Down Club Hurling & Football

[DownFanatic]

Liatroim, Warrenpoint and An Riocht are three teams who would be ultra competitive at IFC level in Ulster while the likes of Kilclief would be one of the strongest JFC outfits about the province.

DF, agree with all you say except about Kilclief. The IFC win a couple of years ago was a last hurrah. The team has been decimated with retirement, emigration and one transfer! Squad size has been 16/17 over the last couple of years. There have been very few players coming from the juvenile set up over the last 10 years also. The current 16's and 14's look promising but I fear it's gonna be a long barren next few years and the main challenge is to merely keep the club going in the meantime.

Looking at some of your Championship results last year (beating Tullylish+Atticall) and the quality of the likes of Ciaran Sloan, Ricky Kerr and Fintan Conway etc coupled with the relatively poor standard of Division 3, I'd still say that you have the potential to be a major force at Junior level next year.

[Minus15]

Down Fanatic, bit early for mind games at this stage ahead of next year is it not?

[DownFanatic]

Down Fanatic, bit early for mind games at this stage ahead of next year is it not?

[lucan]

i I can assure -15 that over celebrations was not a factor in drumgaths defeat to truagh. Have you taken into account that truagh had been a first div team up to this year .PERHAPS you should have gone and watched it yourself tobe better informed

[Minus15]

Thanks Lucan, you have answered my question, which was to ask how well prepared Drumgath were. As I said originally, I am not getting at Drumgath at all. I am fully aware of Truagh's recent history and their placing in Monaghan football. You had said that Drumgath nearly sprung a surprise, but by all accounts that was nowhere near the case. I didn't need to attend the game to know that.

[umpire]

Congratulation Kilcoo with a fantastic result today, Ballinderry will be a tough one next Sunday.

[lucan]

minus 15 .since you were not in ballybay i;ll give you some background. at half -time the gath were down 7 points. they reduced the defecit to 4 points and had truagh rattled.they missed a goal chance which rebounded of the cross- bar and shortly after had a player dispatched with 2 yellows.now i;m sure u know what happened to kilcoo when they had a man sent off.cross regained the iniative and destroyed a kilcoo lead of 7 points.now that was a crucial part of the game for the gath. now why u persist with your argument only u know.perhaps your source should have given u more detail.is 15 against 14 not significant.

[our_fella]

drumgath put up a spirited display against  truagh to go down 2-10 to 0-10 at ballybay the gath;s supporters did their team proud and shamed those so-called supporters who attended esler park. against a team  first div. in all but name they nearly sprung a surprise.inspite of loosing their left full- back before the game started with an ankle injury they clawed their  way back in the second half to a 4point defecit when they lost a player with two yellows.lads we are proud of you [down intermediate champions] # UP THE GATH.

Lucan, not taking away anything from Drumgath who are deservedly Intermediate champions, but the account I received of the game was that Truagh were extremely comfortable throughout.

Honestly, how well prepared were Drumgath for Ulster, I think in Down and Intermediate and Junior levels in Down, many clubs celebrate winning the county title a little too much and take their eye completely off the ball when they step into Ulster.

I've said it before but we have a terrible record at IFC and JFC level in Ulster. This has been a feature since the competition's official inception around a decade ago.

Warrenpoint broke the mould last year with their IFC final appearance as the trend before that for Down teams was generally first round exits.

Our record in the JFC is even worse. St Johns were the last team in this grade to even win a game when they beat Fermanagh's Coa in the quarter finals back in 2008. Correct me if im wrong but I think our only other win in the competition was a Bredagh victory over Donegal opposition in 2006 in the quarter finals.

The problem over the past ten years has been that our league and championship setup in Down was as honest as they come. We had four competitive divisions with championship grading based on your league position.

This was not and still isn't the case in some other counties. In Armagh, Cavan and Antrim you choose what Championship you want to compete in. Annaghmore will be playing Division 1 football in Armagh next year but yet they were in their counties' JFC this term. Lacken from Cavan finished fourth in Division 1 in the Breffni County last year yet they played in the IFC.

However, our poor representation on the provincial scene could change next year. I am a big critic of our new three division structure but one positive that has come out of it is that we are now more in line with most other Ulster counties in terms of quality at each grade.

Liatroim, Warrenpoint and An Riocht are three teams who would be ultra competitive at IFC level in Ulster while the likes of Kilclief would be one of the strongest JFC outfits about the province.

Our poor record was probably less to do with over celebration and more to do with the fact that we had 'proper' Junior and Intermediate teams entered at those grades compared to the representatives of other unbalanced counties.

Annaghmore were in the IFC

[Corner Forward]

drumgath put up a spirited display against  truagh to go down 2-10 to 0-10 at ballybay the gath;s supporters did their team proud and shamed those so-called supporters who attended esler park. against a team  first div. in all but name they nearly sprung a surprise.inspite of loosing their left full- back before the game started with an ankle injury they clawed their  way back in the second half to a 4point defecit when they lost a player with two yellows.lads we are proud of you [down intermediate champions] # UP THE GATH.

Lucan, not taking away anything from Drumgath who are deservedly Intermediate champions, but the account I received of the game was that Truagh were extremely comfortable throughout.

Honestly, how well prepared were Drumgath for Ulster, I think in Down and Intermediate and Junior levels in Down, many clubs celebrate winning the county title a little too much and take their eye completely off the ball when they step into Ulster.

I've said it before but we have a terrible record at IFC and JFC level in Ulster. This has been a feature since the competition's official inception around a decade ago.

Warrenpoint broke the mould last year with their IFC final appearance as the trend before that for Down teams was generally first round exits.

Our record in the JFC is even worse. St Johns were the last team in this grade to even win a game when they beat Fermanagh's Coa in the quarter finals back in 2008. Correct me if im wrong but I think our only other win in the competition was a Bredagh victory over Donegal opposition in 2006 in the quarter finals.

The problem over the past ten years has been that our league and championship setup in Down was as honest as they come. We had four competitive divisions with championship grading based on your league position.

This was not and still isn't the case in some other counties. In Armagh, Cavan and Antrim you choose what Championship you want to compete in. Annaghmore will be playing Division 1 football in Armagh next year but yet they were in their counties' JFC this term. Lacken from Cavan finished fourth in Division 1 in the Breffni County last year yet they played in the IFC.

However, our poor representation on the provincial scene could change next year. I am a big critic of our new three division structure but one positive that has come out of it is that we are now more in line with most other Ulster counties in terms of quality at each grade.

Liatroim, Warrenpoint and An Riocht are three teams who would be ultra competitive at IFC level in Ulster while the likes of Kilclief would be one of the strongest JFC outfits about the province.

Our poor record was probably less to do with over celebration and more to do with the fact that we had 'proper' Junior and Intermediate teams entered at those grades compared to the representatives of other unbalanced counties.

Annaghmore were in the IFC

Annaghmore were in the JFC, they beat their neighbours Clonmore in the final.

[Leo]

Lack of posts on here about Kilcoo is very surprising.
Our representatives in the only meaningful competition ongoing seem to have the apathy of Down  GAA supporter - maybe even antipathy - strange!

[5 Sams]

Lack of posts on here about Kilcoo is very surprising.
Our representatives in the only meaningful competition ongoing seem to have the apathy of Down  GAA supporter - maybe even antipathy - strange!

Maybe on here Leo but I was surprised by the huge amount of neutral Down people from other clubs I saw at the last two matches.

[Down Follower]

Lack of posts on here about Kilcoo is very surprising.
Our representatives in the only meaningful competition ongoing seem to have the apathy of Down  GAA supporter - maybe even antipathy - strange!

In fairness the match took up the most posts in the main page re the Ulster Club with a number of comments from Down people.

[Confused]

Every person I have spoken to has nothing but praise for the kilcoo team. Admiration in fact. Think people. The "them verses us" no longer applies to the magpies.

[supersub]

Match thread full of comments from ones on here!

[Ed Hardy]

Mc Kenna cup only few months away, which new players do you think will involved next season?  Timmy Hanna worth another look?  Surely Ryan Johnson and Darragh O'Hanlon will be considered too after Kilcoo's impressive seasons finishes.  (Hopefully 17th March)  any others?