Down v The Longford Lager Louts - Round 2 Qualifier Páirc Esler @7pm July10th

[Wee Shea]

BBC have one:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/northern_ireland/gaelic_games/7220026.stm

Down leading 0-02 to 0-01

[western exile]

Half time
An dun 0-9
An Longfort 0-3

[western exile]

An Dun had 3 goal chances saved, with the third possibly the save me the season from SherIdan, from a sublime pass by Marty Clarke to Danny Hughes who timed his run perfectly.
An Dun own midfield without being spectacular.
Dan Gordan playing full back  doing good job on Kavanagh.
But candidates for man of the match at this stage are O'Hagan and Hughes

[western exile]

Full time
An Dun 1-14
An Longfort 1-10

[Shamrock Shore]

Not possible to play good football in that weather! Down deserved it but maybe someday I'll understand why that ref gave Down a penalty. Good schmozzle on the sideline! Geraghty enjoyed it I'd say! Reminded him of days past

[snoopdog]

Nuddie Hughes on Rte said it was not a penalty, a fair shoulder charge.
Fair play to Longford they could have give up after that bad decision by the ref put Down in control, but their great spirit and determination kept them going.
a horrible night for football, any word on the attendance, if stand was full must have at least beent 4,500 at it. £18 into the stand was a bit much. no wonder the attendances are poor this year.

hoping for athe Dubs in Newry.

[Class of 99]

Firstly what an awful night for football tonight, secondly fair play to the longford team and their support fantastic. Now let me get to glen Ryan and his side kick, not geraghty!!!! Their actions towards james where utterly disgraceful sad to see great player like Ryan behaving like a thug on the line.
Wishing down further success and also Longford who look a better team than their div
visional status suggests

[Mourne Rover]

It was a strange game, which should have been over at half time but was amazingly still in the balance in the last ten minutes. Down, as usual, mixed the excellent with the dire, and our inability to close off games is a concern. However, the bottom line is that we are in the hat tomorrow night when very few teams will fancy a trip to Newry.

Fiar play to Longford for sticking at it, although they were brutal in the first half and did not manage their first shot from play until the 55th minute. While we should probably have had three goals before the break, and their keeper had a stormer, our penalty was very dubious and barely looked a foul.

The dust-up on the touchline livened things up, and the Longford defender who threw a punch while tackling Benny was lucky to stay on. The Down mentor who got involved seemed to be Jerome Johnston, although wee James and Glen Ryan were right at the middle of it as well.

McVeigh had his usual solid match, rescuing his Kilkeel teammate Colgan by rushing out to take ball and man at one stage and making a brilliant save before McGee put in the rebound. O'Hagan, for a teenager making his first competitive start, was immense, and, apart from one misplaced pass late on when he was running out of steam, never put a foot wrong and was arguably man of the match. The big gamble with big Dan at no 3 was a complete success, as he was as steady as a rock, barely give Kavanagh a kick, and even his booking was the type of challenge full backs need to make every so often. Rafferty did not look fully fit and gave the ball away regularly, and even though he gave everything he might have been replaced before the end.

Rooney had a great battle with Barden, with both of them booked, but Rooney was first to almost every ball and got up for a fine point as well.  Garvey was reasonable until he seem to take a knock and was replaced by McKernan, who was steady enough but needs to move the ball faster. The problem at the back unfortunately was Colgan, who was caught for pace time and again.  He is strong, confident and normally uses the ball well, but it is difficult to see how he can be retained against stronger opposition.

Ambrose still looks short of match practice and only played in flashes but was still going fairly strongly at the end and should be better the next day. King had another fine game until his second yellow, getting big hits in everywhere and even supporting the attack regularly. He was foolish to rugby tackle his opponent when already on a booking, although he did not seem to expect the pass from Colgan just before that, but he is a combative midfielder who needs to play on the edge and will hopefully learn from his dismissal.

Hughes was brilliant in the first half, and then faded after the break only to pop up with an outstanding point in injury time. Marty Clarke put his minor disaster at Casement well behind him, although he is still finding his championship feet. He had some fantastic and some poor passes, put over most of his frees, buried his penalty and hit two tremendous points from play. Poland got a fine point from play, plus a couple of decent frees, while Maginn, although he did not score, worked tirelessly across the field.

John Clarke really looked the part in the first half but was not as prominent later, while Benny had a mixed night. He only had the keeper to beat early on, but hit it straight at him, and also got an impressive point from play, but seemed to drop very deep for most of the second half,  winning the ball but not getting into scoring positions.

Laverty and Fitzpatrick came on too late to make much difference, while Carr only appeared in injury time and McComiskey will be disappointed to be an unused sub.

Overall, we managed to win without ever playing particularly well, and everything depends on the draw now.

[LaurelEye]

Congrats to Down. The better team over the 70 minutes won and best of luck in the next round.

The ref was atrocious and conditions were brutal for both sides. We were dire in the first half and could have been a lot further behind if Down's marksmanship had been better. Happy enough with the second half performance (except for the acting the b*ll*x beside the dugout and subsequent sending off). Respectability achieved for the year which is a lot more than I was expecting two weeks ago.

[Mike Tyson]

Fair play to Longford fans for making the journey in the pissing rain. Some amount of ye out. Think its outrageous the price into that game yesterday. £13 to stand in the rain, with no concession for the elderly or students. Thought Darren O'Hagan was brilliant yesterday. Really stepped up to the mark. Does anyone know what exactly happened with regards to the scuffle beside the subs?

[panc56]

A few points to make:
1. GAA need to get its act together with admission prices. €20 in Newry into the stand followed by €35 in croker on Sunday. What was the €15 differnce about. They should price every game at €15 stands, €10 terraces until last 12 in the qualifiers. Then bump it up as the rounds progress.
2. Well done to Down , best team won but Dan Gordons frontal charge was a red card offence. See the picture of it (http://raydonlon.smugmug.com/2010/July-2010/10-July-2010-All-Ireland/12883580_gQ5cm#930254191_LGxck )
3. Wee James had no right to come onto the pitch. That started the scuffle on the line with Ryan and Co.
4. Will Ryan stay on , I'd give him on year to get us out of Div 4 , if he didnt drop him quick.
5. Down will progress one round further , they have a useful 9/10 players but still short a few to be serious contenders.

[heffo]

hoping for athe Dubs in Newry.

So was I!

[Shamrock Shore]

Having seen the "penalty" on The Sunday Game I am mystified more than ever as why a fair shoulder on the edge of the parallelogram was a penalty.

The schmozzel was nothing to get too excited about and I think no further action is required. Liven things up in the stand, that's for sure. We all (Down and Longford alike) had a good auld laugh about it.

Down will beat Offaly but may find it hard beyond that.