Down Club Hurling & Football

[Line Ball]

Time to wipe the slate clean. Identify issues and address them both short and long term.

Short term things like managers for senior, minor, u21 need to be  appointed asap especially with championships in full swing. McCorry treated poorly so let's hope that doesn't deter potential candidates. Forget outside managers, I'd take a down man over a mercenary any day.

Long term is where the real fun happens. GAA is dying on its knees in parts of this county and to some people they wouldn't even know or care. Forget underage county development squads as a priority and get a real injection into places like the lecale district, Dpk and Newry. Get structures in place within all the primary schools, direct whatever resources are available to these areas. For a town of newrys size to not have a proper challenging senior side is a reflection on the county as a whole. Oh and also get Glenn new facilities.

So let me get this straight, you want to appoint short managers for senior, u21 and minor and you want to ditch the development squads and direct all our resources into lecale district, Downpatrick (same place no?) and Newry?  That should certainly sort things out 

[qubdub]

Time to wipe the slate clean. Identify issues and address them both short and long term.

Short term things like managers for senior, minor, u21 need to be  appointed asap especially with championships in full swing. McCorry treated poorly so let's hope that doesn't deter potential candidates. Forget outside managers, I'd take a down man over a mercenary any day.

Long term is where the real fun happens. GAA is dying on its knees in parts of this county and to some people they wouldn't even know or care. Forget underage county development squads as a priority and get a real injection into places like the lecale district, Dpk and Newry. Get structures in place within all the primary schools, direct whatever resources are available to these areas. For a town of newrys size to not have a proper challenging senior side is a reflection on the county as a whole. Oh and also get Glenn new facilities.

So let me get this straight, you want to appoint short managers for senior, u21 and minor and you want to ditch the development squads and direct all our resources into lecale district, Downpatrick (same place no?) and Newry?  That should certainly sort things out 

Read it again dickweed 

You don't happen to be on the county board, do you?

[Line Ball]

Time to wipe the slate clean. Identify issues and address them both short and long term.

Short term things like managers for senior, minor, u21 need to be  appointed asap especially with championships in full swing. McCorry treated poorly so let's hope that doesn't deter potential candidates. Forget outside managers, I'd take a down man over a mercenary any day.

Long term is where the real fun happens. GAA is dying on its knees in parts of this county and to some people they wouldn't even know or care. Forget underage county development squads as a priority and get a real injection into places like the lecale district, Dpk and Newry. Get structures in place within all the primary schools, direct whatever resources are available to these areas. For a town of newrys size to not have a proper challenging senior side is a reflection on the county as a whole. Oh and also get Glenn new facilities.

So let me get this straight, you want to appoint short managers for senior, u21 and minor and you want to ditch the development squads and direct all our resources into lecale district, Downpatrick (same place no?) and Newry?  That should certainly sort things out 

Read it again dickweed 

You don't happen to be on the county board, do you?

I have and that's what I take from your post.  No, I am not on the County Board.   

Read it again dickweed 

Class

[Red eye]

Time to wipe the slate clean. Identify issues and address them both short and long term.

Short term things like managers for senior, minor, u21 need to be  appointed asap especially with championships in full swing. McCorry treated poorly so let's hope that doesn't deter potential candidates. Forget outside managers, I'd take a down man over a mercenary any day.

Long term is where the real fun happens. GAA is dying on its knees in parts of this county and to some people they wouldn't even know or care. Forget underage county development squads as a priority and get a real injection into places like the lecale district, Dpk and Newry. Get structures in place within all the primary schools, direct whatever resources are available to these areas. For a town of newrys size to not have a proper challenging senior side is a reflection on the county as a whole. Oh and also get Glenn new facilities.

Agree with the Under Age structure point. Urban areas all over seem to have a difficulty attracting the numbers that should be available - invariably due to other options available - e.g. Rugby, Soccer, other sports. Structures in place in primary schools will need input from the Clubs those schools are seen to service. County board support for this will be wasted if local Clubs don't take a role in this too. Would be useful if this happened and these children would get encouragement and direction from the perceived home clubs to help develop them and build the numbers of that home Club.

However this shouldn't be done at the expense of Development Squads, but as well.

[Tiocfaidh Ned]

Best of Luck to Jim McCorry, he probably over achieved in getting this Down panel promoted to Division 1 in his first year in charge. We were comprehensively outplayed by Roscommon and the referee in the league final, kicked ourselves out of it against Derry, who again were helped no end by some poor refereeing. Maybe with 15 men on the field in both games we wouldn't be having this conversation. Unlike some, we don't go running to Croke Park to complain, it isn't the Down way, maybe there are some lessons there, maybe not.
However there are no excuses for our performance against Wexford, we were simply out played and yet again lost out in the physical aspect of the game, to a bigger side who wanted it more. As the old saying goes a good big'un beats a good wee'un. Should Jim have gone on the back of that one result? I'm not so sure. What I am sure of is that until changes are made at county board level, then nothing is ever going to change. It's time for a fresh approach, some new ideas, some fresh faces.

#SackSeanOg #SackChuckyNed

[qubdub]

Time to wipe the slate clean. Identify issues and address them both short and long term.

Short term things like managers for senior, minor, u21 need to be  appointed asap especially with championships in full swing. McCorry treated poorly so let's hope that doesn't deter potential candidates. Forget outside managers, I'd take a down man over a mercenary any day.

Long term is where the real fun happens. GAA is dying on its knees in parts of this county and to some people they wouldn't even know or care. Forget underage county development squads as a priority and get a real injection into places like the lecale district, Dpk and Newry. Get structures in place within all the primary schools, direct whatever resources are available to these areas. For a town of newrys size to not have a proper challenging senior side is a reflection on the county as a whole. Oh and also get Glenn new facilities.

So let me get this straight, you want to appoint short managers for senior, u21 and minor and you want to ditch the development squads and direct all our resources into lecale district, Downpatrick (same place no?) and Newry?  That should certainly sort things out 

Read it again dickweed 

You don't happen to be on the county board, do you?

I have and that's what I take from your post.  No, I am not on the County Board.   

Read it again dickweed 

Class

Okay, so you are just being deliberately obtuse, fair enough.

In the interests of clarity I will reiterate my points for those who are on the slow side of things.

I am not calling for short managers. No one should be discriminated against on the basis of their height. They should be chosen on merit alone, preferably within the confines of this county and should be appointed sooner rather than later.

I am not calling for the ditching of development squads. They are inherently important. I am suggesting the main focus should be to develop GAA in areas in this county where it should be flourishing, but isn't. Do you not think it ridiculous that a virtually 99% nationalist city like Newry does not have a senior club? Likewise in much of East Down, there is a huge disparity between the GAA there and the south of the county.

I am not blaming anyone on this, but it's time it was addressed. People are incessant in their gurning about results on the field of play but blissfully disregard the massive imbalance in our county. The clubs have their part to play to and they should be dragged into cooperating if need be. Bombard the schools with coaches, organise trips to Pairc Esler, Croker etc. in parts of South Down in the traditional strongholds this just simply isn't needed as Gaelic football is bred into them.

Out of interest when is the last time a South Down club had to fold?

[rosskarr]

Time to wipe the slate clean. Identify issues and address them both short and long term.

Short term things like managers for senior, minor, u21 need to be  appointed asap especially with championships in full swing. McCorry treated poorly so let's hope that doesn't deter potential candidates. Forget outside managers, I'd take a down man over a mercenary any day.

Long term is where the real fun happens. GAA is dying on its knees in parts of this county and to some people they wouldn't even know or care. Forget underage county development squads as a priority and get a real injection into places like the lecale district, Dpk and Newry. Get structures in place within all the primary schools, direct whatever resources are available to these areas. For a town of newrys size to not have a proper challenging senior side is a reflection on the county as a whole. Oh and also get Glenn new facilities.

So let me get this straight, you want to appoint short managers for senior, u21 and minor and you want to ditch the development squads and direct all our resources into lecale district, Downpatrick (same place no?) and Newry?  That should certainly sort things out 

Read it again dickweed 

You don't happen to be on the county board, do you?

I have and that's what I take from your post.  No, I am not on the County Board.   

Read it again dickweed 

Class

Okay, so you are just being deliberately obtuse, fair enough.

In the interests of clarity I will reiterate my points for those who are on the slow side of things.

I am not calling for short managers. No one should be discriminated against on the basis of their height. They should be chosen on merit alone, preferably within the confines of this county and should be appointed sooner rather than later.

I am not calling for the ditching of development squads. They are inherently important. I am suggesting the main focus should be to develop GAA in areas in this county where it should be flourishing, but isn't. Do you not think it ridiculous that a virtually 99% nationalist city like Newry does not have a senior club? Likewise in much of East Down, there is a huge disparity between the GAA there and the south of the county.

I am not blaming anyone on this, but it's time it was addressed. People are incessant in their gurning about results on the field of play but blissfully disregard the massive imbalance in our county. The clubs have their part to play to and they should be dragged into cooperating if need be. Bombard the schools with coaches, organise trips to Pairc Esler, Croker etc. in parts of South Down in the traditional strongholds this just simply isn't needed as Gaelic football is bred into them.

Out of interest when is the last time a South Down club had to fold?

When was the last time an East Down Club folded as I can't think of any other than Ballykinlar being currently on it's knees?

[Brick Tamlin]

Two questions.
Who are the people that make up the county executive and get to make these big calls re management appointments,votes etc?

Anyone have an update on Darren O'Hagan from last night's game?

[outinfront]

Saw on Twitter he is in hospital and is going to be ok.

[Brick Tamlin]

Is there a back door in intermediate. ?

[saulzer]

I would have been very much in the NO camp re Pete as well as I remember the last 3/4 years of his reign too as being disasters.  However, we cannot fail to look at what Pete has done since then.  Lets say he started managing in 2005 for example and had no record with Down prior to that.

He took Down to consecutive Ulster under 21 titles and an All Ireland final that was oh so close.  We havent got anywhere near competing at that level since he left it.  He managed An Riocht to a senior division one league title, Martin Clarke inspired admittedly, but still did it.  He took Bryansford perilously close to a championship which they threw away to Burren in Newry one night, and won an Ulster under 21 with them.  He has now taken Fermanagh to a level they havent been at in 10 years and is a level which at the least represents a positive return for the players and resources available. 
He appears to have adapted to the modern game this year as opposed to last year when he stuck to his old principles of simply playing football and which resulted in Antrim defeating Fermanagh in a high scoring game that would not have looked out of place in the last few years of his Down tenure.  This is probably his most impressive achievement since 2005 and illustrates a man willing to do what is best.

These points would indicate to me a credible candidate for the Down County job.

There are negatives, of course.  Pete has that Mourinho effect where he always seems to leave with some sort of discontent.  Nothing serious, just people generally being cranky, but I think that comes with Petes character.  He is a hard man to love if you get what I mean but without question, he can manage a team.  He has no club championships on his CV which I would say grates him but perhaps its the county environment that suits him best and perhaps he has shown with Fermanagh this year that he is willing to bring himself into the modern game in terms of team and player preparation.

I was at that U21 final, Pete lost it on the line by not counteracting (or probably failing to recognise the to counteract) a Cork substitution made about 15 minutes from the end.

[sdg]

Went over to Hilltown for the 2 games today, god help any new manager the standard off Down football is in a bad place.

[Red eye]

I would have been very much in the NO camp re Pete as well as I remember the last 3/4 years of his reign too as being disasters.  However, we cannot fail to look at what Pete has done since then.  Lets say he started managing in 2005 for example and had no record with Down prior to that.

He took Down to consecutive Ulster under 21 titles and an All Ireland final that was oh so close.  We havent got anywhere near competing at that level since he left it.  He managed An Riocht to a senior division one league title, Martin Clarke inspired admittedly, but still did it.  He took Bryansford perilously close to a championship which they threw away to Burren in Newry one night, and won an Ulster under 21 with them.  He has now taken Fermanagh to a level they havent been at in 10 years and is a level which at the least represents a positive return for the players and resources available. 
He appears to have adapted to the modern game this year as opposed to last year when he stuck to his old principles of simply playing football and which resulted in Antrim defeating Fermanagh in a high scoring game that would not have looked out of place in the last few years of his Down tenure.  This is probably his most impressive achievement since 2005 and illustrates a man willing to do what is best.

These points would indicate to me a credible candidate for the Down County job.

There are negatives, of course.  Pete has that Mourinho effect where he always seems to leave with some sort of discontent.  Nothing serious, just people generally being cranky, but I think that comes with Petes character.  He is a hard man to love if you get what I mean but without question, he can manage a team.  He has no club championships on his CV which I would say grates him but perhaps its the county environment that suits him best and perhaps he has shown with Fermanagh this year that he is willing to bring himself into the modern game in terms of team and player preparation.

I was at that U21 final, Pete lost it on the line by not counteracting (or probably failing to recognise the to counteract) a Cork substitution made about 15 minutes from the end.

Maybe so but apart from 2010 there hasn't been anything near that since.
I also recall a switch he made in Celtic Park in 94 that nullified Joe Brolly. Thankfully Eamon Coleman didn't make a switch that may have nullified Mickey Linden that day.

Some times along the line there may be no better option than the players on the pitch at that time. Also am sure he will have learned from that too.

[gaamann]

Thanks qubdub for your input on our facilities but cant see the county board writing that cheque any time soon.

[SHEEDY]

if you need to be reminded how down and ulster teams dominated at the start of the 90's watch tg4 at 7.15 tonight. brillant memories.