USFC - 2/6/27 - Derry v Down

[sam03/05]

There will be 10-15 points in it at the end.

[Aristo 60]

Is there much point playing this game. Donegal will hammer the winners. Be quicker just to put Donegal into final and both into qualifiers.

In hindsight, was there any point in Tyrone playing them ?

It provided me with an afternoon's entertainment - so i'm glad it was played 

I'd say a few tyrone boys are wearing the  to hide the battle scars today..

[Walter Cronc]

There will be 10-15 points in it at the end.

Catch yourself on. There won't be that margin in it!

[orangeman]

Derry big favourites for this game at home and a division 2 title collected along the way.

Derry seem to have injury concerns.

There's little talk of Down which will suit wee James.

[tbrick18]

I wouldn't see us as favourites at all, in fact at best I think its a 50-50 game for us.
The step up from Div2 to Div1 is a big enough step and Down have been in Div1 for a few years so they are used to playing at that level.
Derry on the other hand have a lot of very young players who only have experience of playing Div2 teams.
McIver should have us well prepared for Down, but with players injured and others returning from injury out team from the league final will probably change quite a bit so that's another unknown.
I dont think there'll be more than a kick of the ball in it either way.

Every year I get more confident the closer we get to a game (and then we usually get beat), so with that in mind I'll tip Derry to shade it by 2 points. Home advantage and McIver being the key.

[thewobbler]

As I do every year, I'm going to tip Down to win the 1st round game.

I'm usually wrong.

No.1 used to blame the loss on my tipping, but I think the problems lie a little deeper 

Honestly though, what I think this year's Championship results so far have shown is that the standard of Division 1 is significantly higher than Division 2. Down got beat from pillar to post in the league, but in all likelihood, this weekend they'll have a fair bit more time and space than they've been used to; even if Derry try running them into the ground and tossing them around like wet lettuces, Down shouldn't be surprised.  Derry, conversely, might find themselves wondering how Down are so sharp (until our inevitable implosion in the first 10 minutes of the second half).

[naka]

Need Derry to do the biz this week
Have had a hard two weeks since that fiasco in Cavan
And would like some vengeance

[PAULD123]

This game will hopefully be a fast open tussle. Or it could be two teams looking at each other trying badly to implement a sweeper system. Injuries will certainly make a difference.

Down were a bit poorer than the rest of Division 1. But not pathetic. A last second goal from Cork in the end was all that relegated us. We matched Cork, Beat Kildare and Mayo and were really not that far away from Tyrone. Down are a decent side and apart from a shocker in Croke were competitive in the Division while looking just a little bit short of the required standard.

Perhaps more than any game this summer this match will tell us a lot about the difference between playing your preparation football in Division 2 or Division 1.

As for predictions. If Down get away and moving and build a lead I think they will be too powerful for Derry over all. But if Derry get around 5 points on us then I expect us to collapse like we do every other time.

[Mourne Rover]

Pauld123's assessment of our league form was fair enough. We were poor away to Dublin and Kerry and faded in Donegal after a decent start. In Newry, where we tend to be a different proposition, we lost fairly narrowly to Tyrone, beat Kildare and Mayo and should have beaten Cork as well.

However, our league performances have been generally decent over the last couple of years but our summer displays have not. We have produced some reasonable periods at different stages, but never over a full 70 minutes since our championship run of 2010. Our defeats against Armagh and Cork in 2011 and Donegal and Mayo last year were particularly disappointing and made us look like a team going backwards rapidly.

The combination of Derry's home advantage and McIver and Tally's detailed knowledge of our squad looks ominous, but the emergence of Boyle, Mallon and O'Hare and the resurgence of McKernan and Carr gives us at least some hope. If all five are fit, we are capable of giving it a rattle.

[Wildweasel74]

After yesterday, am not too worried about this game, thought the winner could give donegal a rattle but that aint going to happen. Lose to Down by a few points, or get your ass handed to you playing Donegal. First time in along time am not to fussed about the championship as the so-called winner will be the long term loser. Derry already will be weaker than they were in the league with 3/4 of the panel missing from the league final, if it wasnt already bad as up to 10 players have missed alot of game time through the league and  a number of those are still missing. i dont know how fit Paddy Bradley is, but we the lack of forwards we currently have, he bound to be good enough for the bench! Its not as if he doesn't want to play!

[Leonardo]

I heard that OHare is out and Carr has only returned to training??

[Aristo 60]

I heard O'Hare is in good shape

[Leonardo]

Hope you are right

[Aristo 60]

The uncle from Newry usually has his facts square enough. 

[SHEEDY]

very quiet build up to this match from both counties. are there many down fans on here travelling up? there seems to a feeling that Donegal have ulster sewn up and the rest shouldn't bother. i'll be heading up to celtic park hoping we can beat derry and then catch Donegal on a bad day. its that time of the year again when we all set out with hope.