Down Club Hurling & Football

[forevergreen]

Personally i think the relegation situation is a disgrace, shouldn't be coming down to head to head, its a complete joke. We had to play Rostrevor minus 4 county men and 2 county minors earlier in the year, while they were a full strength, what's fair in that? all the league games shud have been played and there is no rule in the rule book to allow teams more than 7 days for a championship game, county board leaving themselves wide open for appeals, Down County BOard need to take a good look at themselves, complete and utter joke!! Most dysfunctional, worst ran county board in Ireland

To be fair Ned, I agree with you totally regarding the head to head results. If you are level on points, then play again and winner takes all. With regard to a team in the championship final, they are always going to look for a few days grace, particularly when they are both playing in the final. Any team going into a game needing to win to avoid relegation should only have one thing in mind, out and out win. There is no point in relying on favours or worrying about when or how other teams play their respective games.

An Riocht have had alot of injuries and boys away, but they didnt capitalise when they were all there.

[Lecale2]

Well done Bredagh but have to win the promotion play-off next week.

Ned- everybody knows the rules at the start of the league!

[NedFlanders]

There is a 7 day rule, why bend the rules for certain clubs

[dundrumite]

Well done Bredagh but have to win the promotion play-off next week.

Ned- everybody knows the rules at the start of the league!

How do you mean?

[Lecale2]

I don't know what he means but when it comes to separating teams in the league the rules are set at the start of the season.

[True Blue]

MFC A Final
Kilcoo 1-12  Warrenpoint 0-10

Three in a row for the Magpies. Some achievement.

Brilliant achievement for our young lads today in winning the Collie Curran cup for the third time in succession. The Point gave us many problems and in Ciaran McCartan had a classy player.
Marty Devlin, Aaron Morgan, Daithi OHanlon, Nathan Smyth and Ryan Johnston all had great games with Darragh OHanlon giving a man of the match performance kicking 0-5.
Congratulations to all involved in a wonderful achievement and to the management team of Terry OHanlon, Kieran OHare and Kevin Kane.

MDG
With respect to you, i will admit that you are one of the most fairest posters on this website. your reports and views on down football give me and every follower on this website food for thought. BUT!!!!!!!!!!! I have to disagree with one of your for-mentioned players who had a good game. As a POINT man Thru & THRU we were bitterly diasapointed with the result and if goal chances came r way we would be celebrating a county championship but fair play to Kilcoo you were more clinical when you had the wind.But to say Ciaran McCartan gave you problems and that Ryan Johnston had a great game is a contradiction! Ciaran McCartan as you stated gave you massive problems that Ryan could not compete with, and IMO had a very poor game. DOH hit some fantastic scores in the 2nd half and was probably the difference. As a point man i think Ciaran McCartan gave Ryan a lesson in football. Our only problem was maybe we only had 1 Ciaran McCartan. Congrats to the Pies. 3 minor titles in a row is some achievement and you beat us in 2 of them!

[NedFlanders]

http://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/newsfeatures/news/newsarticle/tabid/5586/newsid/124867/default.aspx

All knew it was coming, i wish him every success on his return to Colingwood Football Club

[bcarrier]

Link within neds link. Good luck to him.

http://www.youtube.com/collingwoodctv#p/u/7/DJscgI3p0NI

[6th sam]

Well done Bredagh but have to win the promotion play-off next week.

Ned- everybody knows the rules at the start of the league!

The issue that Ned is trying to highlight,I presume is that the starred system is designed to offer some protection for clubs with county players.Throughout the year,these clubs have to play with weakened teams,as a result them providing players for our county.The playoff system allows them to play with their full complement in the do-or-die matches.The head to head comparison,is a much fairer way of seperating clubs than overall score difference.The weakness of the head to head system(though the same weakness applies to overall score difference) is that if those two clubs head to head encounter were starred games,the club with the greater number of county players is effectively disadvantaged.Longstone and An Ríocht both commit handsomely to the county cause,and though few will begrudge Longstone their deserved Div 1 survival(within the current rules),An Riocht can feel justifiably frustrated.These rules have been in place for 3 years now,and everybody was aware of it at the start of the year,with no formal objections,so CCC can not be blamed for applying the rules fairly.Though a playoff for the playoffs could be considered the fairest way of seperating such teams,the last thing we need is more unexpected,unpredictable fixtures at this busy time of year.
The positive aspect of the new league structure is that at least Div 1,2 and 4 will be finished up early.Even Division 3 may be finished earlier than expected if Kilclief can secure the automatic promotion slot.

[NP 76]

Pity to see Martin go but good luck to him . Martin came home at a low time for Down and was one of the main reasons if not the main onethat we got to the All Ireland final . I listened all this year to people complaining about him because he was not as infuential as last year but yet he was the top scorer we had by a mile . Thanks Martin a joy to watch

[Down Mad]

The positive aspect of the new league structure is that at least Div 1,2 and 4 will be finished up early.Even Division 3 may be finished earlier than expected if Kilclief can secure the automatic promotion slot

6th Sam
Division 3 will not be finished earlier than expected! Kilclief have 3 games in hand over teams around about them. They have 5 league games left, probably a league final, or at worst a playoff and then a league final, a championship final and if they win at least one Ulster game!! They have had an unbelievable year in both hurling and football and fair play to them especially having been relegated last year but their success has meant that teams like Carryduff and Tullylish are in a bit of limbo. Tullylish are 'top' of the third division all be it having played 3 more games. They have to play their remaining 2 games and will most likely win those. They then will have to wait until Kilclief overtake them and claim top spot. Given the amount of games Kilclief have to play this could take another 4/6 weeks!!! The County Board have got to take responsibility on this. This league should have started before divisions 1 & 2, and also the 3/4 week gap in July when there wasn't any fixtures was laughable. It seems that leagues especailly the third division a dragging out longer and longer each year. How can clubs such as Tullylish and Carryduff and to a lesser extent Kilclief (because of their sucess) keep their players motivated at the end of such a long season???

[thewobbler]

No matter what way the County Board sets up the promotion and relegation rules, it always seems to affect An Riocht the worst. Or at least this always seems to be the case, judging by the varied cries of injustice emanating from Kilkeel over the past decade.

Personally I'd find it nice if the Kingdom folks even just once finished a season by saying "we were aware of the rules at the start" instead of calling foul at the end.

The bit they don't seem to understand up there is that every club in Division I gets hammered from time-to-time by county commitments, whether they are at senior, under-21 or minor level.  If you can't perform without your county players, you should maybe accept that relegation is a more accurate reflection of the club's current ability. Tough love, but true.

[When We Win]

No matter what way the County Board sets up the promotion and relegation rules, it always seems to affect An Riocht the worst. Or at least this always seems to be the case, judging by the varied cries of injustice emanating from Kilkeel over the past decade.

Personally I'd find it nice if the Kingdom folks even just once finished a season by saying "we were aware of the rules at the start" instead of calling foul at the end.

The bit they don't seem to understand up there is that every club in Division I gets hammered from time-to-time by county commitments, whether they are at senior, under-21 or minor level.  If you can't perform without your county players, you should maybe accept that relegation is a more accurate reflection of the club's current ability. Tough love, but true.

I agree. There was no crying from Ned after the first few games. Now their plight hits home and its the DCB's fault for having a set league structure in place. Maybe next year they will concentrate on trying to win games outright to secure their position.

As for div 3, it is a bit of a joke. A couple of years ago i remember promotion/relegation matches being played in late Nov/early Dec. I though this new league format was to resolve this. It is unfortunate that we are at this point again. I dont mind so much that such important games are going to be played in poor weather conditions but more the fact that for so many clubs they do not have the facilities for dark evening training sessions therefore their prep will be hampered.

Carryduff put in a strong performance against Darragh Cross yesterday. They are obviously a team who focus strongly on the art of defending, by far their best line on the pitch

[Mid Down Gael]

MFC A Final
Kilcoo 1-12  Warrenpoint 0-10

Three in a row for the Magpies. Some achievement.

Brilliant achievement for our young lads today in winning the Collie Curran cup for the third time in succession. The Point gave us many problems and in Ciaran McCartan had a classy player.
Marty Devlin, Aaron Morgan, Daithi OHanlon, Nathan Smyth and Ryan Johnston all had great games with Darragh OHanlon giving a man of the match performance kicking 0-5.
Congratulations to all involved in a wonderful achievement and to the management team of Terry OHanlon, Kieran OHare and Kevin Kane.

MDG
With respect to you, i will admit that you are one of the most fairest posters on this website. your reports and views on down football give me and every follower on this website food for thought. BUT!!!!!!!!!!! I have to disagree with one of your for-mentioned players who had a good game. As a POINT man Thru & THRU we were bitterly diasapointed with the result and if goal chances came r way we would be celebrating a county championship but fair play to Kilcoo you were more clinical when you had the wind.But to say Ciaran McCartan gave you problems and that Ryan Johnston had a great game is a contradiction! Ciaran McCartan as you stated gave you massive problems that Ryan could not compete with, and IMO had a very poor game. DOH hit some fantastic scores in the 2nd half and was probably the difference. As a point man i think Ciaran McCartan gave Ryan a lesson in football. Our only problem was maybe we only had 1 Ciaran McCartan. Congrats to the Pies. 3 minor titles in a row is some achievement and you beat us in 2 of them!

Ryan has had better games but was stil influential for us in the second half scoring 3 points from play. McCartan was brilliant for yous and got ther better of Ryan in the midfield exchanges but i wouldnt say he was very poor, 0-3 in the second half of a tight game is not bad for a midfielder and although his direct opponent was the points best player, he stil produced some good football when we needed him most.

[extra time]

i think a few posters on here are missing a very important point. all the relegation related games in div 1 should have been played on sat at the same time. i,m not predicting the s.f.c result, but if burren win, then a meaningless league match to them agst clonduff wud be well down their list of priorities. Had they played last sat no way wud they want clonduff winning before their final meeting.