Down Club Hurling & Football

[Dubh driocht]

You're right Wobbler, it doesn't get any easier 24 hours later.

However, rather than feeling sorry for ourselves, I feel sorry for Eamon Burns and particularly the players.
Enough has been said about the fact that Burns took on a thankless task when others said no, so I'll focus on the players.

I went through the player ratings in the Irish News (they forgot about Henry Brown and got Dee Turley's name wrong in otherwise good coverage) and realised that every one of them gave it their best in difficult circumstances.
Having seen all bar two of the League games,  this group gave as much as any previous Down team, but individually and collectively they are not as good as the teams they have played. With a bit more belief they could easily have capped off a fine opening 35 minutes with a three point advantage at half-time yesterday. The whole thing then fell apart and the posters who have mentioned the problems from our kick-outs have identified the main issue. As a coach, you have to read the game and make adjustments- that just didn't happen yesterday and I don't see any meaningful contribution coming from the mentors. Players pick up on this and Kevin Madden's five points are spot-on; these players have pride and they were let down.

I want to highlight our captain as he was getting a bit of abuse from a few loudmouths near us.

Kevin McKernan is a fine player- has represented his club, county and country with distinction. He probably should have been an all-star in 2010. He is being asked to play in midfield simply because we have no-one who could accompany the undervalued Peter Turley. In the debacle in Wexford Park last year he was our best player and never gave up until he was hooked by Jim McCorry in his last significant act as Down manager. The enjoyment has gone out of the game for McKernan and that is reflected in his performances but, for me, he never gave up and the mouths in the stand have no idea of what it must be like to be the leader of a group of young men getting a hiding. The burden of captaincy has weighed heavily on him, a bit like it did on Mark Poland last year, but these two lads are class acts who have given loads of enjoyment to us.

I don't want to say anymore about the people getting paid to perform other than they clearly aren't performing by any measure. However, the ones that are not getting paid- the players- still have my full support and gratitude for doing their best for Down.

[SamFever]

You're right Wobbler, it doesn't get any easier 24 hours later.

However, rather than feeling sorry for ourselves, I feel sorry for Eamon Burns and particularly the players.
Enough has been said about the fact that Burns took on a thankless task when others said no, so I'll focus on the players.

I went through the player ratings in the Irish News (they forgot about Henry Brown and got Dee Turley's name wrong in otherwise good coverage) and realised that every one of them gave it their best in difficult circumstances.
Having seen all bar two of the League games,  this group gave as much as any previous Down team, but individually and collectively they are not as good as the teams they have played. With a bit more belief they could easily have capped off a fine opening 35 minutes with a three point advantage at half-time yesterday. The whole thing then fell apart and the posters who have mentioned the problems from our kick-outs have identified the main issue. As a coach, you have to read the game and make adjustments- that just didn't happen yesterday and I don't see any meaningful contribution coming from the mentors. Players pick up on this and Kevin Madden's five points are spot-on; these players have pride and they were let down.

I want to highlight our captain as he was getting a bit of abuse from a few loudmouths near us.

Kevin McKernan is a fine player- has represented his club, county and country with distinction. He probably should have been an all-star in 2010. He is being asked to play in midfield simply because we have no-one who could accompany the undervalued Peter Turley. In the debacle in Wexford Park last year he was our best player and never gave up until he was hooked by Jim McCorry in his last significant act as Down manager. The enjoyment has gone out of the game for McKernan and that is reflected in his performances but, for me, he never gave up and the mouths in the stand have no idea of what it must be like to be the leader of a group of young men getting a hiding. The burden of captaincy has weighed heavily on him, a bit like it did on Mark Poland last year, but these two lads are class acts who have given loads of enjoyment to us.

I don't want to say anymore about the people getting paid to perform other than they clearly aren't performing by any measure. However, the ones that are not getting paid- the players- still have my full support and gratitude for doing their best for Down.

All good points but who does the measuring of this paid 'help'.They are actually a hindrance to any progress and accountable to god knows who.

[One in All in]

I am an avid reader of these posts (rather than poster) but am now posting in that I hope it proves therapeutic but I doubt it can ease the suffocating angst that has haunted me since driving home from Clones

I'll start by saying we all know Eamon Burns took the job when many others refused it - that has to be respected - he probably let the County Board off their self made hook

Secondly, the players didn't go out to disappoint us. I would be disappointed if they weren't hurting like us

Yesterday was the nadir in a long period of decline - minus the blip when James had us over performing temporarily

I agree with many posters about the quality of club football being mediocre

We don't have dominant club teams that shine in Ulster nor do we have dominant players that stand out in Club matches

If we look at the 90s we were blessed with a golden generation - experienced campaigners combined with 87 Minor All Ireland team and 3 Ulster U 21 finalist teams (90 to 92) all pipped by Canavan and Cush inspired Tyrone All Ireland winners

There was a strength in depth there that underpinned 1990 National League Final and 91 & 94 and drove the starting 15 on to higher standards

We don't have that quality anymore and if we had changed 10 to 15 members of the 30 odd County Panel over the past 10 years would it have made any difference? - I doubt it

My fear is we  get another pasting in the Qualifiers as I am not sure how we turn around a performance like yesterday, 14 months without an inter county match win and some very lucky wins before that

At least we can't face Armagh in the next match (I think) - that defeat risk would be too much to stomach

We need leaders - on and off the field - they seem thin on the ground and based on recent trends we may well drop straight to Division 3 

As they say acknowledging you have a problem is the first step on the road to recovery

Here's hoping

[cut the crap]

Are there any positives from yesterday, sadly there are none, good players have been maligned on here and with good reason, where were our leaders , Eamonn looked like a rabbit caught in  cart headlights, I've nothing against the man but he was conned into taking the job, he was the last to be asked and it shows.
Unfortunately we now have to be reactive rather than re active, if we begin to chop of the dead wood within the county there may not be much left once the chopping stops. We need an outside consultant with a Gaa back ground not hockey to come in and sort this mess out,if oDwyer wasn't as old as he is I would be at his door, the enormity of the task is such that only a person of the highest quality and a knowledge of Gaelic football will tick the boxes to sort this mess.

[Farrandeelin]

Surely Pete McGrath would do a job? He's doing well enough with Fermanagh

[snoopdog]

Pete Mcgrath should be brought in to oversee all development at underage level in the county. It's a no brained the man has the cv and once finished with fermanagh he needs to be back in the Down fold. 

[snoopdog]

Longford in Newry

[johnneycool]

Pete Mcgrath should be brought in to oversee all development at underage level in the county. It's a no brained the man has the cv and once finished with fermanagh he needs to be back in the Down fold.

He came in before to apparently do this a few years ago and did nothing.Everyone seems to forget that unless you tip your hat to the Boss you generally don't bother or a reason is given to dispense of your services.Think McGrath and McCorry here

And he can't be deposed by anyone in Down!!!

[OgraAnDun]

Are county players not sticking out in club games because they're not as good as what went before? Or are they not obvious for the same reason that lots of flare players do not shine as much as previous in intercounty matches, due to packed defences, elaborate systems and a more collaborative effort? And has the fitness of the average club player risen to be close to the standard of the county players?

[Samforever]

That's a scary one given our fragility

[DownFanatic]

There were worse draws we could have got. Longford mid table in division three and I'd suspect that we may just be a notch above them in terms of quality. Not a 'gimme' of a game by any stretch of the imagination but a very winnable one.

[TheClutch]

Marty Clarke said on BBC at half time that he would have at least appreciated a phone call from burns to get asked onto the county panel. Why has this not happened. So many better players around the county than what was on display today.

Why was Marty Clarke not approached by Eamonn Burns? As Oisin McConville said this is absolutely astonishing. From the way he was speaking it would appear he was at least interested in joining the setup. Who knows what effect that could have had on other players who had deemed themselves unavailable. As mentioned before some of the players that came on barely looked like they had an above average standard of the basic skills of the game; surely there is a better calibre of player within the county even in the lower divisions?

[Smurfy123]

Lads the whole set up is a joke
I see another 3 lads walked out on Friday night after the team was announced now if that was a tight knit group that would not happen
We have selectors who don't even attend club matches
A rugby coach as number 2
A secretary who is along the line making changes during matches
A panel that was out together with no trial matches
14 players out training 12 days ago
Marty Clarke who was not even asked to join the squad
We brought in 1 player after the league campaign and he was a keeper who handed Armagh 3 goals in the 21s
The whole set up is that of an average club side and the sooner the powers that be realise that before it's to late as the better players this year will not even go back next year and we will be poorer

[knockitdown]

Lads the whole set up is a joke
I see another 3 lads walked out on Friday night after the team was announced now if that was a tight knit group that would not happen
We have selectors who don't even attend club matches
A rugby coach as number 2
A secretary who is along the line making changes during matches
A panel that was out together with no trial matches
14 players out training 12 days ago
Marty Clarke who was not even asked to join the squad
We brought in 1 player after the league campaign and he was a keeper who handed Armagh 3 goals in the 21s
The whole set up is that of an average club side and the sooner the powers that be realise that before it's to late as the better players this year will not even go back next year and we will be poorer

Who were the 3?

[whitegoodman]

Lads the whole set up is a joke
I see another 3 lads walked out on Friday night after the team was announced now if that was a tight knit group that would not happen
We have selectors who don't even attend club matches
A rugby coach as number 2
A secretary who is along the line making changes during matches
A panel that was out together with no trial matches
14 players out training 12 days ago
Marty Clarke who was not even asked to join the squad
We brought in 1 player after the league campaign and he was a keeper who handed Armagh 3 goals in the 21s
The whole set up is that of an average club side and the sooner the powers that be realise that before it's to late as the better players this year will not even go back next year and we will be poorer

Where you not saying a week or two back that there were great vibes coming out of the camp and everything was rosey??