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[In the second half they pushed everyone up]

Goals galore in Liatroim last night, very high scoring! Rostrevor thought they had it in the bag early. Few cards dealt in Ballymartin after the game too I heard. And no Longstone score in 2nd half?

I watched the Longstone game on Pairc tv, the first half was poor with Mayobridge standing off them and letting them have the kick out. In the second half they pushed everyone up and the Stone had no answer to the tenacity of Mayobridge. If that is the standard of the two teams coming up to division 1 next year then I think they will have a short stay.

Two games tonight in the SFC are really hard to call,  Clonduff really need a performance as they showed nothing against Kilcoo.

You must have been watching a different game as Mayobridge continued to give up kickouts in the second half. Why clubs continue to employ coaches who instruct their teams to sit back, put everyone behind the ball and hope to stop the opposition scoring just baffles me. Proud clubs with a successful history and they resort to this cr@p, they know who they are getting into bed with!

[Benny, Darren and Donal]

Benny, Darren and Donal in with the minors. Strong south down connect again with another Burren man in the picture. They must have serious connections on the county board.
I agree with the previous statements about young lads having their head turned by other things in life apart from GAA. Hard to blame them.

Big weekend of action ahead - Hope this weather fecks off so the games aren ruined.

Three wonderful players for Down over the years but several issues for me. Benny has been a very mediocre coach with 2 clubs now, Darren has no coaching experience and is still playing, Donal apparently with an intermediate club in Louth and Burren minors with 5/6 others, he's also still playing. Sorry, Benny still staying with Rostrevor. How could anyone in their right mind make this appointment without any interview and still think that it is for the good of Down football moving forward?.

10 minutes in and with 15 behind the ball, Longstone still score easily twice - what masterclass strategy from Poacher and the new Down coach Clarke.

 Hard to believe

Ross Carr should stand for election.Walk the walk instead of complaining about it.

You obviously know nothing about Ross Carr.

Ross Carrs piece in the IN today makes for painful reading of potentially why we are heading for div 4.

Ross and the IN are a good match.

An absolute perfect match . What ever happened to the Carr led Club Down enterprise?

Donegal seniors are on the hunt as well
I am glad we learnt from our mistakes from 2021

They're going to keep McCartan, cheap option

The Down Way!

In fairness, hes no laverty or clarke.

What happened the smiley face here Brick?

Soupy Campbell allowed 10+ steps all game

It didn't help him in the penalties. He'll always let you down in clutch positions.

[Rostrevor are asking questions about management too]

I wonder do the good people of Mayobridge feel they are getting value for money with Poacher and Clarke. Surely there are better in-house men in that club that would get better performances..

They ain't the only club asking questions about management at present. Despite what upandwin thinks - Burren do mind losing games. They were missing a few lads last night who are on holidays/travelling but they won't like the fact they are 6 points off the lead already going into phase two. Rostrevor are asking questions about management too - performances are improving but results staying the same.

A very general, and incorrect statement.

Benny has been going from early December with them, it would hardly be surprising if Rostrevor weren't asking questions.

If rumours are true and James has stood down, could Micky Moran be talked into becoming the next Down manager with Conor Laverty on board?

Yeah class, Roger as team liason and Terry as selector, wee Richie looking after the gear, a match made in heaven.

Poacher - why would anyone ever put that man in charge of any team?

Why waste money on big name managers and exhaustive back room teams?

It's too early for that.

Down need, first and foremost, a clean sweep of the cohort of players who've regressed individually and collectively over the past 5 years.

Find a man who's willing to do that, and rebuild Down from the bottom up. I don't care if we've never heard of him. That's the role, and it's not a role for someone who is used to fine tuning the pick of the litter.

Absolutely Wobbler, I think we all agree on that.

[Conor Lavert]

Who would be the candidates people on here would think off to replace James?

Conor Laverty
Mal O'Rourke
??
??

He hasn't the balls for it. There is a decent U.20 squad next year so he will stay in his comfort zone. O'Rourke will dominate Derry with Glen so why would he move to a group of lads who think they are better than they are.  Tailteann Cup is where we are and we have to accept that.

No one could ever question the passion of Mc Cartan and his love for Down. He dug us out of a very big hole when a mess was created by sheer incompetence beyond his control. While he thought he was doing the right thing himself, taking an unpopular No.2 in O'Rourke who the lads hated and another inexperienced coach in Mc Mahon who was well out of his depth, he was always rowing against the tide. The Dublin debacle actually brought the lads closer by all accounts but the whole thing has been a shitshow from the start. We're in a bad place but Tailteann Cup level is our standard. Slabbering in the papers won't help, we have too many prima donnas who will be posting pictures from Ginger Janes again tonight. I have no idea how we get out of this mess but we are in a very sorry state atm.