Down Club Hurling & Football

[upandwin]

Fair play to the County Board, their decision regarding the league structures has made for a really enjoyable spectacle across all four divisions...

CPN will not get it easy on Friday, Ford will have their tails up after a great win against Clonduff last week. Big game on Friday for the neutrals will be Clonduff v Kilcoo...strange one with the yellas that they always seem to start really well every single year and begin to fall away when the proper business end of the season rolls around. Bit early to say that this year but I think they'll need a good showing against the Magpies to get some momentum before their championship campaign begins.

What has happened Loughinisland? See they didn't field last night against Bryansford? They were struggling massively at the start of the year with Covid from what I hear but surely they can still get 15 lads to line out for league games? Seems like they've resigned themselves to the fact they won't be competitive this year in the SFC and with no relegation maybe it's not worth risking lads etc. which is fair enough.

RGU are some force to be reckoned with if this year is anything to go by...Prenter, Mooney, Smyth and D Turley seriously pacey and provide strength all over the pitch with Anthony Doherty back, Gerard Collins and Big Peter Turley at the edge of the square, they are my dark horses for a serious championship run...only thing going against them is they have been playing Div2 intensity all year which is hard to then adjust to the pace of Div1 teams like Kilcoo and Burren...

Has anyone seen much of the Stone or Castlewellan this year? I think the Stone will have too much at home to the Town and should just pip them...

Saval and Liatroim to go up from Div 3, Would be shocked if Shamrocks go and get a result in Liatroim this week but you never know I suppose...Great week of football ahead of us

[johnnycool]

Fair play to the County Board, their decision regarding the league structures has made for a really enjoyable spectacle across all four divisions...

CPN will not get it easy on Friday, Ford will have their tails up after a great win against Clonduff last week. Big game on Friday for the neutrals will be Clonduff v Kilcoo...strange one with the yellas that they always seem to start really well every single year and begin to fall away when the proper business end of the season rolls around. Bit early to say that this year but I think they'll need a good showing against the Magpies to get some momentum before their championship campaign begins.

What has happened Loughinisland? See they didn't field last night against Bryansford? They were struggling massively at the start of the year with Covid from what I hear but surely they can still get 15 lads to line out for league games? Seems like they've resigned themselves to the fact they won't be competitive this year in the SFC and with no relegation maybe it's not worth risking lads etc. which is fair enough.

RGU are some force to be reckoned with if this year is anything to go by...Prenter, Mooney, Smyth and D Turley seriously pacey and provide strength all over the pitch with Anthony Doherty back, Gerard Collins and Big Peter Turley at the edge of the square, they are my dark horses for a serious championship run...only thing going against them is they have been playing Div2 intensity all year which is hard to then adjust to the pace of Div1 teams like Kilcoo and Burren...

Has anyone seen much of the Stone or Castlewellan this year? I think the Stone will have too much at home to the Town and should just pip them...

Saval and Liatroim to go up from Div 3, Would be shocked if Shamrocks go and get a result in Liatroim this week but you never know I suppose...Great week of football ahead of us

Busy lad as he'll hopefully be playing hurling for us on the Sundays...

[upandwin]

Yea, supposedly a great hurler too...Fair play to the lad, hope the two codes don't out pressure on him to choose.

[Nanderson]

Now that the destiny of Division 1 is firmly in CPN's hands (barring a final day slip up at home to Bryansford), attention turns to the other three divisions. All three have an exciting run in.
Division 2: Downpatrick are already promoted and should wrap up the title with a win at Saul on Friday. Last night's results have thrown up an interesting clash, as Longstone and Castlewellan play in a winner take all battle for the second promotion spot. The draw favours the Stone, should that be the result.
Division 3: 2 games remaining for most, and if Shamrocks can get a win away at Liatroim on Friday, it will leave all of the top 3 on 16 points going into the final match on Monday. A Liatroim win on Friday will see them and Saval promoted as Saval will have a 2 point lead over Shamrocks and have them on the head to head.
Division 4: With 2 games remaining, any of 4 teams still have a shot at going up. On Friday, Bright and St Pauls should have comfortable victories, but Kilclief and Dromara face each other. A Dromara win will see Kilclief out of the running, but a Kilclief win will see them both with a mathematical chance of going up, but needing a result elsewhere to give them a chance.

Longstone are almost assured promotion being 2 points ahead of Castlewellan and have a 48 point better points difference so unless there is a 25 point win by Castlewellan its pretty much game over in div 2. Although Longstone struggled go put away an under strength kingdom team on Friday

[ScarvaLegend]

Now that the destiny of Division 1 is firmly in CPN's hands (barring a final day slip up at home to Bryansford), attention turns to the other three divisions. All three have an exciting run in.
Division 2: Downpatrick are already promoted and should wrap up the title with a win at Saul on Friday. Last night's results have thrown up an interesting clash, as Longstone and Castlewellan play in a winner take all battle for the second promotion spot. The draw favours the Stone, should that be the result.
Division 3: 2 games remaining for most, and if Shamrocks can get a win away at Liatroim on Friday, it will leave all of the top 3 on 16 points going into the final match on Monday. A Liatroim win on Friday will see them and Saval promoted as Saval will have a 2 point lead over Shamrocks and have them on the head to head.
Division 4: With 2 games remaining, any of 4 teams still have a shot at going up. On Friday, Bright and St Pauls should have comfortable victories, but Kilclief and Dromara face each other. A Dromara win will see Kilclief out of the running, but a Kilclief win will see them both with a mathematical chance of going up, but needing a result elsewhere to give them a chance.

Longstone are almost assured promotion being 2 points ahead of Castlewellan and have a 48 point better points difference so unless there is a 25 point win by Castlewellan its pretty much game over in div 2. Although Longstone struggled go put away an under strength kingdom team on Friday

My understanding is that head to head is the tiebreaker, not score difference.

[thewobbler]

Head to head in a two way tie for any position, surely.

[johnnycool]

Head to head in a two way tie for any position, surely.

depends what rules Down CCC decide to use and that could change at any time. 

[Nanderson]

Apologies just looked at div 1 at it seems to be sorted on head to head so that must be the first tiebreaker

[upandwin]

Do Castlewellan have any chance of beating the Stone? I thought the town were struggling for numbers at one stage...could Danny Hughes be in line for the county job at some point? Friendly with a couple of the lads on the oracle selection panel...wouldn't be surprised if he got the job somehow...

Seems to be doing a right enough job at castlewellan but still relatively inexperienced...

[Smurfy123]

Exciting end to the season
Division 1
We are in the driving seat but the Bridge Kilcoo or Clonduff could nip us if we aren’t careful

Division 2
Downpatrick up with either Castlewellan or the stone to join them in a head to head game

Division 3
If Liatrom beat shamrocks it’s Saval and Liatrom up


Castlewellan should not be where they are in Down football. The numbers they have they should be competing for honours. Just shows you the great job shorty done getting 2 leagues


Division 1 CPN Champions
Division 2 Downpatrick Castlwellan
Division 3 Liatrom Saval

[Truth hurts]

With Mayobridge getting the points of Loughinisland on Friday it not means the Point needs to beat Byransford, a draw will not be sufficient. Clonduff needs to beat Kilcoo and hope CPN drop points to get their second league title in a number of weeks. Kilcoo will be looking to get a performance together as we move close to the championship, their supporters are getting a bit anxious of their league form and are worried about the injuries to key players. Paul Devlin and Dylan Ward have been instrumental to their success the past few years and it will be a massive loss for them. I know Devlin is long-term but is Ward?

[Smurfy123]

The bog one for us was Monday. Away to Belfast on a Monday but Carryduff were very poor
Are Carryduff a one season wonder?
Big talk about all these county players but are they overrated?

Championship finals
CPN v Kilcoo

An Riocht v Annaclone


Dundrum v East Down

Fixtures should be out fairly soon

[upandwin]

Carryduff are missing a few and they got a favourable run in the championship last year. The same way our lads in the Point got a very favourable run in 2019 to sneak in to a final...wouldn't call C'duff a one season wonder-they have beaten some good Div1 teams this year and a top 5 finish would be a good result for them in a very competitive league...

Massive opportunity for Warrenpoint this Friday to win our first bit of decent silverware in about 50yrs...we'll never have a better chance of winning the first division and it might never happen again. I think Burren and Kilcoo will be the final this year, with Clonduff their main threat. Clonduff can beat Kilcoo and Warrenpoint on their day but they won't beat Burren in the championship when it matters.

I was looking at the odds for Down SFC- Kilcoo 4/6, Burren and CPN 5/1, Clonduff 16/1...crazy stuff.

I'd have Kilcoo favourites for obvious reason but more like 6/5 as they have a hard draw first round...If Ward is missing that's a massive blow to the Magpies...that could make or break their defence of the Frank O'Hare cup

Clonduff at 16/1 is some price, if they can avoid the big guns early they have a real opportunity and they've got an easy first round draw.

[Truth hurts]

The bog one for us was Monday. Away to Belfast on a Monday but Carryduff were very poor
Are Carryduff a one season wonder?
Big talk about all these county players but are they overrated?

Championship finals
CPN v Kilcoo

An Riocht v Annaclone


Dundrum v East Down

Fixtures should be out fairly soon

Bryansford are a proud club and I tell you one thing, they ain't travelling to you just for a trophy presentation. The young coaches in Bryansford are been improving the team week on week and fair play to them after being shafted at the beginning of the year. They are always a strong championship team too.

It would be a massive statement of intent going into the championship if Clonduff can beat Kilcoo on Friday night but Kilcoo won't want two defeats on the bounce going into a championship campaign so I expect them to bounce back.

I am looking forward to heading to Longstone for the winner takes all game. Two proud clubs who believe themselves to be top tier clubs. I think it will be a spicy affair.

[upandwin]

What does your gut say about the Stone game Truth? Hard place to go and think the tight pitch might just favour the stone...Castlewellan a great running team and have plenty of dangerous forwards but might not have the space up there to cause the usual damage they would on an open pitch..

If the game was in Castlewellan, I'd fancy the town but my gut says Stone by 2...agree though, it'll be spicy and will need a good referee taking charge. Any word who will get it?