Down Club Hurling & Football

[SHEEDY]

down 1-6 clare 1-5 ht

[marsbarkid]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/northern_ireland/gaelic_games/9173544.stm

[DownFanatic]

Ardglass beat St Johns tonight by 4, our next game is at home to mitchels hopefully it will be our 3rd win in a row. Good win for Kilclief, Dundrum seem to be in trouble that was a heavy loss tonight away to Glenn.

Division 3 is now at the halfway point. Kilclief, Tullylish and Carryduff are the three best teams in the Division with Kilclief probably the pick of the three. Id expect them three to be in the top 3 positions at the end of the season. However, not one of the three would be able to sustain themselves in Division 2 next year.

Glasdrumman, Glenn, Darragh Cross and Bosco are hovering about. All four aren't going to threaten the top 3 but will end up in the upper mid table/mid table area.

Dundrum, Ardglass, Atticall, St Johns and Mitchels are now basically in a mini league at the bottom and essentially its going to come down to the results between these five teams as to who avoids the bottom three positions.

[ardtole]

I think the standard in div 3 has fallen quite a bit in the last 3 years. I dont think tullylish carryduff or kilclief would be so far clear of the other teams 2 or 3 years ago. I think it is more a case of teams like ardglass, darragh cross, dundrum, glenn, atticall and glassdrumman losing players and standards slipping. On a more positive note ardglass have tried a lot of younger players this year and they are starting to adapt to senior football as the weeks go by and I expect us to stay up and be much more competitive next season.

[BRIDGE LAD]

Jeas that was a close call today! Only for Laverty it was curtains!! He scored well today also, brilliant workrate from him to stop the goal, he lost posession on the Clare 21 yd line, and tracked the whole way back. Down were lucky to get the win. I'd say Murph is disappointed with comin on and then being subbed again, thought they could have switched Dan out and put Murph back to full back, a bit harsh. Benny won the vital ball and put it in  at the end for final score. Him and laverty prob Downs best players when they got the ball. Doyle and Mooney also played well. Midfield area suffered again with winning no  kick outs or getting posession!  Danny Hughes a big miss for the breaks!

[dundrumite]

I think with the reshuffling of the divisions division 3 is in a situation where the teams at top have got stronger and teams at bottom weaker. Essentially there is  two tiered division. Very very disappointing from my own club perspective at the minute, we have a top class manager in so I think it just boils down to us losing players, perhaps up to 6 in last two years which for a small club is massive. All you can do is keep plugging away.

[Mid Down Gael]

Jesus we got out of jail in Ennis today with thanks to my clubmate Conor Laverty who was awsome. It was heart stopping stuff in the last twenty minutes where Clare fought back and where unlucky not to snatch it at the death, only for Lavertys last gasp goal line clearance.
Down started brilliantly taking a 5 point lead, but couldnt sustain our early dominance going in one up at the interval. A similar pattern emerged in the second half when we dominated the early exchanges, but with our midfield non existent again we where always going to find it hard to rack up a big scoreline.
Last season our management got it right most of the time but are getting it wrong too often this term to date. We are continually being outplayed at midfield and changes for the better need to be made. King gave his all last year but is seriously struggling at present and needs dropped, Colgan has to be included here, even though unbelievableably he was left off the 26 today. The possibility of moving our best midfielder Dan Gordan to this problem area now has to be seriously considered.
Brendan McVeigh was poor today, kick outs straight out the middle while he was very suspect under the high ball, causing the Clare goal and not claiming the hail mary at the last which nearly resulted in a winning goal for the banner men.
I thought we defended rightly for long periods today, Gordan was solid, Brannigan marked diligently while Rooney put in a good shift. Benny McArdle was quiet but scored a wonderful right footed point midway throught the second half much to the delight of the large travelling support.
Clarke worked hard in the first half, ploughing a lone furrow in a position he is not accustomed too, although tired as the game wore on.
Liam Doyle played well on his return to the Down team, with good covering and brilliant use of posession. Caolan Mooney gave an impressive debut scoring a wonderful point and working tirelessly while McComiskey had a brilliant second half finishing with 4 points. Benny done rightly even though he still seems to be struggling with injury while Poland performed well with the exception of his shooting which was not up to scratch.
Laverty was outstanding throughout and was on fire in the first half scoring 1-3 from play. A player often criticised unfairly, today he saved us from an embarrassing exit.
Lets hope for a home draw tomorrow and that we get our midfield changed for out next outing. The return of Murtagh, Hughes, Garvey, Rafferty, Gerard McCartan and Maginn would also be greatly welcomed, Just a pity Ambrose wasnt closer to full fitness as his loss is becoming incalcuable.

[redandblackareback]

Jesus we got out of jail in Ennis today with thanks to my clubmate Conor Laverty who was awsome. It was heart stopping stuff in the last twenty minutes where Clare fought back and where unlucky not to snatch it at the death, only for Lavertys last gasp goal line clearance.
Down started brilliantly taking a 5 point lead, but couldnt sustain our early dominance going in one up at the interval. A similar pattern emerged in the second half when we dominated the early exchanges, but with our midfield non existent again we where always going to find it hard to rack up a big scoreline.
Last season our management got it right most of the time but are getting it wrong too often this term to date. We are continually being outplayed at midfield and changes for the better need to be made. King gave his all last year but is seriously struggling at present and needs dropped, Colgan has to be included here, even though unbelievableably he was left off the 26 today. The possibility of moving our best midfielder Dan Gordan to this problem area now has to be seriously considered.
Brendan McVeigh was poor today, kick outs straight out the middle while he was very suspect under the high ball, causing the Clare goal and not claiming the hail mary at the last which nearly resulted in a winning goal for the banner men.
I thought we defended rightly for long periods today, Gordan was solid, Brannigan marked diligently while Rooney put in a good shift. Benny McArdle was quiet but scored a wonderful right footed point midway throught the second half much to the delight of the large travelling support.
Clarke worked hard in the first half, ploughing a lone furrow in a position he is not accustomed too, although tired as the game wore on.
Liam Doyle played well on his return to the Down team, with good covering and brilliant use of posession. Caolan Mooney gave an impressive debut scoring a wonderful point and working tirelessly while McComiskey had a brilliant second half finishing with 4 points. Benny done rightly even though he still seems to be struggling with injury while Poland performed well with the exception of his shooting which was not up to scratch.
Laverty was outstanding throughout and was on fire in the first half scoring 1-3 from play. A player often criticised unfairly, today he saved us from an embarrassing exit.
Lets hope for a home draw tomorrow and that we get our midfield changed for out next outing. The return of Murtagh, Hughes, Garvey, Rafferty, Gerard McCartan and Maginn would also be greatly welcomed, Just a pity Ambrose wasnt closer to full fitness as his loss is becoming incalcuable.

Delighted for Conor Laverty, another who comes in for some uncalled for abuse at games and on here!! Colgan was not in the panel because he s injured no??

[BRIDGE LAD]

MDG, although Laverty was the hero yesterday and works like a trojan, if he just had a little more height and weight he'd be a cracker. But a right few times yest when he received the ball he wasn't fit to hold on to it! Not being critical of him but I do think he is a little light! Its a shame, cos he has great workrate and skill.   

[NP 76]

Thought doyle was outstanding yesterday in all that he did always seems to have plenty of time on the ball . Laverty also put in a great shift how he got to that one on the line i will never know . Forwards generally were good but didnt get enough of the ball in early enough . Defence was under severe pressure and i know there is alot of talk of taking Gordon out the field but i thought he was very good yesterday apart from the Clare goal where it looked like he dropped it . Thought Clarke quiet yesterday and seemed that he couldnt tackle at all let the man past far to easy . We will never be as lucky again fair play to Conor Laverty for tracking back like he did .

[whitegoodman]

Good to hear Laverty having a good game and getting some credit for it.  He along with Murtagh and coulter are prob the 3 most dangerous forwards in the county.  Hope he gets a good run at it now.

I think if James hasnt taken gordon out to midfield at this stage then i dont think he is going to at any stage.  He must feel that Gordon is too important at the back to move out.  It looks like he is going to stick with it and due to the lack of alternatives I would tend to agree with him ( McArdle isnt a long term option imo ).

I wasnt at the game yesterday and dont doubt that mcveigh is a very good keeper but the lack of variation in kick outs last year and this needs to be worked at.  This is not all mcveighs fault as the management, half backs and half fowards should be takin responsibility to make the call or at least give the option.  From yesterdays team Rooney, Mooney and Doyle should all have been options for short kick outs or kick outs to the wings.  As Tyrone and Dublin have shown the days long straight kick outs down the middle should be at an end!!

[SHEEDY]

there has to be questions asked of downs training regime. game after game we seem to fade in the last 1/4. is this down to training and not being fit enough or is it a mental thing.

[guevara]

For any of those on here banging on about Cluxton's ability at use of the short kick out tune in to Dublin v Kildare.
His Kickouts are being destroyed & he has been the source of several Kildare turnovers.
Brendy is a fantastic keeper, the best in the County by some distance. Yes everyone might have an off day but too many on this seem to be experts on every facet of the game.
Give me McVeigh over Cluxton any day as my opinion is the Dublin media & associated GAA Press have Cluxton hyped to some sort of legendary goalkeeper. Yet the Cluxton Ive watched seems to make mistakes on a more consistent basis than Brendy ever has.

[SHEEDY]

good to get a home draw against another div4 team. we should beat leitrim handy enough especially at home. good chance to get abit of momentum going.

[ardtole]

I think with the reshuffling of the divisions division 3 is in a situation where the teams at top have got stronger and teams at bottom weaker. Essentially there is  two tiered division. Very very disappointing from my own club perspective at the minute, we have a top class manager in so I think it just boils down to us losing players, perhaps up to 6 in last two years which for a small club is massive. All you can do is keep plugging away.

Losing six players in a couple of years is hard for a small club, Ardglass have the same problem, in the last 3 or 4 years we have lost about a dozen players and most of them key players, it has caught up with us this year in particular. But I can see a lot of positives for us this season, we have blooded a lot of young players and they are slowly but surely finding their feet at this level, I think we will do enough to stay up this year and hopefully improve our position next year.