Down Club Hurling & Football

[downjim]

Were Longstone starting fights again the other night? It's about time the county board stopped their intimidation of players and supporters. Big wins for the big teams last night. Ballyholland back down to earth with a crash, teams will catch up on them. That was some hammering for Liatriom, were Kilcoo at full strength. We stumbled over a really poor Rostrevor team and we will need to up our performances for the championship. What's everyone's views on the town, are they that good? I still can't see the bridge getting out of that group although I heard benny played his best football in years.

[snoopdog]

Snoopdog, go to <www.downgaa.net>, click on results, follow the links and you will get all the latest scores and tables. It is usually updated less than half an hour after the games finish in the main divisions, so it is an excellent service.

thanks mourne rover

[umpire]

Whats the story with the championship prediction thread being locked

I had no idea why the thread was being locked. I unlock the thread last night.

[Town Gael]

Were Longstone starting fights again the other night? It's about time the county board stopped their intimidation of players and supporters. Big wins for the big teams last night. Ballyholland back down to earth with a crash, teams will catch up on them. That was some hammering for Liatriom, were Kilcoo at full strength. We stumbled over a really poor Rostrevor team and we will need to up our performances for the championship. What's everyone's views on the town, are they that good? I still can't see the bridge getting out of that group although I heard benny played his best football in years.

The Town are winning but playing well within themselves. They haven't been as convincing as I would like them to be.  Couple of key players unavailable so hopefully they will up their performances for the championship when they return. The Burren game this week will be a real test for them. Cc

[supersub]

Were Longstone starting fights again the other night? It's about time the county board stopped their intimidation of players and supporters. Big wins for the big teams last night. Ballyholland back down to earth with a crash, teams will catch up on them. That was some hammering for Liatriom, were Kilcoo at full strength. We stumbled over a really poor Rostrevor team and we will need to up our performances for the championship. What's everyone's views on the town, are they that good? I still can't see the bridge getting out of that group although I heard benny played his best football in years.

In what way, from friday night's game alone, would you say rostrevor are a very poor team? Neither agreeing nor disagreeing with you, just interested to know your thoughts because as you said, you stumbled past them.

[charlieTully]

With 5 games left in the second division it is very tight at the top. Tullylish have a 1 point lead over Glenn, with Clann na Banna a further 3 points back, with a game in hand. It looks like this is going down to the wire and Newry Bosco are certailnly not out of it either. What a prize in place for the top 2, a certain place in next years top table. Tullylish and Glenn in pole postition!! Will they stay there???

with all due respect to the clubs you have mentioned, and any league win would be on merit and fully commendable, Tullylish, Banbridge, Glenn and the Bosco are not and are unlikely to be senior clubs, I am a betting man and, I would stake my mortgage on them NEVER winning a senior championship in the next 10-15 years (at least), imho, the teams playing div 1 football should have a chance of winning a senior championship, even if its a small chance. Ballyholland, Saval etc will have aspirations to win a championship, big ask, but they will feel they may have a chance. Tullylish, glenn, bosco, come on, intermediate clubs, end off. glenn v burren,  lunacy.

[Fender]

With 5 games left in the second division it is very tight at the top. Tullylish have a 1 point lead over Glenn, with Clann na Banna a further 3 points back, with a game in hand. It looks like this is going down to the wire and Newry Bosco are certailnly not out of it either. What a prize in place for the top 2, a certain place in next years top table. Tullylish and Glenn in pole postition!! Will they stay there???

with all due respect to the clubs you have mentioned, and any league win would be on merit and fully commendable, Tullylish, Banbridge, Glenn and the Bosco are not and are unlikely to be senior clubs, I am a betting man and, I would stake my mortgage on them NEVER winning a senior championship in the next 10-15 years (at least), imho, the teams playing div 1 football should have a chance of winning a senior championship, even if its a small chance. Ballyholland, Saval etc will have aspirations to win a championship, big ask, but they will feel they may have a chance. Tullylish, glenn, bosco, come on, intermediate clubs, end off. glenn v burren,  lunacy.

You clearly have something against these div 2 clubs (obviously any club below div 1) and their future progression within the county league structure!! You state 'merit & fully commendable' as a way of masking your very narrow minded and inappropriate comments, to try and belittle smaller clubs!! And as for saying "I would stake my mortgage on them NEVER winning the championship in 10-15years at least", well you most pose as a very miserable figure in the bookies because that's just idiotic!! Behave Charlie!!     

[Fender]

It just pi**es me off when people from higher ranked clubs act in this manor!! Our sport, at club level is a very intimate and close knit society, with open arms to anyone who wants to join!! Every club no matter how small is just as important as the Kilcoo's and Burren's of this world. The so called small clubs and self proclaimed big clubs provide access to people who live within their vicinity to enjoy the sport we love!! Thats what it's all about - its not a f**king beauty contest!! Get of your f**king high horse (not directed at you Charlie) & Support your county - love your club - respect your neighbors   

[ardtole]

A lot can happen in 15-20 years. Kilcoo twenty years ago were a div three team or else not long out of it. Every club has ambitions to get to senior level and when they get there they want to kick on. Longstone, Saval,Ballyholland Rgu were all intermediate not that long ago.

[charlieTully]

With 5 games left in the second division it is very tight at the top. Tullylish have a 1 point lead over Glenn, with Clann na Banna a further 3 points back, with a game in hand. It looks like this is going down to the wire and Newry Bosco are certailnly not out of it either. What a prize in place for the top 2, a certain place in next years top table. Tullylish and Glenn in pole postition!! Will they stay there???

with all due respect to the clubs you have mentioned, and any league win would be on merit and fully commendable, Tullylish, Banbridge, Glenn and the Bosco are not and are unlikely to be senior clubs, I am a betting man and, I would stake my mortgage on them NEVER winning a senior championship in the next 10-15 years (at least), imho, the teams playing div 1 football should have a chance of winning a senior championship, even if its a small chance. Ballyholland, Saval etc will have aspirations to win a championship, big ask, but they will feel they may have a chance. Tullylish, glenn, bosco, come on, intermediate clubs, end off. glenn v burren,  lunacy.

You clearly have something against these div 2 clubs (obviously any club below div 1) and their future progression within the county league structure!! You state 'merit & fully commendable' as a way of masking your very narrow minded and inappropriate comments, to try and belittle smaller clubs!! And as for saying "I would stake my mortgage on them NEVER winning the championship in 10-15years at least", well you most pose as a very miserable figure in the bookies because that's just idiotic!! Behave Charlie!!     

it was more a rant  at the restructuring, no offence meant. I have nothing against the clubs.

[Down Mad]

Good luck to those clubs fighting for first division status. They will be promoted because they deserve it and although they may struggle they will cause a few upsets and the experience they will gain can only be of benefit. Charlie, for you to say that these clubs will never contend for a senior championship in the next 20 year is ridiculous! I know for a fact that alot of current intermediate clubs are working very hard at underage level in order to further their clubs for the future.

[angermanagement]

Its not too long ago the likes of Mayobridge and Kilcoo were in the lower leagues, sport can go in cycles, if the right structures are in place as in the case for the 2 clubs mentioned and you get the right players coming through you never know what can happen.

[qubdub]

Although there may one or two major mismatches in the next few years overall I am much in favour of the restructuring.

As others have mentioned a sizable amount of the current Division 1 clubs have played Intermediate football in recent years. I would fully expect a number of shocks when clubs do make the step up.

Having 3 Divisions makes it easier for growing clubs to gain promotion and makes the pathway from the bottom division to the top division shorter. Playing better opposition can only bring clubs on.

I think Annaclone are a good example of a club taking the opportunity to play at the top table with open arms, looking poised for a top half finish.

[DownFanatic]

Next year we are going to see the inadequacies of the new league structure. The teams relegated from this years Div 1 and Div 2 will dominate in their lower division while the teams that go up from Div 2 and Div 3 will struggle badly and probably be immediately relegated from their new surroundings.
The new structures for the leagues and the round robin format of the championship had financial motivation at its core.
The sooner we return to four divisions and knockout championship the better.

[DaisyCutter]

+1 DownFanatic.

One point id like to make would be the huge drop in gate attendances at Division One League games this year, as the the new structures have definitely taken away from the competitiveness of the games. This detours people from going to watch them now and a prime example of this would have been that I was at a recent big East Down Derby, where there would have been 250+ spectators on most nights, but you would have been lucky to get 150 people at it.
Our clubs do depend on big gates for their income and they have bound to have taken hit this year over the restructures.