Down Club Hurling & Football

[downredblack]

 I wouldn't worry too much about the Down forwards , the Meath game apart we usually score enough scores to win most matches . On their day Benny , Walsh , Hughes , Murtagh, Sexton are as good as most and hopefully McComiskey will add to this . the Midfield will pick itself with Ambrose and Dan . But the situation at the back as highlighted in Mourne rover's post is scary. A combination of  Colgan , Rooney , Murphy , Doyle and Doran might find us a half back line but after that I don't who we are looking at .

[goldenyears]

lads, lets not get carried away. there is no danger of down playing div4 football. we were 5 mins away from beating monaghan in newry who went on to scare the live out of the all ireland winners! lets not go with the doom and gloom. as for suggestions to change management teams again is a fkn joke.

i think ross/dj know this year is make or break and they will set their stall out accordingly for the national league. a run in the qualifiers is a bonus. with a promotion, we should be looking at 2009 as a resurgence year incorporating some of the recent underage stars into the set up......give the mgt team a chance; one year is not enough for anyone!

[redandblackjack]

Well said goldenyears, it seems people are not prepared to given any management team a chance! The current crop have not delivered for whatever reason, personally i believe that the one thing that they will receive is a kick up the arse from DJ and Ross- if that means dropping players then so be it! Fair play to them for tackling the problem of Pride in your county jersey!

At the end of the day it is down to hard work and a will to win, if individuals dont posess these qualities which were in large quantities in the early 90s then there is not much that can be done! For DJ and Ross to find new county players they have to play them which will mean dropping established players from time to time which will cause uproar. On the flip side if these new players in the squad are not played then the same will happen. It is a difficult situation the management team are faced with especially given the tradition we have and the lack of success at senior level! One thing is for sure any turnaround will not happen after a year, it could take the three years when alot of the younger players in the squad will be ready.

Down pushed Monaghan all the way in the summer- a team which is now rated very highly, we got the worst draw possible in the championship next year but at least it will be an indicator for our county. Hopefully Doyle will be fresh and ready to go again this year- could be a massive boost.

[ExiledGael]

Have Carr and DJ named a panel yet, Martin McHugh is giving out stink in the star that Mickey Walsh has been ommitted from the Down squad.
Agree with some posters that Down have talent there, but lack the cutting edge and ruthless attitude needed in the Championship these days. Partly due to their own arrogance from the past i think the players today refuse to accept all teams nowadays need to adopt the new styles of defending from the front and funnelling men back behind the ball when not in possession. I think it drastically sells their defenders short. Down need to get back to basics as another poster side and work on the ugly side of the game, as even Kerry had to accept in recent years. The game has changed and the Down players need to catch up. The talent is there, the management has to be responsible for moulding them into a team that can compete in modern football. The ugly side of their game is the part that has cost them in recent years, that dirty desire to win at all costs is not there.

[ExiledGael]

Not sure. If he is it proves McHugh is as inaccurate as always

[Townie]

totally agree with alot of the recent posts that there is plenty of talent in the county and that ross and dj should be given a bit of time and space to exercise there skills with the panel. As for the Michael Walsh situation im sure he will be in over time as i hear college commitments are the stumbling block at the minute. Who will replace mickey mcveigh will be a major problem i think

[boscomo]

hi guys can some off you legal eagles answear a question for me. As you know we got 2 players sent of in the junior champioship final, both players got handed 4 week bans which would mean the ban will be up on Sunday 28th October but i have been informed that they will be not be available to play in the 1st round of the Ulster Championship can anyone inform me why this is?

regards 

mo

[Pangurban]

Live Horse and you will get grass.. thats the philosophy being expounded by Goldenyears and RedandBlack. Just continue to plod along and things will come right eventually. Well things dont just happen, they have to be made happen. Wheres the evidence that anything different to the old ,tired ,failed recipe is being tried. Just read the previous posts, discussion re. the possible return of Walsh and Doyle, the former who has never performed well for Down and the latter who due to an accumalation of injuries is long past his sell by date. Wheres the demands for proper coaching of our defenders, who at club and county level within Down play with the tactical awareness of an under16 team, and i am probably being unfair to under 16s in saying that. Down football at Club and County level is in a serious state of decline, and refusal to acknowledge that problem will hasten the decline further. The Co. Board are failing to address the issue, and i have seen enough of Ross and DJ to convince me that they dont have what it takes. Like Goldenyears and RedandBlack they will continue to plod hopefully along without a vision, strategy or roadmap, hoping that their panel will suddenly develop talent,awareness and fighting spirit, after all arent they excellent motivators. Newsflash lads, the Co.Player who needs to be motivated should not be there in the first place, they are a waste of time and a Jersey, and we have too many wasters currently posing as Co.Players. Whose fault is that Ross and DJ,  enough said

[redandblackjack]

Whats your solution then pangurban? Plant a player tree somewhere? Incase you didnt notice the standard of our championship was poor this year......it is a well known fact that the players are not there at present! What do you want the management to do? Rush young blood in and end up in the same shite we are currently in with the crew of 99 in a few years time? Reality is alot of that team have not made good enough inter county footballers while there has been little else around the county to pick from! What more do you want from the management to be fair? The trawled the county twice over looking for possible players. Ross and Dj are damned if they pick certain players and damned if they dont!

[Pangurban]

Agree that the pool of talent within the County is very limited at present. My gripe is that nothing is being done to raise the standard.As for Ross and Dj, it is not so much their selections, as their failure to make the best use of what they have available. How often over the past season have we seen players run around like headless Chickens, devoid of any strategy or game-plan. How many winnable games were lost through bad or no decision making on the line. Do they even yet know, what their best team is or how they want to play. I wont even mention the subject of discipline, but their is ample evidence available of their inability or unwillingness to enforce it. You are quite right when you say that a change of management alone will not improve things, but iit will provide a kick start  and an impetus. when you are on the wrong road you turn back and try to find the right road, proceeding hopefully on is futile

[spiritof91and94]

lads, it doesnt say much for football in Down when Ross Carr is the best player on the pitch when Clonduff beat Burren in the PRFC Final on Saturday! He scored 7 points and kicked some glorious freekicks in the porcess! Sure any up and coming young lad should be cutting it at this level at least then you say a 42 year old stealing the show!

[6th sam]

lads, it doesnt say much for football in Down when Ross Carr is the best player on the pitch when Clonduff beat Burren in the PRFC Final on Saturday! He scored 7 points and kicked some glorious freekicks in the porcess! Sure any up and coming young lad should be cutting it at this level at least then you say a 42 year old stealing the show!

I should probably have put this post on the burnout thread,but your reference to Ross Carr's recent performance,got me thinking about "burnout".

Whereas I have respect for those that are trying to reduce pressure on our younger players,there is a danger that this burnout issue can be used as a cop-out for less motivated players.

I remember Ross Carr playing for Clonduff seniors while still a minor,and he has played county minor,under 21 and senior.He has also been committed to many other aspects of GAA at club and county level.Currently he still plays- for Down masters and Clonduff at 43 years of age.Similarly Mickey Linden,DJ Kane,Brendan McKernan,Peter Withnell and Enda Gormley-All-Ireland winners who have played an enormous amount of football from their minor days.The Downeys and McGurks of Lavey played club,colleges,county hurling and football  and yet are still playing for Derry over 40s......so much for BURNOUT!

GAA for county players takes an enormous amount of committment-and there's no way round that.There is a danger that an overemphasis on "Burnout" ,will prevent players making the necessary committment to become All-Ireland winners.

[DMarsden]

Having watched a lot of the down championship this year i have to say it was poor fare lads. it really is the case that the best players in the county are already on the squad. this trawling of the county looking for nuggets is a nonsense. Boylan got a couple of junior players who'd never played county football before such as harnon, but these were guys with physique who stood out while playing for their club. undscovered gems don't exist any more in this day and age, if the county management are watching club football. managers lov the thought of plucking the next bomber liston from obscurity but its pie in the sky stuff.

by now ross and dj know their players, what they can do and what their capacity to improve is. they need to identify who is good enough to make it at county level and who isn't, and that is your panel. if there are 30 men willing and more imporantly able then great. if there are only 22 then you have a panel of 22. get out onto the training field and start coaching, cajoling and improving these lads to mould a team with a defined gameplan ready to go for the national league. they need to play together as often as possible to develop as a unit. that is the only way to have a team which is more than the sum of its parts, which is what down have to achieve.

[stpauls]

guys, heard a rumour today that Mitchels are appealling to the county board about something in the aftermath of Drumgath's appeal being upheld by the Ulster Council!! has any body from Newry direction heard anything about this through the grapevine?

[cloneman]

hi guys can some off you legal eagles answear a question for me. As you know we got 2 players sent of in the junior champioship final, both players got handed 4 week bans which would mean the ban will be up on Sunday 28th October but i have been informed that they will be not be available to play in the 1st round of the Ulster Championship can anyone inform me why this is?

regards 

mo

Boscomo, I think there was a rule recently introduced where suspended players have to miss at least one match as a result of the suspension, possibly in the competition the sending off took place.  I'm not sure exactly how it works but if it is the case then your suspended players will miss the next match.