Down Club Hurling & Football

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National Hurling League Fixtures, 2025:

25/01/2025- Round 1: Down v Kildare, Ballycran

01/02/2025- Round 2: Down v Derry, Owenbeg

08/02/2025- Round 3: Down v Donegal, Ballycran

23/02/2025- Round 4: Down v Meath, Trim

02/03/2025- Round 5: Down v Tyrone, Ballycran

08/03/2025- Round 6: Down v Kerry, Tralee

[Splash]

Realistically, winning the league is very feasible, and gaining promotion to Division One should be the bare minimum.

Having Kildare at home is probably beneficial to Down. Kildare have been a bit of a bogey team in recent years, and it will realistically be between us, Kildare, and Kerry for who goes to Division One.

Derry should be tough- be interesting to see what happens Slaughtneil further into the season, and how this impacts the county team.

Donegal and Meath could be well fit to spring a surprise on us.

Be good to see Tyrone in Ballycran. I would imagine they have another wee bit to go before they can compete with the next level of teams in Ulster, but they do seem to be going in the right direction.

I know the league has been restructured, but it's great to see 4 Ulster teams in Div 2.

Will be an important year for Down as this is the first time in a while they will probably be favourites to win a league, with Antrim, Offaly, Laois, Westmeath, and Carlow all playing in Div One.

[Ed Hardy]

Any word on the county panel? Any new or returning faces?

[DownFanatic]

Realistically, winning the league is very feasible, and gaining promotion to Division One should be the bare minimum.

Having Kildare at home is probably beneficial to Down. Kildare have been a bit of a bogey team in recent years, and it will realistically be between us, Kildare, and Kerry for who goes to Division One.

Derry should be tough- be interesting to see what happens Slaughtneil further into the season, and how this impacts the county team.

Donegal and Meath could be well fit to spring a surprise on us.

Be good to see Tyrone in Ballycran. I would imagine they have another wee bit to go before they can compete with the next level of teams in Ulster, but they do seem to be going in the right direction.

I know the league has been restructured, but it's great to see 4 Ulster teams in Div 2.

Will be an important year for Down as this is the first time in a while they will probably be favourites to win a league, with Antrim, Offaly, Laois, Westmeath, and Carlow all playing in Div One.

When was Down's last time in NHL Division 1 proper? Early 90's?

[johnnycool]

Realistically, winning the league is very feasible, and gaining promotion to Division One should be the bare minimum.

Having Kildare at home is probably beneficial to Down. Kildare have been a bit of a bogey team in recent years, and it will realistically be between us, Kildare, and Kerry for who goes to Division One.

Derry should be tough- be interesting to see what happens Slaughtneil further into the season, and how this impacts the county team.

Donegal and Meath could be well fit to spring a surprise on us.

Be good to see Tyrone in Ballycran. I would imagine they have another wee bit to go before they can compete with the next level of teams in Ulster, but they do seem to be going in the right direction.

I know the league has been restructured, but it's great to see 4 Ulster teams in Div 2.

Will be an important year for Down as this is the first time in a while they will probably be favourites to win a league, with Antrim, Offaly, Laois, Westmeath, and Carlow all playing in Div One.

When was Down's last time in NHL Division 1 proper? Early 90's?

2005 I think.

we won Div2 in a league final in 2004 in the Gaelic grounds in Limerick against a heavily fancied Westmeath.

Beat them well in the end even after they got two early goals.

A bit of a melee just after their second goal turned the tide our way. 

Sometimes things just need to be done.

[johnnycool]

I see the motion to change the football championships to straight knockout is pushed back to the first meeting of the new Down CB.

More than one club proposed it, so is there an appetite within the clubs to go this way?

[thewobbler]

I see the motion to change the football championships to straight knockout is pushed back to the first meeting of the new Down CB.

More than one club proposed it, so is there an appetite within the clubs to go this way?

Our SFC is currently dying by a thousand cuts. Which is not the county board's fault at all. Just that we've all given up on toppling Kilcoo. So the backdoor has become a stay of execution rather than a second chance.

Straight knockout may not solve the key part of this issue, but it would in the short term  give the competition a jolt if energy that it badly needs.

[johnnycool]

I see the motion to change the football championships to straight knockout is pushed back to the first meeting of the new Down CB.

More than one club proposed it, so is there an appetite within the clubs to go this way?

Our SFC is currently dying by a thousand cuts. Which is not the county board's fault at all. Just that we've all given up on toppling Kilcoo. So the backdoor has become a stay of execution rather than a second chance.

Straight knockout may not solve the key part of this issue, but it would in the short term  give the competition a jolt if energy that it badly needs.

How many times have Kilcoo been caught out and needed the backdoor in the last while?

[DownFanatic]

There are big financial implications in going straight knockout across all three grades. I'm all for a return to the straight knockout. I've always believed in it and if it is marketed correctly, planned accordingly etc then there is no reason at all why we can't boost our product. Whether that would be enough to overcome the financial shortfall, I'm not so sure.

Take the JFC for example, CCC have tried their best at different formats to give teams more than one game with a deeper Championship. But really, JFC teams would far prefer straight knockout.

We are lucky in that our leagues in Down are taken very seriously and they have meaning. Leagues in other counties across the island are more and more turning into glorified friendlies. We need to sustain the significance of our Leagues and move to a straight knockout Championship programme that does away with meaningless games and starts making more sense for Down club teams.

[Splash]

This will be going back a long time now, but I'm sure someone here will know something.

Does anybody know the story about Clann Uladh and Faugh-a-Ballagh in Newry?

Obviously the clubs are long gone, but would be interesting to know the stories about them back in the early days.

Where did they play out of? Where did they draw players from? What areas of the town did they serve?

Did they ever exist alongside Shamrocks/Bosco/Mitchells?

And what happened to them?

To the best of my knowledge, Clann Uladh eventually either morphed into, or amalgamated with someone else, to form Shamrocks in about the 50s.

Faugh-a-Ballagh seem to have disappeared about the 40s or 50s.

Anyone know much about them? Assuming no one here ever played for them, but anybody have any relations or know anybody that was involved with them?

Did they just rebrand as Shamrocks or Mitchells or what was the story?

See they were very dominant in the early days of the GAA in both codes- be interesting to know the story behind them.

Am I right in saying there was also a camogie team in Newry called St Bridget's in the 1940s?

Newry has changed a lot in ten years, let alone 100 years, but old stories like these are certainly interesting.

[LC]

Read the article in the IN yesterday with Calon Mooney.

Seemed to be fairly open and honest about a lot of things.  For some guys the penny drops when they have hung up the boots and by that stage it is too late on so many fronts and importantly the last thing that they would do is admit it.

From reading the article it would seem he was at Jordanstown for a couple of years however I imagine it was purely for football reasons with no benefit gained academically .  I'm sure he would not be the first baller that has went through Jordanstown and career wise down the line have realised that it did not help them in the long term.

When you go looking for a mortgage in years to come payslips have more relevance than having played Sigerson.

[statto]

Read the article in the IN yesterday with Calon Mooney.

Seemed to be fairly open and honest about a lot of things.  For some guys the penny drops when they have hung up the boots and by that stage it is too late on so many fronts and importantly the last thing that they would do is admit it.

From reading the article it would seem he was at Jordanstown for a couple of years however I imagine it was purely for football reasons with no benefit gained academically .  I'm sure he would not be the first baller that has went through Jordanstown and career wise down the line have realised that it did not help them in the long term.

When you go looking for a mortgage in years to come payslips have more relevance than having played Sigerson.

Think that's a condescending viewpoint on Jordanstown any lad could go to uni and drop out or not get the grades at uni they would have wanted in their degree. Playing football has opened plenty of doors for lads in the past and I dare say will continue to do so.

[Twix]

Kilcoo - K Lacy?
Burren - E McCartan
CPN - J Boyle
Clonduff - G Adams
Mayobridge - R Sexton
Carryduff - F Moriarty
Loughinisland - C O'Toole
Ballyholland - S Mulholland
RGU -  K Duffin & C McCrickard
Saul - D Lynch

Glenn - S Clarke
Drumgath - P Hynes
Bredagh - ?
Longstone - P Murray & SM Johnston (C Branagan away)
Bryansford - J Magorrian
Rostrevor - ?
Saval - ?
Castlewellan - ?
An Riocht  - K Franklin
St John's - J Lynch (S Curran away)

Annaclone- D Morgan
Ballymartin- ?
Attical - B Coulter
Tullylish - T Bagnall (R McShane away to Shane ONeills
Darragh - B Mason
Banbridge- P Feeney
Bosco - L Howlett (M McVeigh away)
Dromara - J Fegan
Liatroim - P McDonnell
Shamrocks - A Rogers (DJ Kane away)

St Paul's- P Hannigan
Bright - D Ritchie
Teconnaght - J Clarke (C Laverty away to Dorsey Emmetts)
Kilclief -
Ardglass - P O'Shea
Dundrum - E Devlin (R McCartan away to louth club)
East Belfast -
Aghaderg -
St Michael's - Not Filled (L McAlinden away to Louth)
Glasdrumman - H Toner
Drumaness - B Branagan
Finn -Not Filled (M Copeland Away)

Losing more men to louth looking at this.how many down men is there now?unbelieveable to think about if

I did some looking into this and i think their is 9,cahal murray in ardee,stephen poucher in saint mochas,michael magill at geraldines,mark poland in cooley,tom franklin in saint josephs,eamon morgan at dundalk,kevin mckernan at dundalk and the 2 men in the post above

[supersub]

Kilcoo - K Lacy?
Burren - E McCartan
CPN - J Boyle
Clonduff - G Adams
Mayobridge - R Sexton
Carryduff - F Moriarty
Loughinisland - C O'Toole
Ballyholland - S Mulholland
RGU -  K Duffin & C McCrickard
Saul - D Lynch

Glenn - S Clarke
Drumgath - P Hynes
Bredagh - ?
Longstone - P Murray & SM Johnston (C Branagan away)
Bryansford - J Magorrian
Rostrevor - ?
Saval - ?
Castlewellan - ?
An Riocht  - K Franklin
St John's - J Lynch (S Curran away)

Annaclone- D Morgan
Ballymartin- ?
Attical - B Coulter
Tullylish - T Bagnall (R McShane away to Shane ONeills
Darragh - B Mason
Banbridge- P Feeney
Bosco - L Howlett (M McVeigh away)
Dromara - J Fegan
Liatroim - P McDonnell
Shamrocks - A Rogers (DJ Kane away)

St Paul's- P Hannigan
Bright - D Ritchie
Teconnaght - J Clarke (C Laverty away to Dorsey Emmetts)
Kilclief -
Ardglass - P O'Shea
Dundrum - E Devlin (R McCartan away to louth club)
East Belfast -
Aghaderg -
St Michael's - Not Filled (L McAlinden away to Louth)
Glasdrumman - H Toner
Drumaness - B Branagan
Finn -Not Filled (M Copeland Away)

Losing more men to louth looking at this.how many down men is there now?unbelieveable to think about if

I did some looking into this and i think their is 9,cahal murray in ardee,stephen poucher in saint mochas,michael magill at geraldines,mark poland in cooley,tom franklin in saint josephs,eamon morgan at dundalk,kevin mckernan at dundalk and the 2 men in the post above

Tom Franklin is with Rostrevor now, but yes him and Martin Farrell were with St Joseph's. R McCartan is with Dreadnots.

[marty34]

Kilcoo - K Lacy?
Burren - E McCartan
CPN - J Boyle
Clonduff - G Adams
Mayobridge - R Sexton
Carryduff - F Moriarty
Loughinisland - C O'Toole
Ballyholland - S Mulholland
RGU -  K Duffin & C McCrickard
Saul - D Lynch

Glenn - S Clarke
Drumgath - P Hynes
Bredagh - ?
Longstone - P Murray & SM Johnston (C Branagan away)
Bryansford - J Magorrian
Rostrevor - ?
Saval - ?
Castlewellan - ?
An Riocht  - K Franklin
St John's - J Lynch (S Curran away)

Annaclone- D Morgan
Ballymartin- ?
Attical - B Coulter
Tullylish - T Bagnall (R McShane away to Shane ONeills
Darragh - B Mason
Banbridge- P Feeney
Bosco - L Howlett (M McVeigh away)
Dromara - J Fegan
Liatroim - P McDonnell
Shamrocks - A Rogers (DJ Kane away)

St Paul's- P Hannigan
Bright - D Ritchie
Teconnaght - J Clarke (C Laverty away to Dorsey Emmetts)
Kilclief -
Ardglass - P O'Shea
Dundrum - E Devlin (R McCartan away to louth club)
East Belfast -
Aghaderg -
St Michael's - Not Filled (L McAlinden away to Louth)
Glasdrumman - H Toner
Drumaness - B Branagan
Finn -Not Filled (M Copeland Away)

Losing more men to louth looking at this.how many down men is there now?unbelieveable to think about if

I did some looking into this and i think their is 9,cahal murray in ardee,stephen poucher in saint mochas,michael magill at geraldines,mark poland in cooley,tom franklin in saint josephs,eamon morgan at dundalk,kevin mckernan at dundalk and the 2 men in the post above

Tom Franklin is with Rostrevor now, but yes him and Martin Farrell were with St Joseph's. R McCartan is with Dreadnots.

Is that Poacher, the current Leitrim manager?