Down Club Hurling & Football

[DownFanatic]

Niall McAleenan at Castlewellan was reported on here few weeks back. Is that John Morgan from Dundrum at Annaclone?

Yes, was with Loughinisland last year. Trained All Ireland winning Minors of 05.

[supersub]

anyone got any predictions as to who will go up and go down

In Division 1, relegation will be between the 6 teams who got promoted. No big surprise there. Who it will be out of those 6 really depends on the start they get to the year. 
Rostrevor, Liatrom, Loughinisland and Warrenpoint should be best placed to stay up. The first 3 because of their recent experience in Division 1 and the Point because there is no doubt they are an emerging team.  That leaves An Riocht and Annaclone. By all accounts, An Riocht have not seen any of their foreign legion returning so it will hard for them to survive the full season on a small squad, and Annaclone just because they havent got the experience although they do have plenty of spirit which will help them no end.

League winners will be between Burren, Kilcoo and Mayobridge.  They are the 3 most consistent teams in the County and the winners should emerge here.

Bryansford, extremely talented, extremely inconsistent in league format so wont challenge for league.
Clonduff and Longstone, something similar although not quite as good as the Ford.

Saval, Ballyholland, Castlewellan and Downpatrick will be happy to stay out the relegation battle and should have enough to do just that.

There we have it then..no point playing this season....

[umpire]

I think Semi final of Dr McKenna is this

Tyrone v Fermanagh
Down v Monaghan

[Mourne Rover]

Another decent, if patchy, performance tonight, although Armagh fielded a much weaker side than we did. The big plus was McComiskey, who was back to his 2010 form, but most of the younger players also showed up fairly well. Gough has filled out, as he needed to, and Harrison has a lot of potential. Getting at least one extra match before the start of the league was important for us, so James can be reasonably satisfied so far.

[hectorsheroes]

Did anyone go to the match? Have heard virtually nothing bar the Irish News report this morning? Any positives/negatives?

[Lazer]

Did anyone go to the match? Have heard virtually nothing bar the Irish News report this morning? Any positives/negatives?

Positives - At times we looked very together and made good use of the ball, no selfish playing, players all passed well etc. McComiskey was brilliant. Ryan Boyle looks like he has the makings of a good player - and we need good defenders.
The defending was at times first class - at other times appalling.

Negatives - Midfield - no (or maybe 1 or 2) clean catches - Armagh beat them too it nearly every time, although thankfully they weren't good a t the clean catches either so we id manage to win a few midfield balls.

Overall, for the middle of January, it was a good team playing last night - substitutions were made at the right times, were effective etc.

[thegael]

Well . let's not get carried away we beat a weakened Armagh and we had  more regulars on board than them.
McCumiskey was a revelation in the first half but when Armagh switch markers he was well contained.Our midfield started off ok but McKiernan I'm not convinced of in this role Toner lorded that sector when he went in.We had a great start in the first half but our start to the second nearly lost us the game .Benny had a fair game and glad that his press comments about him wanting midfield are being ignored !Harrison seems to worth a bit of patience and if he gets as many chances as others have had I feel he could turn out a postive.McCumiskey started off great and looked very hungry but once markers were switched he went quiet so I'll reserve judgement.Poland normally a great conductor seemed not to get involved ,Polie might need a bit of a kick up the arse and spend a bit of time on the bench as he might be beginning to lose the edge as if he is undroppable !
We have progressed and there are a few postives and it is only January so not too bad.



                                       the gael takes no prisoners !!

[downjim]

I think that the ford will join burren and kilcoo at the top table.this year. Burren should be eager to get the champ back and they are still the best team in down. Lets be honest kilcoo were lucky in every round last year. Their name was on the cup and their embarrassing antics on and off the field will affect them this season. If pete can gel the ford lads together they will cause trouble though

[southdown]

Decent game last night played in slippery conditions.  In the first 20 minutes we played quick low ball into Harrison and McComiskey who took full advantage.  Polie, Doyle and Coulter pulling most of the passes.  I feel that when Doyle went off injured we lost some of our directness.

McArdle put in a solid display and made some fine catches, though his man looked well off the pace so its hard to say.  The 2 corner backs did well considering they are both starting out for Down.  Carr was solid and made one great block.  McKibben and Rooney were quiet but their men didn't do a lot damage.  Goalkeeper punched a lot of balls which I feel could have been caught.

Midfield was awful.  The only clean catch I recall was made by Coulter.  McKernan will never play MF come league or championship so I'm not too concerned, I think there will be room for him somewhere in the team come the big games and he scored a goal.  Gough did not contribute much at all but he seems to have bulked up a bit.

HF line was effective, Coulter had his best game in a while and lead by example, set up the second goal was involved in nearly every attack.  Polie started well but faded and was taken off.  Turley was workman like but I feel Hughes will take that jersey once fit.

FF played well.  We all know what McComiskey can do.  He showed great appetite and his direct approach and score taking were exceptional, a huge plus to have him back.  Harrison also looked good, a good target man and took a few good scores and looks to have a bit of confidence about him.  The McKenna cup is all about finding new talent and I feel Harrison has done very well and will be pushing for a place further down the line.  Doyle started well but went off injured, it's so frustrating to see a player of his immense quality being plagued like this, hopefully the management we just being cautious in taking him off.  Laverty as always looked lively but at times over elaborated.

Best were Coulter, McComiskey and Harrison.  Forker hit some sweet scores for a poor Armagh side.  McKeever came on and played rightly, I think if you look past his ruthless image you will find that he is a very good footballer, took a great score as well and good on the ball.

Highlight of the night for me was when some wee lad asked his Da were Decky Rooney is from.  His Da shouted loudly, "Declan Rooney is from Warrenpoint but he plays for Burren!", was very funny!  Some great banter with the Armagh fans too, the games under the lights seem to have a great atmosphere and plenty of craic.  Decent tea, soup and sandwiches in the shop under the stand too.

[wildrover]

Fair enough assessment Southdown. The only gripe I would have with it would be where you claimed that 'the two corner backs did well'...Ryan Boyle did well while Gerard McAnulty hard a hard time on Forker. What we would give to have a fit Damien Rafferty!!

[southdown]

Maybe so but given their inexperience lets not be too harsh.  Forker would have caused any defender problems last night.  Ryan Mallon looked decent when he came on also.

[wildrover]

Okay maybe so, but having been on the Down Senior panel for 2-3 years now they are not exactly a rookie and would not want to be turning out too many more performances like that.

To me it is just abundantly clear that there is such a shortage of instinctive, tight marking defenders good enough for this level of football within the county and unlike other counties (see Antrim) who could potentially claim that the best players aren't on the county panel, no such case can be made in Down. We are extremely top-heavy with regards the calibre of forwards within the county in comparison to the calibre of defenders!

[Mourne Rover]

There is no doubt that we face a huge task in rebuilding our defence, although Brendan McArdle has produced two fine displays so far and two of yesterday's subs, Ryan Mallon and Keith Quinn, may well have the potential for further development.

Midfield was also a concern against Armagh, as Kevin McKiernan had a fine start, and took his goal well, but suffered familiar lapses of concentration and is more likely to revert to wing half back or forward. Conor Gough had his moments but is very young for a central position.

Our attack has even more options than before with the welcome return of Paul McComiskey, a player of proven quality, and the emergence of Connaire Harrison.

The result against Monaghan is of little consequence but we need to keep experimenting with a view to producing the right line-up for a crucial league opener against Tyrone. A win then would really get our season up and running.

[qubdub]

.

[DaisyCutter]

Can someone enlighten me to why Rory Burns is on our McKenna Cup panel? I don't think he has even played a full Div 1 game for Castlewellan. Plus he is also the Reserve keeper... Whts is going on like???
Also where has Kevin Duffin gone? Thought he'd want all the footy he could get in the lead up to the National League.