Down Club Hurling & Football

[Dubh driocht]

I welcome 6th Sam's contribution and his points are fair about the lack of Bredagh/Carryduff representation on county squads.Hope that Owen Costello holds his place on the Queens team and acts as a role model for young Down players from his part of county Down.
The only game that the Down minor management came to see involving Bredagh this year was at our game in Bryansford (who had 3 players in the squad- all excellent players).Bredagh won by 10 points yet the management team did not even speak to the Bredagh players afterwards. Magee and Mc Kegney ( and some others)would have given a lot more than some players I saw against Mayo in a pretty poor performance.However, we all have a responsibility to raise the game in every part of Down and need help from County Managers and Coaches.

[6th sam]

Regarding GAA development in North Down,a few things would help:
1.a centre of excellence for all county teams training,and available for schools matches,based centrally ( in castlewellan area)
2.County board work in liaison with the 4 North Down clubs to develop a floodlit facility(in Carryduff,as only central available location) accessible to all North Down clubs.If this could be upgraded to provide a stand for example,it should be able to host county matches e.g ladies,minors,u21s,mckenna cup.
3.I'd be interested on Bredagh/Duff views on this:Up to u14 level Carryduff and Bredagh each consider entering 2 equal teams ,as opposed to A and B sides,to give all their eligible players meaningful football-as apparently some of their players lose interest if relegated to a "B" squad,while those in the "A" squad tend to easily dominate most teams in East Down.

I must say I am fascinated to read about this domination of East Down at juvenile level by Carryduff and Bredagh. Having been involved with underage football  for many years I would consider that no team bar Kilcoo of late have been dominant, and would not take away from the two Belfast clubs who are up there with the best but to suggest domination is taking things a bit far

Point taken,domination is incorrect,but they have been consistently strong

[waitingforsam]

anyone able to pass on latest scores from the matches at the Marshes tonight??

[bridgegael]

good win last night!!

[Square Ball]

Tullylish beat Drumgath by 6 I think

[umpire]

Drumgath 0.9 Tullylish 1.14
Liatriom 2.12 Saval 1.10

[Mid Down Gael]

Saval 1-11 Liatroim 2-12

Liam Doyle and Aidan OPrey where outstanding for the fontenoys in a game they never looked like loosing. Saval where abysmal until the introduction off Paul Faloon who brought them back into it. Declan Morgans tactics and game plan are hard to understand, i dont think the saval players even understand. Liatroim look most likely to survive now and they have the experiences on an annual basis on hand to guide them to safety.

Was very impressed with the division 3 final. The two sides went hell for leather and in the end Tullylish showed why they topped the table all year. Actually the division 3 game was much better in terms off quality and entertainment than the division one encounter.

[WhoAreYaWhoAreYa!]

Saval 1-11 Liatroim 2-12

Liam Doyle and Aidan OPrey where outstanding for the fontenoys in a game they never looked like loosing. Saval where abysmal until the introduction off Paul Faloon who brought them back into it. Declan Morgans tactics and game plan are hard to understand, i dont think the saval players even understand. Liatroim look most likely to survive now and they have the experiences on an annual basis on hand to guide them to safety.

Was very impressed with the division 3 final. The two sides went hell for leather and in the end Tullylish showed why they topped the table all year. Actually the division 3 game was much better in terms off quality and entertainment than the division one encounter.

I thought the Div 1 game was good? By all accounts it was a pretty tense affair no?

[Mid Down Gael]

Saval 1-11 Liatroim 2-12

Liam Doyle and Aidan OPrey where outstanding for the fontenoys in a game they never looked like loosing. Saval where abysmal until the introduction off Paul Faloon who brought them back into it. Declan Morgans tactics and game plan are hard to understand, i dont think the saval players even understand. Liatroim look most likely to survive now and they have the experiences on an annual basis on hand to guide them to safety.

Was very impressed with the division 3 final. The two sides went hell for leather and in the end Tullylish showed why they topped the table all year. Actually the division 3 game was much better in terms off quality and entertainment than the division one encounter.

I thought the Div 1 game was good? By all accounts it was a pretty tense affair no?

It was a tence opening ten minutes when it was score for score but when OPrey hit the net twice before half time there only ever looked to be one winner and as a contest Saval where always playing catch up. They where 8 points behind for a large part of the game until young Faloon gave Saval some hope with 1-1. Even the atmosphere in the stand was much greater for Tullylish v Drumgath. Saval will have big regrets off not finishing the game out the first day when they where the superior team.

[Mourne Rover]

There is no big secret about the low representation of Bredagh and Carryduff players on Down underage sides. The clubs are geographically separated from the rest of the county, and the main schools in their area, Knock and Aquinas, tend to have a low GAA profile. County selectors literally need to go out of their way to check on emerging players, and the evidence is that they have often  not made the effort.

Bredagh for example made the all county minor semi last year,  their u16s were in the ED final and the all county league semi this year, and they have been generally strong at most underage grades over recent seasons. However, apart from the keeper Sean Armstrong, who then missed out through injury, I'm fairly sure that Bredagh have not had anyone in the Down minor squad over the last 12 years.

It's not fair to focus too closely on individual young players, but, briefly, Owen Costello was always facing a tight call for the minor squad because of his size. He has since filled out, and got over a long-term injury, and he has the ability to make an impact with QUB. There will be something badly wrong if his brother, Emmet, is not involved with Down minors in 2010, and it is generally reckoned that Magee and McKegney were poorly treated last summer. If Down really had 12 defenders better than those two guys, we would have won an AI.

Bredagh are also strong at underage hurling, which can put pressure on dual players, and suffer from a lack of basic facilities, but the club will make a breakthrough sooner or later.

[bridgegael]

wats the craic with Div1 relegation now,  is that saval down??

[Blue Island]

wats the craic with Div1 relegation now,  is that saval down??

No they are not down. We play Saval next and if they lose that they are down. If we lose against Saval we have to beat Liatriom to force a three way tie and more games would then be required.

[Cabra_Harps32]

Whilst on the topic of Drumgath, what ever happened to a young fella Downey? Mark I think his name is? Seen him play an u 16 final against us a couple of years ago, looked a class act. Aint heard of him playing at senior level.

he threw the head up after an argument and quit. hot tempered lad, pity because he has a lot of potential.

Thats not what happened! Go ask Mark Downey himself & dont fool yourself by believing anybody from Drumgath when they talk on this matter, they have a million different explanations but the truth..

[charlieTully]

Whilst on the topic of Drumgath, what ever happened to a young fella Downey? Mark I think his name is? Seen him play an u 16 final against us a couple of years ago, looked a class act. Aint heard of him playing at senior level.

he threw the head up after an argument and quit. hot tempered lad, pity because he has a lot of potential.

Thats not what happened! Go ask Mark Downey himself & dont fool yourself by believing anybody from Drumgath when they talk on this matter, they have a million different explanations but the truth..

enlighten us then?

[WhoAreYaWhoAreYa!]

Saval 1-11 Liatroim 2-12

Liam Doyle and Aidan OPrey where outstanding for the fontenoys in a game they never looked like loosing. Saval where abysmal until the introduction off Paul Faloon who brought them back into it. Declan Morgans tactics and game plan are hard to understand, i dont think the saval players even understand. Liatroim look most likely to survive now and they have the experiences on an annual basis on hand to guide them to safety.

Was very impressed with the division 3 final. The two sides went hell for leather and in the end Tullylish showed why they topped the table all year. Actually the division 3 game was much better in terms off quality and entertainment than the division one encounter.

I thought the Div 1 game was good? By all accounts it was a pretty tense affair no?

It was a tence opening ten minutes when it was score for score but when OPrey hit the net twice before half time there only ever looked to be one winner and as a contest Saval where always playing catch up. They where 8 points behind for a large part of the game until young Faloon gave Saval some hope with 1-1. Even the atmosphere in the stand was much greater for Tullylish v Drumgath. Saval will have big regrets off not finishing the game out the first day when they where the superior team.

Thanks. Hard to get a decent match report sometimes, but yourself and amallon seem to have it down to a T!