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The 'Bridge have finally faltered out of the top 4. No longer in the reckoning as serious championship contenders. Massive rebuild needed.

Burren were impressive. Conor Toner and Mark McKay lorded midfield and made their domination count. Expect them to win it, they are undoubtedly the most talented side in the County.

Can we please stop with this crap of "oh, he's trying his best" or "what have you done for Down football" etc, etc. The fact of the matter is that the Down Country Board Executive have failed systematically over the past decade.

Sick of detailing the litany of failures...

They MUST GO!!

If it's personal abuse to say the county executive and highly paid secretary are inept then you should contact 99% of down supporters because everyone is saying the same. Years of mismanagement, years of ineptitude. Down are years behind the top teams in Ulster never mind Ireland. Everyone knows the stories of people and companies not being paid, we are complete laughing stock. These are the same people that overseen the burrenbridge fiasco!!!

Nailed it!!

What concerns me regarding kick outs is that it was quite obviously an issue in the league, none more so that the Dublin game and nothing seems to have changed. GK that day was Cunningham, so it's quite clearly a lack of strategy from management, which is quite bemusing considering the change in dynamics and perceptions of the importance of retaining primary possession on kick outs.

Something which even I can't blame the county board for... (apart from the fact they ousted the previous manager, leaving the vacant position unappealing to anyone with any qualifying experience, leaving the to beg a novice to take it...)

Many on here complaining we don't have the money. The question I'd ask is why we do we not have the money? What is the difference between us and Leitrim, Offaly or Louth (all have Centre of Excellences)?

We should be seeking out contributors from far and wide...

But alas- who would want to invest their money in Down football given those that would be entrusted to spend it...

Centre of Excellence in Castlewellan- problem solved!!

Speculative.... you can't hang your countys problems entirely on development squad activity. That's far too convenient.

The "development" of the perfect footballer is down to many influences. Genetic probably being the biggest. Primary school, secondary/grammar school, parental influence, club coaches the whole way up, and...If all this is in place....a county development coach could probably take this on another yard or two. But it's a whole combination of factors not just one.

So in keeping with your theory all the county secretary has to do us oversee the appointment of say....Benny Coulter.. to take responsibility of Down development squads and within five years Down will be back winning All Irelands!

Sorry to burst your bubble but the Greg Blaneys the Mickey Lindens and the James Mc Cartans would still have been the best footballers in the land if they had never set foot in a development squad. You either have it or you don't....and sadly the footballers just arnt there at the minute. Surely that's plain to see.

Wobbler gets this to be fair.

But sure go ahead and blame the county secretary anyway you need a scapegoat of some kind and he is the easy target. As I said before some of you are hilarious!

Ridiculous statement. In your mind those born in Tyrone in the last 30 years have a better genetic make up than those born in Down or Armagh and that's the reason why they're streets ahead of us? Jesus, Charles Darwin lives!!

Tyrone are streets ahead of us because they invested in their infrastructure to develop young talent. Simple as that.

Down stumbled upon 2 good minor teams in 99 and 05, does that mean that we have to wait for another anomaly in the genetic make up until we can have another decent minor team?

Ridiculous, utterly!

Youse are hilarious. Back to laying all the blame with a county secretary. Question. Do you have the players in the county at minor u 21 or senior to challenge for titles. No seems to be the current consensus here. But go ahead and blame the whole lot on one man.

Some keyboard warriors on here wait to see how many of you stick your hands up. Yes Down deserve better but the decline simply can't be put down to one man. That's ludicrous. If it's that bad why are your club delegates not doing something about it.

Question: Why are there not the players at youth level?
Answer: Inadequate structures set by the Down County Board
Conclusion: County Board are to blame

I have held off until today before reading the backlash I knew would come on this discussion board. And yes, we were well and truly hammered but honestly what did you expect!!! Did people somehow think that just because it was championship that we were going to unearth some wonder players out of somewhere or that our league form was going to just disappear. Its quite simple, we just didn't have the quality, ability or talent available to us to put it up to a seasoned experienced good football team like Monaghan on their home turf for 70 minutes. Surely we can all call for heads to roll but unless you are either prepared to step up and take the various positions or have people in mind to do so then what is the point in ranting about it. We are typical outside the wire supporters, when things are going well we jump on the band wagon and when things are going bad we stick the knife in and turn it as much as we can. So as a result of Sunday, who is going to step up to affect change? Who is going to run for the various positions we are calling heads to roll in?

I don't think this is the forum to nominate people for positions, I would have quite a few in mind none of which are part of the county board at present or any GAA administration for that. Vision doesn't usually coincide with those who take roles within any administration role in general. We have a huge multi national company sponsoring us, run by some very smart and visionary guys, why can we not sound out their input and their vision?

It is my honest opinion that anyone, and I mean ANYONE could do a better job than those currently in charge. Danny Hughes hit the nail on the head today in the Indo- we are at least 20 years behind!!

Out with the old, in with the new!!

It honestly astounds me how some people on here can defend our County Board.

Our 3 Championship appearance at the major grades in 2016 have yielded only humiliation, particularly @ U21 and Senior. We haven't won an Ulster Title at any grade since 2009. We haven't won a Senior Title in 23 years, we haven't won a minor title in 18. The problem is systematic. The utter lack of infrastructure within Down is nothing short of a depressing!

Senior members of the Down County Board should resign, with an emergency meeting held to bring in some new forward thinking minds (those with actual minds would be a step forward). Unless we want another 20 years of complete and utter garbage!!

So 2005 didn't happen for our victorious Minor Footballers.

Did they win an Ulster Title though??

It honestly astounds me how some people on here can defend our County Board.

Our 3 Championship appearance at the major grades in 2016 have yielded only humiliation, particularly @ U21 and Senior. We haven't won an Ulster Title at any grade since 2009. We haven't won a Senior Title in 23 years, we haven't won a minor title in 18. The problem is systematic. The utter lack of infrastructure within Down is nothing short of a depressing!

Senior members of the Down County Board should resign, with an emergency meeting held to bring in some new forward thinking minds (those with actual minds would be a step forward). Unless we want another 20 years of complete and utter garbage!!

So Tyrone played a totally different style of football today than what they played last season
And people talk about all out Down teams playing the same way
If all our teams played the same way we would be very predictable
Peter Harte came through on goal in the first half point was on Harte give the 1-2 with Cavanagh back of net is that's style of play or would that be Harte thinking on his feet??

Tyrone played a different style of football than last year? You are having a laugh aren't you? Men behind the ball and breaking at pace led by the runners from the half back line, Colm Cavanagh sitting on the D an springboarding attacks when opposition breaks down is the exact same thing they did last year.

Are you trying to say that the fact Perter Harte played a 1 2 with Cavanagh that is him not adhering to a style of play?? Catch a grip!

[And what do you mean about do they know the way Down play??Is there now a way Down have to play?]

What's your simple solutions to these problems?
And what do you mean about do they know the way Down play??
Is there now a way Down have to play?
I never heard the likes of it.
Did Dublin not loose and all Ireland 2 years ago by playing all out attack with number 6 going on the attack now they have changed ther style with the 6 sitting at all time with Flynn playing a more defensive role so not to get hit on the coubter attack like Donegal 2 years ago
Teams change systems every few years
Poacher played all out defence against Burren but changed to an all out attack against Longstone and Castlewellan and trounced both teams

Where did I say there was a Down way to play? Look at Tyrone, generally, all their teams play the same way. Systems are always going to evolve as the game does that's natural but that doesn't mean to say that there should be a clear idea within the county board of how we want our senior team to play and implement those same principles down through the grades. Whatever system that might be. We've looked far too short term recently (debacle regarding McCorry prime example) and need to have a vision for what the future is.

Johann Cruyff had a similar vision for Barcelona's youth teams play the same way as their senior team and it has seemed to work out all right for them!!

Yeah, because harping back to former county players has brought us some great success in the past....

I'd like someone to name me any player from the 91/94 team(James McCartan excluded) that has had a successful stint at management?

What experience do all the above mentioned have at developing young players? What expertise are they going to bring in terms of Strength and Conditioning? Do we have cohesive plan as to how we want Down teams to play no matter what age group? So many simple solutions to these issues.

Sorry T O'Hare but can you tell me what structure we have exactly? 12 yrs ago Tyrone invested heavily in their youth structures, created a centre of excellence and thus excelled on a provincial and national stage. They have been able to develop young talents  and turn them into quality, athletic intercounty footballers.

St Colman's College won 2 Hogan Cups in a row, with a high proportion of those players being from Down- where are these lads now? Donal O'Hare  is the only one who has made any significant impact on the county scene. Where was the vision then from the county board to grab hold of these players and develop them into athletes capable of competing at top intercounty standard? Best minor team we had in last 7/8 yrs in 2009 (made AI Semi Final)- why have none of those lads kicked on to county?

A lot of people like to blame the player, especially the younger players, for not committing to Down, but why would they? They have been let down by the lack of structures that have been in place in other counties for over a decade. We aren't 5 yrs behind- we're 15 yrs behind!!