Down Club Hurling & Football

Truth hurts · June 01, 2023, 08:50:59 AM

Quote from: Johnnysboys on May 31, 2023, 11:24:28 PM
Kilcoo beat again. With McEvoy, Morgan, Johnston all freed up to play. Are Clonduff dark horses? Have now beaten a few of the so called big guns in round one of the league.

Again? You write that like they're in trouble.

What was their full team?

After 8 games, Kilcoo is in a healthy position. They'll be safe with 12 points, and they can now easily transition into championship mode.

For a number of years, Clonduff has been considered a dark horse, but they often falter at the final fence .

Truth hurts · June 02, 2023, 11:57:51 AM

Is anyone available for games tonight and has a team been picked for tomorrow yet?

Fair credit must be given to Conor and the management group, who have done a fine job of releasing players for the group games.

Everyone needs to support the team in its bid for success after this weekend. There shouldn't be any county players competing in the league until they are eliminated from the tournament. Its only a few weeks.

Nanderson · June 03, 2023, 02:41:07 PM

Tight game this afternoon. Shooting not great from both teams but 17 wides and being outscored 5 points to 1 in last 20 minutes tells you the story of the game. Into the premlin quarter finals next week. Maybe this team needs to be playing in consecutive weeks to keep sharp

Sheedy · June 03, 2023, 02:45:57 PM

Looked the better team for long parts but some really bad wides, some strange refereeing and a strong Meath finish combined to a 2 point defeat. Some of the shooting today was crazy, 17 wides.

befair · June 03, 2023, 03:04:29 PM

Meath the better team, too many of the Down players had no ability to take their men on; no conviction or confidence in their shooting. This is our level; for all the hype about Laverty we aren't much better than last year. Not his fault, our players just aren't very good. The Kilcoo batch are great at club level, but not up to it at the higher level

Lloyd p · June 03, 2023, 03:52:25 PM

Wouldn't get too carried away with that defeat. Could easily have won it on another day and still in the mix. Hopefully improved performance next week

snoopdog · June 03, 2023, 05:23:49 PM

Down should've won that. The forwards were abysmal. Some of the shots were laughable. Absolutely dreadful. Meath were no better. Laverty has a massive job on his hands. Main one is to unearth forwards that know how to put the ball over the bar.

ardtole · June 03, 2023, 07:55:12 PM

Surely a game like today's was set up for the likes of Gilmore. He done well in the 1st few league games, but the hard ground, favourable weather conditions would suit him.

O'Hagan has been a huge loss, I thought Havern's form dipped when Barry got injured too, they had a good understanding.

Sheedy · June 03, 2023, 08:16:26 PM

Quote from: ardtole on June 03, 2023, 07:55:12 PM
Surely a game like today's was set up for the likes of Gilmore. He done well in the 1st few league games, but the hard ground, favourable weather conditions would suit him.

O'Hagan has been a huge loss, I thought Havern's form dipped when Barry got injured too, they had a good understanding.

Gilmore is out injured

ardtole · June 04, 2023, 07:05:05 AM

OK. I didn't know that, we will really be hoping that Oisin Savage hits the ground running next season.

Sheedy · June 04, 2023, 05:52:18 PM

Down will play Longford in Newry next weekend in preliminary quarter final

Hard2Listen2 · June 04, 2023, 06:43:19 PM

Quote from: SHEEDY on June 04, 2023, 05:52:18 PM
Down will play Longford in Newry next weekend in preliminary quarter final

Longford will be tricky opponents. They knocked Down out in a back door game in Newry a few years ago.
Hopefully management & players are learning with every game & can continue on the the quarterfinals.

snoopdog · June 04, 2023, 07:32:05 PM

My recollection of the league game v longford was how much better thry took scores. Downs fwds would need to be a lot better than yesterday.

Sheedy · June 04, 2023, 08:09:02 PM

Longford beat Wicklow and lost to Carlow and Limerick to finish 3rd in their group, if Down have any ambitions to go further in the competition it's a match they should be winning comfortably, especially at home.

Mourne Rover · June 04, 2023, 09:53:20 PM

The visit to Parnell Park yesterday confirmed that, despite the obvious progress since last year, we deservedly remain a side of Tailteann Cup/D3 status and at this stage our forwards do not collectively possess the quality required to take us to the next level.

Our defence plainly lacks physique but did OK to restrict Meath to a modest enough total of 1-11, which would have been even lower with a decent referee. However, we only managed 1-09 in reply against limited opposition because our six starting forwards scored one point from play in perfect playing conditions.

Many of our 17 wides were from relatively straightforward positions in and around the D, and, unlike Meath, none of our substitutions made much difference. We are badly missing O'Hagan, while Gilmore and the two older Johnsons may hopefully return soon, but our prospects will only improve when we develop some further options up front.

Although we can certainly look to our successful u20s, the likes of Savage and Doran are hugely talented but are only likely to make an impact at senior level after serious S and C work. It was obvious against Armagh in the USC that a disproportionate number of pacey but lightweight forwards will take us nowhere in the big games.

Murdock was again a shining light yesterday, even if he understandably faded in the heat late on, while the competition between Kane and O'Hare in goals is serving us well.

Our main problems are at the other end of the field, and, after Laverty used 40 players in the league, more than any other manager across the four divisions, only an optimist would believe that we have many hidden gems out there.

Improving our existing forwards will not be easy but remains essential if we are to advance in this year's Tailteann or the 2024 league.