Down Club Hurling & Football

[Mourne man]

Playing Antrim minors tomorrow at 11 in ballygalget !

[TheSprinter]

Any predictions for tonight's games?

[SamFever]

The "solutions" suggested are not for this year , but an aspiration for future years. That aspiration includes amongst other suggestions , club as opposed to county football at exam time , as you have detailed ( I'll take it as a complement that you have forensically perused my previous posts!lol) . Anyone with any degree of insight will have sympathy for The plight of county & club managers and especially players at this time of year. Precedent has shown that legislation ideally from Croke park Is the only way of solving these issues. Eg. though there is disappointment at club level regarding availability of u17s & county minors for senior club football , clubs get on with it, accepting that it is a long term solution to an important player welfare issue. By contrast we see the annual conflict between clubs and county over senior player availability and injury at this time of year. To be fair , Down fixture makers have been better than most counties, and they have had to come up with a fixture programme to accommodate our clubs who voted in a 12 team , two round league (for very good reasons) .
My argument is that as things stand , our fixture makers are being asked to fit round pegs into square holes. Only a directive from Croke park , possibly designed around the principles of the IRFU international player management scheme will protect our county players, whilst invigorating both our club and county game.

Style ourselves on an IRFU player management scheme.God love us taking our lead from that organisation. Stand Up for the Ulster Men,etc,my a-se!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[intheknowhow]

Playing Antrim minors tomorrow at 11 in ballygalget !

I am not a fool Mourne Man..

[SamFever]

  Good wins for CPN,Longstone,Ballyholland and Clonduff.We were beat by three tonight by Bryansford

[Cb66]

Some strange results in Div 1 tonight

[forevergreen]

Burren game wasn't strange, Longstone played very well and worked extremely hard but were helped along by Sean Ward sitting half the team on the bench and only brought 2 of the experienced men on.

Burren hit an awful wides and didn't look to have a cutting edge and stone took their goal when the chance came although Burren.

Hopefully Ward will use a few more big names on Monday.

[knockitdown]

Burren game wasn't strange, Longstone played very well and worked extremely hard but were helped along by Sean Ward sitting half the team on the bench and only brought 2 of the experienced men on.

Burren hit an awful wides and didn't look to have a cutting edge and stone took their goal when the chance came although Burren.

Hopefully Ward will use a few more big names on Monday.

Who's the big names?

[interested]

 At least there seems to be plenty of varting results with no one walking away at the top of Div's 1&2.

[Mourne Rover]

Caolan Mooney gave an exhibition for Rostrevor on Friday night away to Bredagh, hitting seven points from play with another four from frees. They were mostly from long distance, after he won position in his own half and used his pace to find enough space to shoot from a variety of angles. It was noticeable that he largely faded out of the game after the break, but he had already done enough to secure the win. If he was fully fit, and totally committed, he would be a huge asset at county level.  It would be a huge pity if it never happens.

[Gaffer]

Think he was carrying a niggle in the second half to be fair!

[supersub]

I heard he wasn't even going to play as he was unwell. Maybe this was a reason.

[Down Follower]

There are a number of players that you could pick who would prob be at least as good as, if not better than what is on the down team at present. The problem is nearly all of them have opted out for their own reasons. Mooney, Clarke, Lavery are 3 that immediately spring to mind.
It's a huge pity that this is the case and we as a county, that means teammates, friends, club and county selectors should be doing all in their power to persuade them to come back.

[Mourne Rover]

We could probably  add Gordon to DF's list but realistically the chances of any of them being involved with Down this summer are slim. If they had made themselves available immediately after the league finished, it would be a different matter. However, with our first round game only a month away, we are going to have to rely on the existing squad.

[east down gael]

Instead of lamenting the loss of Gordon,laverty,benny etc could we not bring in some players who might offer us something going forward in the next ten years?it might be a step backwards to go two forwards,but it would be better than just constantly coming up short.