Down Club Hurling & Football

[dundrumite]

first match i managed 2 see this season and ive got to say i was very impressed. Every player appeared entirely comfortable with, and aware of, their role in the team. danny hughes was immense in my opinion and was a great asset in taking the game to derry. Gary McArdle at full back looks a big plus and doyler seems natural at centre-half. forwards harried and hassled and seemed to work so hard. the work rate of sexton and fegan in particular i thought was phonomenal.

Just looking at some of the posts on the general discussion mckenna cup thread, down are receiving credit from outside observers and that only goes to show that we do indeed have reason to me optimistic. ok down may not win ulster or an all ireland but theres no reason why the team cant shake off their inferirority complex and have a good go. need to start with div 3 and promotion a realistic target. its a delight to come on thiis board and see players being praised rather than knocked which has been the case for too long. these boys have shown they have pride in the jersey so lets applaud ross and dj for what's been done so far. With 4 of 7 league games at home lets all make an extra effort to go and make newry a place where the team looks forward to playing in. im not sure but i think a few games are down for sat nights which makes for a good atmosphere. heres to further improvement and a few more wins to give the whole county the lift it needs.

On another note, dundrumite on the other thread mentioned the need for a mark to be introduced, I completely agree. The skill of dan gordon in the air as he showed tonight deserved to be rewarded rather than punished.

As\far as I can see Gordon is of the few midfielders who cannot move when he hits the ground, he lands static explaining why he getting surroundd so often by the opposongb team. There are not many other midfielders get tied up after making a great catch, so i don't think we need to change the rules to help one player who lands statically instead of landing on the move,i.e. Fergal Doherty, I have never seen him being bottled up after a catch in my life time watching him

I think your slightly off the mark (excuse the pun ) here Max, It happens up and down the country at all levels off football where a player maks a catch, and upon landing either has his momentum halted by being pushed back or as you say gets surrounded by landing static. Either way one of the finer skills of gaelic football almost being punished. Added to this the introduction of a mark rule may see teams trying to concentrate on catching kickouts as opposed to stopping the opposition from catching. Just a suggestion I feel that may be worth a try.

[Class of 99]

Dan caught some really good ball last night only to be swallowed up by three of four Derry players, I think on each occasion the ref had no choice but to blow up for a free against him. My question is where was his protection from his team mates? surely one or two in around the landing man would enable him to release the ball. Its a pity because high flelding is something that should be encouraged not punished.
On a more positive note Danny Hughe's fitness was scary last night, the best performance Ive seen from him in a long time.
We looked like scoring every time we went up the field. Should be good for confidence of everyone in the panel.

[western exile]

Quote from the Down man standing next to me on the terrace in Casement on Saturday night at half time he says,  "Down look good this year.  I wonder what they are like in the daylight!"   

[Leo]

Dan caught some really good ball last night only to be swallowed up by three of four Derry players, I think on each occasion the ref had no choice but to blow up for a free against him. My question is where was his protection from his team mates? surely one or two in around the landing man would enable him to release the ball. Its a pity because high flelding is something that should be encouraged not punished.
On a more positive note Danny Hughe's fitness was scary last night, the best performance Ive seen from him in a long time.
We looked like scoring every time we went up the field. Should be good for confidence of everyone in the panel.

Disagree entirely about the referee being correct in these cases of a midfielder being pummelled to the ground. Watch it anytime and you will see a number of opponents physicaly attacking the man not the ball - against the rules my friends but referrees seem to have this perverse notion that they are making clever and brave decisions by blowing up for over-holding when infact they are ignoring the first foul.

On one point I do agree. This fantastic skill is being roughed up out of the game and I say it is  buried by bad refereeing. Why would any player continually subject himself to allowing his immense and beautiful high-fielding skill being blackguarded in this way. Watched TG4 today and with what little Irish I can understand Jarlath Burns was on the ball on this very point. supportive of Gordon and critical of referees failure to apply the proper rules in defence of one of the game's greatest skills.

A national debate needed on this .

[whyarerefssobad]

i am with Leo on this one

[Pangurban]

Dan was fouled on virtually every occasion, Ref persisted in misinterpreting rule. Having said that, Dan contributed a little bit to his own misfortune. Superb though his fielding was, a lot of it was from a static position, leaving him with no momemtum to carry him clear. But refs. need to start penalising two, three and four man tackles. Its fine if they are just covering space, but as we witnessed last night it was too often a mob handed assault

[Mourne Rover]

Dan caught a couple of great balls against Monaghan in the championship last summer and was also blown up for overholding. It's something he may need to work on, but the important thing is that he is becoming an excellent fielder and all he really needs is some common sense from referees. I don't think Pat McEnaney would have penalised him last night.

While everyone did well against Derry, Gary McArdle's emergence has made a particularly big difference. Bradley did get 1-1 from play, but he usually scores a lot more than that, and McArdle made life very difficult for him. He is still learning, but he has pace and aggression and is capable of further improvement. Having a reliable full back, with a quality CHB like Doyle in front of him, will give our entire defence the confidence it has been lacking for several seasons.

The only puzzling aspect of the night was the substitution of John Clarke immediately after he scored a fine point and had generally looked the part. He didn't look too pleased, but very few people are going to argue with Ross at the moment.

[Silky]

Leo is 100% right. Clarification on this very rule was issued to referees at a national refs training course on Saturday in Athlone. Mickey Hughes didn't attend.

[Leo]

The ref for the Down Cavan game had a better grasp of this situation although Dan Gordon wasnt playing that night and very little high catching on display as a result.

Great to see so many posters alive to this issue.

[stpauls]

Round One
Glassdrumman      v      St John Bosco                  
Ardglass      v      Saul                  
Glenn      v      Tecconnaught                  
Bredagh      v      St Pauls                  
St Micheals      v      Drumaness                  
Mitchels      v      Drumgath                  
Bye      v      Carryduff                  

Round Two
Carryduff      v      Glassdrumman   
St John Bosco      v      Ardglass   
Saul      v      Glenn   
Tecconnaught      v      Bredagh   
St Pauls      v      St Micheals   
Drumaness      v      Mitchels   
Drumgath      v      Bye   

Round Three
St John Bosco      v      Carryduff   
Saul      v      Glassdrumman   
Tecconnaught      v      Ardglass   
St Pauls      v      Glenn   
Drumaness      v      Bredagh   
Drumgath      v      St Micheals   
Mitchels      v      Bye   

Round Four
Carryduff      v      Saul   
Glassdrumman      v      Tecconnaught   
Ardglass      v      St Pauls   
Glenn      v      Drumaness   
Bredagh      v      Drumgath   
St Micheals      v      Mitchels   
Bye      v      St John Bosco   


Round Five
Saul      v      St John Bosco   
Tecconnaught      v      Carryduff   
St Pauls      v      Glassdrumman   
Drumaness      v      Ardglass   
Drumgath      v      Glenn   
Mitchels      v      Bredagh   
St Micheals      v      Bye   


Round Six
St John Bosco      v      Tecconnaught   
Carryduff      v      St Pauls   
Glassdrumman      v      Drumaness   
Ardglass      v      Drumgath   
Glenn      v      Mitchels   
Bredagh      v      St Micheals   
Bye      v      Saul   


Round Seven
Tecconnaught      v      Saul   
Drumaness      v      Carryduff   
Mitchels      v      Ardglass   
Bredagh      v      Bye   
St Pauls      v      St John Bosco   
Drumgath      v      Glassdrumman   
St Micheals      v      Glenn   

Round   Eight
Saul      v      St Pauls   
St John Bosco      v      Drumaness   
Carryduff      v      Drumgath   
Glassdrumman      v      Mitchels   
Ardglass      v      St Micheals   
Glenn      v      Bredagh   
Bye      v      Tecconnaught   

Round  Nine
St Pauls      v      Tecconnaught   
Drumaness      v      Saul   
Drumgath      v      St John Bosco   
Mitchels      v      Carryduff   
St Micheals      v      Glassdrumman   
Bredagh      v      Ardglass   
Glenn      v      Bye   

Round  Ten
Tecconnaught      v      Drumaness   
Saul      v      Drumgath   
St John Bosco      v      Mitchels   
Carryduff      v      St Micheals   
Glassdrumman      v      Bredagh   
Ardglass      v      Glenn   
Bye      v      St Pauls   

Round  Eleven
Drumaness      v      St Pauls   
Drumgath      v      Tecconnaught   
Mitchels      v      Saul   
St Micheals      v      St John Bosco   
Bredagh      v      Carryduff   
Glenn      v      Glassdrumman   
Ardglass      v      Bye   


Round  Twelve
St Pauls      v      Drumgath   
Tecconnaught      v      Mitchels   
Saul      v      St Micheals   
St John Bosco      v      Bredagh   
Carryduff      v      Glenn   
Glassdrumman      v      Ardglass   
Bye      v      Drumaness   


Round Thirteen
Drumgath      v      Drumaness   
Mitchels      v      St Pauls   
St Micheals      v      Tecconnaught   
Bredagh      v      Saul   
Glenn      v      St John Bosco   
Ardglass      v      Carryduff   
Glassdrumman      v      Bye   

[western exile]

The ref for the Down Cavan game had a better grasp of this situation although Dan Gordon wasnt playing that night and very little high catching on display as a result.

Great to see so many posters alive to this issue.

I am adding my agreement with you here too.  It seems so obvious to fix, yet they cant see the wood for the trees!

[amallon]

If anyone wants the fixture list PM me with your email address and I will send them on.

I was very impressed with the performance on Sat night again.  McArdle did well on Bradley, the ball played in for the goal was a top quality pass and caught him out a little.  Bradley was going to make no mistake from there.  I thought it was  a strange decision to bring John Clarke off he was going well.

I was impressed with the attitude of the Down players after the game, there wasn't a whole lot of celebrating and Dan's speech made all the right noises.

I'm expecting a decent crowd for Saturday night in Newry, 70% of the crowd in Belfast was Down people.

[Fíor Gael]

A strong purposeful performance by Down on Saturday night, with everyone playing their part in a well organised and hard working team effort. Very encouraging stuff and the boys who have been given their chance have stood up to the challenge which means that their is real competition for places this year. Players that didn't feature in the McKenna cup include:
Dan McCartan
Luke Howard
Declan Rooney (last years captain)
Paul Murphy
Ambrose Rodgers
James Colgan
Micky Walsh
Aidan Carr
Stephen Kearney
John Boyle
Paul McComisky
Benny Coulter
Eoghan McCartan (prob still injured???)

With the exception of maybe two of these lads, most will have a real fight to get a place, and it's only that fight that'll get the best out of them. So although it's only January and the NFL hasn't even begun, things are still looking a lot better this year.

[Square Ball]

First game of the season away tp St Pauls, any dates yet?

I have all the fixtures, if anyone wants a copy PM me.

[stpauls]

First game of the season away tp St Pauls, any dates yet?

I have all the fixtures, if anyone wants a copy PM me.

SB, we are away to you lot in the first match, and i have heard the 9th March as the starting date of Div 3 this year, with everyone else starting 2 weeks later.