Down v Galway

[Dubh driocht]

For 3 years in a row in the mid noughties I was convinced Galway were AI material and as a result I played my small part in helping the share price of P Power.My belief was based primarily on their 2005 AI winning U21 team which had as good a midfield and forward line ( especially Armstrong and Meehan) as I have seen .Potential didn't turn into reality. I respect Joe Kernan but his appointment was a knee-jerk reaction and I'm not sure about O'Flaherta either. A bad defeat to Monaghan, discord in the camp and up against 3 All-Star forwards seems like a tall order. However, I expect this to be tight. There is a bit of quality in the Galway team and we are still on an upward curve.The discord can work both ways and the visitors will know that if they lose ,their division one status will be in jeopardy. So I expect a fired-up Galway team to hit Down hard from the start. Luckily, Down have been good starters this year ( credit to Tally) and should ride out the storm. If the right decisions are made in the second half on playing the Down way i.e. going forward and keeping the men on form on the pitch ( no credit to Tally), we'll win.

[PAULD123]

Team for Sunday:

Brendan McVeigh
Gerald McCartan
Dan Gordon
Luke Howard
Aidan Branagan
Kevin McKernan
Declan Rooney
Peter Fitzpatrick
Kalum King
Daniel Hughes
Mark Poland
Conor Maginn
Conor Laverty
Brendan Coulter
Martin Clarke

So Decky Rooney's back. I think that's good. Interesting to see Maginn and Laverty getting a start. And Benny ia pushed to the square. I'm surprised Murtagh didn't get a chance. Maginn has looked very promising when he's come on as sub I'm glad to see him in. Best of all it's great to see that largely speaking we have a settled team that know who will be playing week in week out and can develop as a unit.

[Mourne Rover]

It's a reasonable looking Down side, although McPolin is a little unlucky to be dropped and Colgan, assuming his suspension is up, might also have been in contention. Rooney's return is welcome and big King needs plenty of game time to get himself fit again. Rotating the forwards makes sense, even through McComiskey was excellent in Mayo and John Clarke also had a decent match.

While there has obviously been some upheaval in the Galway camp, they still have some fine forwards if they can get off to a decent start. The last time they came to Down in the league, at Newcastle in the spring of 06, they gave us an awful hiding. It was during the period when everything started to go wrong for big Paddy, the rain lashed down from the mountains and we were shocking. We lost by 0-4 to 1-12, and my recollection is that our entire forward line, including the subs, contributed one point from play and one from a free, so we probably owe them one on Sunday.

[Mid Down Gael]

I wouldnt say McComiskey was excellent against Mayo Mourne Rover. He failed to score and kept trying to chip the ball up and it didnt work on the bad surface. I think it was very unfair to start McComiskey as he had only trained for one week prior to the fixture and was rusty. Class act on his day as he proved in last years all ireland, but no player is going to be at their best only having a weeks training behind them. Laverty deserves his chance after impressing against Antrim in McKenna cup and his understanding inside with Benny could cause the Galway defence some problems. Maginn is in to try and improve in winning break ball around the middle, surprised Carr didnt get the opportunity after his exceptional performance against Armagh in Newry where he won numerous break balls.
A win is a must tomorrow to boost our survival chances and to build up confidince ahead of the Armagh tie in a weeks time. Having Rooney at centre half will add stability and will allow McKernan to attack from wing back. Our bench also is very strong with McComiskey, Murtagh, John Clarke and Carr serious options in attack, Colgan could come in and replace Kalum when he starts tiring while Garvey and Doyle are good options if the defence needs tweaked at any stage.The Down Subs bench for tomorrow is; Cathal Murdock (Boireann), Conor Garvey (Droichead Mhaigh Éo), Liam Doyle (Liatroim), Paul McPolin (Cluain Daimh), Ronan Murtagh (Baile Cholmáin), John Clarke (An Ríocht), James Colgan (An Ríocht), Mark Doran (Cloch Fhada), Aidan Carr (Cluain Daimh), Ronan Sexton (Droichead Mhaigh Éo) and Paul McComiskey (Dun Droma).

[Mourne Rover]

It's fair to point out that McComiskey did not score in Castlebar, but he won every ball on his wing and was involved in most of our best moments on a very difficult pitch. We are fortunate to have strength in depth among the forwards in our squad, and we could do with similar options further back. The trick will be to keep experimenting in the league while at the same time getting enough points to stay in the top division.

[Cosmo Kramer]

It's a reasonable looking Down side, although McPolin is a little unlucky to be dropped and Colgan, assuming his suspension is up, might also have been in contention. Rooney's return is welcome and big King needs plenty of game time to get himself fit again. Rotating the forwards makes sense, even through McComiskey was excellent in Mayo and John Clarke also had a decent match.

While there has obviously been some upheaval in the Galway camp, they still have some fine forwards if they can get off to a decent start. The last time they came to Down in the league, at Newcastle in the spring of 06, they gave us an awful hiding. It was during the period when everything started to go wrong for big Paddy, the rain lashed down from the mountains and we were shocking. We lost by 0-4 to 1-12, and my recollection is that our entire forward line, including the subs, contributed one point from play and one from a free, so we probably owe them one on Sunday.

It never ceases to amaze me how long a stereotypical view can be applied to a team in Gaelic Football years after it stops having any bearing on reality - e.g Galway forwards all have some kind of magic radar attached to their feet which only ever finds the black spot in the centre of the crossbar.

There is, at the very most, one fine forward on that Galway team. They were desperate up front against Monaghan.

[GalwayBayBoy]

It's a reasonable looking Down side, although McPolin is a little unlucky to be dropped and Colgan, assuming his suspension is up, might also have been in contention. Rooney's return is welcome and big King needs plenty of game time to get himself fit again. Rotating the forwards makes sense, even through McComiskey was excellent in Mayo and John Clarke also had a decent match.

While there has obviously been some upheaval in the Galway camp, they still have some fine forwards if they can get off to a decent start. The last time they came to Down in the league, at Newcastle in the spring of 06, they gave us an awful hiding. It was during the period when everything started to go wrong for big Paddy, the rain lashed down from the mountains and we were shocking. We lost by 0-4 to 1-12, and my recollection is that our entire forward line, including the subs, contributed one point from play and one from a free, so we probably owe them one on Sunday.

It never ceases to amaze me how long a stereotypical view can be applied to a team in Gaelic Football years after it stops having any bearing on reality - e.g Galway forwards all have some kind of magic radar attached to their feet which only ever finds the black spot in the centre of the crossbar.

There is, at the very most, one fine forward on that Galway team. They were desperate up front against Monaghan.

You do know of course cosmo that our 3 best forwards were not playing that day? There is not many teams in the country that could lose their 3 best forwards are not somewhat suffer. I do agree that they cannot be compared to the Galway forwards when Padraig Joyce was in his prime alongside Donnellan, Fallon, Paul Clancy, etc.

I think most unbiased observers would agree that both Meehan and even PJ at his advanced age are still "fine forwards".

And while Nicky Joyce and Sean Armstrong are more hot and cold they are both still good intercounty forwards on their day.

Even most of the remaining forwards while not prolific are all well capable of taking the odd score. Granted there are a couple of non-scorers in there as well once you go down enough.

Scoring generally isn't the problem with us. Even 0-14 against Monaghan is a decent score to put up in winter considering who was missing. The fact that 0-19 went in at the other end is perhaps more indicative of our problems. An inability to win enough possession around the middle putting increasing and unyielding pressure on an already wobbly defence. And of course if you are not winning possession it means the forwards are seeing less ball also.

If there is one problem I have with the Galway forwards it is that neither N Joyce or Armstrong have been able to take the step up to the level that Meehan and PJ are at. Both are talented but too inconsistent.

[An Fhairche Abu]

It's a reasonable looking Down side, although McPolin is a little unlucky to be dropped and Colgan, assuming his suspension is up, might also have been in contention. Rooney's return is welcome and big King needs plenty of game time to get himself fit again. Rotating the forwards makes sense, even through McComiskey was excellent in Mayo and John Clarke also had a decent match.

While there has obviously been some upheaval in the Galway camp, they still have some fine forwards if they can get off to a decent start. The last time they came to Down in the league, at Newcastle in the spring of 06, they gave us an awful hiding. It was during the period when everything started to go wrong for big Paddy, the rain lashed down from the mountains and we were shocking. We lost by 0-4 to 1-12, and my recollection is that our entire forward line, including the subs, contributed one point from play and one from a free, so we probably owe them one on Sunday.

It never ceases to amaze me how long a stereotypical view can be applied to a team in Gaelic Football years after it stops having any bearing on reality - e.g Galway forwards all have some kind of magic radar attached to their feet which only ever finds the black spot in the centre of the crossbar.

There is, at the very most, one fine forward on that Galway team. They were desperate up front against Monaghan.

Absolutely agree here but to be fair we've been saying in Galway for a long time that the players are overrated, I think it's easier to apply a stereotype to a team that you might see only once or twice in the summer without an in depth knowledge of how the current county players are going.
It is amazing though how these stereotypes seem to almost become a truism at times in football matches, like the Kerry jersey being worth a few extra points to them regardless of the quality of the men wearing it, Meath never being beaten until the final whistle, Limerick coming close but always falling short in Munster finals, Mayo losing big matches from seemingly unassailable positions etc.

[Cosmo Kramer]

It's a reasonable looking Down side, although McPolin is a little unlucky to be dropped and Colgan, assuming his suspension is up, might also have been in contention. Rooney's return is welcome and big King needs plenty of game time to get himself fit again. Rotating the forwards makes sense, even through McComiskey was excellent in Mayo and John Clarke also had a decent match.

While there has obviously been some upheaval in the Galway camp, they still have some fine forwards if they can get off to a decent start. The last time they came to Down in the league, at Newcastle in the spring of 06, they gave us an awful hiding. It was during the period when everything started to go wrong for big Paddy, the rain lashed down from the mountains and we were shocking. We lost by 0-4 to 1-12, and my recollection is that our entire forward line, including the subs, contributed one point from play and one from a free, so we probably owe them one on Sunday.

It never ceases to amaze me how long a stereotypical view can be applied to a team in Gaelic Football years after it stops having any bearing on reality - e.g Galway forwards all have some kind of magic radar attached to their feet which only ever finds the black spot in the centre of the crossbar.

There is, at the very most, one fine forward on that Galway team. They were desperate up front against Monaghan.

You do know of course cosmo that our 3 best forwards were not playing that day? There is not many teams in the country that could lose their 3 best forwards are not somewhat suffer. I do agree that they cannot be compared to the Galway forwards when Padraig Joyce was in his prime alongside Donnellan, Fallon, Paul Clancy, etc.

I think most unbiased observers would agree that both Meehan and even PJ at his advanced age are still "fine forwards".

And while Nicky Joyce and Sean Armstrong are more hot and cold they are both still good intercounty forwards on their day.

Even most of the remaining forwards while not prolific are all well capable of taking the odd score. Granted there are a couple of non-scorers in there as well once you go down enough.

Scoring generally isn't the problem with us. Even 0-14 against Monaghan is a decent score to put up in winter considering who was missing. The fact that 0-19 went in at the other end is perhaps more indicative of our problems. An inability to win enough possession around the middle putting increasing and unyielding pressure on an already wobbly defence. And of course if you are not winning possession it means the forwards are seeing less ball also.

If there is one problem I have with the Galway forwards it is that neither N Joyce or Armstrong have been able to take the step up to the level that Meehan and PJ are at. Both are talented but too inconsistent.

Wouldn't disagree with any of that GBB, however Mourne Rover was referring to the starting 15 for tomorrow, as was I. Sean Armstrong is the only one of that 6 that could be considered a 'fine forward' and I was making the point that no matter what 15 Galway have out there always seems to be the view that they have 'a few fine forwards in there' even when they don't.

Of course come the championship they actually will have a decent forward line but that has no bearing on Down's chances tomorrow.

It is amazing though how these stereotypes seem to almost become a truism at times in football matches, like the Kerry jersey being worth a few extra points to them regardless of the quality of the men wearing it, Meath never being beaten until the final whistle, Limerick coming close but always falling short in Munster finals, Mayo losing big matches from seemingly unassailable positions etc.

Are any of those truisms though? I think they're just easy stereotypes for lazy journalists really.

Kerry aren't better because they're wearing Kerry jerseys, when they're better its because they're better, when they're worse they lose.

Meath lose as many close games as they win, but when they win a close one Meath's 'battling spirit' is always noted, when they lose its never mentioned.

Limerick don't lose Munster finals because it is somehow destined to be that way, they get into them in the first place because there are only two other decent teams in the province, and they lose them because the two other decent teams happen to be a bit better than them.

And how many big matches have Mayo lost from seemingly unassailable positions in the last 10 years? I can't think of any anyway, but I can think of a few we won or drew when we ourselves looked dead and buried. Of course we lost one All Ireland in that manner 15 years ago but maybe that was actually because we didn't have good enough forwards at the time to put Meath away when we had the chance.

Again the reality doesn't fit the stereotype at all, in fact the opposite is more likely to be true, but as I said it is difficult to get rid of an outdated or downright incorrect stereotype.

Anyway, Down by 5 tomorrow.

[An Fhairche Abu]

To be fair I was just fishing for an indignant Mayo response with that, all of them are indeed that same old crap that is doled out every year.

[Cosmo Kramer]

To be fair I was just fishing for an indignant Mayo response with that, all of them are indeed that same old crap that is doled out every year.

Yes but its incredible how many people believe them to be true - there was a good article by Eamonn Sweeney on similar lines about it a few weeks back.

I'd say leave the fishing to PSTG, he's in a class of his own in that area!

[galwayman]

Agree that it is a total stereotype about our forward line.of tomorrows starting team there are only 2 forwards capable of scoring consistently and that's Armstrong and cormac bane.both can be inconsistent but both are very talented.of the others bergin and sice are not really forwards,Clancy is more of a workhorse while de paor is not the first cousin of a county footballer.far too slow and ponderous for that level of football.I do believe though that a forward line of Conroy,bane,Meehan,Armstrong and the 2 joyces has potential.whether we will see that this year is another matter though.we have a lot of problems all over the field at the moment unfortunately

[ExiledGael]

de paor is not the first cousin of a county footballer.

Don't suppose he's any relation to Sean Og de Paor?

[An Fhairche Abu]

de paor is not the first cousin of a county footballer.

Don't suppose he's any relation to Sean Og de Paor?

Assuming your not asking this question rhetorically he's the brother of current selector Sean Og alright, make of that what you will.

[spuds]

Is Fiachra Breathnach still involved ? Last 2 managers gave him plenty of game time.