Down Club Hurling & Football

[ardtole]

Talking about Kildare.  Im sick of hearing about Bennys square ball that day. Yet in the same game Gary White I think took 8 or 9 steps in the lead up to the Kildare goal. Its never mentioned.

[Dubh driocht]

I'm a bit tired of the Kildare love-in too but I think PaulD is a bit harsh on Spillane as he was pretty wholesome in his praise of us when I watched the recording of the game last night.
It was a great day out yesterday with many similarities to 94. The quality may not have been as good but the commitment from most players was. The goals from Poly and O'Hare were jump up moments, just like Ciaran Mc Cabe's net-rattler, but I suppose most of us realised back then that we were in with a good shout of the All-Ireland whereas now we would probably settle for a last 8 .
Some good summaries on here and I agree with those who highlighted Kalum King's contribution - I would guess that James knows his value more than most. At the start of the league I thought we would be second favourite in every game and this will continue against Donegal so we will give it a lash again. The defence had a good game in the league in Ballybofey and we were more competitive than Tyrone last week so there must be a chance if only a slim one. I think James and co believe that we can beat them and if the team believes then so must we.

[PAULD123]

.... whereas now we would probably settle for a last 8.....

I personally think that anything less than last 8 would be a failure. I would settle for last 4. That would show progress. Of course we may need a little luck in the draw to get there but so far in the qualifiers there is not one team that I think would be a major worry. The best team there is Tyrone and I think we are more than capable of competing with them.

I wouldn't settle for last 8 I think it should be our bare minimum.

By the way. Next time out we should have Danny & Carr available, Ambrose fitter and O'Hare too. Apart from the (huge) loss of Big Dan we are better now than last year. Plus the players have a point to prove against a team they basically capitulated to last year. Of course we fear a runaway score because we have one or two almost every year Cork 2011 (league & Championship), Donegal & Mayo 2012 (championship), Dublin 2013 (league). But it is far guaranteed that it will keep happening. If the players believe in themselves and stick to management plans, then we should be much closer at the end and we have plenty of skill in the forward line, plus they looked fitter in the last 10 against Derry than any other game since 2010.

[The Marshes]

Is it just my imagination or do the media really have a begrudgery towards Down? Spillane said we were lucky. He says we were lucky cos if Bradley had scored the goal we would have been dead and buried, but doesn't seem to notice that if O'Hare had got the second then Derry could have been annihilated. So this is the way it seems to me:

• If we lose then it is because we are no good
• If we win then it is because the other team underperfromed or we were lucky
• If we recover from a deficit then we are lucky that we weren't dead and buried already.
  When Donegal power to a final quarter lead it is their superior fitness, and playing their best when it counts. When we did it it we were supposedly fortunate to be in the game and it is dismissed as something that shouldn't have happened anyway.
• If Donegal outscore the opposition 2-05 to 0-01 then it is a period where Donegal tuned up the pressure and showed their class, if we do it then it is just because the opposition played beneath "turned off", not because we were any good.
• Kildare struggle against a mid-table division 4 side it's because they are just "finding their feet" in this year's championship, but when we struggle for 25 minutes against the champions of division 2, we are showing our true form!
• Despite us only ever going out to Cork and Mayo since James took over we are no-where near a top 8 side, but Kildare are "probably top 4"

Look I know we are not in the top consideration for All-Ireland honours and fair enough. But we are a top 8 side, we are a genuine quarter finalist standard and I feel we are continually disrespected. Yesterday showed a team that has played in Divsion 1 for three years against a team that has played in Divsion 2 for three years. When it really mattered the lads opened Derry up. We beat them in their own ground by five points and deserve respect for that. Only 2-3 teams in Ireland deserve to be confident when playing against us.

Some of this is a lazy critique from commentators/summarisers. The same happens in all sports - golf- Tiger wins because he is superior; anyone else wins it's because Tiger was having a bad day; Man Utd win it's because they are great and Ferguson is great; Man City or Chelsea win its because Utd had a poor season etc etc.

What I was encouraged with on Sunday is that they had a plan b for the 2nd half. Both teams had great footballers on show but Down looked the hungrier and the fittest.

[southdown]

What can James learn/change from last years thrashing by Donegal?

I for one would not be surprised to see King or Ambrose at the edge of the square.  If we play our normal game we will be bottled up.

[SHEEDY]

a few of us at work were talking today about players that wee james didn't have available due to either injury or emigration.  james deserves a lot of credit for keeping down in the top 8 teams in the country when you see the team that could have been available.

players only picked that played senior football for down since the all ireland final that were injured for last sunday or have emigrated.
                                               
                       michael  mcallister

Darren o hagan   connor garvey   Damien rafferty

aiden carr         james colgan   niall mc parland

            peter Fitzpatrick       dan Gordon

caolan mooney     marty Clarke    danny hughes

connor magin     Arthur mcconville   paul mccommiskey

im sure theres probably some obvious players we forgot about, but still not a bad team.

[Mourne Rover]

Liam Doyle would have to be in there in either the half back or the half forward line. He could also take frees and, if fully fit, might even captain the side.

[SHEEDY]

Liam Doyle would have to be in there in either the half back or the half forward line. He could also take frees and, if fully fit, might even captain the side.

liam doyle was in the team we had picked instead of mcparland. cant believe I forgot him. knew there would be one. he would be a definite starter.

[PAULD123]

Liam doyle was in the team we had picked instead of mcparland. cant believe I forgot him. knew there would be one. he would be a definite starter.

Personally I keep McParland and put in Doyle instead of Colgan, who I never felt made it. Rafferty would be long in the tooth now, but there is always Timmy Hanna (who made himself unavailable??). Also Shay McCartan would be figuring by now if not departed for soccer. I know officially Ronan Murtagh retired but it was really just because of persistent injury.

[thewobbler]

Ah, Liam Doyle

Such a brilliant talent, but I wonder what age Doyler will be when we finally give up hope of seeing him in a Down shirt. He's actually only a year younger than Damien Rafferty.

The only 1999 Minor who featured on Sunday was Benny, who was probably the youngest of that group. I think he might actually be the only one on the panel.

[5 Sams]

Ah, Liam Doyle

Such a brilliant talent, but I wonder what age Doyler will be when we finally give up hope of seeing him in a Down shirt. He's actually only a year younger than Damien Rafferty.

The only 1999 Minor who featured on Sunday was Benny, who was probably the youngest of that group. I think he might actually be the only one on the panel.

Michael Walsh was physio for the minors

[stiff breeze]

Liam doyle was in the team we had picked instead of mcparland. cant believe I forgot him. knew there would be one. he would be a definite starter.

Personally I keep McParland and put in Doyle instead of Colgan, who I never felt made it. Rafferty would be long in the tooth now, but there is always Timmy Hanna (who made himself unavailable??). Also Shay McCartan would be figuring by now if not departed for soccer. I know officially Ronan Murtagh retired but it was really just because of persistent injury.

Murtagh never retired james just does not pick him yet he is consistently on of the best forwards in down. Conceding 1-15 against a very poor derry side does not bode well for the donegal game. we should think about playing 12 players behind the ball and try to beat them at their own game otherwise it will be a walkover.

[washed_up]

I see Shea McCartan is in the senior squad-anybody know how he has been doing for Glenn in the league this year?

[Ed Hardy]

Is he in the squad?  I thought he had resigned for Burnley?

[SHEEDY]

I see Shea McCartan is in the senior squad-anybody know how he has been doing for Glenn in the league this year?

shea mccartan isn't in the down squad.