Down Club Hurling & Football

[wildrover]

Going to the games this weekend. Friday nights should be a cracker! Looking forward to big things on Sunday from Tiarnan Rushe I have heard he is special!

[thewobbler]

Any u-19s that are certain starters for their senior team should not play underage football. I think it's time clubs started concentrating on producing senior footballers and forget about winning underage competitions.
Using the example Wobbler used - Rushe is obviously talented enough to play senior football. Why let a manger at u-19 build a gameplan around Rushe.  Other players are being ignored. Without Rushe, there's an opportunity for another young lad to step up to the mark.
Factor in 3 nights a week with seniors, 1 or 2 with 19s, Down u-21s? 
Would Ballyholland prefer to win an u-19 competition, or develop the player? Plus work,on developing the lad that wasn't quite ready for senior football.
To use professional soccerr as an example, did the likes of Rooney, Sterling, Owen play for their underage teams as well as the First team?

Much as I hate to say it, this is not how the GAA works. If you're good enough you're expected to give 100% to every team that wants you to play. It's completely wrong, is a systemic problem across the association, and it's something that the u19 grade isn't going to fix.

[PAULD123]

I went to school with the son of a '68 All-Ireland winner. He too was potentially talented enough to play for the county. But his club had him playing football and hurling at three age grades when he was still in primary school. His knees were busted before he was 15.

[6th sam]

Though  I have difficulty with the blind and unplanned conversion to 13/15/17/19, I think it could be an opportunity to rationalise the crossover between underage and senior football. There is now a clear cutoff between u17 and senior.
There are two seperate cohorts of players playing senior football 1. Those with no other playing commitments, who crave and deserve weekly football , with a defined off season. 2. The talented players( usually younger ) with other commitments: county/school/college/underage club.

The only solution in my opinion is for senior club football to be run over two seperate competitions 1. An extended championship , when they are guaranteed to have their strongest players available( no conflicting interests(cf Heineken cup in rugby) 2. A weekly league competition(excluding championship weeks) , when matches must proceed without county/schools/college players) (cf magniers league in rugby). The players with other commitments should play in any of these league matches if released by county management .

Once underage players graduate out of u17, they are either good enough for senior football "A" team or the senior development team(reserves) . That gives any interested player a clear path to senior football. I think very few clubs could not accommodate their 17+ players in this system . Perhaps the current minor and u21 competitions and the proposed u19 competition could be replaced by a brief u20 competition.
The biggest challenge is working out a timeframe for these competitions, but it's obvious that any improvement on the current system must involve LESS as opposed to MORE competitions.

[Brick Tamlin]

Fair enough, but why in under a f*ck did we have to be the guinea pig county that took all this on. Its hard enough to run the leagues and competitions as it stands never mind having a clusterf*ck of an experiment like this 'bestowed' upon us. Its daft, and just another typical nugget from the decision makers.

[johnneycool]

Fair enough, but why in under a f*ck did we have to be the guinea pig county that took all this on. Its hard enough to run the leagues and competitions as it stands never mind having a clusterf*ck of an experiment like this 'bestowed' upon us. Its daft, and just another typical nugget from the decision makers.

There's a few €uro in it that's why.

[DownFanatic]

Is the U-19 grade not just a replacement for the U-21 grade and thus will be ran off in late Autumn?

[supersub]

Strange game, low scoring and poor handling all round. Reds looked to be dead and buried when the Point got their goal, but fair play to them they stuck at it and sent over 3 unanswered points in injury time. Young Chris Killen was super at corner back, only an U16 too. An interesting final to look forward to in two weeks, Shamrocks will be well up for it after the league defeat a few weeks back.

were did the ref get 7 mins extra time from seemed a bit long!

James Rice was down for 3-4 mins and Conall Gordan was also injured for a few minutes, so off the top of my head there are two stoppages which would contribute to lengthy injury time.

[Down Follower]

Is the U-19 grade not just a replacement for the U-21 grade and thus will be ran off in late Autumn?

Is there actually an U19 grade happening?

[Brick Tamlin]

Fair enough, but why in under a f*ck did we have to be the guinea pig county that took all this on. Its hard enough to run the leagues and competitions as it stands never mind having a clusterf*ck of an experiment like this 'bestowed' upon us. Its daft, and just another typical nugget from the decision makers.

There's a few €uro in it that's why.

Would there not need to be more than a few euro in it for a county to be willing to t**ker with their underage structures.
Must be true what they say about county being broke.

[johnneycool]

Is the U-19 grade not just a replacement for the U-21 grade and thus will be ran off in late Autumn?

Is there actually an U19 grade happening?

Yes, minor to be done away with.

Its a three year trial.

Would there not need to be more than a few euro in it for a county to be willing to t**ker with their underage structures.
Must be true what they say about county being broke.

Where have you been these last few years? Of course we're broke so give generously to get Sean Rooney, Sean O'g and several others of the county executive out of Crumlin Road Gaol.

[lfdown2]

Just how broke are the County Board, do they make the finances public at the AGM?

I am aware of winners of the county draw waiting months for their prizes as well as been mentioned the clubs themselves receiving their money.

I know it is easy criticising while not putting the time in myself but the unprofessional nature of all things related to the county is worrying, more so than the future managers of the county teams. The absence of suitable facilities for our county teams, the finances of the county, the county website are all symptoms of the problem - I can't even go online to see who won the August county draw or how many teams are to be relegated from Div 2 this year.

[SamFever]

Fair enough, but why in under a f*ck did we have to be the guinea pig county that took all this on. Its hard enough to run the leagues and competitions as it stands never mind having a clusterf*ck of an experiment like this 'bestowed' upon us. Its daft, and just another typical nugget from the decision makers.

There's a few €uro in it that's why.

Would there not need to be more than a few euro in it for a county to be willing to t**ker with their underage structures.
Must be true what they say about county being broke.

Ask your Club are the Club Draw payments up to date and you will get your answer. The Club Down push has stalled to nothing.

[elk]

Going to the games this weekend. Friday nights should be a cracker! Looking forward to big things on Sunday from Tiarnan Rushe I have heard he is special!

I thought the minor player for Rostrevor marked him out of the game in the SFC quarter final.

[DownFanatic]

Is the U-19 grade not just a replacement for the U-21 grade and thus will be ran off in late Autumn?

Is there actually an U19 grade happening?

Yes, minor to be done away with.

Its a three year trial.

Would there not need to be more than a few euro in it for a county to be willing to t**ker with their underage structures.
Must be true what they say about county being broke.

Where have you been these last few years? Of course we're broke so give generously to get Sean Rooney, Sean O'g and several others of the county executive out of Crumlin Road Gaol.

Is U-17 not replacing Minor?