Down Club Hurling & Football

[Splash]

I could see Bredgah and Carryduff seriously rattling the Senior Championship in the next 10 or 20 years. In saying that, Bredagh have been knocking on the door for a long time now and still haven't managed to make that big impact. But I would imagine the good hurling culture around the clubs and the pure numbers mean it is inevitable that they'll someday make some sort of impact.

Absolutely agree with the point made about urban clubs struggling to retain players at senior. The truth of the matter is if a fella from Warrenpoint goes to Belfast for university, it is not that hard to pull him back. Whereas if a fella playing for Bredagh or Carryduff has grown up all his life in Belfast, it is fair to assume he'll want out by the time he reaches university, and so may head further afield to find a change of scenery. Consequently, it is far harder for city clubs to retain young fellas that head down south or abroad for uni, whilst the rural clubs may have their fellas only a half hour up the road.
This is not to say everyone in South Down goes to university in Belfast and everyone in Belfast heads away, but it is definitely something to take into account.
Despite this, city clubs in Cork and Dublin have clearly found a solution to keeping urban lads onboard, so it is possible.

Wouldn't know much about the politics between Liatroim and Castlewellen, but can see how there may be some tension between the two. Simply put, Liatroim need Castlewellen at underage, and Castlewellen don't need Liatroim.

Castlewellen have shown they have the potential to be the strongest team in Down at underage. They have a large base to draw players from. Liatroim do not. It will be interesting to see if in ten years time, Castlewellen surpass Liatroim. Would be interesting to have two strong clubs in the Slieve Croob area.

The O'Rahilly's are also made up of players from Ballela and Ballyvarley, but hard to know how sustainable a team made up of Liatroim, Ballyvarley, and Ballela would be.

[Splash]

Some entertaining hurling this week in the intermediate championship.

Everything to be said about the clonduff/ballela game has really been said here I think.

Clonduff simply too strong. Plenty of good players at their disposal. Great to see hurling doing well in clonduff, but you have to sympathise with Ballela. Not nice to see any club in Down take a beating like that. Doesn't do anybody any good. Not to take away from Clonduff, they absolutely deserve credit for racking up a score like that. But Ballela going out to get hammered like that isn't doing anybody any good. It's not helping Clonduff prepare for a run in the senior championship in years to come, and it's certainly not helping Ballela. Hopefully the club gets back to being competitive soon.

Again, what does the future hold in regards to a relationship with Ballyvarley? Tradition is important yes, as is identity, but if a team is going out to take regular, massive beatings, you have to consider what is the best thing to do for the game of hurling. Ballyvarley went through a similar dark time, taking massive beatings regularly, and it is only recently they seem to be coming competitive in the Junior Championship again. Are Ballela simply going to be in a position Ballyvarley were in until something good comes through?

Interestingly, the positions Ballyvarley are weak in seem to be the positions Ballela have strength and vice versa. Ballyvarley have a good defence, but can struggle to put scores on the board. Ballela seem to be able to produce top quality forwards, but their deference strategies can let them down. An amalgamated team, with a good management set up, could really rattle the junior and intermediate championships.

Warrenpoint came far closer to Carryduff than anybody was expecting. Fair play to them. Hear carryduff played a game in Dublin before? Nonetheless, absolutely excellent effort from Warrenpoint to push like that. When tbey won the junior championship last year, this was the one game I thought would be a bloodshed. Great to see CPN held their ground. Warrenpoint have a lot of potential for growth in the future.

I'm sure Carryduff won't be too bothered all the same. Judging by what Bredagh and Shamrocks have shown, Carryduff still favourites to win. What will be interesting will be if CPN/Clonduff get drawn against Shamrocks in the semis. Both teams will see an opportunity for a big scalp over the local rival.

Would be impressive for Point to reach an intermediate final in their first year.

Intermediate really has turned out to be far more interesting than was initially expected, which is no bad thing.

Will be interesting to see if there's any surprises in the junior championship next week.

[The Trap]

The ref is winning this game for kilcoo.....they looked in trouble but played the ref like a fiddle

[thewobbler]

The ref is winning this game for kilcoo.....they looked in trouble but played the ref like a fiddle

Another way of looking at this is that one team were ready and aware that they'd be dealing with a card happy referee on a dirty evening, while the other team weren't prepared to adapt to this circumstance.

I don't like his refereeing style. But he is consistent.

[befair]

Total lack of discipline from Carryduff; Kilcoo were in real trouble. Ref was fine

[Nanderson]

Carryduff really lost their heads in that match. I'd be confident that if Carryduff kept 15 on the pitch they'd have come out on the right side of a result tonight as they were still competing well and winning in midfield right to the very end. Up until the 30th minute they had the measure of a sloppy Kilcoo team. Kilcoo won't mind though as that was a game they really had to fight to get through and championship is all about winning whether it be pretty or ugly.

[Gaelforce123]

Had M Moore have carded kilcoo players late tackles and closed fist etc then I could
see a case for saying he is consistent but as a neutral that was the worst refereeing performance I have seen in a long time. Wasnt a dirty game at all. Kilcoo won out as expected but didnt get it easy but the referee has alot to answer for on performance

[FM]

Micheal Moore 10 red cards in 2 games. Finally some consistency

[manwithnoplan]

Total lack of discipline from Carryduff; Kilcoo were in real trouble. Ref was fine

Hard to agree the ref was fine, he was not consistent. E.g  Kilcoo player deliberately drags down a Carryduff man inside the D near the end, and he produces a yellow. Similar offence for Carryduff resulted in a black. Carryduff players should have been more careful when already booked, but the ref really had a negative impact on the game for neutrals, and Kilcoo slightly benefitted from his performance today. But that's what they do, they make small advantages count and win ugly games. Nobody else is as ruthless.

[Nanderson]

Total lack of discipline from Carryduff; Kilcoo were in real trouble. Ref was fine

Hard to agree the ref was fine, he was not consistent. E.g  Kilcoo player deliberately drags down a Carryduff man inside the D near the end, and he produces a yellow. Similar offence for Carryduff resulted in a black. Carryduff players should have been more careful when already booked, but the ref really had a negative impact on the game for neutrals, and Kilcoo slightly benefitted from his performance today. But that's what they do, they make small advantages count and win ugly games. Nobody else is as ruthless.

It was sheelan with the drag down but aaron morgan was the one who got the yellow

[downtothecore]

Right folks  ... let us hear yous. There is bound to be a lot a comments on the carryduff game. 3 carryduff players and their manager sent off. Disgraceful... If that had been kilcoo the message board would have crashed.

[manwithnoplan]

Total lack of discipline from Carryduff; Kilcoo were in real trouble. Ref was fine

Hard to agree the ref was fine, he was not consistent. E.g  Kilcoo player deliberately drags down a Carryduff man inside the D near the end, and he produces a yellow. Similar offence for Carryduff resulted in a black. Carryduff players should have been more careful when already booked, but the ref really had a negative impact on the game for neutrals, and Kilcoo slightly benefitted from his performance today. But that's what they do, they make small advantages count and win ugly games. Nobody else is as ruthless.

It was sheelan with the drag down but aaron morgan was the one who got the yellow

Even worse, he got the wrong man for an incredibly blatant foul.

[Mourne Red]

Right folks  ... let us hear yous. There is bound to be a lot a comments on the carryduff game. 3 carryduff players and their manager sent off. Disgraceful... If that had been kilcoo the message board would have crashed.

Seems there's a lot of incidents around the county this weekend

[befair]

Right folks  ... let us hear yous. There is bound to be a lot a comments on the carryduff game. 3 carryduff players and their manager sent off. Disgraceful... If that had been kilcoo the message board would have crashed.

Seems there's a lot of incidents around the county this weekend

Such as?

[Stevie Nicks]

Right folks  ... let us hear yous. There is bound to be a lot a comments on the carryduff game. 3 carryduff players and their manager sent off. Disgraceful... If that had been kilcoo the message board would have crashed.

Are you joking! If Kilcoo had 3 players plus a manager rightly sent out it would be viral and the usual Dark Arts/Win at all costs bull would be the issue. But when it is the other team the referee is the problem!
Every red was justified and in fact some of them should have been straight red and also to be balanced he did miss a black card for Kilcoo near end.
Carryduff definitely missed a chance to beat a well below par Kilcoo