Down Club Hurling & Football

[Tiocfaidh Ned]

They say you get the government you deserve so it must also be true of county boards. It's all well and good blaming minor managers or former Armagh players for the state of our county teams, but when you have a county board and in particual a full time, salaried county secretary who are totally inept then we will always be fighting a losing battle.

#SackChuckyNed #SackSeanOg #SackThe Seans

[Sheedy]

shane mulholland was pretty scathing of the county board and the way he felt he was treated in an interview in todays newry reporter.

[snoopdog]

shane mulholland was pretty scathing of the county board and the way he felt he was treated in an interview in todays newry reporter.

Nothing changes with Managers being aggrieved at being axed in Down,McCartan being the rare
exception when he walked away.

Regardless of what Shane may or may not have been doing in the background with development squads etc. The fact is he didn't get a win in 2 years in championship.  V Tyrone last year was the worst performance of a Down minor team in many many years. Derry was poor also. What's his gripe he had to go management is  results  based. McCorry will be pushed next year if seniors don't do anything in championship.

[Smurfy123]

S M should never have been sacked by the clubs of Down
All these schools have to take some of the blame also for lack of work going on.St Marks for one have gone down hill badly since Barney McA left them.Pauly get your finger out and start doing something about that.
SM was doing a serious amount of work with under 14-15-16-17 dev squads from what I am lead to believe ??
Jim stays for another year to prove his worth and I think that's the right call

[Line Ball]

S M should never have been sacked by the clubs of Down
All these schools have to take some of the blame also for lack of work going on.St Marks for one have gone down hill badly since Barney McA left them.Pauly get your finger out and start doing something about that.
SM was doing a serious amount of work with under 14-15-16-17 dev squads from what I am lead to believe ??
Jim stays for another year to prove his worth and I think that's the right call

Exactly what is 'doing serious work' mean?  You have been led to believe, so you are taking the word from someone else about this?

I think Jim's position is untenable and since he doesn't have the support of his employers then I cannot see how he can stay. I don't think that one year was enough before putting it to the clubs to vote on as he should have been given more time.

[snoopdog]

What if  Jim McCorry thinks I can't continue here without the support but feck them I will wait to the worst possible time for Down and then walk? Leave them in lurch.

[OgraAnDun]

S M should never have been sacked by the clubs of Down
All these schools have to take some of the blame also for lack of work going on.St Marks for one have gone down hill badly since Barney McA left them.Pauly get your finger out and start doing something about that.
SM was doing a serious amount of work with under 14-15-16-17 dev squads from what I am lead to believe ??
Jim stays for another year to prove his worth and I think that's the right call

Doing a serious amount of work!!!Whoever is telling you this is talking bull. He had nothing
to do with any of these squads lately,although he took over the 2014 U17,s once he had failed in the
Championship last summer.
      Lots of complaints about no Trials for this year having brought forward the U17 squad from '14 which followed through from the 2013 U16 squad. So whoever picked the squad in April 2013 really picked the Minor squad for this year bar a few drop offs
   With all this buddy boy talk from SP about SM's passion,bleeding Down Football(how pathetic is that statement) what have either of them ever achieved in coaching terms?

Although I'm not 100% certain of this so could be wrong, I think there were trials for the minors at the start of this year before thru MacRory players were released by the schools after their school campaign was over.

[Brick Tamlin]

Huh???

[PAULD123]

This development squad system makes no sense to me. surely instead of one person being put in charge of all the levels it should be  a progressive thing. You select the man you want to be managing the minors in 3-4 years. He focuses on the U14 & U15 squad. Next year his remit takes in the U14, U15 & U16, then U14, U15, U16 & U17. Either at this point or next year he takes over the minor management role and at the same time a new mentor is brought in to focus on U14 following the same path as the guy above.

This would develop the players with the coach, they would have focus on shared objectives. The mentor would have time to make mistakes and learn from them with the same group of players and hopefully arrive at minor championship level with a fully "Developed" squad and footballing approach.

He would have 2-3 years at minor level before ideally moving on to U21 then senior county involvement bringing much of his players through and leaving the opportunity for his following successor.

This would provide a continuity for manager/squad relationship, continuity in succession for our county managers, and continuity in philosophy as one developing manager co-operates and overlaps with the other.

[interested]

This development squad system makes no sense to me. surely instead of one person being put in charge of all the levels it should be  a progressive thing. You select the man you want to be managing the minors in 3-4 years. He focuses on the U14 & U15 squad. Next year his remit takes in the U14, U15 & U16, then U14, U15, U16 & U17. Either at this point or next year he takes over the minor management role and at the same time a new mentor is brought in to focus on U14 following the same path as the guy above.

This would develop the players with the coach, they would have focus on shared objectives. The mentor would have time to make mistakes and learn from them with the same group of players and hopefully arrive at minor championship level with a fully "Developed" squad and footballing approach.

He would have 2-3 years at minor level before ideally moving on to U21 then senior county involvement bringing much of his players through and leaving the opportunity for his following successor.

This would provide a continuity for manager/squad relationship, continuity in succession for our county managers, and continuity in philosophy as one developing manager co-operates and overlaps with the other.

Well written thoughts. Would anyone of sound mind disagree with any of this?

[supersub]

The main problem with the development squads is that a lot of players who are the 'best' in the county at underage do not go to them at u14-17 - but go straight into the Minor panel as they are still the best at that age. Surely if you want a group of players to gel in the way mentioned above, you need them playing together for years rather than months or arguably weeks!

[gaamann]

Anyone remember the last minor management team who actually came/ through the development squads and worked their way up to the position of minor manager?

[wobbller]

Anyone remember the last minor management team who actually came/ through the development squads and worked their way up to the position of minor manager?

Peter McGrath possibly. Successful Counties-Dessie Farrell,Mickey Harte

[gaamann]

Don't think wee Pete worked with the development squads before his appointment

[Nailer]

There were only a few players from East Down in the starting fifteen against Tyrone last year and in Derry in the championship this year,there is certainly no doubt that South Down has the strongest minor teams in the county but we are certainly going to struggle to win anything at this level if almost half the county are not providing talented players to the county minor team.
Are the clubs not doing enough to coach their underage players, do the players have little interest in committing to county football or are there other reasons?