Down Club Hurling & Football

[rosskarr]

not sure if this wasposted already. but Conor Deegans view on Down football
This time last year, double All-Ireland winner Conor Deegan caused something of a flap prior to Down's preliminary round opener against Tyrone when he suggested that survival in Division Two was as good as James McCartan could have hoped for with the players available, and he hadn't much hope for them in the Championship either.


Deegan has since moved home after 16 years spent living, playing and managing in Dublin.

He sees more Down football than ever and one incident in particular has left him considering the root cause of what may be the issue with the Mournemen.

Managing Aughlisnafin in Division Three, Deegan's side have won eight of their 10 games so far this season and are on course for promotion.

During a recent game against St Paul's, he was about to tend to an injured player when a member of the opposition told him to get off the pitch.

Deegan recalled: "I turned around to him and said, 'You look after yourself, don't worry about it'.

"And his response to me was, 'You don't know how to play football. All you do is kick it long into your full-forward line'.

"Now, he was only a young lad, but has the perception of football changed to such a degree that now if you kick the ball you are seen to be doing something wrong?

"I actually walked off the pitch smiling to myself, thinking, 'This game has changed to such an extent that I don't even know if I can deal with it anymore'."

The intermittent period has done nothing to convince Deegan that he was wrong last year, as Down seek to land a win over Derry in Celtic Park tomorrow, 21 years after he and his colleagues won what is held up as one of the greatest games of all-time between the sides, before they went on to capture Sam Maguire.

"I think the resources in Down at the moment are quite sparse," he commented.


"I have only been back in Down for six or seven months now, but I have seen enough matches to realise that the standard of football isn't as good as it should be. The quality definitely isn't there."

Deegan also feels that Down should tap into their traditions and realise that a defensive system does not need to subjugate every other aspect of their play.

He explained: "I have moved with the times, but I do believe, and it is not just a romantic notion, that Down did play a certain style of football.

"Now, they try to play a running game and they are not big enough. They are a very small side and they struggle because of this."

He also expressed his fears for the future of the game, adding: "Football in general is losing its way. Gaelic was the only game in the world where it wasn't about containment.

"Unfortunately it has become exactly that. The horse has bolted, and it will probably never change."

He certainly has moved with the times--Managing in Down Div 3. What Football would he have seen in Down as generally
Div 1 and 2 are playing at the same time as Div 3 fixtures?

[Leonardo]

Might have been discussed before, apologies if it has, but how many of Sundays team would have made the 91 Team for example. For what it's worth, I think Darren O Hagan and Kevin McKernan would have started in any of the teams we have produced in last 25 years

[Mourne Rover]

It's notoriously difficult to compare players from different eras, and the team spirit from 1991 would be even harder to replicate. However, for hypotherical discussion purposes, Darren O'Hagan and Kevin McKernan might edge out Brendan McKernan and John Kelly.

[sdg]

Not one player would have got on 91 or 94 team. Fact!!!

[thebar]

not one player would get on the 91/94 Down team

[outback]

  My posts about Sunday's alleged Minor Football misbehaviour have been removed.
I can't understand why?  These allegations are more than just rumour and have every
right to be posted on here.

[TooLongRef]

  My posts about Sunday's alleged Minor Football misbehaviour have been removed.
I can't understand why?  These allegations are more than just rumour and have every
right to be posted on here.

You're a real yap outback, did ur poor wee fella not get on the minor panel?

[snoopdog]

Mullholland may just be unlucky in that the quality just isnt there the last 2 years. end off

[outback]

  My posts about Sunday's alleged Minor Football misbehaviour have been removed.
I can't understand why?  These allegations are more than just rumour and have every
right to be posted on here.

You're a real yap outback, did ur poor wee fella not get on the minor panel?

i wasn't blessed with boys.

[OgraAnDun]

Mullholland may just be unlucky in that the quality just isnt there the last 2 years. end off

The removed posts had nothing to do with what happened on the pitch.

[SHEEDY]

half way through the league in division 1 it looks like leitrim, clan na banna are gone and longstone and downpatrick look like joining them in division 2. any 2 from 4 or 5 clubs for the last relegation places.

[T O Hare]

We put in our best performance of the year last night beating the point. Our experienced players were key to the victory. It was great to see Conor Garvey play and he was outstanding at full back before moving out the field and scoring two fine points. He will be a miss to us next week when we travel to Kilcoo.

[OgraAnDun]

Saw a bit of an U10 tournament today and I noticed Kilcoo were playing with the packed defence/midfield like their seniors and Down do. I think it's absolutely crazy playing a blanket defence at U10 level. The only justification I can think for it is that they're trying to get the players used to playing a system early so they fit seamlessly into it when they're older, which is still stupid. By the time those lads are playing senior or even minor, tactics could well have moved on. I can't imagine how boring it is for natural forwards at that age being told to drop back and defend en masse instead of expressing themselves as forwards. The opposition's two full backs just stood beside each other talking for half the game. Surely Kilcoo and other clubs that try this would be better served trying to produce good players so that the need to play defensive tactics is negated in the future?

[Highlander3]

It's notoriously difficult to compare players from different eras, and the team spirit from 1991 would be even harder to replicate. However, for hypotherical discussion purposes, Darren O'Hagan and Kevin McKernan might edge out Brendan McKernan and John Kelly.

Don't agree with the john kelly comment, I thought kelly was a great player, and as hard as rocks

[Mourne Rover]

Highlander, there was no negative comment on John Kelly, who was a brilliant half back, but the suggestion was that Kevin McKernan mght be a slightly better all-round footballer who has represented his country with distinction, covers his defence, wins the ball down the middle and gets up to take exceptional scores. Are you saying that Kelly was better than McKernan ?