And now for the next match-Away to Wexford March 2nd.
Not much in it so far!
Division 3
Team Played Won Drawn Lost For Against Pts Diff Pts.
Wexford 2 2 0 0 31 25 6 4
Down 2 2 0 0 32 27 5 4
Where and what time is the game on Sunday?
Not 100% but I think its Wexford Park, 2.30pm throw in. I think Wexford by 2 points in this one lads!
Wexford recall Clongeen duo
28 February 2008
The Clongeen duo of Nicky O'Sullivan and Colin Byrne have been restored to the Wexford team for Sunday's top-of-the-table NFL Division 3 clash with Down at Wexford Park.
O'Sullivan is named at right half back, while Byrne comes in at right corner forward. The players to lose out are George Sunderland and Adrian Morrissey. There is one positional change which sees Pauric Curtis move from wing forward to wing back.
Wexford (SF v Down): A Masterson; C Morris, P Wallace, D Walsh; N O'Sullivan, B Malone, P Curtis; E Bradley, B Doyle; B Brosnan, R Barry, A Flynn; C Byrne, S Roche, M Forde.
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Reverting to more or less the team that started against Longford. I didn't think the performance in Sligo was all that convincing - I thought Sligo were poor - but to win away from home with 14 men took a huge effort. It would be nice to finish a game with 15 men for a change, although a full-blooded encounter is on the cards I'm sure.
Good to see Ryan keeping faith in the newer lads, although I would expect to see the bench playing a big part, with the experience of David Murphy, Paddy Colfer, Ciaran Lyng, John Hudson all likely to have a say in proceedings at some stage.
It'll be interesting to see if Carr sticks with his winning starting 15, or if he feels it's time to give Coulter and others the start. 100% record in competitive football so far this season, so I guess he's not likely to change much. But equally his use of the bench will be crucial. Both teams have conceded a fair bit so far in the league, so we could have a high-scoring game ...
This will be the biggest test to date for Wexford, so hopefully should bring the lads on a bit more irrespective of the result, but who ever emerges victorious should nearly have one foot in Div 2 ....
Its a savage drive down and I'm only coming from Dublin , I've a sister in New Ross is the ground far from there ?
With McComiskey Howard and Murney playing yesterday I'd say they will come off the bench at some stage . So maybe Benny to start his first game of 2008 ?
We definitely can't afford to give Wexford a 6 point start ,hopefully Down can sort out the slow start and keep the wining run going .
Straight down the N11 from Dublin. Do it in 2 hours these days. Piece o' cake.
The sister is a bit out of the way though. 2.5 hours to Ross, then another half-hour over to Wexford.
Bring yer sunscreen ;)
I heard Mark Sidebottomon the wireless earlier saying Down were unchanged. Is that true? No Benny and no McCommisky? Hard to believe unless Benny isn't fit.
The BBC website has that too. Down unchanged lineup. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/northern_ireland/gaelic_games/7270629.stm (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/northern_ireland/gaelic_games/7270629.stm)
"Its a savage drive down" - what are you on about, its an hour from Newry to the M50 and its 2 hours from Dublin, Motorway/Dual carrigeway for 75% of the journey.
I was talking about the drive to New Ross , and there was a little town that took about 40 mins to get through . I cant think of the name of the place . Is that okay for you ?
Myself (Co. Down born and bred) and a New Ross man will be travelling from Connaught to the game. Across country with no motorways. And are happy to do it. It must be great to have only to travel from Dublin to New Ross. Lucky you 8)
Could anyone who travelled down to the match yesterday give us a brief report, who played well etc. Listened to the commentary on 5fm which switched between the two games(armagh-monghan). Why were Clarke and Sexton taken off??
I will give it a go FG....
Down started the game with a few changes from the originally selected team. Dan Gordan was missing, presumably injured. Ambrose started in his place. Also O'Hanlon did not start with Ronan Murtagh and Declan Rooney as the two wing backs. Down started well, and were looking as good as they have been this year, for the first 25 minutes. Although Wexford helped them a little bit by committing a lot handling errors. Martin Cole had picked up Mattie Forde and was marshalling him well. During this period Wexford were playing with a 3rd midfielder, and although their big number 8 (Doyle) was getting to the ball first, Down were getting all the breaking ball and hence a lot more attacking possession. Down were defending well and had like a rugby line of defenders moving together at every Wexford attack. The Wexford management made some changes with about 10 minutes to go in the first half by bringing on a couple of new players and changing back to a 3 man full forward line, which improved them. Around about this time Down were ahead by 7 point to 1. The Down pace and work rate, which had been impressive for the first half hour, seemed to slack off a bit in the last 5 minutes of the first half. The halftime score line could, and possibly should, have been 7-1, but they allowed Wexford 3 late points to leave the half time score at 7 - 4, which give Wexford hope for the second half, especially as they were starting to come into the game.
Down were late to come out for the second half. I wonder what was going on in that changing room?! And they started with a point from Danny Hughes and it looked like might be continuing as the first half. But Wexford changed tactics, and started hitting ball over the top of the Down defensive line and straight inside the 13m line. Next thing we knew, Wexford had scored 2-2 in what seemed to be about 2 minutes! If you had looked at your programme you might have missed it! Mattie Forde had a hand in all of these scores. The first goal was a flick of the fist, and second was a superb shot. This naturally lifted the Wexford team and the crowd, and Down were chasing the game from then on. Wexford were like a different team from then on. They harassed every Down player when in possession, and dispossessed them on many occasions. They started winning all the breaking ball in midfield and were not making any handling or passing errors any more. So they had most of the possession which resulted in Down failing to score for about 20 minutes. As the game wore on, it became more apparent that Down were going to need goals to win it. So they brought on the shotguns, Coulter and McCommiskey. But the problem was that they couldn't get the ball to them, such was their lack of possession. So the substitutions had little effect. Also, Liam Doyle missed a few free kicks. However, a couple of those were a little ambitious, even for his trusty left peg, as they were taken from over 50m.
Clarke and Sexton had worked hard all day both in attack and in defence, and Clarke in particular looked physically exhausted when he came off. Ambrose Rodgers was good in the first half, but looked off the pace in the second half. He is not match fit yet.
And I don't believe Ronan Sexton was taken off. I think it was Fagan that came off with Clarke.
And since Wexford owned the midfield in the second half, Jackie Lynch was called ashore and Luke Howard went on in defence with Rooney moving to midfield. But Ambrose was just as missing as Jackie in second half, after both of them having a good first half.
Western Exile has summed the Down performance up very well, but I think he should have mentioned a few glaring weaknesses in the current set up.
This was always going to be the toughest game in Division 3, why werent we starting with our strongest possible line up ie. Coulter and McCumiskey. Ross has become very predictable at this stage and seems intent on making the same changes week after week. Everyone in Wexford knew that these two players were going to be sprung from the bench with 20 minutes to go. It was too late at that stage, the game was lost by then.
John Clarke was the pick of the forwards in the first half, yet he was taken off, but Cathal Magee was totally ineffective in the forward line and he remained on for the entire 70 minutes, in fact Magee ended the game at midfield, where it seemed it was easier for him to hide. Ambrose Rodgers was very ineffective yesterday and was dispossed time and time again yet he stayed on for the entire game.
The game was lost in the first 10 minutes of the second half, but we were second best in midfield for the entire game. Wexford played an extra man there for most of the game and Down simply had no answer, every kick out went straight down the middle and came straight back at McVeigh, who has conceeded 8 goals in his last 4 games. Can Ross not see that there is a problem here. Maybe this is the wake up call that Down needed.
Very disappointing for Down. I wasn't at it and I haven't read any reports. What's the story with Coulter and McComiskey? Are they fit or not? they must be fit if they keep coming on in the second half. It's a bad call not starting them if they are fit. Ross needs to think again.
Good follow up DG. I was only commenting on what I saw, and not what I should have seen :D
You are correct, though. Magee did not perform at all on Sunday, and over all the games so far this year he has been given a good chance to claim a place and has not taken it. It is admirable that Ross has shown loyalty to a winning team, but that winning way has expired and Coulter must start instead of Magee next time. McCommiskey is now free from Sigerson duty and is now therefore able to play 70min and should start. And based on the Wexford game, and other games so far, Clarke, Sexton and Hughes must start. So to make room for the 2 boys, McKernan will probably lose out with Sexton moving to CHF.
And midfield obviously struggles without Dan Gordan. Ambrose Rodgers is not the answer yet.
Conceding goals is probably Downs biggest problem still to resolve. Although I am not sure if Brendan McVeigh should be the first choice goalkeeper, it is a bit unfair to blame him for both of Wexfords goals. Too many teams are finding a way to give the Down goalkeeper no chance! The management need to look at how / why that is happening.
http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/gaa_tables_footballleaguedivision3.html (http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/gaa_tables_footballleaguedivision3.html)
After Fermanagh's win over Leitrim last weekend, they are now in second place on table with a game in hand, and could take top spot if they beat Louth next weekend. Pressure is being put on both Wexford and Down for the 2 promotion spots !!
I'd say Fermanagh could be good for one of the top spots, however they have yet to play Louth, Wexfors or Down, so table placings at this stage mean little.