Down Club Hurling & Football

[dodgy umpire]

Dubh u r on fire son, so i dont no a fella who broke through on the ford team last year fair enough so i must no nothing.  Then again im not the one who mentioned Aidan fagen, John Fagen, Mark Doran as possible selections, uve said enough, please stop for ur own sake

Ok 3 years may be an exageration but if u think any intercounty manager is going to start a fella who has been out of intercounty football for so long in such a key position ur off ur rocker.  The lad even said himself he cant complete full training sessions with the rest of the panel at times.  Give him some time, if he gets a few mins here and there in the league, gains fitness and confidence, plays CHB for the club in the league ( dont think he did this last year when he was fit to play) and comes through all of this unscathed, then he may be an option come championship time.  Some of u boys want him starting in mayo because he his name is Liam Doyle and then if he is getting a skinning in the first 20, yas rip him to shreds and say the man is finished!!!!!Agree with u one point regarding O'Hagen, plenty of promise but think he would struggle to get into last yeard half back line IMO

Supersub those boys mentioned are all injured, nobody seems to have any info on whether they will be fit for 2 wks time though.  It likely James will have a challenge match somewhere next wk and will field a team which resembles his league team much more than tomorrows team.

Given that noone on this board has ever said that about Liam Doyle can i presume that you time travelled to the future?

Agree with Dubh Driocht's team with the exception of John Clarke as (in the absense of McComiskey) Murtagh does not deserve to be left on the bench

[whitegoodman]

I wasnt talking about any board member in particular, i was talking about some of our down supporters in general given the fickle nature of alot of them.

So ur telling me u would start doyle at CHB and mcpolin at corner back then?!?

[Mid Down Gael]

I wasnt talking about any board member in particular, i was talking about some of our down supporters in general given the fickle nature of alot of them.

So ur telling me u would start doyle at CHB and mcpolin at corner back then?!?

Or Howard at 7? His performances in the last year wouldnt merit a starting place IMO.

[whitegoodman]

I wasnt talking about any board member in particular, i was talking about some of our down supporters in general given the fickle nature of alot of them.

So ur telling me u would start doyle at CHB and mcpolin at corner back then?!?

Or Howard at 7? His performances in the last year wouldnt merit a starting place IMO.

Agreed, hasnt been the same since his injury IMO

[dodgy umpire]

I wasnt talking about any board member in particular, i was talking about some of our down supporters in general given the fickle nature of alot of them.

So ur telling me u would start doyle at CHB and mcpolin at corner back then?!?

Your use of the term "yas" implied otherwise.
We are limited at the back at present, and I think under the circumstances yes they would give the team greater balance. I would like to see Colm Murney being given game time aswell

[Brick Tamlin]

I cant believe some of the stuff im reading on here.
Play Liam Doyle at 6 against Mayo, Luke Howard, Colm Murney, Gavin Joyce, Mc Polin all being thrown in for good measure, did someone cry out for Timmy Hanna there a few pages back too.!!!!

Im with Shitegoodman on this one. Im not in favour of playing fellas who are clearly not matchfit or are unproven at this level. I know its the off season but lets not lose the run of oneself.

There should be enough from last years vast panel to choose a decent enough team to line out in national league.

[dodgy umpire]

I would have Murney in the squad as we haven't had a real look at him due to his involvement with UUJ. Were Colgan free to play he would be 6

[knockitdown]

Anyone have a match report from today? MDG?

[whitegoodman]

Not much to report from today or not much to take out of it should i say.

St Marys were as bad a university team as i have ever seen, james and co could have learned very little from today.  Doyle played first have and looked as classy and composed as ever on the ball but when the number 13 who was playing CHF ran at him he struggled a bit which is to be expected.

Dan Gordon was at FB and him and Dan McCartan were the only starting back 6 from last year that were starting.  John Clarke scored 2 goals but none of the forwards impressed that much IMO.  Im sure MDG will post up team and scores later.

All in all id say james would be pretty disappointed with McKenna cup in terms of performance and finding new players.  Id say if he had all of last years team available for mayo he would probably play them with the exception of 1 or 2 but he is unlikely to have them all available.

[Leo]

Leisurely workout against a poor and ill disciplined St Mary's team.
Dan Gordon strolled through the game in dominant form at full back with Dan McCartan tenacious throughout and full of running, popping up in the forwards for much of the second half. Alongside them Bonny had a very impressive debut in the corner.
Impressive first half from Liam Doyle - hit a couple of sublime passes and saw plenty of action.
Brannigan full of endeavour if a bit lucky to escape with a couple of dodgy tackles.
One great catch from Sheerin in midfield but then he disappeared and looked very upset when taken off in second half. Kalum was not at his best on the soft pitch but put in  a lot of work. Mark Poland was superb from start to finish and his freekicking was also superb. Younger brother Conor was a disappointment, Sexton was anonymous, Sean Murdock did not impress. John Clarke was terrific especially in first half and he helped big Packie who did improve greatly as the game went on. Mark Doran from half back was all over the field, very energetic and positive in all he did. Of the subs, Micheal McCartan stood out.
Hard to judge though against such a poor team.
While we arebuilding a bigger stand and dressing rooms, can we spare a few quid to fix that blasted PA system?

[Mid Down Gael]

Easy victory for Down yesterday against a very mediocre St Mary's. Very hard to assess individuals against a team so poor and with so few inter county players.

Team and scorers:
B McVeigh, D McCartan, D Gordan, P Bonny, A Brannigan, L Doyle 0-1, M Doran, K King, D Sheeran, R Sexton, S Murdock 0-2, M Poland 0-7, J Clarke 2-2, P Downey, C Poland.
Subs used: M McCartan, C Duggan, A Carr, J Boyle 0-1, R Brady.

[charlie stubbs]

lads, trying to get a friendly organised fotr my club, wolfe tone, derrymacash.  Came 4th in armagh division 2 last year.  ideal date would be Friday 11th February(our pitch is being done up at the minute,so pitch would need floodlights.) Sunday 13th,20,27th March also possible dates.  If anyone interested or can point me in the right direction please pm me.  cheers.

[When We Win]

lads, trying to get a friendly organised fotr my club, wolfe tone, derrymacash.  Came 4th in armagh division 2 last year.  ideal date would be Friday 11th February(our pitch is being done up at the minute,so pitch would need floodlights.) Sunday 13th,20,27th March also possible dates.  If anyone interested or can point me in the right direction please pm me.  cheers.

If it's a competitive match you are looking to match division two in Armagh then you need to be contacting Division 3 in Tyrone for that standard 

Only joking. I would say there will be a few clubs on here looking to take you up on that offer. A missed opportunity on your club to enter the Ulster Intermediate League. Looking at the fixtures there is a good range of games and guaranteed matches every week!! Just what you want at this time of the year. Take the hassel out of looking. Plus it adds a bit of competitiveness to the games when you know there is a cup albeit not important at the end. Good luck in the search.

[Farrandeelin]

I cannot see how in God's name Mayo will pose any problem to Down. Down will probably beat Mayo by 4/5 points.

[western exile]

I cannot see how in God's name Mayo will pose any problem to Down. Down will probably beat Mayo by 4/5 points.

Ah... would you quit that oul shite 

Down, with a more settled team than Mayo, failed to make the Dr. McKenna cup semi-final.  Whereas Mayo, who have trialled 40+ players in their Connaght League games, have won them all, and now find themselves in a pseudo semi-final v. Leitrim this weekend.  There are parrallels there to where Down were this time last year before they went to Kildare in their first league game, a game they won well.   The smart money should be on Mayo