn't to bad since you feel we struggle against a defensive gameplan.

Paddy McGrath will be back for championship don't worry bout that 

[Zulu]

League form doesn't have much of a bearing when it comes to the summer and the championship.

Dunno about that, most teams that do well in league do well in the championship. Outside of Donegal you wouldn't really say there is an All Ireland winning team in division 2 yet you're (kinda) struggling to break free of it. If I was a Donegal fan with hopes of retaining the All Ireland I'd be a bit concerned about their league form.

[Fender]

League form doesn't have much of a bearing when it comes to the summer and the championship.

Dunno about that, most teams that do well in league do well in the championship. Outside of Donegal you wouldn't really say there is an All Ireland winning team in division 2 yet you're (kinda) struggling to break free of it. If I was a Donegal fan with hopes of retaining the All Ireland I'd be a bit concerned about their league form.

Dublin are the current All Ireland Champions!!

[PAULD123]

League form doesn't have much of a bearing when it comes to the summer and the championship.

Dunno about that, most teams that do well in league do well in the championship. Outside of Donegal you wouldn't really say there is an All Ireland winning team in division 2 yet you're (kinda) struggling to break free of it. If I was a Donegal fan with hopes of retaining the All Ireland I'd be a bit concerned about their league form.

Dublin are the current All Ireland Champions!!

That's right Dublin are AI champions and also league champions. Donegal won AI in 2012 and admittedly finished 6th in Div 1, but Mayo were NFL & AI finalists. In 2011 Dublin were NFL finalists and AI champions. In 2010 cork won AI & NFL.

So much for the league counting for nothing.

[donegal lad]

League form doesn't have much of a bearing when it comes to the summer and the championship.

Dunno about that, most teams that do well in league do well in the championship. Outside of Donegal you wouldn't really say there is an All Ireland winning team in division 2 yet you're (kinda) struggling to break free of it. If I was a Donegal fan with hopes of retaining the All Ireland I'd be a bit concerned about their league form.

Dublin are the current All Ireland Champions!!

That's right Dublin are AI champions and also league champions. Donegal won AI in 2012 and admittedly finished 6th in Div 1, but Mayo were NFL & AI finalists. In 2011 Dublin were NFL finalists and AI champions. In 2010 cork won AI & NFL.

So much for the league counting for nothing.

I still stand by the fact the league doesn't have a big bearing on championship, teams always improve come the summer. Donegal in div 2 of league in 2011 came within a kick of the ball to reaching a AI final. Monaghan playing division 3 football last year won ulster. 
My main point was based on Derry though, this isn't the first time they have had a great run in div 1 of the league only to under achieve come the summer. I know which I would prefer anyway

[ck]

The NFL is and has been the greatest indicator of championship success. Winning NFL teams usually continue that run. Monaghan may have been div 3 but they were successful from div 3 and continued. The top NFL teams will also be top championship teams which is why div 2 will be so intriguing over the next few weeks.

[PAULD123]

I still stand by the fact the league doesn't have a big bearing on championship, teams always improve come the summer. Donegal in div 2 of league in 2011 came within a kick of the ball to reaching a AI final. Monaghan playing division 3 football last year won ulster. 
My main point was based on Derry though, this isn't the first time they have had a great run in div 1 of the league only to under achieve come the summer. I know which I would prefer anyway

Donegal - NFL Division 2 champions 2011
Monaghan - NFL Divsion 3 champions 2013

No trend there then??