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It just struck me there now that even should a fiendish fightback meet a calamitous collapse, the Shamrocks can't catch Ballyholland this season. Which brings a smile to my face. 

im sure that smile will widen even more if they are relegated. such great love between you both!!!!!!

Its not the manager that didn't perform, its the players!

supersub as well as we both know when the 15 players cross the white line it is up to them to perform. but the management are there to make changes to their set-up when they see the need for change. from where i was sitting they didn't make any positional switches during the 9 point swing in the last 15 mins of the first half. clonduff did to counteract rostrevors dominance moving john fegan under the dropping ball, aidan carr to mid field and making sure that at least one of their halfbacks stayed in front of the defence to cut out the good ball you were using in the first 15 mins. rostrevor did make 3 substitutes at half time, strange that clerkin and mc grath taken off there were other players in line before them. they left monk cole on young mcpoiln until he was taken off but couldn't see that he would have been better used in curtailing the damage done by john fegan. colm murney was destroyed on that side and he should have been good enough to hold on to mcpolin. the dominance of fegan and carr led to your full back line being led a merry dance by ward mcconville and o'hagan.

to imply that your manager is not to blame is surely a little naive

the implosion of the year. rostrevor were brilliant for the first 15 min clonduff couldnt get their hands on the ball and then gave an exhibition of football for the next 45 only allowing the reds to score 1 point from a free. in fact rostrevor went from scoring 1-5 in the first 15 mins and didnt score for the next 40 mins. unbelievable. a bit like bryansford v kilcoo, no plan B when clonduff put it up to them. dont know what happened rostrevor although i did say they lacked in the mid field area and would have to survive on break ball but clonduff were much hungrier. would have to question the rostrevor management. how they left murney on john fegan for the last 15 min of the 1st half was startling. he stood in around the middle on his own picking up the loose ball and driving into the heart of rostrevors defence. he was involved in most of the scores that brought them from 6 down to 3 up by ht.
also the entire half forwrd line were always inside their own half no link to their full forwards at all.

interesting 1/4 final draw one of the big 2 will be out, burren will fancy themselves beating saval, clonduff will hope to have a similiar display against liatriom and you can toss a coin for the island and kingdom

Is Ross McGarry fit for Saturdays game??... I see he wasn't playing for the Point at the weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ross is 100% unlike some of the other county minors clarke & white (are 2 i know played this weekend), he wont play for his club in the league or championship until the county minors are knocked out. with the way we played on sat nite we could have done with him in the forward line. he wouldnt have got us victory but he would have helped sean mcmullan in winning ball in a very poor forward line

Was at all 1st round SFC games and these are my own thoughts. feel free to comment

Liatriom - Very strong up the middle and will be evn stronger with Doyle added to the starting 15.  on their day they are capable of beating any team but thought when the Stone ran directly at them like they did in the first half their defence was vunerable. a good draw could see them in a semi.

Kilcoo - If they can produce their 2nd half display for a full hour they will be a match for everyone. 2 brannigans in defence were excellent and although a pain in the backside Laverty tormented the Ford for the whole hour. its wat he does best. Like him or loathe him he is a good footballer. with the right draw could get to the final.

An Riocht - the first of the 3 mis-matches of the first round and although they disposed of C na B with no bother they do rely on Clarke and Colgan, who will not have the freedom in 1/4 final as they did on sat nite. in my opinion beaten 1/4 finalists.

L/Island - a very poor Island team beat an even poorer Point team. Not sending out the signals they did last year. without Dan & the 2 O'Reilly's starting they look a very pale shade of last years side. Dont see them progressing past the next round unless they draw an Riocht and even that is no easy game for them at the moment.

Saval - Jekyll & Hyde Poor 1st half, great 2nd half. rely too much on kearney and hughes. McConville did get the winning goal (please dont kiss to the crowd next time Fergal) his conversion rate was poor, wasted quite a number easy points.
If playing well they mite sneak into a semi

Mayobridge - the 2nd mis-match but you can only beat who is in front of you and they did that with ease. will anyone want them in the next round, i say no more, the team that beats the bridge will win the championship

Rostrevor - will be happy to get another bite at the cherry tomorrow nite. they are a very hard working team with a strong panel. one problem the have is in the middle of the field. they dont have a player who will win clean ball from kickouts and will rely on break ball. if they win enough they do have the firepower to trouble teams with parr cole and the mackins.

Clonduff - did they miss the boat? well they probably had the better of the chances versus rostrevor but were not clinical enough. again they have a good mixture of youth and experience in there 15 and with jason brown to come into that starting 15 it is another headache for the reds defence. if they get past the reds it might be as far as it goes

Burren - a very young team with great energy and movement around the field, hard tackling, a strong bench but you cannot take anything from the game as the harps just didnt put up any defence. they wil not have as much room in the 1/4 finals but in saying that they will be in with a good shout.

my order of the last nine

bridge
kilcoo & burren
rostrevor
saval & clonduff
liatriom
island
an riocht

1. Mark Rocks
2. One of the McGiverns (Ryan?)
3. Paddy Mohan
4. Ryan McGovern
5. Chris McGovern
6. Ciaran McGovern
7. Dan McCartan
8. Gerard McCartan
9. Declan Rooney
10. James McGovern
11. Kevin McKernan
12. Eamon McGovern
13. Paudie Poland
14. Cathal Murdock
15.  Might have been Chris McCann. I can't remember.


Subs who came on were Ciaran Byrne, Brian Murphy and I think PJ McAlinden got a run out. Might have been a 4th too. I was looking at the ground mostly by that stage.

15. Conall MCGovern

[Longstone]

Senior Championship

Liatriom v Longstone      
Bryansford v Kilcoo
Clann na Banna v An Riocht
Loughinisland v Warrenpoint
Castlewellan v Saval
Mayobridge v Annaclone
Clonduff v Rostrevor
Ballyholland v Burren

Intermediate Championship

Ardglass v Carryduff
Glasdrumman v Drumaness
Shamrocks v Kilclief
Ballymartin v Drumgath
Dundrum v Saul
Bredagh v Atticall
Downpatrick v Tullylish
Darragh Cross v St Johns

Junior Football Championship

Dromara v Aughlisnafin
St Michaels v Glenn
Mitchels v Teconnaught

although the point may have only 2 points and have been on the recieving end of a few big scores they have been competitive in quite a number of games. bridge, burren, castlewellan, clonduff, kilcoo second hald of liatriom, we have shown glimpses of good football. But when playing in div 1 you need to have that consistency and the ability to grind out results which just isnt happening. a big gulf between div 2 and div 1. but the league table doesnt tell any lies and ourselves loughinisland and clonduff are not down there for nothing. as for tonights game the point need to be competitive in mid field to halt the presence of dan,whether hes 100% or not he is still a big threat. dont know if magic will start with down SHC with antrim a week away so island may change tactics of searching him with long balls and looking for runners off him. point need to continue from the draw with kilcoo and hoping the likes of john boyle, davo, johnny town and ryan mallon are all on song as a 4 pt cushion going into the second half of the season would be good. only problem from a point view is the island  always do well in moygannon.

[quote author=Mourne Rover link=topic=25.msg561818#msg561818 date=1244330052]
Fermanagh's defeat against Cavan was a pretty telling indication our of own position. Cavan, a limited but reasonably well organised side, were able to beat Fermanagh despite conceding a dreadful goal early on. It's clear that Fermanagh are ordinary enough, and have probably gone backwards since last summer. However, they were still able to play us off the park in the last quarter at Enniskillen. We are now at best 8th out of nine in Ulster. If Antrim put up a decent performance next week, we will be 9th of nine. We can give the qualifiers our best shot, but the need for fundamental change has never been more urgent.

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Well said, Mourne Rover. I totally agree. Down have sliipped dreadfully over the past number of year and to be in the position we are in (you are right, 8th or possibly 9th in Ulster) is an absolute disgrace for a once proud footballing county. Its a long time since a draw against Down would have been considered an easy touch but thats what we are now - an easy touch. Time for a root and branch review of footbal in Down, right down to the primary schools!!!
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DLL

down football might be in a decline but i can guarantee you you dont need to come down to primary school level to look for the problem as there is a great committee looking after over 50 competing schools in all competitions and promoting gaelic games at the highest level. what happens these children when the leave us? the primary teachers of county down know we have developed the youth of the county in all codes of our organisation.