Down Club Hurling & Football

[eyeswideopen]

Just heard that St John's have refused to field against the Finn in todays match fixed for 1pm.
Is there another wedding in the parish??

What was the reason for refusing to field?

From what i can gather they are trying to claim the points, saying they turned up for the game earlier in the season. They did but Finn pitch had been declared unplayable by the council. Total disregard for the Finn who have every right to be treated with same respect as any other club in the county. Also amazed that St Johns are not taking the opportunity to get competitive football ahead of forthcoming Ulster championship. Surely this would have been a chance to look at some fringe players!!!

[Statto-Gael]

Just heard 1-8 to 0-8 to Annaclone at HT in the IFC Final

How did the minor game finish?

[Maiden1]

Who won the senior game?

[TORGAEL]

Final score, Annaclone 1-13, Darragh Cross 0-13.
Mayobridge won the minors by 4 goals i think.

[Downgael2008]

whats the story in division one now. what are the top 4 and who are relegated ?

has anyone got a full table? I think this end to the season has been the worst in a long long while

[Square Ball]

ACFL Div 1
Burren 1 14 Castlewellan 1 04
Mayobridge 2 14 Clonduff 0 04
Longstone 1 13 An Riocht 0 11
Saval  Loughinisland
ACFL Div 2
Downpatrick 0 06 Bryansford 1 12
Ballymartin 0 10 Warrenpoint 0 11
ACFL Div 3
St John Bosco 2 07 Saul 4 07
Carryduff 1 12 Teconnaught 1 08
Glasdrumman 3 13 St Pauls 0 04
Glenn 1 10 Drumgath 1 10
Bredagh 2 18 Mitchels 1 05
ACFL Div 4
Aghaderg 1 11 Ballykinlar 1 06
Powerade Minor Football Championship Final
Ath Bhriain 0 13 Droichead Mhaigh Eo 4 12
Around A Pound Intremediate Championship Final
Eanach Cluana 1 13  Crois Darach 0 13   

Fixtures
Saturday 18th 4 30
ACFL Div 1
Clonduff v Kilcoo
Liatroim v Loughinisland
Castlewellan v An Riocht
Longstone v Rostrevor
ACFL Div 2
Daragh Cross v Warrenpoint
Attical v Clann na Banna
Ballymartin v Shamrocks
Kilclief v Bryansford
Dundrum v Annaclone
Downpatrick v Tullylish
ACFL Div 3
Drumaness v Drumgath
St Pauls v Mitchels
Teconnaught v St Micheals
Saul v Bredagh
St John Bosco v Glenn
Carryduff v Ardglass
Sunday 19th 12 30
ACPRL Div 1
An Riocht v Kilcoo
Castlewellan v Liatroim
Burren v Bryansford
ACPRL Div 2
Bredagh v Tullylish
Longstone v Ballymartin
Annaclone v Saval
Carryduff v Kilclief
Warrenpoint v Loughinisland


     

[umpire]

Saval 1.11 Loughinisland 1.10
Liatriom v Kilcoo ?

Latest Div one table

P   W   D     L   Pts     SD   Teams
19   17   0     2   34   116   Mayobridge
21   12   2     7   26     25   Rostrevor
18   12   1     5   25     76   Kilcoo
21   11   1     9   23     12   Burren
20   10   2     8   22     35   Castlewellan
19   10   1     8   21   -25   Clonduff
20   10   0   10   20   -13   Longstone
18     7   4     7   18   -14   Loughinisland
20     7   3   10   17   -26   Saval
21     5   1   15   11   -73   An Riocht
17     4   2   11   10   -57   Liatroim
20     2   3   15     7   -56   Ballyholland

[umpire]

Remaining Div one games   
Series 17
   Liatroim v Castlewellan
   Series 18
   Loughinisland v Mayobridge
   Clonduff v Liatroim
   Kilcoo v Saval
   Series 19
   Liatroim v Kilcoo
   Series 20
   Liatroim v Mayobridge
   Kilcoo v Loughinisland
   Series 21
   Loughinisland v Clonduff
   Ballyholland v Longstone
   Series 22
   Clonduff v Kilcoo
   Mayobridge v Saval
   Liatroim v Loughinisland
   Castlewellan v An Riocht
   Burren v Ballyholland
   Longstone v Rostrevor

[umpire]

SFC  Mayobridge
IFC  Annaclone
JFC  St John's
PRFC Mayobridge
RFC Castlewellan
MFC Mayobridge

Final round of prediction league

6   D45
5   Amallon
5   Dulaney
5   off the laces
4   Aristotle Flynn
4   downfanatic
4   Umpire
3   Minus15
3   Niall Quinn
3   spiritof91and94
3   Square Ball
3   Statto-gael
1   dundrumite

[umpire]

Overall Prediction league

Congratulation to Downfanatic

31   downfanatic
30   Niall Quinn
30   off the laces
29   D45
28   Amallon
28   Umpire
24   dundrumite
23   Minus15
22   General
22   Square Ball
20   Bridgegael
20   Islandboy
18   thewobbler
17   Brick Tamlin
13   Centre 3/4
12   Aristotle Flynn
12   NO 1
11   BRIDGE LAD
11   Statto-gael
10   Maiden 1
8   Dulaney
8   Passedit
7   Blue Island
5   Stiff Breeze
4   eyeswideopen
4   SQUAREBALL
3   Behind the wire
3   spiritof91and94

[supersub]

anyone at the charity refs match at the weekend? im sure it was a pleasant spectacle!

[amallon]

Another great weekend for the Sky Blues, well done to the minors on completing the treble.  We did the same treble back in 1999.   I can't believe the Bridge are +116 in the league table, that is savage scoring. 

[off the laces]

Im definitely in favour of an amendment to our League structures.

If we were to increase the number of divisions, Id go for 5, with 8 teams in Division 1-4 and 11 teams in Division 5 with each team playing each other twice.

The reason for this suggested structure is that over the past few years a few trends have emerged in our Leagues. Generally Division 1 sees 8-9 teams able to compete competently with each other. Usually the bottom 3 or 4 teams are slightly off the pace and usually the two promoted Division 2 teams can be found in this pile.

So, going on League placings at this time this would be my Division 1: Mayobridge, Rostrevor, Kilcoo, Castlwellan, Burren, Clonduff, Loughinisland and Longstone.

My Division 2 would see the bottom 4 Division 1 side's pair up with the top 4 Division 2 sides. The vast majority of these eight teams are yo-yo's, generally going up one year and down the next. Saval, Shamrocks. Warrenpoint and Ballyholland have being doing this now for the best part of 6 or 7 years. I would view this grouping as very even and it would surely be ultra competitive.

Division 2 would line up like this: Saval, An Riocht, Liatroim, Ballyholland, Bryansford, Annaclone, Banbridge and Warrenpoint.

Division 3 would see the eight remaining old Division 2 sides group together. There may be a slight imperfection here as the top end of this grouping may just be too strong for the bottom end but it will be a far more balanced prospect than it was before.
This would be the new Division 3: Shamrocks, Ballymartin, Darragh Cross, Atticall, Downpatrick, Tullylish, Kilclief and Dundrum.

Division 3 at present is very open. Shocks happen week in week out and generally it is very competitive. However, there is nearly always a group of teams near the bottom who on a consistent basis are out of their depth and are never really going to challenge seriously for promotion. I would have the first 8 teams from the old Division 3 in a new Division 4.

Division 4 would look something like this: Glasdrumman, Ardglass, Bredagh, Carryduff, Drumaness, Drumgath, St Pauls and Glenn.

I would propose a new look 11 team Division 5. At the moment Division 4 is a shambles and has been for quite some years now. The introduction of the 5 remaining Division 3 teams would raise standards considerably.

It has been shown on numerous occasions in the past that a team can come from the lowest echelon and move up several divisions. Banbridge are a case in hand. Also, the notion of throwing the Kinlar and Finn into the EDRFL is absurd. These two teams are Senior teams and should be allowed to compete in a Senior club League structure.

Division 5 would be made up of the following: Saul, St Michaels, Teconnaught, Bosco, Mitchels, St Johns, Aghaderg, Dromara, Bright, Ballykinlar, Aughlisnafin.

In regards to promotion/relegation, in Divisions 1 to 4 Id have the top placed team going up automatically and the bottom placed team going down automatically with the top placed team in Division 5 going up automatically.

With the starred system in place, I would propose a new idea for the playoffs for all 5 Divisions. It sounds complicated but its not or maybe it is, I don't know.

Take this hypothetical end of season situation under the new League structure:

Division 1 Bottom

6th  Clonduff
7th   Loughinisland
------------------------
8th Longstone

Division 2 Top

1st Saval
-------------
2nd An Riocht
3rd Liatroim

Obviously, Longstone would be relegated automatically while Saval would be promoted automatically.

My idea for the playoffs would see Clonduff, Loughinisland, An Riocht and Liatroim playoff over three weekends, playing each other once.

At the end of the playoffs the top two teams would be the beneficiaries. Ie – If Clonduff and Loughinisland filled the top two positions then they would stay in Division 1. In another scenario, if Clonduff and An Riocht were in the top 2 in the group then Clonduff would maintain their Div.1 status while An Riocht would be promoted to Div.1 with Loughinisland being relegated to Div.2. Again if An Riocht and Liatroim were the top 2 in the group then they would both be promoted to Div.1 with Clonduff and Loughinisland both relegated to Div.2. You get the picture I hope.

It would probably be better to play as many League games as possible in April and May and try to have the Leagues sown up by late October/early November if possible.

In regards to the Championship, Division 1 and 2 teams would be in the SFC while Division 3 and 4 would compete in the IFC. All Division 5 teams would be in the JFC. Obviously if a team wins a Championship then they would be re-graded to a higher grade of Championship regardless of their League position for the following year.

With teams in Divisions 1 to 4 guaranteed a minimum of 14 and a maximum of 17 League games, then a revision of our Championship structures may be called for. Division 5 teams would have a minimum of 20 and a maximum of 23 League games.

you may want to look at the present table DF it shows we are above glenn!!!!!!

[centre 3/4s]

Was at the games yesterday in Newry, thought the minor game was good quality from both teams although the goals won it for a very good mayobridge minor team, Ford had a lot of good players and took some great points in second half but the bridge always were that wee bit better in each department. As for the second game the clone never looked like losing to me, Darragh Cross put up a good show and are a big strong side but annaclone were a wee bit cuter and deserved there win.

[guevara]

Congrats to Mayobridge & Annaclone on their respective wins yesterday. 
The Bridge were worthy winners, if the Ford hadve been able to get the goal they treatened to so many times they mightve made it a closer game.
As for the Senior game I thought Darragh Cross kicked themselves out of it. In the second half in particular they seemed to kick bad wide after wide.
But fair play to Annaclone. Id agree they seemed to have the better footballers & some of their scores were fit for any stage.
Must say I found it weird watching the game from the Newry side of the pitch new stand looks great with a big crowd in it!