Down Club Hurling & Football

[Smurfy123]

Fair point
Have not heard who the 5 lads are only know of Davidson?
Anyone know ?

[snoopdog]

Passing against the wind. If these guys were not deemed good enough earlier then why now all of  a sudden.

[Lecale Gael]

if 4 quit panel then surely 4 need brought in . its a no brainer.

[Smurfy123]

Madine Mooney McConville Cunningham all left a few months ago and no replacements so what's the difference now?

[wobbller]

Passing against the wind. If these guys were not deemed good enough earlier then why now all of  a sudden.

Is that passing wind or pissing against the wind?

[supersub]

Does anyone else think the circus surrounding Davidson is an embarrassment or is it just me?
10 days before our championship game we are bringing in 5 new players and one that had joined Antrim last week until Down blocked the moved now we have brought him in
Do the 5 lads that have been brought in just now slot into the system that we have been apparently working on so much since the league ended?This Davison story now is going to hit the papers for the next few days
When have you ever seen Mickey Harte bringing in 5 new players after a defeat?Never
Things just seem to be done on a week to week basis with Down whereas all the big teams have a plan set in stone from Jan 1st
I hope the Davidson move is worth it for Eamons sake and that he can hit his 2-4 against Longford and not in a game behind closed doors
I hope the 5 new lads brought in prove me wrong
Opinions???

It's not really a circus, he is a player in form for his club and so has been given the chance to train with the County. The media, twitter and GAABoard make it more of a 'circus' than it really is. It's a straightforward issue. The majority of people, as normal, go on hearsay and don't really know what has happened long term with players - i.e. people speculate all year that Marty Clarke 'opted out' but then he turns round and says he wasn't asked. Few knew that. People make more out of situations than is needed as they don't know the full story.

Anyway, there were crys for 'better' players etc to be brought in to the squad after Monaghan game, now we have at least one addition which is positive. It's not easy for the management and team, it was always going to be a tough year, but certainly isn't made any easier by fickle fans.

[Smurfy123]

So you don't think it's a circus that the player came out in the Irish News only last week saying he would have loved a game for Down and then saying and I quote 'I can't wait to make my debut for Antrim and love my first training with the lads'
2 days later the county secretary blocks any such move
2 days on he is now involved and scored 2-4 in a behind the scenes game and is now likely to start against Longford next week
Now are you trying to say that it wasn't a circus
If he had not of joined the Antrim squad would we even have tried him out???
I hope he proves me wrong but the point in trying to make was this man probably should have been in 6 months ago

[SamFever]

So you don't think it's a circus that the player came out in the Irish News only last week saying he would have loved a game for Down and then saying and I quote 'I can't wait to make my debut for Antrim and love my first training with the lads'
2 days later the county secretary blocks any such move
2 days on he is now involved and scored 2-4 in a behind the scenes game and is now likely to start against Longford next week
Now are you trying to say that it wasn't a circus
If he had not of joined the Antrim squad would we even have tried him out???
I hope he proves me wrong but the point in trying to make was this man probably should have been in 6 months ago

Smurfy,your inside man in the camp must now have his nose out of joint now that there a few more players brought into the panel.

[supersub]

So you don't think it's a circus that the player came out in the Irish News only last week saying he would have loved a game for Down and then saying and I quote 'I can't wait to make my debut for Antrim and love my first training with the lads'
2 days later the county secretary blocks any such move
2 days on he is now involved and scored 2-4 in a behind the scenes game and is now likely to start against Longford next week
Now are you trying to say that it wasn't a circus
If he had not of joined the Antrim squad would we even have tried him out???
I hope he proves me wrong but the point in trying to make was this man probably should have been in 6 months ago

No I don't, I think I made that clear in my previous post. Let him at it. Let the papers and social media and fickle fans make what they want of it. If it improves the team, good on them. And on the contrary if he had gone and played for Antrim no doubt there would have been a string of 'why didn't we do anything to keep him' type comments.

[snoopdog]

Passing against the wind. If these guys were not deemed good enough earlier then why now all of  a sudden.

Is that passing wind or pissing against the wind?

Ha. Was rushing for a flight. Pissing.

[cut the crap]

Sam it's probably too far for you to travel and I am not proposing putting anyone out of football, but it would take a few south down guys willing to travel to training in much the same way we in east down have done for decades, Ballykinlar should be upgraded , expanded and used to develope our teams, but it will not happen because of its location.

[speculative]

Centre of Excellence in Castlewellan- problem solved!!

[OgraAnDun]

Sam it's probably too far for you to travel and I am not proposing putting anyone out of football, but it would take a few south down guys willing to travel to training in much the same way we in east down have done for decades, Ballykinlar should be upgraded , expanded and used to develope our teams, but it will not happen because of its location.

And rightly so, Ballykinlar is in a shocking location to get to from South Down. If a centre of excellence or something similar was ever to be built, it should be more or less equidistant for the majority of players. Castlewellan is probably the best bet in this regards, as Speculative says.

[snoopdog]

Has Martin Clarke been asked into the squad? Why can't they just name the players added to the squad?

[6th sam]

Sam it's probably too far for you to travel and I am not proposing putting anyone out of football, but it would take a few south down guys willing to travel to training in much the same way we in east down have done for decades, Ballykinlar should be upgraded , expanded and used to develope our teams, but it will not happen because of its location.

I would have no need to be travelling to BK,all I had asked was where or what happens to BK as a Club if this were to happen.
  Anyone know who the new additions are to the panel apart from Davison?

Arguing the unsuitability of ballykinlar's location is one thing,  but arguing that the club would suffer doesnt make sense. If Ballykinlar Was to be refurbished say with changing room upgrade and floodlights, and perhaps an additional pitch this would breathe life into the club not only in terms of facilities but in terms of attractiveness/marketing in their local community. The best location for county training is an old chestnut but any decision on county training venue/s needs to determined taking a lot of factors into consideration, not least current and future demographics and financial sustainability. Personally my thoughts around a centre of excellence have changed somewhat having seen the likes of Garvaghy. The key things for me is optimal use of resources both in terms of capital expense and future running costs, and most importantly player convenience. Any future facilities should also benefit clubs , who then have a buy-in. In many ways having a facility attached to schools and clubs, may be more beneficial long term.
Garvaghey for example has been described as a sprawling vanity project, underused for much of the year & inaccessible to several Tyrone clubs. As it is a stand alone facility there are issues around maintenance and staffing etc.
We are actually now blessed with access to several excellent floodlit grass venues, Belfast , and south Down for example , and in many respects cooperation with schools/clubs in providing floodlighting and/or quality changing rooms at existing grass venues , would be a far better model in terms of accessibility and sustainability.
A centre of excellence is likely to be controversial, costly and therefore likely to be unchievable for several years. Considerations such as several senior players likely to working/living in Dublin in the future , also makes the likes of Castlewellan or Ballykinlar less attractive. Do we want a vanity project  or do we actually want something that genuinely makes it more convenient for players, hopefully leaving them fresher .
Floodlighting the grass pitches at the Redhigh and exploring the use of st malachys castlewellan at the weekends are 2 simple changes, and allied to the existing use of Queens and Newry venues , would be achievable, and represent great added value for surrounding clubs.