USFC - 2/6/27 - Derry v Down

[armaghniac]

+1 A few parents beside me were really annoyed about it.....continuous serious verbal abuse...

Smartphone + Youtube = action taken.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Crazy situation for teams that have met so recently to have to face each other again, with the same home advantage applying, where not even obliquely lateral thinking would be required to correct such a nonsensical situation. Sometimes the GAA appear to go out of their way to be totally inept, with no perceivable effort being remotely required.

[macdanger2]

Would have to agree that two teams who have met in the provincial championship shouldn't meet again in the qualifiers, plenty of names in the hat to prevent that from happening

[From the Bunker]

Crazy situation for teams that have met so recently to have to face each other again, with the same home advantage applying, where not even obliquely lateral thinking would be required to correct such a nonsensical situation. Sometimes the GAA appear to go out of their way to be totally inept, with no perceivable effort being remotely required.

+1

[Student Dissertation]

McIver let himself down along the line this evening. No call for it. Serious verbal abuse of the ref. I was about 20 yards from it and if our manager did what he did in a league game in Down he would be crucified.

Brian had every right to give this excuse for a referee verbals, for the first 2 free's Down were awarded were farcical and this incompetency continued through the first half.

I'm by no means defending his language, but any other manager would have had the same things to say.

The referee gave Down everything in the first half, and although Derry were certainly very fortunate not to concede a few free's in the second half, his inadequate performance was certainly not a factor in Downs defeat.

[DennistheMenace]

I agree Down should never have had to meet us again this early but it wasn't exactly a great draw for us either. Over the 2 games I think we were overall better team but home advantage does count for a lot. There isn't much between Derry and Down but we had key players coming back for this game and it really showed. No reason why Derry can't make a 1/4 final with a decent draw.

[Minus15]

Madness for some here to say that James has taken Down backwards. Over the last 4 years he has taken them to Div 1 and made them very competitive. I read a statistic before the Donegal game that during his reign Down have played more Championship games than any other team in Ulster.

This year has been the earliest Down have went out of the championship since Aughrim. I hope James stays on. He is obviously a very astute manager who is learning all the time and he is the man to bring the new breed of young talent through to senior county level. I don't see any others within Down at the moment who could offer the same.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

I agree Down should never have had to meet us again this early but it wasn't exactly a great draw for us either...

It makes a mockery of the competition at this stage -- as it currently stands yourselves and Down have won one each, except that you had home advantage (however non-advantageous that might actually be) on both occasions.

[armaghniac]

Armagh won on aggregate against Tyrone in 2005, will the Tyrone posters here accept that Armagh should be given the all Ireland?

[Wildweasel74]

There should have been 10pts in that game last nite, E Bradley missed a sitter plus we had 2 chances on the edge of the square end up in the midfielder hands. Down make alot of how bad the Derry midfield were the last day, reality is one guy was 19 and the other barely fit. last Nite P bradley was back to full fitness and PJ Destroyed Down in the air. had Bradley scored the goal at the end of the first half the last day, Derry won have won the game, i still was very unhappy Derry lost the game been 5pts up 5mins into the 2nd half the last day.

[Gabriel]

There should have been 10pts in that game last nite, E Bradley missed a sitter plus we had 2 chances on the edge of the square end up in the midfielder hands. Down make alot of how bad the Derry midfield were the last day, reality is one guy was 19 and the other barely fit. last Nite P bradley was back to full fitness and PJ Destroyed Down in the air. had Bradley scored the goal at the end of the first half the last day, Derry won have won the game, i still was very unhappy Derry lost the game been 5pts up 5mins into the 2nd half the last day.

The worst thing Derry fans could do would be to get carried away with the result of the game last night. I hope they go far in the qualifiers, but I'm sure most will appreciate that circumstances were stacked significantly in their favour yesterday. That's not to say they didn't deserve to win - of course they did - but I wouldn't exactly use Down yesterday as a yardstick to measure Derry's strength.

[bennydorano]

Madness for some here to say that James has taken Down backwards. Over the last 4 years he has taken them to Div 1 and made them very competitive. I read a statistic before the Donegal game that during his reign Down have played more Championship games than any other team in Ulster.

This year has been the earliest Down have went out of the championship since Aughrim. I hope James stays on. He is obviously a very astute manager who is learning all the time and he is the man to bring the new breed of young talent through to senior county level. I don't see any others within Down at the moment who could offer the same.

No, but he's overstayed his welcome (as has Counihan in Cork) & they are hindering further development because of their longevity & same voice syndrome.

[tbrick18]

McIver let himself down along the line this evening. No call for it. Serious verbal abuse of the ref. I was about 20 yards from it and if our manager did what he did in a league game in Down he would be crucified.

Brian had every right to give this excuse for a referee verbals, for the first 2 free's Down were awarded were farcical and this incompetency continued through the first half.

I'm by no means defending his language, but any other manager would have had the same things to say.

The referee gave Down everything in the first half, and although Derry were certainly very fortunate not to concede a few free's in the second half, his inadequate performance was certainly not a factor in Downs defeat.

+1
In the first half Derry couldnt buy a free yet on the other hand Down seemed to be getting them if there was a sniff of a tackle near them. Derry were getting players booked left right and centre for seemingly innocuous challenges whereas Down were getting away with similar if not worse challenges. McIver was understandably livid, as were the majority of Derry supporters.
The 2nd half he was a bit more consistent and the fact that Down finished with 13 players and still had the majority of their scores from frees is indicative of how the referee managed that game between the 2 halves.
IMO, if anything we would have won by more had the referee been consistent in his decision making.

To the game itself, I do feel for Down having to play us again at home. But I can say, that no-one in Derry was expecting anything but a Down win here. I didnt seem home advantage as a big deal as we haven't exactly been unbeatable in Celtic Park in recent years. The difference between Derry this day and the last was that we had practically our full first choice 15 playing with the return of PJ McCloskey, Sean Leo McGoldrick, Dermot McBride and the return to fitness of Patsy Bradley. We were really only missing Gerard O'Kane and a fully fit Eoin Bradley. It gave us more options from the bench and made our starting 15 a lot stronger than the first game against Down. Fact is, when we were winning midfield the first day against Down we were on top. For this replay we won midfield for practically the entire game and as a result were on top for the entire game.  Derry fully deserved the win this time around.

Realistically though, we are no world beaters. We just beat a team who got relegated from Div 1 and who nearly shocked a good team. That's nothing to get overly excited about. However, there are marked signs of improvement for this Derry side, and whilst we're not a top 6 side we have shown now that we can play that defensive style of football and win a dogfight. The players have shown some determination and we have unearthed some fine young talent.  But talk of quarter finals is a bit premature as we could have a tough draw next time out and that could be season over. No matter, we seem to be moving in the right direction.

The draw could be craic. Whats the chances we get Tyrone?

[Wildweasel74]

G Brick every derry person i chatted with during the week plus my friends going to the game all thought Derry would win so it wasnt a surprise. It is sore on Down to be beaten by a team they had just played a month ago, Just ask cork beaten by Kerry in the final after beating them earlier in the yr or Galway and kilkenny in the hurling last year

[Gabriel]

G Brick every derry person i chatted with during the week plus my friends going to the game all thought Derry would win so it wasnt a surprise. It is sore on Down to be beaten by a team they had just played a month ago, Just ask cork beaten by Kerry in the final after beating them earlier in the yr or Galway and kilkenny in the hurling last year

It's not meeting Derry again that has aggrieved Down fans. If we were knocked out by them later in the year I'd have no complaints. It's the fact that we were drawn to play them in an away tie a month after beating them in an away tie. As far as the match itself is concerned, Derry were by far the better side on the day and deserved to win.