Down Club Hurling & Football

[ardtole]

Unfortunately this is not a problem exclusive to Down footballers. Antrim hurlers, Wexford hurlers, Armagh footballers, Tipp footballers, have had a similar problem. It is easier than ever for lads to head off for the summer, with cheap flights etc. 20 years ago training with the county was probably 2 nights a week, now its 4/5 minimum, limited club football, not only weekends away but a week away at a time. It has got so consuming that lads are starting to put themelves and careers first. The Dublins, Kerrys, Tyrones etc can absorb these situations and the almost guarantee of croke park in august/september is a carrot that not every other county can provide for players.
Add in the crap they have to contend with online and its little wonder county football is uncreasingly unattractive for some players.

[PAULD123]

...20 years ago training with the county was probably 2 nights a week, now its 4/5 minimum, limited club football, not only weekends away but a week away at a time. It has got so consuming that lads are starting to put themelves and careers first. The Dublins, Kerrys, Tyrones etc can absorb these situations and the almost guarantee of croke park in august/september is a carrot that not every other county can provide for players...

You are right. But if the result of this approach is that we end up with an inferior team, then doesn't that say there is something wrong with the approach to begin with? Yeah it produces a team of near professionally fit players but if it is producing the wrong players to begin with, then it is failing before it starts.

[ardtole]

Id agree with you, and ironically the stronger teams like Kerry and Dublin both made allowances for senior players in recent years, for Declan OSullivan and Alan Brogan, yet in Downs case we didnt seem to be as flexible with our senior players like Coulter and Gordon.
Donegal were known to conduct training in Dublin midweek for their dublin based players, yet there were stories that some players asked to do their gym work in belfast but were told everyone was to do it together in newry.  Granted this was before Eamonn Burns reign but the damage was done by inflexibility or maybe poor man management.

[charlieTully]

be interesting to hear the glass half full brigade after that. anyone who travelled to watch that shite hasn't an ounce of sense.

[thebar]

Things are bad....real bad....

[supersub]

be interesting to hear the glass half full brigade after that. anyone who travelled to watch that shite hasn't an ounce of sense.

Very very very easy to say that at 3.49pm after watching it on the television.

[passedit]

be interesting to hear the glass half full brigade after that. anyone who travelled to watch that shite hasn't an ounce of sense.

Very very very easy to say that at 3.49pm after watching it on the television.

What were you expecting? I'd say most down people who travelled did so out of a sense of duty rather than hope. Today was no surprise and it's not going to get any better anytime soon.

Gordon and Coulter aren't the answer either. Rip it up and start again.

[clowry13]

You can say what yous want. 2-22 to 0-9 in an Ulster championship game is scary against a team who down beat a few years back.
Down played Conall Mcgovern at full back in a man marking role and he plays full back for his club.
Henry brown also came on after playing club seconds this time last year. If this is all the players we have may Aswell give up now.
Need new structures in place from underage. Minors , u.21s and seniors all beat in first round games 2 years in a row

[clowry13]

Mcgovern doesn't play full back for his club I should say. Plays half forward. My mistake ^^^

[Smurfy123]

Terrible stuff in clones today
Let's forget about the older lads and look to the future
In saying that the future looks poor as our under 21s got hammered to
Any positives from today??
Our county board have a lot to answer too.
Why have we a Rugby coach as burns number 2?
Surely we should have GAA men along the line

[cut the crap]

That was painful, the glass is well and truly empty and maybe has been for some time.Fair play to all  who travelled, in all the years of following Down I can honestly say this is our lowest ebb, it is a game that is easily played from the terraces but to see Stevie Kane constantly kick possession away is mind boggling, what is the story there , Turleys indiscipline ? and our no 2 s interpretation of the tackle , another mystery, I could go on but that would be unfair on the players who don't go onto the field of play badly. The problems lie in our coaching structures and our development of young players.It will be at least 5 yrs before we are in a position to compete at minor and u 21 level, let alone senior.
Our secretary stood up at a meeting and proudly stated the selection committee had got their man to manage our senior football team, Eamonn your were conned, your were the last man asked and surely you know now the enormity of your task, we may get a favourable draw in the qualifiers but it will be a short summer, I feel like screaming , I watched our21s get annilated,the minors beaten and now our seniors humiliated , any ideas lads ?

[snoopdog]

Absolutely shambolic. Couldn't win a kick out all day. Then they just give up. A disgraceful 2nd half performance. Thankfully I couldn't make clones. 1 game left and that should be it for another year.  Almost resigned to defeat nowadays as a Down man. It's getting worse as the years go by.

[ardtole]

Awful second half, brought back memories of sligo 10/12 yrs ago.

[thewobbler]

It's time for some introspection from the decision-makers in our county. Circumstances may have contrived against them here and there, but bar the 2010 "blip", we've been on a decline for 20 years. It's one thing loving your county, it's another thing entirely to not give it a chance in a life.

it's also high time our clubs stopped pretending to be bystanders in this mess. This convention we need leadership to arise from our clubs. Thereafter we need action.


So f**king sick of the shit that Down football has become.

[charlieTully]

its hardly fecking rocket science, a more flexible approach to players who cannot commit to a ridiculous training regime that yields feck all, martin Clarke sitting in a f**king studio, id rather see him come on in the last 20 mins of a game, there is a wealth of talent in this county that is not being utilized for whatever reason. reach out to the best players, tailor an individual plan that suits the player, the all or nothing regime simply does not work.