FERMANAGH V DOWN Preliminary Round USFC

[FermGael]

My only concern is who do Down meet in the Ulster Semi  Final?

That's it.  get it started good and early.
Down should really be All Ireland champions.  Sure they are the only team this year to beat Tyrone.
You boys getting Shane King out of retirement for this one??

[amallon]

Paddy O'Rourke used Shane King against Fermanagh a few years ago to good effect.  The Fermanagh players seemed more interested in getting a few digs at King that winning the game.  It might work again!

[FermGael]

Paddy O'Rourke used Shane King against Fermanagh a few years ago to good effect.  The Fermanagh players seemed more interested in getting a few digs at King that winning the game.  It might work again!

As far as i mind, we should have won that game if we would have played football, instead of trying to have a go at Judas Shane .
Only messsing about Shane, he could have played for Tyrone, which would have been alot worse
McCluskey got sent off that day too.

[amallon]

I think the year was 2003 and it was Mickey Linden's last game for Down.

[Down Gael]

I think the year was 2003 and it was Mickey Linden's last game for Down.

It was 2003, but Mickey made an appearance in the drawn Ulster final. 9 points up and instead of throwing on an extra midfielder or defender Paddy put on a forward. Then again if Canavan hadnt gone down like he had been taken out by a sniper we would have won that game easily.
Still every cloud has a silver lining, look who lost the AIF in 2003 

[downgirl]

Preliminary round is crap...people are stuck in the middle of exams in May and so won't be able to drive up and down...and our crappy TV service has BBC1 NI but not BBC2 NI...so all I can do is pray RTE will televise it 

[dodgy umpire]

i know exactly what you mean about exams downgirl, but surely like i you will sacrifice one day of study to see benny in action? mc grath vs gordon will be an excellent contest, with big dan shading it

[downgirl]

If I can then yea I will defo go up for it...but it's a long drive from Cork to Fermanagh!!!!  And yes seeing Benny in action is definitely a must!!! 

[ExiledGael]

Not entirely unhappy with the draw. Will give us a clear indication of where we are. Sometimes we really raise our game against favourites like Armagh and that, but this should tell us a lot about the belief and where the team want to go.
Right about the midfield dodgy it could be a cracker. Mark Murphy should hold his place as well in there and hopefully build on some real promising displays this year.
What's the word on Ambrose? Will he make a full recovery and play for the county again?

[FermPundit]

Decent draw for both counties. I'm sure both counties will fancy their chances of getting to an Ulster final having avoided Armagh, Tyrone and Derry on the other side of the draw. I know history means very little but Fermanagh have a poor record against Down in the Ulster championship. Both teams are very evenly matched though. It's a hard one to call and I suppose we'll just have to see how things go in the NFL before any match predictions are made.

[5 Sams]

Decent draw for both counties. I'm sure both counties will fancy their chances of getting to an Ulster final having avoided Armagh, Tyrone and Derry on the other side of the draw. I know history means very little but Fermanagh have a poor record against Down in the Ulster championship. Both teams are very evenly matched though. It's a hard one to call and I suppose we'll just have to see how things go in the NFL before any match predictions are made.

In fairness lads this quote shows how far Down have slipped down the pecking order. In all my days watching Down Fermanagh were never a threat.....Ferm Pundit says both teams are evenly matched and he is 100% correct....long gone are the days when we were evenly matched with Kerry and Dublin. We will not get it easy against Fermanagh in this game but I really do think that Ross and co will have learnt an enormous amount from the 2008 campaign...we need to build on it.....good luck lads we'll all be behind yiz.

[FermPundit]

Decent draw for both counties. I'm sure both counties will fancy their chances of getting to an Ulster final having avoided Armagh, Tyrone and Derry on the other side of the draw. I know history means very little but Fermanagh have a poor record against Down in the Ulster championship. Both teams are very evenly matched though. It's a hard one to call and I suppose we'll just have to see how things go in the NFL before any match predictions are made.

In fairness lads this quote shows how far Down have slipped down the pecking order. In all my days watching Down Fermanagh were never a threat.....Ferm Pundit says both teams are evenly matched and he is 100% correct....long gone are the days when we were evenly matched with Kerry and Dublin. We will not get it easy against Fermanagh in this game but I really do think that Ross and co will have learnt an enormous amount from the 2008 campaign...we need to build on it.....good luck lads we'll all be behind yiz.

Do you think Down will be at a disadvantage playing Division 3 football next season? From a Fermanagh perspective we would like to think that playing harder more competitive football in Division 2 will stand to us come the summer time.

[Pangurban]

Would love to see Fermanagh win an Ulster title, hate being the County to deny them, but what must be must be

[Down Gael]

In fairness lads this quote shows how far Down have slipped down the pecking order. In all my days watching Down Fermanagh were never a threat.....Ferm Pundit says both teams are evenly matched and he is 100% correct....long gone are the days when we were evenly matched with Kerry and Dublin. We will not get it easy against Fermanagh in this game but I really do think that Ross and co will have learnt an enormous amount from the 2008 campaign...we need to build on it.....good luck lads we'll all be behind yiz.

5 Sams, much as I hate to say this, Kerry and Dublin are no longer the top teams in the country. Kerry have shown time and again that they dont have the stomach for Ulster teams time and again they come up short. Yes they have some of the finest footballers in the country, but they play as individuals not as a team. Dublin are nothing but hype. Media hype, hype from the hill, hype from Pillar, hype from wherever. They have no substance.  No All Irelands in 13 years and meaningless provincial titles with facile victories over the likes of Louth and Wexford count for nothing on the third Sunday in September.
Down in a way are a bit like Dublin in the fact that they havent won anything since the mid 90s, but Down beat Tyrone in this years Championship, in fact only for some ludicrous refereeing decisions we would have beat them out the gate in both games. You can make all the excuses you want for this Tyrone team, but Down were a superior side over 2 games and extra time. Tyrone had a lot of luck on their way to this years All Ireland, the extra weeks rest before the Dublin game being their biggest break.
Now lets look at Fermanagh, they play the worst brand of football in the country, they make Armagh look positive. They couldnt score in the Ballymac at grab a granny night and they make the Down side look like giants. Although Down will be playing their football in Division 3 next year, I believe they are a vastly superior side to Fermanagh. Down will beat Fermanagh next may with a bit to spare.  They wont win Ulster, but they are well capable of making the quarter finals of the All ireland in 2009.

[Down Gael]

Would love to see Fermanagh win an Ulster title, hate being the County to deny them, but what must be must be

fermanagh have no Ulster or All Ireland wins for a reason. They will never win an Ulster title playing the brand of football that they play. First things first and Fermangh havent copped on to this yet, but to win anything, even an U12 game you must outscore your opponents. In fact you must score.