Down Club Hurling & Football

[BRIDGE LAD]

Down 0.14 Tipp 1.11 ft

That scoreline will suit McCartan, too much hype over first two games! Still never lost, might have lost them games previously! People have to be realistic about Down. Although saying that the new management team seems to have them playing better. Two tough games up next, hope we can win at least one of them!

[Carbery]

Down 0.14 Tipp 1.11 ft

Is this not a hurling result?

[norabeag]

Down 0.14 Tipp 1.11 ft

Is this not a hurling result?

No Down hurlers would be used to posting a bigger score against such opposition

[Mid Down Gael]

Bad resullt for Down tonight. A team with Downs ambition should be able to get two league points against Tipp. At times tonight we where ran ragged. Brendy McVeigh had an unconvincing night between the posts while our defencive problems from recent times where again evident. Ambrose battled gamely at midfield with little support from either partner. The two Clarkes and Laverty played well up front and how Laverty was subtituted ahead off the ineffective McComiskey and Coulter is baffling. It was a bad point to drop tonight and much improvement is needed ahead off two difficult ties against Armagh and Donegal.

[Dubh driocht]

Strange performance from Down.Started off like all-stars and the forwards looked like having a field day. While the defence and midfield weren't bad, complacency or something set in when we went 7-2 up.Benny missed a sitter while Laverty used his brains well to record 3 from play. They pegged it back , mostly from frees and helped by a shocking clearance from Mc Veigh.The goal was a poor one to concede - the players disputed it had crossed the line but it left Down unbelievably behind at the break.Thought Calum King was unlucky to go off as he is a solid player and one tackle in particular was first class- Fitzpatrick didn't do a whole pile despite having a swagger about him and Ambrose played in fits and starts. The Clarkes were super throughout and Tipp were a physical team who probably should have got at least one red in the middle of the half dozen yellows throughout. Brendy Mc Veigh was fartin about again in the second half and was lucky not to have been punished more heavily- however, we should have polished them off going 3 up with a minute to go. The ref gave them a fair bit in the last few minutes and ironically, when he did give us a free, Marty, of all people, didn't have the composure to hold possession and their free taker kept his cool despite the booing to record the draw.
As BL said, maybe a wake up call as next week is critical, not just for the points at stake.
Was the last sub Gerard Mc Cartan as it certainly wasn't Ronan Murtagh ?Also, Tally and Jerome seem to call a lot of the shots tonight- I would rather have Mc Iver in a tight game like that.

[Mid Down Gael]

Strange performance from Down.Started off like all-stars and the forwards looked like having a field day. While the defence and midfield weren't bad, complacency or something set in when we went 7-2 up.Benny missed a sitter while Laverty used his brains well to record 3 from play. They pegged it back , mostly from frees and helped by a shocking clearance from Mc Veigh.The goal was a poor one to concede - the players disputed it had crossed the line but it left Down unbelievably behind at the break.Thought Calum King was unlucky to go off as he is a solid player and one tackle in particular was first class- Fitzpatrick didn't do a whole pile despite having a swagger about him and Ambrose played in fits and starts. The Clarkes were super throughout and Tipp were a physical team who probably should have got at least one red in the middle of the half dozen yellows throughout. Brendy Mc Veigh was fartin about again in the second half and was lucky not to have been punished more heavily- however, we should have polished them off going 3 up with a minute to go. The ref gave them a fair bit in the last few minutes and ironically, when he did give us a free, Marty, of all people, didn't have the composure to hold possession and their free taker kept his cool despite the booing to record the draw.
As BL said, maybe a wake up call as next week is critical, not just for the points at stake.
Was the last sub Gerard Mc Cartan as it certainly wasn't Ronan Murtagh ?Also, Tally and Jerome seem to call a lot of the shots tonight- I would rather have Mc Iver in a tight game like that.

Yeah McIvor was missed along the line tonight. How Gerard McCartan got a run on a Down senior team il never know.

[charlieTully]

Strange performance from Down.Started off like all-stars and the forwards looked like having a field day. While the defence and midfield weren't bad, complacency or something set in when we went 7-2 up.Benny missed a sitter while Laverty used his brains well to record 3 from play. They pegged it back , mostly from frees and helped by a shocking clearance from Mc Veigh.The goal was a poor one to concede - the players disputed it had crossed the line but it left Down unbelievably behind at the break.Thought Calum King was unlucky to go off as he is a solid player and one tackle in particular was first class- Fitzpatrick didn't do a whole pile despite having a swagger about him and Ambrose played in fits and starts. The Clarkes were super throughout and Tipp were a physical team who probably should have got at least one red in the middle of the half dozen yellows throughout. Brendy Mc Veigh was fartin about again in the second half and was lucky not to have been punished more heavily- however, we should have polished them off going 3 up with a minute to go. The ref gave them a fair bit in the last few minutes and ironically, when he did give us a free, Marty, of all people, didn't have the composure to hold possession and their free taker kept his cool despite the booing to record the draw.
As BL said, maybe a wake up call as next week is critical, not just for the points at stake.
Was the last sub Gerard Mc Cartan as it certainly wasn't Ronan Murtagh ?Also, Tally and Jerome seem to call a lot of the shots tonight- I would rather have Mc Iver in a tight game like that.

martin clarke was not super at all tonight, quite a few misplaced passes and kicked the ball straight into an opponents hands at the end which lead to the free to equalise.

[behind the wire]

where was mcivor?

very stop start performance tonight but as someone has sad perhaps it will do no harm, hopefully it will do away with the media hype.

very poor refereeing this evening as well, didnt let they play flow and failed to take action against constant fouling by tipp. the foul on colgan looked bad from where i was sitting. Marty clarke and laverty took a lot of abuse off the ball but the officials did nothing, that has been a common feature of all the games so far, maybe the team need to start dealing discreetly with that sort of thing themselves.

i make a point of not commenting on individuals because they are all better players than i am but as a team a better performance will be required in donegal. thought we were returning to the dark days of last year during some stages of the second half because of too much hand passing in our own half.

p.s. great kick from barry grogan under pressure to level the game. 

[Mid Down Gael]

Strange performance from Down.Started off like all-stars and the forwards looked like having a field day. While the defence and midfield weren't bad, complacency or something set in when we went 7-2 up.Benny missed a sitter while Laverty used his brains well to record 3 from play. They pegged it back , mostly from frees and helped by a shocking clearance from Mc Veigh.The goal was a poor one to concede - the players disputed it had crossed the line but it left Down unbelievably behind at the break.Thought Calum King was unlucky to go off as he is a solid player and one tackle in particular was first class- Fitzpatrick didn't do a whole pile despite having a swagger about him and Ambrose played in fits and starts. The Clarkes were super throughout and Tipp were a physical team who probably should have got at least one red in the middle of the half dozen yellows throughout. Brendy Mc Veigh was fartin about again in the second half and was lucky not to have been punished more heavily- however, we should have polished them off going 3 up with a minute to go. The ref gave them a fair bit in the last few minutes and ironically, when he did give us a free, Marty, of all people, didn't have the composure to hold possession and their free taker kept his cool despite the booing to record the draw.
As BL said, maybe a wake up call as next week is critical, not just for the points at stake.
Was the last sub Gerard Mc Cartan as it certainly wasn't Ronan Murtagh ?Also, Tally and Jerome seem to call a lot of the shots tonight- I would rather have Mc Iver in a tight game like that.

martin clarke was not super at all tonight, quite a few misplaced passes and kicked the ball straight into an opponents hands at the end which lead to the free to equalise.

Injury time was up all Marty had to do was kick the ball over end or side line and the referee would have had to blow for full time. Laverty done it at end off Meath game.

[Pangurban]

A bit shambolic tonight, with many of the old defensive failings evident. Thought myself that Tally seemed to be making a lot of the calls, mainly bad ones, certainly not his role to do so. Also is Benny untouchable, as any fair assessment would have seen him substituted before Lavery, Mc Comiskey also poor but took a lot of abuse which the ref. failed to deal with. Could prove to be a costly result, but part of the learning curve, no need to be disheartened, onwards and upwards

[Mourne Rover]

This was a reality check rather than a wake-up call, as we have a long way to go this season. Fair play to Tipperary who looked dead and buried after 20 minutes, but, when they were allowed back into the game, they were physically stronger than us, as they displayed last year. They got away with a series of high tackles,  with yellow cards which should have been red on on least two occasions, and the assault on Colgan was close to a disgrace, but they are a decent side.

It was also a learning curve for our management, which is no bad thing, and James will surely have noted the danger of tampering with a winning formula.  He could do nothing about the loss of Hughes, but Poland or Kearney as a direct swoop would have kept our balance right. Laverty did well in the first half, but faded in the second, and bringing McComiskey out the field was simply a bad move.

Some of the squad may have been in the church for Ronan Sexton's wedding, and most of them would have been heading for the reception after the match, so the lack of concentration from a number of players may have been inevitable and we may have to just take that on the chin.

However, James has surpassed all exceptions so far and we would have taken the hand off anyone who had offered us five points out of six at the start of our league programme. All  Down supporters will be delighted if we take on board a couple of the warning signs from this match. 

[Mid Down Gael]

A big reason Mourne Rover for Laverty fading was the supply lines in the second half where not there. He got one ball put in and won it. In the first half he was outstanding and was involved in many scores as well as from scoring 3 beautys. He has proved with his introduction against Meath and Kildare, his 5 points from play in the Antrim friendly and last night that he has much to offer at county level.

[Caitlin]

[
martin clarke was not super at all tonight, quite a few misplaced passes and kicked the ball straight into an opponents hands at the end which lead to the free to equalise.

He is capable of more but he was super and the best player on the field by a country mile

[extra time]

totally agree . marty c was by far best player on pitch last night. had his 2nd half volley been a couple inches lower we would have been looking at goal of season already. pity he gave ball away from last free but his class and workrate stood out !

[DownFanatic]

It was a rather poor game last night. The main thing I took from it was that we played badly but we still managed to get a result. Thats a very big plus in my book.

Tipp were a very physical side and they proved that we still have a lot of work to do in that area. However, when they ran at us I thought we done very well to try to smother and repulse them. At times we had four or five men surrounding a Tipp player and I think that shows the increased hunger and desire that this group of players possesess.

In terms of personnel, very few really caught the eye. I thought Laverty was excellent. He grabbed three from play and had a hand in a couple of other scores. The pressure was on him tonight to deliver and I think he did just that.

McVeigh was shaky enough in goals and their goal should have been dealt with more effectively while contrary to other posters I thought our defence did alright. Dan McCartan and Dee Rafferty marked diligently while McArdle didn't have a whole pile to do at full back. McKernan bombed forward with purpose in the last quarter and this is a great asset to have. Colgan's man didn't do a helluva lot and I thought he was steady enough. Garvey was slightly off the pace and was probably the weakest of the back six on view.

Ambrose showed glimpses of quality in midfield while King faded after the first twenty minutes. I still think they are a good pairing and King will probably edge out Fitzpatrick come Championship. Fitzpatrick is still a bit green but is great option to bring on.

Up front we were a mixed bag. I commented a few days ago on how McComiskey was not a wing forward and last night proved it. However, I could see James's thinking. Laverty needed his chance to impress in the corner and McComiskey is simply too good a player to have on the bench so he made the necessary sacrifice. Marty Clarke got on the ball a lot but he reallly needs to ease off on the high balls into the full forward line as Tipp were on top on that sector. John Clarke won some great possession, intermittently though, while the best is still to come from Benny. Maginn had an off night.

Mark Poland looked game when introduced, Kearney had no impact while it was good to see Choc Brannigan get some game time late on.

Overall, this result has done some good in that it has quelled the premature hype. The main thing is that we didn't get beat. From what I seen we are still a long long way off the top echelons of the game. The foundations seem to be there though.