Down Club Hurling & Football

[dundrumite]

Who managed that team?

[No1]

I've no idea who Gallagher or Hynds are. That was my minor year and I never came across either. You'd assume a Hynds is from Drumgath, but I dont think it for this one.

Gavin Hynds from the RGU.  Hardy was a great big lump for a minor and a good footballer but suffered a bad knee injury, I'm not sure if he ever played senior football.  His big brother Ian played for the RGU for a long time and might well have a couple of SFC medals.

Big 7 days for Kilclief coming up, IHC final on Saturday and IFC semi final the next Saturday.

Really hope the hurlers do it, the manager is one of life's gentlemen and he deserves it for his years of excellence and commitment to both codes in the club.

[Down Mad]

Gerry Doherty was the manager of that 1995 squad.

Just looking there were 5 St. Colmans men on that team, P. Shields, P. Matthews, T. Morgan, K. Franklin, C. Daly. That was a bad year for those boys! They were beaten in the McRory Cup Final by Maghera. Two defeats in a few months by the Derry men!!

[Brick Tamlin]

They were pretty much stufed in both games. Derry football was producing some talent back then, alot of which actualy went on to senior football and were the mainstay for a long time. The opposite of the Colmans McCrory/Down minor squad

[redandblackareback]

They were pretty much stufed in both games. Derry football was producing some talent back then, alot of which actualy went on to senior football and were the mainstay for a long time. The opposite of the Colmans McCrory/Down minor squad

But sure half the Colmans team were probably shipped in from Lurgan et Armagh! 

On a serious note the problem probably lay with wee Pete being too loyal to the old brigade and we nearly lost a whole generation of footballer late 90's early 00's...

[Brick Tamlin]

we didnt nearly lose a generation, we actually did lose a generation more or less.
whilst Paul McFlynn, Johnny McBride, Enda Muldoon SM Lockhart & co were the mainstay of the Derry seniors for a good few years, guys like Paul Shields, Peter Travers, Paudi Matthews, Henry Greene, Conor Daly, Tom Morgan, Mal McMurray to name but a few were left by the wayside. They might have been on senior panels for a year or two training away and occasionally starting but they were never brought on or developed like they should have been. McGrath was too loyal to the old brigade and wouldnt clear the cupboard clean to bring in the next batch until it was too late. alot of guys acted as training cones for those latter years of his, young, fit and eager guys used only to push the older fellas in the hope that they would get a game.

[No1]

Very true Brick, with the exception of Peter Travers. Although he was (is) a fantastic keeper, he was desperately unlucky that Mickey McVeigh was around at the same time.

[thewobbler]

The 1995 Maghera team were something else - they basically ran straight over the top of St Colman's in the MacRory final.

Maghera also obliterated the Abbey in the semi-final that year, even though the Abbey had Aidan O'Rourke, Enda McNulty, the McEntees, Barry Duffy, Mal McMurray, Paul Cunningham and Gavin Treanor in their ranks. Val Kane had a lot to answer for at that time; Abbey had gifted players throughout the 90s.

But, not too many of the Maghera men them made any impact at senior level. Sean Marty Lockhart obviously went onto great things and David O'Neill played strongly for a few years, but I can't think of too many others. The other stars of the team were Adrian McGuckin and Mark Diamond, but McGuckin was pretty much injured from then onwards, and Diamond's powers waned dramatically when he went to Queen's - not even drink related, he just seemed to slow up or something.

[ardtole]

we didnt nearly lose a generation, we actually did lose a generation more or less.
whilst Paul McFlynn, Johnny McBride, Enda Muldoon SM Lockhart & co were the mainstay of the Derry seniors for a good few years, guys like Paul Shields, Peter Travers, Paudi Matthews, Henry Greene, Conor Daly, Tom Morgan, Mal McMurray to name but a few were left by the wayside. They might have been on senior panels for a year or two training away and occasionally starting but they were never brought on or developed like they should have been. McGrath was too loyal to the old brigade and wouldnt clear the cupboard clean to bring in the next batch until it was too late. alot of guys acted as training cones for those latter years of his, young, fit and eager guys used only to push the older fellas in the hope that they would get a game.

You could argue Tyrone are in the process of making the same mistake.

[Down Mad]

I agree with you Brick, Pete McGrath was lets say a bit slow in bringing in new talent at that time. I know a lot of that 1995 team progressed to the Under 21's for the next 3 years and very few of them were given a chance to play at senior level. The late 90's and early 2000's was a period when changes needed to be made to an ageing Down senior squad and it didn't really happen. The other agrument is that some of these guys were not good enough to break into a senior set up. I disagree, given a chance the guys Brick has mentioned in that 1995 squad could have made a difference in a rebuilding process at that time.

[Mid Down Gael]

Rostrevor won the PRFC tonight and Bryansford won the RFC.

Kilcoo won the PRFC 1-10 to 0-6.

[DownFanatic]

Rostrevor won the PRFC tonight and Bryansford won the RFC.

Kilcoo won the PRFC 1-10 to 0-6.

Down website had it the wrong way round.

[ardtole]

Would there be an arguement for the division 3 league to begin a month earlier than the other divisions next season as each club has 4 extra fixtures than the top 2 divisions. Most clubs still have 6 games left, Bosco have 7. I think it is ridiculous that games are now scheduled for saturdays, our club probably suffers more than most due to clashes with soccer games. I think the Friday night games are excellent but as it gets darker, sooner, games should be played on their traditional Sunday slot. We will play Darragh tomorrow, then next week we have no game because Kilclief are still in championship, so we will go into October with 5 league games still to be played. If previous years are to go by, we cannot play on Sunday because there are Ulster club fixtures so our fixtures will clash directly with the soccer fixtures.
More importantly the play-offs for promotion and relegation will probably take place in November, possibly in atrocious conditions in what will be the most important games that the participating clubs will play that season. Someone argued before that the weather can be just as bad in March, which is true but at least there is the rest of the summer to rearrange games that may be postponed.
When the league fixtures were released at the start of the season there was no provision for at least 4 or 5 sets of fixtures for div 3 clubs. This shows a lack of respect for clubs and players, a club should know at the start of the year when the league is due to start and finish. The first half of the season seems to run well, then you have the july holidays, then the championship, then the all ireland finals, then the ulster club games and when the league is eventually finished you have the playoffs played in the pissings of rain and wind at the end of November.

[Lecale2]

Big 7 days for Kilclief coming up, IHC final on Saturday and IFC semi final the next Saturday.

Really hope the hurlers do it, the manager is one of life's gentlemen and he deserves it for his years of excellence and commitment to both codes in the club.

Should be a tight game. Liatroim aren't as strong as they were and Kilclief have improved. It must be 10 years since Kilclief were in the final.

Who is the manager No 1?

[No1]

Colin Shields. Good rivalry between our hurlers and the Fontenoy's, ref could be busy enough!