Down Club Hurling & Football

[amallon]

I have to admit not getting to the game on Sunday due to ripping the dick out of it on Sat night at the X Factor so I can't really say too much about the Down performance. 

I think Roscommon and Cavan aren't as strong as Fermanagh and Wexford, but Offaly will be a tough enough place to get a win.  Division 3 will be marginally easier next year and if Down can't get out of it they may forget about it.

6 Weeks to Omagh and a lot of work to be done.

[Fíor Gael]

Again another very disappointing performance, played at a pedestrian pace in a very subdued atmosphere. I think it is unfair to come on here and criticize lads who are training hard and doing their best. We had enough chances to win the game comfortably yesterday but we missed far too many easy chances and when it came to the crunch Fermanagh were able to get the important scores with ease.
Our style of play (if you could call it that) is the most disappointing aspect, over use/ abuse of the hand pass, unwilling/unable to kick a 30 yard pass, little or no movement in our forward line, half forwards who think they have to toe tap the ball every time they get it, inability to win break ball or hold the ball in the tackle (how many times yesterday did we spill the ball after a heavy tackle). Too many off our lads play like they would in a club match, get the ball and run with it. Management need to get this sorted are Tyrone will seriously embarrass us.

[whyarerefssobad]

the management have to take responsibility they have not a clue what the best team is murtagh plays half back all year then in the last competitive game before championship he is centre half forward last years centre half forward is now half back Clarke was a defender last year now a forward Doyle is a forward playing in defence what is going on.one off the best players in the county is sitting in the stand in mickey Walsh who plays in a position were we are very weak how many breaks did down get yesterday we have midfielders who cant catch the ball so we need good break ball winners.

[downredblack]

Coulter beat his man to the first couple of balls played in to him , result his man was called  ashore . 1 of our back 6 in particular was crying out to be subbed from midway through the first half  but remained on the field for the full 70 mins . Why was the likes of Damien Rafferty or Dan McCartan not introduced at some stage ?

[Leo]

I was in the middle of a long post about the continued failure of senior team management to take radical steps to address key central positions and then realised ........

Said it all before.
Nothing learned.
No change.


How many times can we go "back to the draowing board"?

No wonder Mickey Harte sat smiling throughout the game.

[downredblack]

Anyone see the Ross Carr interview in the IN yet ? Carr slams ref as "incompetent or biased" is the headline on the IN website. Thought he was bad okay and made some bad decisions for both teams , wonder what the "biased" claims are based on   

[goldenyears]

WHEN you're Down, you're down. Seemingly set for the morale boost of a concluding victory over the divisional leaders in this disappointing campaign, the Mournemen were denied even that scant consolation by a late rally from Fermanagh.

The Ernemen trailed almost throughout, from the second minute to the 68th minute, when a Ryan Keenan goal put them in front for the first time.

Having been four points behind with only four minutes of normal time remaining, at 0-13 to 0-9, Fermanagh reeled off 1-3 without reply inside four minutes to snatch success.

Conceding goals has been Down's downfall this season, but their failure to find the net also played a part.

Seconds before Fermanagh's final flurry of scores, home substitute Paul McComiskey broke through the middle but chose to poke a shot well over the bar.

At least the Dundrum lad took a score and his decision not to go for goal was probably affected by missed opportunities from more established players or, to give credit where it's due, the impressive form of Fermanagh's stand-in goalkeeper Ronan Gallagher.

The former number one staked a strong claim to reclaim the jersey with two smart saves in the early stages of the final quarter.

Both were one-on-one chances, from Down captain Dan Gordon and then full-forward Benny Coulter, but the big St Gall's clubman kept out both with his legs.

In between those saves, another of Fermanagh's more experienced men caught the eye, Tom Brewster coming off the bench to kick a collector's item, a point with his right foot.

Added to a great free converted from the right sideline, Brewster closed the gap to a point, 0-10 to 0-9, but Down then pulled away to lead by four, and appeared on course to win.

Instead, two points inside 60 seconds, from Ciaran McElroy then Tommy McElroy, kept Fermanagh in contention – and the game's only goal then turned the tide completely.

Brendan McVeigh beat out a fierce shot from James Sherry but Keenan gathered the loose ball and fired it to the net.

In the first minute of added time the same two players combined to set up Ciaran McElroy for his fourth point from play and Fermanagh held on for a famous victory.

The visitors can be especially pleased with this win because manager Malachy O'Rourke rang the changes with promotion already assured, making five adaptations to their listed line-up, with Peter Sherry, Hugh Brady, Ciaran McElroy, Jonathan McGurn, and Liam McBarron all coming in.

Down's two alterations both came in a re-shaped attack, with Danny Hughes and Kevin McKernan left out, the latter after playing all of Saturday's U21 All-Ireland semi-final, and Ambrose Rodgers starting on the left wing and Ronan Murtagh at centre half-forward.

With Ronan Sexton operating in a roving role out of corner-forward, Down began better, opening up a 0-3 to no score lead in just over five minutes.

However, the increasingly disjointed hosts could not sustain that and Fermanagh looked consistently threatening, even though Brendan McVeigh denied Keenan in a one-on-one.

The Ernemen exhibited a more coherent pattern of play and Ciaran McElroy, Keenan, and Eamon Maguire clawed them back into it.

Fermanagh fouling in defence was punished by Aidan Carr's free-taking, but the visitors finished the first half strongly to trail by the minimum margin, 0-7 to 0-6, although Down's Sexton did lob against the bar in the closing seconds.

Word undoubtedly seeped through from Wexford that a win would not be enough for Down anyway, but after two quick scores from Murtagh gave them a three-point lead, defeat still came as a shocking blow.

MATCH STATS

Down: B McVeigh; L Howard, C McGovern,

M Cole; A Carr (0-4, 0-3 frees), L Doyle,

K McGuigan; P Turley (Saval) (0-1), D Gordon (capt.), (0-1); S Kearney, R Murtagh (0-2),

A Rodgers (0-2); J Clarke (0-1), B Coulter

(0-1), R Sexton.

Substitutes: D O'Hanlon for McGovern (15, inj.); D Hughes for Turley (52); P McComiskey (0-1) for Kearney (59).

Fermanagh: Ronan Gallagher; P Sherry,

H Brady, D O'Reilly; D Kelly, R McCluskey,

T McElroy (0-1); M McGrath (capt.),

S McDermott; C McElroy (0-4), J Sherry,

J McGurn (0-1 ?45); R Keenan (1-2, 0-1 free), L McBarron (0-1), E Maguire (0-1). Substitutes: T Brewster (0-2, 0-1 free) for McGurn (45); D McQuaid for McBarron (60).

Blood substitute: N Bogue for Brady (6-10).

[goldenyears]

Carr slams referee after loss Allianz NFL Division 3 Down 0-13 Fermanagh 1-12
From Kenny Archer at Pairc Esler
21/04/08

DOWN manager Ross Carr labelled match referee Pat Fox either "incompetent or biased" after his side succumbed to a later sucker punch goal from Fermanagh.

The Mournemen's boss strongly criticised the performance of the Westmeath official, citing certain incidents that swung the momentum of this game in the Ernemen's favour.

The Clonduff clubman admitted that it was a very disappointing result.

"I felt we were the better team throughout the game. We always carried the bigger threat and we quietened down the couple of Fermanagh forwards that were causing us trouble in the first half, Maguire and McElroy," he said.

"However, Carr then claimed that another factor took over: "One thing you can't legislate for in this game is the performance of the referee.

"I suppose there's a directive from Croke Park not to comment but how would you assess the performance of the referee in the second half?

"Ambrose Rodgers goes through and is pulled to the ground twice but he doesn't get his free – and they go and stick the ball over the bar. All of a sudden that's a two-point swing.

"The last two scores that Fermanagh got, Liam Doyle was in front both times and a man pushed him in the back and we concede a goal and a point."

Carr did pay tribute to the victors – but again pointed to the display from the referee: "This is not sour grapes, Fermanagh are a good side, they're not top of the division for nothing. But it has come down to a call: either someone is incompetent or biased. That referee was one of the two – I don't know which."

Carr insisted: "We've played a lot worse and won games this year."

His Fermanagh counterpart, Malachy O'Rourke, was happy that his team had taken the two points, and not just because they finished top of the table.

This was a win for the history books in more ways than one, he revealed: "As far as I know, a Fermanagh team has never come down and beat Down on their home turf before. The boys were conscious of that and were very keen to try and turn that one over."

O'Rourke was also pleased that Fermanagh had remained unbeaten ahead of next weekend's Division Three final against Wexford: "We said before the game that this was a good test of our mental strengths.

"We had plenty of excuses not to win: Down needed the points, we didn't really; we were already through to the final.

"But we decided we wanted to go out and win the game and not make excuses for ourselves."

The manner of the victory also augurs well for Fermanagh, believes their boss: "A lot of the games we've played so far have gone to the last 10 minutes, and we've won an awful lot of them, which is great.

"That shows the character of our players, and that's what happened again."

[behind the wire]

poor performance yesterday, think everyone is pretty depressed about the entire season at present. things were looking up during the mckenna cup, but after the last two weeks everyone has become well and truely disheartened.

on another note, would have hoped to have seen the u21's in the all ireland final. they had the beating of kildare.

conor garvey's behaviour near the end was a disgrace to our county.

[whyarerefssobad]

bit harsh there on Garvey what he done was wrong but he is a young lad playing in an all ireland semi final maybe not having the best off games frustration gets to him and he kneels on someone hopefully he can learn from it

[behind the wire]

bit harsh there on Garvey what he done was wrong but he is a young lad playing in an all ireland semi final maybe not having the best off games frustration gets to him and he kneels on someone hopefully he can learn from it

that comment is a disgrace. the fact that you can in any way attempt to condone that sort of behaviour is a bit ironic given your username.

the kildare lad made the best catch of the game, he fell akwardly on his back. he could have been seriously injured yet garvey saw fit to put his knee in his head and keep it there until someone pushed him away. that is the sort of cowardly behaviour down have always been able to do without. no excuse for it at all. just lucky the kildare player wasnt seriously injured.

[downredblack]

Jaysus , we will have no one on the line in Omagh 

Down boss Ross Carr could be in hot water with the GAA's disciplinary authorities after he labelled referee Pat Fox either "incompetent or biased" after the Mourne County's slim NFL promotion hopes were ended by Fermanagh at Newry.

Carr was scathing in his criticism of the Westmeath official, citing certain decisions that swung the result in Fermanagh's favour.

He blasted: "One thing you can't legislate for in this game is the performance of the referee. I suppose there's a directive from Croke Park not to comment but how would you assess the performance of the referee in the second half?

"Ambrose Rodgers goes through and is pulled to the ground twice but he doesn't get a free - and they go and stick the ball over the bar. All of sudden that's a two-point swing.

"The last two scores that Fermanagh got, Liam Doyle was in front both times and a man pushed him in the back and we concede a goal and a point."

He added: "This is not sour grapes, Fermanagh are a good side, they're not top of the division for nothing. But it has come down to a call - either someone is incompetent or biased. The referee was one of the two - I don't know which."

[passedit]

Jaysus lads, I can't think of anything more depressing than being a down fan this morning (well maybe an antrim one so).

I too was wondering where the bias allegation was coming from. 

Mickey Doyle will be a lonely man on June 8.

[whyarerefssobad]

bit harsh there on Garvey what he done was wrong but he is a young lad playing in an all ireland semi final maybe not having the best off games frustration gets to him and he kneels on someone hopefully he can learn from it

that comment is a disgrace. the fact that you can in any way attempt to condone that sort of behaviour is a bit ironic given your username.

the kildare lad made the best catch of the game, he fell akwardly on his back. he could have been seriously injured yet garvey saw fit to put his knee in his head and keep it there until someone pushed him away. that is the sort of cowardly behaviour down have always been able to do without. no excuse for it at all. just lucky the kildare player wasnt seriously injured.

i said what he done was wrong and hopefully he can learn from it dont be making a mountain out off a mole hill

[goldenyears]

just a theory lads, and maybe too simplistic but i think i have a rationale for why the seniors havent performed in the last 10 yrs - ish

our style of play is old school, free flowing, we score you score, with v little emphasis on negative tactics. Armagh 99 was our first experience of this and what have we done to move things on or to welcome that style of play since then?? I would say nothing.

we do v well at underage level cos we have good natural footballers here, and minor/u21 tends to be like playing when we were kids - no negative tactics and more open football which we do well in - in those types of games at senior level we also do well in, but once we come up against a team well drilled defensively with extra bodies in their defence we arent able to cope....

too simplistic? i think there's certainly an element of truth

for me, that would be my first job in charge - would be to set a pattern of play / sounds easy but I guarantee if we adapted that approach v tyrone with the same group of players we would do well - if we go out with the same thinking right now we will lose by 6-8 points

who's backing me?? new manager!

ps. i predict pete mcgrath to be the new manager for next season!