Down Club Hurling & Football

[PAULD123]

The Dublin county board will be responsible for allocating the tickets.  A complaint should be made, people who get tickets through their club should get the best tickets.  Ticketmaster should get the rest.

Agreed!

in the past i have got my tickets from the club and from tickemaster. dont see how someone who gets them from a club should be entitled to better tickets. gettin your tickets from a club doesnt make you a better supporter or a better gaa person than someone who uses another source. some people only join a club to get tickets and you never see them the rest of the tear

As long as all they do nothing except pay their membership at least they have done that and that alone is better than nothing for the club. Also when a club orders tckets their allocation for all ticket matches increases relatively. So a club member ordering tickets through the club helps improve teh club ticket allocation.

But do not get me wrong in an ideal world we want everyone to be active members of their club

[redandblackareback]

After Tonight a couple of worrying things have arisen... We did see a lot of ball and I actually thought we did ok but.. If Martin Clarke was any other player he would have been taken off tonight, he gets far far too much slack from the sideline, he was awful, Mark Poland must be wondering to himself. The Eoin mc Carten substitution was an absolute downright disgrace!! Seriously James what are you trying to do.... Couldnt wait to get Dan in tonight and then Eoin appears.. Seriously we need to draw the line..

[Dubh driocht]

RABAB, I think both Mc Cartans brought something extra when they came on.Dan's handling of Brogan was good and while I haven't seen it on TV yet, his booking which led to a free was a joke. Eoin was the stand-out forward in the Down championship this year if only for 10 or 15 minutes when he came on. He won a free last night that no-one else could have and was a good target man. Also,as another poster has said, you have to accept the bad bits with Marty for him to be there for the good bits.I think that all the forwards know they could be replaced as we have an abundance of talent there- Down are a professional outfit these days and players just get on with it. There have been a couple of times in the last 12 months that some of the substitutions seemd to be pre-ordained, rather than on form, the worst example being Mc Comiskey coming off in the AI final when he was on fire but don't get me started on that.

[redandblackareback]

Dubh Driocht I watched the game on sky plus this morning, I actually thought Eoin did well, I think it was the initial shock of Jees where did he come from while at the game.. Down had serious posession last night, Rony Murtagh will never learn, we should of closed that game out, Martins sideline ball towards the end also poor especially when keeping possession was vital at that stage. All in all though we v done ok this league campaign.

[Leo]

Yes we have done ok in the league but last night was bad on many fronts. This is a poor Dublin team and we had most of the possession but Benny Coulter must have been foundered out there. It was back to the bad old days of Ross Carr style sideways passing, no penetration and eventually the ball given away cheaply. Clarke was brutal while  McComiskey showed effectively when given the ball. Who comes off? Yes, McComiskey - again. McArdle was doing ok while Rooney wasn't - McArdle comes off. We ended up with 4 Burren defenders on the team but anyone who thinks Daniel did well has got to be joking - he wasn't close to Brogan at any stage.  Bad bad show in a game that was there for the taking. Hope James gives the fringe players on the panel a run out against Kerry. Colgan also needs a full game - he looks the part.

[extra time]

benny mcardle was having a good game but having been booked would have been a risk on brogan esp with thon ref. he booked wee dan and it wasent even a foul. the wheels came off in injury time with bad decision making leading to their 2 scores. possession should have been kept, a tactic we,re really good at. still in all a good league campaign in div 1

[infinity]

It really annoys me when posters give marty stick so blindly. Of course he should never be immune to criticism, but be fair and keep it on the same level as the rest of the team. He was by no means 'Brutal' or 'Awful' last night, as two of our previous posters have contributed. Yes, his performance was below-par by his own standards, but the reason his mistake count was so high was that while the majority of the rest of the team are happy to contribute a 7-yard sideways handpass to marty, it is his role to is trying to spread the play with direct long-range passing to our inside forwards. Inevitably this is will lead to more mistakes and dispossessions than other players, particularly when your playin against Dublin-the most negative, defensive team i have seen in quite a while.
Incidentally I wonder will the southern media go to town with 'puke football' with them.......

[dundrumite]

A few things on what I have read that I have to disagree with. Firstly, benny Mc Ardle is only back playing a couple of weeks, had gave a good 50 minute shift at Croke Park at a high intensity game and a fresh current all ireland footballer of the year comes onto him, in addition he has a yellow card. I agree he was playing well, but taking all other factors into account, it seemed a sensible decision to take him off in my eyes. I believe Eoin Mc Cartan has the ability to make an impact on the game as a sub, and further down the line I think as he will. Though too be fair if I was Conor Laverty I think I would be feeling slightly hard done by. The criticism of Martin Clarke is ridiculous, he gets on the ball so much it's unreal and his game is too be creative and play without fear, IMO the way football should be played, mistakes are going to be an inevitable part of it. He has been put up on a  pedestal, and sadly a lot of Down fans seem to think he is perfect.

[SHEEDY]

came away from last nights game totally gutted.thought the dubs were there for the taking. with a bit more composure we should have won that match. the referee was really poor and seemed to be intimidated by the occassion and the crowd. even though some on here think marty should be exempt from criticism i have to say i thought he was really poor. lots of misplaced passes and a very poor sideline kick at the end when retaining possesion was vital. thought midfield was solid and the defence done well. overall there wasnt much between the 2 teams and hopefully there'll be lessons learned before championship time

[NP 76]

Should of closed the game out when we went in front, very poor choice by Clarke and Rony at the end. Thought ref was absoultely desperate Bastic hit out at least 4 times and kneed danny in the back whilst he was on the ground, then only got a yellow card near the end of the match for a high tackle on marty clarke.  Paul brogan also got away with a high tackle on Rony while he was on a red card.  Dublin only got three yellow cards and two of which were given in the last five mins this shows the standard of refereeing.  Down had to work extra hard because of dublins negative tactics with 13 men behind the ball.  A couple of years ago Down could not have got over this but now they just work away and stick to the system.  Eoin Mc cartan gives an other option up front and is a very smart footballer, good target man. Although Marty clarke made some bad mistakes last night he is still is on the ball at least twice as many times as any one else and with out him we would not be in the postion we are now.

[thewobbler]

Quite a but if nonsense hysteria on this thread. Dublin set themselves out to stop Down, and only for for one poor and one one shocking defensive lapse by Down, would have lost. The criticism about slow ball into the inside forwards, and poor ball into them too, is blinkered nonsense. If you're contending with a mass defence, it just ain't that easy to open it up. Our forwards actually did enough to win that game last night despite trying circumstances.

The only thing that would annoy me on last night is simply that winning is a good habit, and we're a little out of that habit. But by and large, it's been an excellent league campaign.

[whitegoodman]

It's been a decent campaign and they should learn from the defeats in cork and Dublin, games they could have and probably should have won. 

Dublin were the most negative team I've ever seen, worse than tyrone or armagh in their prime. down still need to learn to play through this though.  Marty is a great player but evey move shouldn't necessarily have to through him though, Poland needs to up his game to last years standard, mcginn needs to have more thrust as he isn't a great threat at min  and when coulter moves out the field it seems to provide a lot more room for other players  inside such as mccumisky or murtagh or lavery

[snoopdog]

The Down forward line needs a new lease of life .
Something that Caolan Mooney would inject.
If he is good enough he is old enough
i know he is off to Collingwood in the autumn but in my opinion the Down seniors need him.

[redandblackareback]

The Down forward line needs a new lease of life .
Something that Caolan Mooney would inject.
If he is good enough he is old enough
i know he is off to Collingwood in the autumn but in my opinion the Down seniors need him.

Snoopdog seriously are you for real?? The lad is still a child.. Physically he would be well out of his depth at senior intercounty level, this time next year after Collingwood get their hands on him maybe.. but now! No chance!! Young Conor Poland possibly is an option in half forward line.

[maldini]

any east down fixtures for week ahead??