Down Club Hurling & Football

[Pangurban]

Is the Down traing regime contributing to the fact that we have so many Hamstring injuries, or are we just unlucky

[NP 76]

Well done to James and the lads today . To stay up this year was going to be a big ask without Clarke but the boys gave their all and stood up to the plate . A hard fought win today with some very good aspects and some awful ones but a great result today . The younger lads will have gained great experience this year and another year of top flight football will do them the power of good . Delighted today for big Arthur who put in a great shift as did Brannigan who covered every blade of grass on the field . Big Kalum did alot of donkey work to let Ambrose roam against 2 big physical men . Just the one bad note was the injuries to the 2 Dans lets hope they arent out for to long . I think James has done alot of work this year with injury prevention this year with the 2 girls looking after alot of the conditioning . We dont have half the number of injures we did last year and most of the ones we have now are recurrences of old injuries from last year

[Mourne Rover]

It was a strange game and a patchy performance, but a brilliant result which puts us well into bonus territory approaching the championship. There are very tight margins in the first division, and if Laois had scored a goal with ten minutes left -which they nearly did - they would have been a point behind us and quite capable of going on to get the three-point win which would have relegated us. Instead, McVeigh made a brilliant save, we closed the game out confidently and are now back at Croke Park for the semi against Cork next Sunday.

We should probably have guessed that Laois were lacking in confidence when it transpired that our support out-numbered the home fans by at least three to one. It was also noticable that both teams were banned from the tunnel after the carry-on against Armagh and entered the field from opposite corners of the stand.

McVeigh, as mentioned, proved again that he is a fine shot-stopper with a great pair of hands. He did not always find a colleague with his kick-outs, but it is an aspect of his game which is still steadily improving.

Dan McCartan defended well throughout but unusually let himself down with his distribution more than once. Big Dan looked like an All Star at full back, and never gave Clancy a sniff before his unfortunate injury. Hopefully it will only be a twisted ankle as he is a key figure for us. Branagan gave everything, as ever, and can be forgiven for the odd poor pass.


McArdle and Garvey were both in fine form, with Garvey getting up for an impressive point and McArdle a contender for man of the match. McParland looked tired after the u21 match in mid-week, struggled from the start and might have been replaced even before his injury. Quinn, who had not played the full u21 game, really looked the part when he came on and can take a score as well.

Our midfield was a puzzle, as it started well, almost completely fell apart on either side of half time and finished in total control. King played a massive role, tackling without giving away frees and forcing turnovers repeatedly. He needs to take a breather every so often, but his fitness is improving. Ambrose also lost his way for a while, but by the final quarter was showing his special brand of leadership, commitment and skill.

Poland, who was captain for the day, was largely out of sorts, and took quite a few wrong options, but stuck at it and looked more like himself towards the end. McKernan seem much happier without marking duties, found space well and was unlucky not to get a goal. Carr worked very hard throughout, but his free-taking was nowhere near the level he produced against Armagh.

Laverty is becoming the idol of the fans, and might have set up three goals as well as punching to the net himself. Benny got his first goal of the year, and getting closer to his true standard, although cuteness is replacing mobility in some respects. The surprise of the day was McConville, who took some great catches and was unlucky not to get a goal as well. He is raw, but gives us a decent left-footed option.

The other subs appeared too late to make much difference, and it would be great to see McComiskey back on the bench next Sunday. Maginn was not be seen, but we need him in the squad as well.

All in all, it was a day to be proud of our panel and the management deserve recognition for a job well done.

[here comes 6]

Well done to James and the lads...good season so far...couldnt make it due to ACPRL games on ...anyone know how this will affect the start of the leagues next week???

Why would this affect the start of the leagues?  There is 30 county players and at least 400 1st and 2nd div players waiting to get the league going

[snoopdog]

a good win in portlaois today. Not a great performance in my opinion , We were second best  around the middle for most of the game. Still doing too much work to take a score. Arthur mcConville had a good game and in fairness we couldve had another 2 or 3 goals.
The injuries to the 2 Dans is worrying.
It will be interesting to see how we cope with Cork after 3 hidings in a row against them. Personally cant see anything but a defeat next week. But fair play for keeping Div 1 status for another year.

[supersub]

Well done to James and the lads...good season so far...couldnt make it due to ACPRL games on ...anyone know how this will affect the start of the leagues next week???

Why would this affect the start of the leagues?  There is 30 county players and at least 400 1st and 2nd div players waiting to get the league going

There are more than 30 county players and what you said is totally out of context. So what if there are 400 players, if your telling me the likes of the bridge will be happy to play without Garvey, coulter Quin, ford without maginn king etc and loughinisland without dan and Ben o'reilly then u must be joking. Obviously the clubs will want their strongest teams out for the start of the league and this includes county panelists.

[forevergreen]

I think it is vital for Div 1 & 2 to go ahead  this week. Just make it a starred game and do away with one of the other starred games later on. The clubs will have been tailoring their training to suit friday nights start. We have to respect the effort every player puts in whether they be county or club.

Great that Down are in the semi final but we have to also ensure the development of all club players to ensure the standard is kept up. As a above play away and replace the fixture later in the year.

[Dubh driocht]

It's great to have the dilemma of starred games so early in the season but I agree with Forever Green- the leagues must start and while the clubs might not be happy supersub, we need a strong county team and strong leagues.
On Dan's injury, I was looking at the Stephen Ferris situation following his ankle injury against Aironi.The more I look at Ferris, the more I think of a great Mourne expression - it was a gaigue. I think Ulster pulled a flanker to confuse Munster as there was little wrong with Ferris. A 'world authority' on ankle ligament/muscle damage ( which is only a guess at what Dan suffered) stated that the injury should be examined again after 48 hours so it is probably too soon to comment. However, she went on to say that for full recovery it is at best, six weeks but if an operation is required, it will be 6 months.Dan is so important to us that he mustn't be rushed back too soon so whatever the diagnosis I would try Garvey, Mc Ardle or P Turley at FB against Cork- they will need practice there before facing the Bomber Quigley in Enniskillen.

[supersub]

Would have no doubt Ferris was injected and strapped to the max for the game at the weekend. Was talking to a reputbale physio on Saturday morning and he said it is very common for the teams to do this and deal with it in the long term after the season/competition

[here comes 6]

So call the games of this weekend maybe then for the league final and dont forget the county training weekend!  Yeah that sounds good and the normal club player just keep training.   Time people started being wise.  No county players means even more players getting Senior club football

[supersub]

You know the fuss that is made by some clubs about starred games etc losing their best players so it is obvious that there is going to be debate over it and it is not a forgone conclusion to keep the league games on as you are suggesting. I have no issue with this by the way as our club has none but I'm just looking at it from those who rely heavily on theirs.

[knockitdown]

Any div 3 results today?

[dundrumite]

Dundrum 2-8 Mitchels 2-7.

[DownFanatic]

O'Neills ACFL Div 3

09.04.12 (Mon)

Round 3

Darragh Cross 0-5 V 1-13 Ballymartin

Saul 1-9 V 1-9 Tullylish

Ardglass 0-13 V 2-7 St John's



O'Neills ACFL Div 4

09.04.12 (Mon)

Round 3

St Paul's 3-14 V 0-6 Dromara

Bredagh 0-14 V 0-6 Aughlisnafin

Ballykinlar 1-5 V 2-11 St Michael's

Dundrum 2-08 V 2-07 Mitchels

Bright 0-09 v 0-08 Aghaderg

[PAULD123]

Well done Down on reaching the semi-final. I'm looking forward to a bonus trip to Dublin. But I have to say that there were a few worrying things about the match at the weekend.

• Ambrose, while good in the air, did not look fit, he was not very mobile, continual pulled up after releasing the ball to the forward line and had problems reacting to breaking ball.

• Our defence only conceded 10 points which looks superb but in truth Laois were atrocious at shooting. Against a team with any decent accuracy we easily would have conceded 15 or more. The scoreline flatters our defence unbelievably. In the first half Laois had an unreal amount of fairly handy shots at the sticks. The conclusion is that, sadly, our defence is still a problem and struggles to mark tightly.

• We had a lot of problems getting the ball into our forward line at all in the first half. We have very skilful kick passers in Poland and Carr but when they only have two players to aim at it isn't making their task a simple one. Eventually Arthur had to come out to gain possession and in fact Benny started to come out too. Basically we line up with four in midfield, two in the half forward line and two in the full forward line. Turning possession to attack takes too long and the opposition are able to get back and flood their defence.

• We failed to win the majority of midfield breaking balls. Without Danny in the team we tend to lose that area of the field and therefore are always against it in terms of possession. It wasn't till the last 20 when our superior fitness started to tell that Down took control of midfield possession.

But don't get me wrong, it is great we are not only still in Division one but also in the top four. How fantastic these days are compared to the dark days of only a few years ago when we were flailing around on muddy division 3 pitches. In terms of setting us up for the championship opener at Enniskillen, a semi-final in Croke park is a great boost. Maybe we'll get even more if we are lucky??? Fermanagh are on a high after their terrific league results. But now Down can feel confident having come out in the elite group in the top flight. I feel the level of confidence in the team will be the single most important factor when we step out in Brewster Park. Confidence, more than anything else, allows a team to shake off the shackles that come with expectation. And Down will have a lot of expectation placed on them on 3rd June.