Down Club Hurling & Football

[EagleLord]

Replace Paul McComisky?

[whitegoodman]

Just to add to this I am led to believe that Rony Murtagh has not retired, he was not asked back onto the panel.

Now I wish all these young fellas the best but if the likes of Miskelly, Donal O'Hare, Ryan Brady or Ross McGarry have the talent of that man I have yet to see it.  Yes they are young but playing or training alongside the likes of Murtagh would have done them the world of good imo.

Add to this you have a player on the panel who is only fit to play one half of club football never mind county football!!!

If James doesnt make at least an Ulster final this year he will be under serious pressure.

For Sunday Id like to see Pete Turley given a chance at CHB.  Not a great footballer but strong, nasty, niggly.  The exact opposite to our CHB from last year.

[NP 76]

To be fair Ronan has had injuections in his ankles and has been told to rest . I think he hopes to get this sorted out because it hindered him badly last year with both his club and the county . Come the new year he would hope to get back into contention but as far as i have heard this is the case and he hasnt retired. I would also like to see P Turley at chb he would give us a good bit of steel that has been missing

[redandblackareback]

Just to add to this I am led to believe that Rony Murtagh has not retired, he was not asked back onto the panel.

Now I wish all these young fellas the best but if the likes of Miskelly, Donal O'Hare, Ryan Brady or Ross McGarry have the talent of that man I have yet to see it.  Yes they are young but playing or training alongside the likes of Murtagh would have done them the world of good imo.

Add to this you have a player on the panel who is only fit to play one half of club football never mind county football!!!

If James doesnt make at least an Ulster final this year he will be under serious pressure.

For Sunday Id like to see Pete Turley given a chance at CHB.  Not a great footballer but strong, nasty, niggly.  The exact opposite to our CHB from last year.

Are you talking about Mc Kernan? I actually thought Mc Kernan was one of our strongest players, as in strength I mean big??? Maybe Im wrong. I also think to play at 6 you need to be a decent ball player, the days of the hatchet man at 6 are gone IMO.

[EagleLord]

Just to add to this I am led to believe that Rony Murtagh has not retired, he was not asked back onto the panel.

Now I wish all these young fellas the best but if the likes of Miskelly, Donal O'Hare, Ryan Brady or Ross McGarry have the talent of that man I have yet to see it.  Yes they are young but playing or training alongside the likes of Murtagh would have done them the world of good imo.

Add to this you have a player on the panel who is only fit to play one half of club football never mind county football!!!

If James doesnt make at least an Ulster final this year he will be under serious pressure.

For Sunday Id like to see Pete Turley given a chance at CHB.  Not a great footballer but strong, nasty, niggly.  The exact opposite to our CHB from last year.

Are you talking about Mc Kernan? I actually thought Mc Kernan was one of our strongest players, as in strength I mean big??? Maybe Im wrong. I also think to play at 6 you need to be a decent ball player, the days of the hatchet man at 6 are gone IMO.

100% agreed. CHB has to set up attacks and be cool on the ball, good passer etc. I dont think theres room for a hatchet man in any position actually anymore, even cornerback.

[charlieTully]

Just to add to this I am led to believe that Rony Murtagh has not retired, he was not asked back onto the panel.

Now I wish all these young fellas the best but if the likes of Miskelly, Donal O'Hare, Ryan Brady or Ross McGarry have the talent of that man I have yet to see it.  Yes they are young but playing or training alongside the likes of Murtagh would have done them the world of good imo.

Add to this you have a player on the panel who is only fit to play one half of club football never mind county football!!!

If James doesnt make at least an Ulster final this year he will be under serious pressure.

For Sunday Id like to see Pete Turley given a chance at CHB.  Not a great footballer but strong, nasty, niggly.  The exact opposite to our CHB from last year.

roney gets the ball, he has two men running either side of him, will he slip it to benny, will he play a cheeky one two with McCommisky?  no he shoots, wide again. the crowd moan. again. overrated, greedy, arrogant, a retired sub at 28. out with the chaff in with the new. good riddance i say.

[NP 76]

CHB has first and foremost to be a man that fills the space from mid field to defence . He must protect the full back line and most importantely the full back . Imo Mc Kernan doesnt do this . He is great going forward but forgets to mark thus leaving a gaping hole through the heart of our defence . How many times do you see Ger Brennan going forward and leaving his man to run wild ? His priority is to defend at all times . To be honest Charlie think you are being very harsh on Rony . Would say you were like the rest of us in 2010 cheering his scores in the games he came on in

[PAULD123]

I'm a bit surprised that you are suggesting replacing your club-mate WhiteGM? Especially as McKernan has been a quality performer for us. However he does not defend nearly well enough and doesn't mark up adequately. But he does offer loads going forward. In last year's national league Bryan Cullen said that he was his toughest opponent and also the fittest. So I guess you wouldn't drop McKernan but play him elsewhere. If Turley plays CHB where would you put McKernan?

Also, four players have been withdrawn through injury. Darren O'Hagan, Brendan McCardle, Pul McComiskey and Conor Garvey. Can anyone shed any light on what are the injuries and how serious they are?

[No1]

Anyone have any reports from Downs 2 challenge matches against Wexford at Parnells in Dublin on Monday?

Ricky Kerr scored a point and Ciaran Sloan had to go off with a hamstring injury is all I know!

Extremely harsh on Murtagh there Mr Tully, as another poster alludes to he offers a whole lot more than a fella with one leg who is only fit enough for 15 minutes every club game.

I think it is going to be a very difficult season for us this year, we overachieved in 2010 and expectations should take that into account.  I think we'll also begin to appreciate just how important Marty Clarke was to the team the last couple of years.

[whitegoodman]

I'm a bit surprised that you are suggesting replacing your club-mate WhiteGM? Especially as McKernan has been a quality performer for us. However he does not defend nearly well enough and doesn't mark up adequately. But he does offer loads going forward. In last year's national league Bryan Cullen said that he was his toughest opponent and also the fittest. So I guess you wouldn't drop McKernan but play him elsewhere. If Turley plays CHB where would you put McKernan?

Also, four players have been withdrawn through injury. Darren O'Hagan, Brendan McCardle, Pul McComiskey and Conor Garvey. Can anyone shed any light on what are the injuries and how serious they are?

When it comes to the county I dont really care what club players are coming from and although McKernan is undoubtably talented, Down are not good enough to carry him defensively.  Dublin learned that they couldnt pick a ball playing Centre Back in Cullen and neither should Down imo.  We left the gate open last year and teams came sworming through the middle of us.

Turley may not be the answer but he has some of the attributes necessary for the position and is worth a look.  A half back line of Rooney, Turley and Garvey has a strong,atheletic and aggresive look to it.  Lets see if Peter can anchor it.

On McKernan he is a tidy player and maybe he should be tried at wing forward or centre forward or even at corner forward with a roaving role like Poland had played previously.  This would free up Poland at CHF.  Im only surmising at this stage but the McKenna Cup should be used to experiment on these types of things.  Mickey Harte appears to be doing it playing Peter Harte at CHB so why shouldnt we.

On Charlies comments regarding Murtagh if there is 6 better scoring forwards in Down I have yet to see it.

[PAULD123]

As far as I see it McKernan can't really be justified as a replacement for any of our six forwards from the last two years. Murtagh is a better forward and even he couldn't get in the team. As a back up yes definitely he would provide excellent cover.

But although he is a bit weak defensively he is still a better defender than most of our other options. So I feel that what happened was, in a desire to have his talent on the pitch, he was accommodated in defence where he was not good enough but better than the other players, as there was no place for him in attack.

We are blessed with good attackers and cursed by average defenders. Assuming Hughes & Coulter must start, you could justify picking any four from McComiskey, McKernan, Doyle, Laverty, Murtagh, MaGinn, Poland, Ambrose. All still fully are good enough to be considered for a starting role in the forwards (even Ambrose, who will play midfield)

I think the answer is to persuade McKernan to learn to concentrate more on his defensive duties.

But I do understand your point about trying Turley, and the resulting effect on McKernan is a difficult one.

[RadioGAAGAA]

As far as I see it McKernan can't really be justified as a replacement for any of our six forwards from the last two years.

Depends.


If you want one of your forwards to play as a sweeper infront of the full back line, there is probably no-one in Down better suited to doing that and raid forward when the opportunity presents itself.

[whitegoodman]

With Marty Clarke, John Clarke and Rony Murtagh not in the picture there is space for a few new forwards.

I would say that Benny, Hughes and Poland are certs.  Another space is likely to be taken by either McCumisky or Lavery.  Although both classy footballers, I feel u cant fit both in the same team in modern day football.  My personal preference is McCumisky but its a close call.  That leaves 2 positions, one of which mcginn is likely to take if he can stay injury free.

That leaves one position between the likes of Carr, Doyle, McKernan or Jamie O Reilly.  It will be interesting to see how O'Reilly adapts to intercounty football after a year or 2 away.  At min without seeing any of them playing this year id like to see the following line out against Donegal at the start of feb.

Hughes
Poland
McGinn
McCumisky
Coulter
Carr/O Reilly/Mckernan

with Carr/O Reilly or Mckernan moving out the field leaving Benny and McCumisky inside.  This could all change though depending on performances over the next few wks and from what I hear Mckernan is away to Oz for a few wks and may not be back for the start of the national league.

[artisan2010]

Isn't the start of a new intercounty season a wonderful thing. We can all kid ourselves that a few changes will see us right.
Rather than personnel changes is it not more about styles of play.
The Dubs won last year with a 12 man defense and only 3 decent forwards. In my view we have better fowards as a group but will the suffocating style employed by the Dubs and Donegal allow us to utilise them.
God forbid but must we consider dirty percentage football especially against the likes of these. Is it possible to switch this style off and on.
Its not that long ago that the sweeper was utilised and as far as I remember we had the best defensive record in the NFL that season.
What impact has O'Rourke had on the defensive set up, the cast looks the same.

[NP 76]

See team announced for sunday

1 Brendan Mc Veigh
2 Daniel Mc Cartan
3 Dan Gordon
4 Niall Brannigan
5 Damien Turley
6 Peter Turley
7 Liam Doyle
8 Kalum King
9 Connor Gough
10 Danny Hughes
11 Aidan Carr
12 David Mc Kibbon
13 Keith Quinn 14Eoin Mc Cartan 15 Marcus Miskelly