Down Club Hurling & Football

[SHEEDY]

U21 championship. armagh 0-1 down 0-7 ht. down well on top

[SHEEDY]

armagh 1-5 down 0-11 ft. should have won by more.

[western exile]

Under 21 Ulster semi-final on 3rd April
Down v. (holders) Cavan

[Mourne Rover]

The Down team to play  Dublin has three changes, all at the back, with McCartan, Turley and O'Hagan coming in for McKibben, Mallon and Quinn. We have plenty of pace, but the team is very much on the small side. Having lost our last five games at Croke Park, we would not like it to become our unlucky ground. However, we will be up against it.

Brendan McVeigh
Daniel McCartan
Brendan McArdle
Ryan Boyle
Damian Turley
Aidan Carr
Darren O Hagan
Kalum King
Kevin McKernan
Conor Laverty
Mark Poland
Paul McComiskey
Donal O'Hare
Connaire Harrison
Benny Coulter

[east down gael]

Definitely up against it.i hope I'm wrong but with the pace and mobility of the Dublin forwards and midfield,along with the wide open spaces in croke park we could be in for a long night.would also be concerned about our forwards.the ones who have the pace required for this level lack the stature,while those who have the stature lack the pace.i don't mean to be so negative as we played really well against mayo and should have beaten cork,but I think this is a massive step up.

[Gaa for life]

Is there any club fixtures over the Easter weekend??

[washed_up]

ive been told that the third division is on Easter Monday dont know the times and 1 and 2 start a week later

[snoopdog]

Definitely up against it.i hope I'm wrong but with the pace and mobility of the Dublin forwards and midfield,along with the wide open spaces in croke park we could be in for a long night.would also be concerned about our forwards.the ones who have the pace required for this level lack the stature,while those who have the stature lack the pace.i don't mean to be so negative as we played really well against mayo and should have beaten cork,but I think this is a massive step up.

Heading to croker this evening fearing the worst. Not expecting anything from this only a hiding, sad to say a defeat of less than 6 points would be a good result for us. Hopefully Mayo and Kerry get nothing from this weekends fixtures either.

[Ed Hardy]

Are the Div 3 games this weekend cancelled?

[5 Sams]

Are the Div 3 games this weekend cancelled?

Nope...all postponed.

[Gabriel]

Pure shite in the second half tonight pure and simple, but par for the course in the league so far. 1-1 in the second half against Tyrone, 0-2 in the second half against Donegal, 0-1 in the first half against Kerry and 0-2 in the second half against Dublin tonight. There is a massive gap in fitness and organisation between ourselves and the top teams no matter how many players we are missing. Also nonplussed as to the thinking behind naming these 'dummy teams', I have a feeling the only people thrown off by them are the Down players and fans.

[Mourne Rover]

A depressing game to watch on tv after a brilliant start, but realistically one which confirmed how far we are behind the top four or five. We had an outstanding opening period, and, if Laverty had not tried to dummy Cluxton inside the square, we might have been almost out of sight at the break. However, Dublin with the wind and the momentum behind them were at a different level and their subs were effective while ours did not really count.

In fairness, we eventually had five changes from what was already an understrength side in Kerry and our squad was stretched beyond its limitations. Carr, Mallon and McCartan have been excellent in the league, and without them and the likes of the two Dans and Ambrose was always going to be tough.

Against that, we folded at a fairly early stage and the last quarter was at the pace of a challenge game. Depending on the results tomorrow, we can still stay up with a win against Kildare. However, it is abundantly clear that we need all our key men on the pitch to compete in any way with the leading sides.

McVeigh made a tremendous save after half time, but his kick outs were the usual mix of the decent and poor. McArdle had a fine night, even with an elbow to the face after his great point, but Damien Turley and Boyle are still on the learning curve. Rooney and O'Hagan both started well but struggled later and Quinn was decent until he tired.

Peter Turley is not really a midfielder, and might be better in the half back line but McKernan is looking better and better in the centre and was our MoM by a distance.

Poland was also impressive, hitting some fine scores and even if he ran out of steam was unlucky to be replaced. McComiskey worked hard and got a brilliant point before he also faded.

The rest of the forwards were a concern, as Laverty, barring a couple of flashes, did not look himself, and Benny battled away while not threatening at any stage. O'Hare and McConville are both talented young players who will have better days ahead.

We used five subs, and, apart from a good free from Savage and a poor one from Kelly, they barely touched the ball. The Down fans who were snowed in at home,  and missed our sixth consecutive defeat at Croke Park, have plenty to think about.

[whitegoodman]

Whilst I agree that our fitness isn't what it could be I think a lot of this is to do with the lack of options to come off the bench. The subs that came in made no impact tonight and was prob the reason why we didn't make the changes any sooner and why we didn't make more.  Also on the fitness I'd be more worried if we were behind the other teams in may and June.

On tonight's game mcveigh took off one great save but his kick outs left a lot to be desired.  Boyle had his toughest day to date and probably should have been subbed given he was booked.  He will learn from the experience and come back stronger.  Mcardle did ok at times but looks more comfortable further out the field.  I'd still prefer Gordon there.  O Hagen was prob our best defender and should def stay in team. 

Mccumiskey did ok, scored a great point but it still doesn't seem natural to see him back there.  If rumours are to believed and he is off to the states soon I don't see the point playing him when we are trying to plan for a championship campaign.  P Turley looked off the pace and laboured on the ball and my previous requests to see him played in defence look a little shabby at ths point.  D Turley did ok IMO and was unlucky to be subbed.

Midfield was a bit of a curates egg, there is potential in the pairing but it needs improvement.  Rooney is certainly more mobile than king and has a great leap but needs to get himself into the game more but given it was his first start of the league on a big pitch I thought he did ok for the time he was on.  I certainly thought we were worse around the middle when he went off. Mckernan gets on the ball plenty of times and makes use of it most of the time but his man does as much if not more damage and he doesn't win enough ball.  In saying that this could be the starting pair one championship given the absence of Ambrose and the lack of form of king.

Laverty worked hard but should have finished the goal chance and is getting himself a reputation of being a troublemaker. He doesn't need to get involved in that nonsense.  Again Poland worked hard, scored a couple of fine points but faded badly.  Wouldn't have taken him off though.  Quinn was ponderous on the ball, offered very little going forward and was surprised to see him last the 70 minutes.  I am struggling to see what he is offering in the current formation but James must see something.

Benny tried and set up laverty for the goal chance brilliantly and could of got a goal from nothing himself but is struggling for pace at this stage which is understandable.  Arthur was off the pace but was unlucky to be replaced so early.  Ohare was quiet but was feeding off scraps and i certainly wouldn't have taken the top scorer and biggest scoring threat off.

Some of the subs were strange like taking Turley, Poland and ohare off whilst Boyle and Quinn stayed on but none of them made an impact which s the most worrying thing.

Whilst we are likely to get relegated there are positives to take from this campaign and ironically I think we may be in a better state than we were this time last year.

Positives to take so far

Boyle
Mallon
Carr at chb
Ohare

Negatives

Lack of depth
No settled midfield
Lack of ball winners in half forward line
Not finding a target man for the square

[southdown]

What results do we need to go our way today?

[snoopdog]

What results do we need to go our way today?

We need mayo and kerry beat.
A kildare win over Tyrone will mean Tyrone will still need something against Kerry last day out.
Kildare u21 in leinster final 3 days after they come to Newry so if the get the semi spot today they wont be too concerned with a result in newry.
Not sure what score difference is now after last nights hiding.,