Down Club Hurling & Football

[Johnnysboys]

The county board MUST put the team forward on the Wednesday before the game - surely they should let us know at least 12 players that will take part in the game. Dublin, Mayo, Galway etc all do it in great time and have a buildup to the game. But that's not "the down way"
Great result today - hopefully build on it next week..

[thewobbler]

The county board MUST put the team forward on the Wednesday before the game - surely they should let us know at least 12 players that will take part in the game. Dublin, Mayo, Galway etc all do it in great time and have a buildup to the game. But that's not "the down way"
Great result today - hopefully build on it next week..

Here's the thing JB.

For years this kind of thing used to annoy me. How could they not know their team in advance? Why do they play silly buggers with line ups and positions? Why do they play silly buggers adding players to the squad from outside the 26/28? What are they so paranoid about revealing... as the oppositions's game plan will be focussed on Murdock, Kerr, Guinness? Etc.

But it's kind of dawned on me the past few years that in pretty much every changing room I've ever been in - up to semi final stages, when the team is usually settled bar injuries - that managers are literally changing their minds right up until the last minute. Some of it is to keep players on their toes, but most of it is about giving them as much time as possible to consider everything.

And that's at club football level... where the stakes aren't as high, the options are more limited, the travel times are minuscule in comparison.

Modern football is a den of overthinking. I could easily imagine conversations with selectors ongoing until an hour before throw-in.

So when I bear all that in mind, it just no longer bothers me that a team isn't named in advance. I'd honestly prefer that over a "dud" team.

Especially for R1 of the league.

[Johnnysboys]

Here's the thing JB.

For years this kind of thing used to annoy me. How could they not know their team in advance? Why do they play silly buggers with line ups and positions? Why do they play silly buggers adding players to the squad from outside the 26/28? What are they so paranoid about revealing... as the oppositions's game plan will be focussed on Murdock, Kerr, Guinness? Etc.

But it's kind of dawned on me the past few years that in pretty much every changing room I've ever been in - up to semi final stages, when the team is usually settled bar injuries - that managers are literally changing their minds right up until the last minute. Some of it is to keep players on their toes, but most of it is about giving them as much time as possible to consider everything.

And that's at club football level... where the stakes aren't as high, the options are more limited, the travel times are minuscule in comparison.

Modern football is a den of overthinking. I could easily imagine conversations with selectors ongoing until an hour before throw-in.

So when I bear all that in mind, it just no longer bothers me that a team isn't named in advance. I'd honestly prefer that over a "dud" team.

Especially for R1 of the league.
[/quote]

I'm going to try really hard to take this guidance on board and not get frustrated with lack of team information... I'm dreading Thursday already though as that's when it usually dawns on me that we have nothing online again..
but I'm going to try Wob

[supersub]

Here's the thing JB.

For years this kind of thing used to annoy me. How could they not know their team in advance? Why do they play silly buggers with line ups and positions? Why do they play silly buggers adding players to the squad from outside the 26/28? What are they so paranoid about revealing... as the oppositions's game plan will be focussed on Murdock, Kerr, Guinness? Etc.

But it's kind of dawned on me the past few years that in pretty much every changing room I've ever been in - up to semi final stages, when the team is usually settled bar injuries - that managers are literally changing their minds right up until the last minute. Some of it is to keep players on their toes, but most of it is about giving them as much time as possible to consider everything.

And that's at club football level... where the stakes aren't as high, the options are more limited, the travel times are minuscule in comparison.

Modern football is a den of overthinking. I could easily imagine conversations with selectors ongoing until an hour before throw-in.

So when I bear all that in mind, it just no longer bothers me that a team isn't named in advance. I'd honestly prefer that over a "dud" team.

Especially for R1 of the league.

I'm going to try really hard to take this guidance on board and not get frustrated with lack of team information... I'm dreading Thursday already though as that's when it usually dawns on me that we have nothing online again..
but I'm going to try Wob
[/quote]

Nothing online again? Almost every football team for the last 3 years has been published in all competitions in advance of the game. You are clutching at straws. For a Sunday game, you want the team published on a Thursday night? You are mad in the head. The players wouldn't even know the team at that stage, regardless of what paperwork has to go where on a Wednesday. The faux outrage knows no bounds.

[ardtole]

Poor performance yesterday, Wicklow had 3 very good goal opportunities in the 1st half against the wind, and 1 in the 2nd half.

With O'Hare coming out to the half way line on the opposing kick outs, I'm not sure the benefits outweigh the potential negatives, a better team than Wicklow would have punished Down heavily yesterday.

[Blackandblue2]

I think 'poor' is harsh. Down led from start to finish, 8 points up and a late rally when game was over made it look respectable. Poor conditions on a terrible pitch is a leveler, but Down always looked the better teams. And goal chances came from a couple of individual mistakes from Down players. O'Hare wasnt caught out on any wicklow so dont see the issue of pushing up at the moment. 

[snoopdog]

Poor performance yesterday, Wicklow had 3 very good goal opportunities in the 1st half against the wind, and 1 in the 2nd half.

With O'Hare coming out to the half way line on the opposing kick outs, I'm not sure the benefits outweigh the potential negatives, a better team than Wicklow would have punished Down heavily yesterday.

I would agree. An Antrim or Westmeath would prob have got a couple of goals yesterday from those mistakes.  Poor conditions. Poor game. Down were poor in 1st half. Much better in 3rd quarter.  Good to get the 2 points. Tidy little stand in Aughrim. Awkward enough place to get to. 

[Truth hurts]

John Devine is in as senior football goalkeeping coach.

[general]

John Devine is in as senior football goalkeeping coach.

He's been taken in as over all defence coach - including the GK's - doing alot of work on defensive movement

laverty tried to get him in last year however he didnt want to leave tullysaran in the lurch. he was over them 2 years as manager

[Johnnysboys]

Strong lineup for tomorrow night. 2 points a must.

[Splash]

Good win for the footballers. Definitely going in the right direction.

How did Anderson get on when he came on?

Antrim in Belfast should be a good match, and good to see the lay of the land now before Ulster Championship.

[Splash]

Tough game for the hurlers tomorrow to start their league campaign.

Portlaoise diffcult place to go to, even for Division One sides like Waterford and Dublin, as we well found out last year in the McDonagh Cup.

Down have a real chance of getting to Division One this year, but have to play better than they did last year.

Some serious hurlers in Laois, but they really don't look like the same team that they were 3-5 years ago. Definitely come back down closer to the level of us/Kerry.


Down missing some serious players. No Sheehan. No Doran. No McCusker. Good to see a few lads back (Donal Hughes should be a great addition all being well, the Sands, too), and plenty of good fellas to make the break through yet.

Hopefully we can stay neck and neck with Laois for most of the game at the very least. Would be good to know we're there or there abouts, and would be terrible to start the year with our backs against the wall.

I think it's well worth remembering, I think last year, the consensus was that it was a very poor year, despite us retaining Division 2A status for the third year in a row. For a long time, we couldn't get out of 2B. That surely says something for the progress of our hurlers.

Hopefully it's onward and upwards 

[snoopdog]

Good win over Limerick. First 5 mins were a slight worry. Limerick should've been 1.03 or more ahead beofre Down scored. The defence would be a bit of a concern the way they started last night going into the Antrim game. Playing with a sweeper keeper will take time to get used too. O Hare didn't really have much to do last night after the 1st 5 mins. Down just tore through Limerick and could've had a couple more goals. Limerick resulted to dragging runners down in 2nd half and the ref was a bit too whistle happy all game. But good performance. The scoring is much improved on last season. Antrim will be a tougher test though. If we can win in Belfast it's a big boost for promotion. Great to see all the kids out on pitch at ht and ft compared to none in Aughrim last week. Good to see Mooney get 35 mins it will stick to him come later games in league and championship.

[downtothecore]

Antrim should have beat us in Newry last year so they wont fear Down. Our boys would need to be on it for this game.

[Johnnysboys]

What a display last night. Pace/power and finishing of the highest order.. 3 more wins should secure a league final berth and promotion..
Murdock is simply awesome and we still have players to come back in that will make our match day squad a whole lot stronger..