Down Club Hurling & Football

[ardtole]

Poor performance yesterday, Wicklow had 3 very good goal opportunities in the 1st half against the wind, and 1 in the 2nd half.

With O'Hare coming out to the half way line on the opposing kick outs, I'm not sure the benefits outweigh the potential negatives, a better team than Wicklow would have punished Down heavily yesterday.

[Blackandblue2]

I think 'poor' is harsh. Down led from start to finish, 8 points up and a late rally when game was over made it look respectable. Poor conditions on a terrible pitch is a leveler, but Down always looked the better teams. And goal chances came from a couple of individual mistakes from Down players. O'Hare wasnt caught out on any wicklow so dont see the issue of pushing up at the moment. 

[snoopdog]

Poor performance yesterday, Wicklow had 3 very good goal opportunities in the 1st half against the wind, and 1 in the 2nd half.

With O'Hare coming out to the half way line on the opposing kick outs, I'm not sure the benefits outweigh the potential negatives, a better team than Wicklow would have punished Down heavily yesterday.

I would agree. An Antrim or Westmeath would prob have got a couple of goals yesterday from those mistakes.  Poor conditions. Poor game. Down were poor in 1st half. Much better in 3rd quarter.  Good to get the 2 points. Tidy little stand in Aughrim. Awkward enough place to get to. 

[Truth hurts]

John Devine is in as senior football goalkeeping coach.

[general]

John Devine is in as senior football goalkeeping coach.

He's been taken in as over all defence coach - including the GK's - doing alot of work on defensive movement

laverty tried to get him in last year however he didnt want to leave tullysaran in the lurch. he was over them 2 years as manager

[Johnnysboys]

Strong lineup for tomorrow night. 2 points a must.

[Splash]

Good win for the footballers. Definitely going in the right direction.

How did Anderson get on when he came on?

Antrim in Belfast should be a good match, and good to see the lay of the land now before Ulster Championship.

[Splash]

Tough game for the hurlers tomorrow to start their league campaign.

Portlaoise diffcult place to go to, even for Division One sides like Waterford and Dublin, as we well found out last year in the McDonagh Cup.

Down have a real chance of getting to Division One this year, but have to play better than they did last year.

Some serious hurlers in Laois, but they really don't look like the same team that they were 3-5 years ago. Definitely come back down closer to the level of us/Kerry.


Down missing some serious players. No Sheehan. No Doran. No McCusker. Good to see a few lads back (Donal Hughes should be a great addition all being well, the Sands, too), and plenty of good fellas to make the break through yet.

Hopefully we can stay neck and neck with Laois for most of the game at the very least. Would be good to know we're there or there abouts, and would be terrible to start the year with our backs against the wall.

I think it's well worth remembering, I think last year, the consensus was that it was a very poor year, despite us retaining Division 2A status for the third year in a row. For a long time, we couldn't get out of 2B. That surely says something for the progress of our hurlers.

Hopefully it's onward and upwards 

[snoopdog]

Good win over Limerick. First 5 mins were a slight worry. Limerick should've been 1.03 or more ahead beofre Down scored. The defence would be a bit of a concern the way they started last night going into the Antrim game. Playing with a sweeper keeper will take time to get used too. O Hare didn't really have much to do last night after the 1st 5 mins. Down just tore through Limerick and could've had a couple more goals. Limerick resulted to dragging runners down in 2nd half and the ref was a bit too whistle happy all game. But good performance. The scoring is much improved on last season. Antrim will be a tougher test though. If we can win in Belfast it's a big boost for promotion. Great to see all the kids out on pitch at ht and ft compared to none in Aughrim last week. Good to see Mooney get 35 mins it will stick to him come later games in league and championship.

[downtothecore]

Antrim should have beat us in Newry last year so they wont fear Down. Our boys would need to be on it for this game.

[Johnnysboys]

What a display last night. Pace/power and finishing of the highest order.. 3 more wins should secure a league final berth and promotion..
Murdock is simply awesome and we still have players to come back in that will make our match day squad a whole lot stronger..

[skat man]

Good all round performance after a shaky start. this sunday will show what progress has been made , antrim should have won in newry last year so to go and beat them in belfast this year would be a step forward

[Blackandblue2]

Real solid performance Saturday evening. Controlled and exciting moving forward. Defence organized themselves after a poor first 5 minutes. Be interesting to see what team is picked for Antrim. Thought everyone performed well and was a nice balance to the team. Great to see Mooney and Annett back, be some additions.

[urbangael]

I thought Down were poor on Sat night. Strange to say after they've won a game by over 15 points but aside from a few purple patches, one in the first half when they hit the 3 Goals down were wasteful. Too many turnovers. Didn't win enough primary possession. They rely on pace from the wings but that didn't work against Meath last year and when teams squeeze up and go physical we are left looking 2nd best. Apart from Murdock and maybe Mcevoy we don't have the power to compete against the top teams. Antrim and westmeath games will likely decide the promotion chances.

[ardtole]

I'd love to see McEvoy and Murdock in midfield together, I think they would compliment each other well.

Laverty, Fagan, McCarthy, Docherty, McElroy and a few others can provide cover in the full back line.