Down Club Hurling & Football

goldenyears · February 19, 2007, 10:06:33 AM

Down's All-Ireland minor winning player Martin Clarke produced an impressive Australian Rules Football debut for Collingwood on Friday.
Clarke played in his club's 66-51 exhibition defeat by the Sydney Swans.

The 18-year-old, who agreed a two-year deal with the top AFL outfit in August, was lauded by Collingwood assistant coach Gavin Brown after the game.

"Marty (Clarke) was the standout for us given he hadn't played a game of Aussie Rules before," said Brown.

"It just showed he has got enormous amount of will and want and he has put in a lot of work and it was fantastic for him, a good step."

The An Riocht clubman impressed the AFL club in a five-week trial Down Under last year and later accepted a two-year deal with the option of a further season.

Aristotle Flynn · February 20, 2007, 02:09:53 PM

When will the championship draws be made? It's usually done at the end of January.

goldenyears · February 20, 2007, 05:56:19 PM

i hear we are for a new league and championship structure next year.....

changing numbers of teams in each division, 1 game against each (not home & away) and a round robin championship....sounds the business....

Cloc Mor · February 20, 2007, 06:10:34 PM

Any change would be welcome - our compeitions have become very stale in the last number of years. Hopefully they will do away with the playoffs as well.

Colonel Cool · February 21, 2007, 07:26:59 PM

Have you any details Goldenyears?

No1 · February 23, 2007, 10:48:03 AM

I'd like to clarify Kevin Bell's comments in today's Gaelic Life.

The county board bought a site from Kilclief to develop as centre for hurling a few years back. They never developed the site and gave no money whatsoever towards development of any sort.

Mr Bell states that the site was sold back to Kilclief. It was not.

Despite repeated attempts by the Kilclief committee to discuss the possibility of buying the site back (so we could start to develop it in a manner we saw fit) The county board have not met with club reps and have continually buried the issue in the sand.

I do not know if Mr Bell is not telling the truth or is mis-informed but his comments are completely wrong and out of order.

goldenyears · February 23, 2007, 04:22:33 PM

Carr plans include the return of Walsh
Allianz National Football League
By Brendan Crossan

DOWN boss Ross Carr expects playmaker Michael Walsh to make a return to county colours before the end of their National League campaign.

The Mayobridge forward, who is currently working in London, sustained an injury while playing for his club last year and is still not fully fit.

However, Walsh has hooked up with the Mourne panel at the weekends to undergo physio treatment and he should be ready for action in mid-to-late March.

"We'd be hoping Mickey will play in the last couple of games in the National League," said Carr.

"He picked up a knock with Mayobridge last year and it's taking a little longer to clear up, but he seems to be making progress."

Daniel Hughes and Benny Coulter should shake off minor knocks to face Westmeath this weekend, but corner-back Daniel McCartan is in Chicago with work commitments, although he will be available for the Mournemen's next NFL outing against Laois on March 11.

Carr's side picked up their first League point of the campaign against Kildare a fortnight ago after previously losing to Louth.

After two games, the double All-Ireland winner reckons the Down players are "unbelievably keen" but have shown signs of "naivete" and "immaturity".

Against Louth and Kildare the side conceded 3-25, but tallied

1-27, which Carr believes should be sufficient to win games.

"We've got to stop the scores against being at 15 and 16 scores per game," he said. "We need to be getting that down to 10, 11 and 12 to give us any chance.

"In the first round of League games, we conceded 2-14 against Louth, which was the biggest score by anybody. But we were the second highest scorers with 1-13. In February, teams would be happy with scoring 1-13, but that tally didn't get us anything. That's not down to our defence, it's down to us as a team."

Carr and DJ Kane have opted to play the team's best player, Benny Coulter, in midfield rather than at full-forward. Under former boss Paddy O'Rourke, the Mayobridge ace was invariably used as a target man.

"It's hard to know where Benny's best position is," said Carr.

"In an ideal situation, we'd like to play him around the middle. But if you get a decent supply of the ball to Benny at full-forward – not a launch-and-hope supply – there are few defenders that'll cope with him. I'd like to play him middle of the field – but I'd like to have two of him! At the moment, we have to use him out the field for his mobility and where he can influence games."

Carr will be hoping the more established names in the panel will benefit from having an extended break during the McKenna Cup, but he is mindful of bringing some good form to the Championship table against Cavan on May 13.

"You'd be hoping those players would be fresher in the summer, but at the same time you don't want to be really struggling in the League as the Championship approaches. It's probably a no-win situation at the moment.

"We're really building foundations for 2008/09, if we're still about. It's not that I'm looking for excuses, but if we have a good year it will be a bonus."

Lecale2 · February 25, 2007, 04:19:50 PM

Betsy Gray Cup result
Warrenpoint 2-05 5-13 Bredagh

DownFanatic · February 26, 2007, 03:31:24 PM

Just to inform everyone that our mates in Loughinisland have once more coveted one of the most promising players in East Down. Teconnaught's 19 year old Niall Mulholland is currently training with the Blues. Mulholland played at centre half-forward on the Down Minor team of 2006 and was a hugely influential figure for Teconnaught last year in Division 3. There is no doubt that he will get his transfer as there are plenty of men in Loughinisland who would gladly supply an address for him. Any thoughts on this BlueIsland?
Ive also heard that Ardglass teenager Michael Magee is seeking a transfer to Downpatrick as is former Saul player Peter McKenna.

Maximus Marillius · February 26, 2007, 03:57:36 PM

Can any of ye Down posters shed any light....Has Adrian Scullion been left off the county panel or has he opted out himself?

behind the wire · February 26, 2007, 04:16:53 PM

could we start a bit of a movement on this board to speak out against the transfers going on within our county. we are ruininng football within our own county and those involved should be ashamed of themselves.

i played against both mickey magee and niall mulholland this year, both cracking players. especially magee, i thought he would have been worth a look for the county. small clubs rely on very good players such as magee and mulholland to carry them along because they dont have many good players. if this continues we will see clubs beginning to fold up, not good for the game in down.

Brick Tamlin · February 26, 2007, 04:25:30 PM

seems to be more of an East-Down thing. Dont hear too many complaining in South Down about it, unless there are Caravans etc involved

behind the wire · February 26, 2007, 04:31:24 PM

dont tell too many aghaderg men that, over the past 8-10 years i can think of about 7 players they have lost to neighbouring clubs, all good players too.

Cloc Mor · February 26, 2007, 06:44:06 PM

Posted by: DownFanatic

QuoteJust to inform everyone that our mates in Loughinisland have once more coveted one of the most promising players in East Down. Teconnaught's 19 year old Niall Mulholland is currently training with the Blues. Mulholland played at centre half-forward on the Down Minor team of 2006 and was a hugely influential figure for Teconnaught last year in Division 3. There is no doubt that he will get his transfer as there are plenty of men in Loughinisland who would gladly supply an address for him. Any thoughts on this BlueIsland?
Ive also heard that Ardglass teenager Michael Magee is seeking a transfer to Downpatrick as is former Saul player Peter McKenna.

Are Loughinisland taking the piss? How do they continue to get away with this. I remember someone on the old board was able to name the number of 'acquisitions' they have had over the years. This really is not on.

downredblack · February 27, 2007, 09:41:58 AM

DOWN football boss Ross Carr has warned that some of the country's top teams are going to end up in Division Three of the NFL next season because of the unforgiving relegation system in place this year.
"The way things are going with the two first divisions at present, Division 3 is going to be harder than Division 2 next year," Carr warned.
"You can go from Division 1 to Division 3 very quickly and it's very tough. There are some big teams involved in a real dog-fight already.
"For us, if we can stay with parity on the pitch going into the last five or 10 minutes (of games), I think we can still turn the corner but whether it's this year or next year I just can't say," he added.
Under this year's NFL regulations, only the top four in Division 1A and 1B will avoid relegation.
The teams who finish fifth and sixth respectively in the premier groups will go to Division 2 next season and those who finish in the bottom two will drop straight down to Division 3.
With three of the four rounds played, Fermanagh are pointless at the bottom of Division 1A, with Dublin, Cork and Limerick joint fifth on two points.
Down are holding up the bottom of Division 1B with a single point, marginally below Armagh, Galway and Derry who are joint fifth with two points apiece.