Down Club Hurling & Football

[Naomh Pol CLG]

Stevie McDonnell is differant class, and there isn't a defender in Ireland who can stop him in that form...Game plan would be to stop the ball getting to him!!  Down have come along way in 12 months and we should not forget that.

Geariod O'Conamha tried his best to ruin a good game, the fussiest referee in intercounty football.  Would be interesting to see how many free's he awarded in that game!!!

[Dubh driocht]

Well done to St Paul's on their half-time performance but a few extra laps for those lads who were trying to score 'soccer-style'.
On the bigger game , the absence of our captain and best player this year to date cannot be over-emphasised- imagine Armagh without Mc Donnell !

[Town Gael]

Can't agree with you about Dan McCartan Sebastian- I thought he was as poor as ever today and I just hope the suspension he gets for stamping rules him out of the Donegal game. Too many of our big name players didn't turn up today and we made far too many careless mistakes- we lost possession in the tackle far too easily and some of our passing was shocking. There's time to correct it before Ballybofey though!

[Naomh Pol CLG]

Well done to St Paul's on their half-time performance but a few extra laps for those lads who were trying to score 'soccer-style'.
On the bigger game , the absence of our captain and best player this year to date cannot be over-emphasised- imagine Armagh without Mc Donnell !

Aye, we are trying to beat that out of them..Kids did us proud today!

[sebastion]

Can't agree with you about Dan McCartan Sebastian- I thought he was as poor as ever today and I just hope the suspension he gets for stamping rules him out of the Donegal game. Too many of our big name players didn't turn up today and we made far too many careless mistakes- we lost possession in the tackle far too easily and some of our passing was shocking. There's time to correct it before Ballybofey though!

He was much better than I thought he was going to be and anyone who has to mark McDonald will have their hands full.Down passing and decision making was poor we have too many players looking to get rid of the ball to the closest player instead of looking up and giving a good ball into space.

[thegael]

Welcome to reality today !
we are very limited and really we have a long way to go.
Armagh were a far better side and the result flattered us ( i suppose the lucky goal helped the scoreline) but we really were the second best.
Our full back line might just be the worst in ulster always seeming to be behind their men .
Garvey is most certainly not up to it , as for our midfield today it was woeful. In and around the middle we seemed to pass too much and with Armagh's fast tackling we were caught out on numerous occasions.
Up front Marty Clarke and Benny both tried hard but overall Armagh are a lot fitter and stronger than us.
Today shows that we are really up against it this year. The full back line and midfield needs wholesale changes and hopefully our management have the courage do the right thing.!I was als disgusted with the trampish stamping at the end.

                                            the gael takes no prisoners!

[13aside]

have to agree with most of what the gael says,McCartan spoilt a decent personal performance with that poor reaction(which will no doubt be punished),our forwards with the exception of Coulter didnt work hard enough to support  the man in possession and too often the ball was lost in the half-forward line.there was little of the intensive approach we have seen throughout the league and having said that there wasnt that much between the sides on the scoreboard at the end.Maybe thats a reflection on the standard both counties are playing at the moment,Cork certainly played at a higher and much more impressive level overall.Good luck to James and his management and players over the next few weeks ahead of the match against Donegal.On a completely tack i can understand the worries on health and safety grounds as  some Armagh and Down fans retreated to get out of the heavy shower of rain that fell at the end of the match and clogged up spme of the exits from the Hogan stand but i cant understand the permitting of supporters to purchase alcohol and consume the same in their seats of the Hogan stand.any comments??

[downredblack]

I was sitting at the top of the steps entering the lower Cusack and a few boys tried to bring pints in and were quickly ran by the stewards , In saying that two balloons were allowed down to their seats and they were just about able to walk . I think one of the same boys then proceeded to get sick in his seat . Nightmare for those around them especially those with kids .

[EagleLord]

As I said on here a few weeks ago, why not leave well enough alone? I said I wouldnt have Dan Gordan involved in the game, strip out ok, but should not feature. Many posters thought this to be very strange. There was no call whatsoever to bring him onto the feild. I said it is totally against principle to bring him on in the NFL final anyway, having not featured in any game leading up to it. Ok, Down weren't exactly running the show round the middle, but they had a foothold, had a bit of momentum, there was no call to make a substitution at all. It broke up the little run the team had got going and never recovered. He looked off the pace badly and 3 times spring to mind, that when he got possession, he lost it/fouled the ball, and these mistakes then lead to Armagh scores. I'm not saying that he is a bad player, of course not, before anyone jumps the gun and starts hurling abuse at me, but there no doubt in my mind that his introduction co-insided with Down's poor performance in the final quarter. Also I wasn't suprised to see Conor Laverty shrugged off the ball when it was delivered to him. He lacks the strength to compete physically, and even him trickery didnt make up for that, as the quality of defender at that level is so good, as well as their physicality. There was a young pearse og lad playing at halftime that would have made a better target man....

[dodgy umpire]

As I said on here a few weeks ago, why not leave well enough alone? I said I wouldnt have Dan Gordan involved in the game, strip out ok, but should not feature. Many posters thought this to be very strange. There was no call whatsoever to bring him onto the feild. I said it is totally against principle to bring him on in the NFL final anyway, having not featured in any game leading up to it. Ok, Down weren't exactly running the show round the middle, but they had a foothold, had a bit of momentum, there was no call to make a substitution at all. It broke up the little run the team had got going and never recovered. He looked off the pace badly and 3 times spring to mind, that when he got possession, he lost it/fouled the ball, and these mistakes then lead to Armagh scores. I'm not saying that he is a bad player, of course not, before anyone jumps the gun and starts hurling abuse at me, but there no doubt in my mind that his introduction co-insided with Down's poor performance in the final quarter. Also I wasn't suprised to see Conor Laverty shrugged off the ball when it was delivered to him. He lacks the strength to compete physically, and even him trickery didnt make up for that, as the quality of defender at that level is so good, as well as their physicality. There was a young pearse og lad playing at halftime that would have made a better target man....

Your not half wise. Laverty wasn't at the races today, but he was well marked and did show some of his ability to be clever on the ball with a pass to Dan Gordon which should have led to a point were Dan not deemed to pick the ball of the ground. Throughout the league Laverty showed well and he deserved to get game time today, its just a pity that he didn't perform (and the same can be said of others)

[mournerambler]

I was sitting at the top of the steps entering the lower Cusack and a few boys tried to bring pints in and were quickly ran by the stewards , In saying that two balloons were allowed down to their seats and they were just about able to walk . I think one of the same boys then proceeded to get sick in his seat . Nightmare for those around them especially those with kids .

Think I saw the 2 boyos in question, 1 of them had a banana in his back pocket which was quite funny I thought, he had to be helped up the steps of the Cusack when he entered the ground, I thought at the first he had some type of disability but the closer he got the clearer it became that he was as quite simply pi$$ed as a fart.

[Maiden1]

As I said on here a few weeks ago, why not leave well enough alone? I said I wouldnt have Dan Gordan involved in the game, strip out ok, but should not feature. Many posters thought this to be very strange. There was no call whatsoever to bring him onto the feild. I said it is totally against principle to bring him on in the NFL final anyway, having not featured in any game leading up to it. Ok, Down weren't exactly running the show round the middle, but they had a foothold, had a bit of momentum, there was no call to make a substitution at all. It broke up the little run the team had got going and never recovered. He looked off the pace badly and 3 times spring to mind, that when he got possession, he lost it/fouled the ball, and these mistakes then lead to Armagh scores. I'm not saying that he is a bad player, of course not, before anyone jumps the gun and starts hurling abuse at me, but there no doubt in my mind that his introduction co-insided with Down's poor performance in the final quarter. Also I wasn't suprised to see Conor Laverty shrugged off the ball when it was delivered to him. He lacks the strength to compete physically, and even him trickery didnt make up for that, as the quality of defender at that level is so good, as well as their physicality. There was a young pearse og lad playing at halftime that would have made a better target man....

Would you rather Down and Dan Gordan found out that he was off the pace in a division 2 league final or 1/2 way through the first round of the championship?  Better that he and Down know he has a bit of work to do.  If you pick any random player on the Down team and say they are no good then eventually they will have a quiet game and you can say told you so, you could just as easily pick 10 other Down players as pick on Laverty from Sundays game, he played well throughout the league and was ok when he came on, he had a good pass to Gordon which Gordon manager to fumble.  Armagh were well up for the game and were using the last Down game for motivation, they seemed to want to win a bit more.

[The Worker]

Can't agree with you about Dan McCartan Sebastian- I thought he was as poor as ever today and I just hope the suspension he gets for stamping rules him out of the Donegal game. Too many of our big name players didn't turn up today and we made far too many careless mistakes- we lost possession in the tackle far too easily and some of our passing was shocking. There's time to correct it before Ballybofey though!

What game were you watching? Dan was without doubt the best player in the full back line.. thought he done very well on mc donnell  who had previously roasted Mc Ardle..

[meatsy86]

Can anyone tell me wat the correct final score was in the an riocht v kilcoo game last thursday night, I'm hearing kilcoo won by 10 but down website says 4.

[BREANDRUM]

Congratulations to BREDAGH U14 Hurlers who won the Div 1 Down Feile. They now go the AI Feile in Clare as the only representative from Down. This is the first time in 40 years that a non-Ards club has won the Div 1 Down Hurling Feile.