Down Club Hurling & Football

[Open yer eyes Man]

He might be still at school but he's out of minor age - definately worth taking into the panel, just for experience alone.

Its not gonna be too long until he's there so bring him in now.

[gorm agus bui]

Has anyone any news on Turley?has he been dropped?

Was talking to a Downpatrick player and he tells me that Turley is starting a new job that involves 3 months training and he cannot do any sport or sporting training( with physical contact) for 12 weeks or so. Apparently Ross is very keen that he is back for the NFL

[buglebhoy]

Kilcoo is not a long way from the south/east Down dividing line (about a mile ?), and it's pretty surprising that yet again none of their players have made the cut even for an experimental squad. Conor Lavery is their main man, but sadly, although he is an exceptional talent, he is almost certainly too small to make it at county level. However, they have some of the best underage prospects in Down who are bound to come through the system over the next couple of years. The indications are that some starting places for the championship are up for grabs anyway. Murtagh is unlikely to return, among others, and Benny is probably the only forward sure of his jersey for the summer at this stage.

Can't see why murtagh is unlikely to return, he's only 27 and there's a few seasons left in him yet!!

[Mourne Rover]

Buglebhoy, as the sentence before the quote you highlight indicates, I was talking about the 2009 championship. Murtagh is a talented player who may well return in future seasons, but, unless things go badly for Down in the league, it remains unlikely, though not impossible, that he will be involved this summer.

Murtagh has the ability, but he has seldom managed to produce it on a regular championship basis. In 2007, for example, he was initially brilliant when he switched to wing half back in the preliminary round away to Cavan, and ran half the length of the field to kick the equalising point in injury time. However, he went down hill from there and by the time we played Meath in the qualifiers he was really struggling.

This year, he did reasonably well against Tyrone, but apart from one fine point, made little impact against Armagh. The less said about his display against Wexford at Croke Park the better, and he could not have been surprised when he was left out of the McKenna squad.

Murtagh has probably suffered from the fact that he can play in almost all of the six forward positions, but has not made any of them his own.     

[dodgy umpire]

http://www.squareball.com/club-county/pitch-finder/pairc-esler/  50 euro prize for four years for writing 200 words on pairc esler

[Pangurban]

Would prefer Murtagh over Eoin Mc Cartan any day. Murtagh had a poor season but the ability is undoubtedly there. I could say the same for Mc Cartan, average player, not County Standard

[Mourne Rover]

There is no doubt about Murtagh's ability but the question is over his ability to display it on anything like a regular basis. I mentioned his switch to wing half back against Cavan in the USC preliminary round of 2007, when he did well, but it would be very difficult to point to another game over the last three or four years when he made a similar impact. His best option might be alongside Benny in a two-man ful forward line, but McComiskey, if fit, would be a better bet there. A break should do Murtagh no harm at this stage.

McCartan has had so many injuries he is hard to assess. His last county match, away to Donegal in the 2006 USC, was a disaster, but he turned the 2007 Sigerson final for Queen's when he came off the bench. If he is fit again, he is at least worth a run. We are not exactly overloaded with scoring forwards at the moment.

[wobbller]

There is no doubt about Murtagh's ability but the question is over his ability to display it on anything like a regular basis. I mentioned his switch to wing half back against Cavan in the USC preliminary round of 2007, when he did well, but it would be very difficult to point to another game over the last three or four years when he made a similar impact. His best option might be alongside Benny in a two-man ful forward line, but McComiskey, if fit, would be a better bet there. A break should do Murtagh no harm at this stage.

McCartan has had so many injuries he is hard to assess. His last county match, away to Donegal in the 2006 USC, was a disaster, but he turned the 2007 Sigerson final for Queen's when he came off the bench. If he is fit again, he is at least worth a run. We are not exactly overloaded with scoring forwards at the moment.

  The word around Newry is that Rony is taking a break himself as unlike most others he has plenty of work on at the minute.

[thegael]

Again a great asset for Down with his strong running and fitness.a very focussed young man a winner and the sooner he is back the better !!
Young mc cartan will be a good squad member but will not be a starter but useful to bring on.
We need Michael Walsh back and a bit of man management from our managers.We cannot have a quality guy like him not in our side!!





                                         the gael takes no prisoners!

[sabhallphadraig]

East Down fixtures for this week:

East Down Under 20 (2008 Competition) Section "B"
Tuesday,  30th  December @ 2.00pm       Venue: Liatroim
St. Mary's   v Kilcoo  (G Corrigan)

Plus 2 Print Downpatrick  U-13 Football League Semi- finals
Sunday, 4th  January @ 12.00pm   Venue: Downpatrick
Carryduff A     v Saul  (P McCartan)

Sunday, 4th  January @ 1.30pm    Venue: Downpatrick
Bryansford   v Bredagh   (M  Brady)

East Down Under 20 (2008 Competition) Section "A"
Sunday, 4th  January @ 12.00pm
Drumaness   v Dun Ghláis  (G Tumelty)

East Down Under 20 (2008 Competition) Section "B"
Sunday, 4th  January@ 12.00pm
Loughinisland v Bredagh   (P Gelston)
Castlewellan  v St. Mary's  (P Brownlee)

[Bitta-Banter]

The new Darragh Cross manager is Eamon Burns.

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

Would prefer Murtagh over Eoin Mc Cartan any day. Murtagh had a poor season but the ability is undoubtedly there. I could say the same for Mc Cartan, average player, not County Standard

Complete nonsense. Eoin has struggled badly with injuries but to say the ability isn't there is ludicrous. If he can keep himself injury free and even come close to fulfilling his potential, he'd be an asset to any intercounty side.

[Our Nail Loney]

Would prefer Murtagh over Eoin Mc Cartan any day. Murtagh had a poor season but the ability is undoubtedly there. I could say the same for Mc Cartan, average player, not County Standard

Complete nonsense. Eoin has struggled badly with injuries but to say the ability isn't there is ludicrous. If he can keep himself injury free and even come close to fulfilling his potential, he'd be an asset to any intercounty side.

Correct

Eoin has always had the ablity, that has been shown any time he has stayed injury free for club or uni, he just hasn't had a long enough crack at it for county. Not to mention he is 100% dedicated and will work all day unlike some...

[the milkman]

Would prefer Murtagh over Eoin Mc Cartan any day. Murtagh had a poor season but the ability is undoubtedly there. I could say the same for Mc Cartan, average player, not County Standard

Complete nonsense. Eoin has struggled badly with injuries but to say the ability isn't there is ludicrous. If he can keep himself injury free and even come close to fulfilling his potential, he'd be an asset to any intercounty side.

Correct

Eoin has always had the ablity, that has been shown any time he has stayed injury free for club or uni, he just hasn't had a long enough crack at it for county. Not to mention he is 100% dedicated and will work all day unlike some...

Yeah i would def. have Eoin starting. He has just been very unlucky with injuries

[gorm agus bui]

Would prefer Murtagh over Eoin Mc Cartan any day. Murtagh had a poor season but the ability is undoubtedly there. I could say the same for Mc Cartan, average player, not County Standard

Complete nonsense. Eoin has struggled badly with injuries but to say the ability isn't there is ludicrous. If he can keep himself injury free and even come close to fulfilling his potential, he'd be an asset to any intercounty side.

Guff.
Not a county player no matter how far you stretch the imagination. Good club player. period.
Correct

Eoin has always had the ablity, that has been shown any time he has stayed injury free for club or uni, he just hasn't had a long enough crack at it for county. Not to mention he is 100% dedicated and will work all day unlike some...

Yeah i would def. have Eoin starting. He has just been very unlucky with injuries