Down Club Hurling & Football

[southdown]

If, and this is a major major if, we can get a decent supply of balls into our FF line I think McComiskey and Laverty could cause havoc with Harrison acting as a target man.  I feel Polie will be key tomorrow night and am hoping he will produce a similar preformance to the Dublin game last year. 

MF will be intereseting as Cavanagh's game is more about running which means that McKernan can be viewed as less of a risk at MF as catching in the middle is not his strength. I know little about Plunkett Kane but hope that King will match him.

Lets hope our defence can do a job,  and going by Benny's interview during the week I suspect that things will be clogged up in the defence.  If this is the case players like Carr and Poland will be crucial in providing fast, long ball from the middle to the FF line.

[NP 76]

Après match how would you consider what I said as suggesting that Benny is an up start? Work ethic is not a thing you switch on depending on your position. As far as I am concerned the work should start from no 15 back to no 1as a unit. IMO this has been one of Downs biggest problems this last few years which results in men not picking up the runners thus putting extra pressure on a shaky enough defence.

[Dubh driocht]

We put in a good 55 minute shift tonight but didn't have anyone beyond Mc Comiskey to bring a bit extra to the party while they had Clarke and Penrose. Good enough game and we showed plenty of balls but they are strong all over the field whereas we had a patched up team. Some positives; the two Ryans, particularly Mallon- storming through like a bigger version of DJ, Keith Quinn is a class act, Connaire Harrison more than held his own and as always we got honest shifts from King, Coulter and Laverty. Mc Kernan and Carr showed bits of their quality but need to eradicate unforced errors, Dan stuck rigidly to his task but O'Neill is a Rolls-Royce footballer and Donal O'Hare was good.
For the umpire to give Cavanagh's free as a point was poor judgement but probably the best team won.
I would still be optimistic we could get something in Ballybofey as Donegal are still building fitness judging by the radio commentary of the Kildare game. However, Down supporters need to get behind the team that has brought us so much pride during James' league campaigns- until the second half rumbles I thought we were a bit quiet for an Ulster derby under lights. We knew it was going to be a tough league so make a commitment to back the lads next Saturday night.

[Mourne Rover]

The best team won, just about, but there was no shame in losing to a fine side and a little more cuteness could have got us at least a draw. It was a pity that McMahon's red card, which looked harsh, got more of a reaction from Tyrone than us, and two scores in the second half will not do. However, we still played with a fair amount of spirit and the younger players did particularly well.

Cunningham made at least three fine saves, although his kick-outs were mixed. Damien Turley was unlucky to be injured so early, but the other corner back Boyle looks a real find. He has pace and got up and down his wing impressively. McCartan had a decent game against O'Neill, apart from a misplaced pass which unfortunately contributed to their goal,.

McArdle might have been better in the full back line, and never looked comfortable. Carr had his moments against Harte, but also hit careless passes. Mallon was probably our man of the match, got his tackles in and charged up to score three points before an injury ended his evening.

Both our midfielders did reasonably well, although they were hampered by early yellow cards. King disrupted his opponents effectively, and it looked as though Tyrone were making every effort to get him a second card. McKernan, apart from a couple of lapses, contained Cavanagh effectively but may not be in his best position.

Laverty was excellent as ever, thinking faster than everyone else and it was a pity that he responded to provocation and got a second yellow late on. Poland is not quite where he was a couple of years ago, but will surely improve. Benny was forceful in the first half but suffered from a couple of dodgy refereeing decisions in the second and faded out of it. Quinn has undoubted quality and, apart from taking a heavy knock, is probably in to stay.

Harrison had a brilliant first half, and is a definite option up front, but got poor service when he had the beating of Gormley. O'Hare took his goal well, and put over most but not all of his frees.

Of the subs, Costello has pace but his positioning can improve. Peter Turley is probably the opposite, and McComiskey showed his class as soon as he appeared. Garvey and Kelly were only involved at a very late stage.

It is a pity that our undefeated record under the Saturday night lights in Newry has gone, and we may need to win all of our remaining three home games to avoid relegation. However, our fitness and application could be ahead of Donegal at the moment and we will not travel to Ballybofey without hope.

[whitegoodman]

Delighted with the performance of some of the younger lads especially the two point lads and Keith Quinn. It good to see a couple of strong, powerful and aggressive players such as mallon and Quinn coming in and they could make good additions to the squad.

Still worried about full back where mcardle should prob go back in, midfield and centre forward where polie isn't performing the way he was a couple of years ago.

The sideline also needs to start controlling themselves a bit better as last night was a bit embarrassing.

All in all not a bad performance but we need to get points on board asap

[PAULD123]

It is of course disappointing that we lost but I have seen us win games with much worse performances defensively. I thought that for about 50 minutes our attitude to the game was spot on, that was a whole new approach to the play and the best overall defensive performance since 2010. The boys played as a team and did exactly what they had to do - hassle, harry, block, slow down, obstruct. There were no rash challenges, no one-on-one defending.

Unfortunately they ran out of steam/concentration after that great 50 minutes. But I for one am not worried. If they stick at that system and keep working at it then they will get better at it and be able to keep it going for longer. For the first year since 2010 I think that we have a chance of being competitive at the latter stages of the championship.

Remember we still have Hughes, Gordon, Ambrose, Garvey and McComiskey to come into the starting 15. That is a huge increase in talent. If by that stage the boys have been playing this system, working as hard as they did, making use of a hit-man (Harrison) and show the conviction they showed in the first half then I have much more hope for this season than the last two.

Rome wasn't built in a day, but what I saw looked like a makings of a solid foundation

[5 Sams]

Was talking to NP 76 about the game earlier...anyone else notice a wee bit of cut in our boys....or dare I say it they were a wee bit nastier than before???

[Mourne man]

Good 3 point win for bryansford yesterday against a fancied cavan gaels team

[southdown]

Was talking to NP 76 about the game earlier...anyone else notice a wee bit of cut in our boys....or dare I say it they were a wee bit nastier than before???

Agreed.  This has been missing in recent years.  Hopefully we are learning from the 2 heavy defeats in last years championship when both Mayo and Donegal ran through us at ease.  Saturday night was a decent defensive display (but by no means perfect) and it looks like work is being done to improve this.

"Nastiness" is a positive trait in a defender but hard to master.  On one extreme you can play some big, strong, aggressive hallion in defence to install an edge.  Such a player may not have a football brain and become a liability.  The other side is a lightweight good footballer but who would strugge badly against a team like Cork.

I think our current squad has defenders who are intelligent but nastiness may not come naturally to them and needs to be drilled into them.  Garvey possibly being the exception here.

[thewobbler]

Interesting.

I'd suggest it's not so much about having cut, and more to do with when you choose to use it.

What Cork did to us in Croke two years ago, and Mayo did last year, was systematically close off third party runners, and return pass options, by executing a challenge at the right time. "At the right time" is when you catch a man on the full but it doesn't look like you've come in late... i.e. within a split second of the ball is released.

Just a half a second later and it'll look like a third man tackle at best, or a bodycheck at worst.

The best at this tactic (Donegal and Mayo) don't even challenge the ball a lot of the time; they just make sure the man is stopped. It's a very deliberate ploy to kill off support options.

The worst teams at this (which, if I'm being brutally honest, has been Down in recent trips to Croker), actually hit with the same "cut", but being that split second late, they leave the referee with little option but to book them, and also leave themselves open to opponents feigning injury to support that booking.

[stiff breeze]

see the new fixtures are up on the down website  for div 1&2  leagues, hopefully they stick this time

[guevara]

I think James has to be a bit ruthless with a few boys this year & give the boys performing week in and week out in training or in Down League games. There is too many boys just happy to hang around the Down Panel and are there on reputation more than merit.
Fellas like Keith Quinn, Ryan Boyle and Ryan Mallon have not just appeared over night. They have been exceptionally good Club Players for a few Seasons now.

There is nothing worse than going to see League Games within the County and watching "County Players" get a roasting or be totally anonymous in games that they should be standing out in.
I've watched the likes of Ryan Boyle & Ryan Mallon over the past few years and both should have been on the Down Panel 3 or 4 years ago. In fact it must be said that only for Warrenpoint's exploits in Ulster last year neither might have been on the panel this year.
Quinn is another serious talent who in my opinion should be starting every week and if that means dropping a big named player then so be it.

My point is we complain about the standard of Down Football yet are happy to accept the norm year in year out. When was the last time some of our starting players actually had a performance of the level we expect? People will speak of the need for "experienced players" but experience is a downfall when its a priority over performance!

[washed_up]

i agree saw a Down defender roasted a couple of years ago and it never got mentioned in the press.

[Mourne man]

How did the under 21s get on last night in the shamrock cup

[Mourne Rover]

Guevara, Ryan Mallon and Ryan Boyle are both players with huge potential who really looked the part in their league debuts against Tyrone. However, Mallon is around 22 and Boyle, to the best of my knowledge, is the same age. The idea that they should have been brought straight into the senior set-up three or four years ago, when they were barely out of minors, makes no sense. Keith Quinn is another considerable talent who would have been in our last championship squad, and might well have started, had he not decided to spend the summer in the States. James is clearly bringing in younger faces, but only when they are ready.