Down Club Hurling & Football

[downjim]

Rumours are strong in burren that peter fitzpatrick will be announced soon. I am not.that sure on this appointment as I believe we should have went for the partner. Has fitzpatrick much credital

[downup]

Damien Cassidy apparently appointed last night in Burren

[supersub]

Haha he will have some craic reading this thread during the season if so

[DownFanatic]

Any word on management changes within clubs for next year?

Johnny McCumiskey is back with Ballymartin, Mickey Feeney is in at Clann na Banna while Mark Harte has taken over at Tullylish.

There has been a provisional panel of 20 named for Down's McKenna Cup squad. There are 6 spaces stil left to fill.

Chris Duggan (Bosco), Ryan Boyle (Warrenpoint), Ryan Kelly (Longstone), Gerard McAnulty (Liatroim) and Niall Madine (Saval) look to be the new faces involved.

The rest of the squad is made up of McVeigh, O'Hagan, Garvey, B McArdle, Carr, King, Poland, McConville, Coulter, D McCartan, McKernan, Doyle, Rooney, P Turley and D Turley.

[PAULD123]

Pete McGrath will be taking U21s this year. Not sure if he will also be doing Minors

[DownFanatic]

Pete McGrath will be taking U21s this year. Not sure if he will also be doing Minors

Eamon Burns is U21 manager.

[PAULD123]

I am pretty sure Pete is overseeing the U21's, but time will tell.

Anyway, So far missing from the Down panel - McComiskey, Hughes, Rogers, Gordon, O'Hare (injured?), Gough, McParland, Darragh O'Hanlon, Laverty, Maginn, A McCardle, Keith Quinn, Gerrard McCartan, Eoin McCartan, Duffin, Brannigan(s).

A much changed squad from last year although I am sure some of these lads will fill the last 6 spaces, the Kilcoo player were left off for obvious potential club commitments (sadly now not realised), some of the lads are playing for University teams. But all the same I worry about consistency and I don't see us retaining the young players that are tried each year in the McKenna cup. This seems not so much a squad development competition as an occasion to chuck in a few young lads then forget about them.

[SHEEDY]

down had a few points to spare over antrim in a challenge match in mayobridge last night. the biggest talking point was probably the welcome return of paul mccomisky. other players to get a run out included ryan kelly and danny savage who scored 4 excellent points.

[snoopdog]

down had a few points to spare over antrim in a challenge match in mayobridge last night. the biggest talking point was probably the welcome return of paul mccomisky. other players to get a run out included ryan kelly and danny savage who scored 4 excellent points.

Thats great news if McCommiskey is back in the fold

[Mourne Rover]

Of the players listed as missing by pauld123, four are injured, four are from Kilcoo and - particularly in the case of the Branagans -  will be taking a break, while McParland is definitely playing Sigerson and there is a fair chance that so are McArdle and Gough. McComiskey is reportedly back in the fold, which is great news, and there is a fair chance that Maginn and Duffin will also return before long. Gerard McCartan had become something of a fringe player, and it is likely that injuries have caught up with Eoin McCartan.  It would be a disappointment if Keith Quinn was not involved, but James may not have been impressed that he went travelling last summer.

It has to be expected that James asked for a further three-year term because he intends to embark on a major rebuilding programme in terms of personnel and tactics. The defeats against Donegal and Mayo in last year's championship indicated firmly that our traditional 6-2-6 formation will not allow us to compete at the highest level, so we will probably need to accept some mixed results over a prolonged period if we are ever to get to where we want to be.

[Pangurban]

Not much evidence of a rebuilding programme, in terms of personel. We need to be thinking more radically,e.g. giving that the long term injuries afflicting Gordon,Hughes ,Doyle and Rogers continue to persist,and with the strong possibility that we wont see much football from any of them this year, should we be including them in the panel. Looking for limited short term results, like a return to an Ulster final or survival in Div.1 sets the bar low and limits expectations. We need to build belief in our capacity to advance further, and develop young talent who will inject fresh impetus and enthusiasm. Failure to do this now will only condemn us to a slow downward spiral.

[PAULD123]

In fairness I did say that there were good reasons why those players I listed weren't involved. I just listed them to highlight how much we were missing. The real point I was making was that I worry about consistency and I don't see us retaining the young players that are tried each year in the McKenna cup. This seems not so much a squad development competition as an occasion to chuck in a few young lads then forget about them.

[Mourne Rover]

Pangurban is right to highlight the need for some radical thinking, but it is a little early to conclude that there is not much evidence of rebuilding through the McKenna Cup. Six places have yet to be filled in our squad, and a ball has not been kicked in the competition.

It's also premature to suggest that Gordon, Hughes, Doyle and Rogers have long-term injuries and there is a `strong possibility' that we won't see much of them this year. Doyle has been very unfortunate over recent years but has worked extremely hard to regain his fitness and is actually in the McKenna squad. Gordon has broken his foot again, which he previously did last spring and went on to make a full recovery in two to three months. Hughes has dodgy hamstrings but most people expect to see him back at some stage of the league. Rogers is apparently having surgery, which is always hard to predict, but again it is a bit soon to be writing him off for the season.

The idea that surviving in division one and reaching an Ulster final is setting the bar too low is also questionable. Both of these are targets on the road to further progress, but staying in the top league while putting together a new team would be quite an achievement. To get to an Ulster final, we will have win in Derry and then beat the winners of Donegal and Tyrone. The bookies will say that we are at most the fourth ranked side in the province, but we can only give it our best shot. 

[ardtole]

I think if down stayed in division one it would be a great achievement this year. I cant see us making an ulster final though I hope im wrong. Id like to see Duggan get a proper chance he could be a player that might make a contribution to the panel, Ryan Kelly and Conor Poland have always impressed me the few times ive seen them play.

[PAULD123]

Th problem with Rogers having surgery is not the surgery itself. There is no reason to think that it shouldn't be successful and leave normal recovery times as an expectation. However surgery carries significantly increased risk of infection and unlike most of the rest of us that is a huge problem for Ambrose as he doesn't have a spleen. If he gets an infection there is simply no time limit on his recovery.