Down Club Hurling & Football

[Square Ball]

Bredagh beating Ballygalget at the weekend must have been the 1st time in a long time, a non-Ards club beat an Ards club.

Maybe Laoitrim have done it at some stage, or would it go right back to when Kilclief reigned supreme.

No, beat one of them in the championship previously

[No1]

I imagine it's been a very difficult weekend for the Ballygalget club.  Lost a legend well before his time.  RIP Spike.  Used to love watching him play for club and county.

[Truth hurts]

Burren win yet another minor title. They must have won 6 out of the last 10? How do they keep their players interested in staying around? With all these players at their disposal - how are they underachieving so badly at senior level with one senior title in that decade?

Watched this one on PaircTv, Burren got a few fortuitous goals and Mayobridge got a player sent off when the game was in the melting pot which sort of ruined it as a contest. Very impressed with Woods and Mussen from Burren and Woods and Clerkin from Mayobridge.

[Truth hurts]

I imagine it's been a very difficult weekend for the Ballygalget club.  Lost a legend well before his time.  RIP Spike.  Used to love watching him play for club and county.

An absolute great hurler, one of the greatest we have ever produced but a real good man and good clubman . RIP Spike.

[befair]

Burren win yet another minor title. They must have won 6 out of the last 10? How do they keep their players interested in staying around? With all these players at their disposal - how are they underachieving so badly at senior level with one senior title in that decade?

Young people are much more transient these days; it's a big world, and if they a want a successful career and a fulfilling life, they need to travel while they're young.
I was a mentor in a minor team in the mid 2000s, won the minor title easily; 3 yrs later all but two of them had left Ireland

[Johnnysboys]

Benny, Darren and Donal in with the minors. Strong south down connect again with another Burren man in the picture. They must have serious connections on the county board.
I agree with the previous statements about young lads having their head turned by other things in life apart from GAA. Hard to blame them.

Big weekend of action ahead - Hope this weather fecks off so the games aren ruined.

[Hard2Listen2]

Best of luck to Benny with the minors.
Good back room team with him.

[KeyboardWman]

Think Benny has easy down men in with him too but like does it really matter? Managers will pick the best players if they want to play and show their stuff no matter where they are from imo. If you can give me an example of this being different then let us know!!

[johnnycool]

Bredagh beating Ballygalget at the weekend must have been the 1st time in a long time, a non-Ards club beat an Ards club.

Maybe Laoitrim have done it at some stage, or would it go right back to when Kilclief reigned supreme.

No, beat one of them in the championship previously

Bredagh have beat both ourselves and Ballycran last year, so not really a surprise. We've fallen down and will take a while to get back up and not taking away from Bredagh who've some fine hurlers in their team and probably should be with the county panel if not already.

RIP Martin Spike Baile, the last few years have been hard on the family as he'd an aggressive form of dementia take hold, hard to watch the impact it had on him, big, strong lad wasting away. Only turned 60 the other week.

Some player in his day, very unpredictable in all sorts of ways and was in his pomp when a lot of us young lads started coming through, he'd always look out for you, some craic on team building nights out.

Condolences to Sheila, Shane, Naomi, Caolan and especially the Da, Seamus, our treasurer for lord knows how many years, runs the bar, cuts the grass, you name it.

[Truth hurts]

Good luck Benny , who are the east Down men in with him? Has he a strength and conditioning coach? What is the management team?

Well done to the county board on getting early and impressive setups, let's get this great county moving forward again.

[Smurfy123]

Great appointment and well done to the county board on 2 quick appointments

Nephew plays for Rostrevor and they think so highly of him. Getting O Hare and O Hagen on board should be good as those young lads will no doubt have look up to them.

East Down South Down who cares? The best players will be picked

This County need an upturn so now let the lads get to work I'm sure Conor L will take no crap and get rid of all the bluffers

[DownFanatic]

Bredagh beating Ballygalget at the weekend must have been the 1st time in a long time, a non-Ards club beat an Ards club.

Maybe Laoitrim have done it at some stage, or would it go right back to when Kilclief reigned supreme.

No, beat one of them in the championship previously

Bredagh have beat both ourselves and Ballycran last year, so not really a surprise. We've fallen down and will take a while to get back up and not taking away from Bredagh who've some fine hurlers in their team and probably should be with the county panel if not already.

RIP Martin Spike Baile, the last few years have been hard on the family as he'd an aggressive form of dementia take hold, hard to watch the impact it had on him, big, strong lad wasting away. Only turned 60 the other week.

Some player in his day, very unpredictable in all sorts of ways and was in his pomp when a lot of us young lads started coming through, he'd always look out for you, some craic on team building nights out.

Condolences to Sheila, Shane, Naomi, Caolan and especially the Da, Seamus, our treasurer for lord knows how many years, runs the bar, cuts the grass, you name it.

What is the landscape like now in Down regards club hurling at underage? I see Castlewellan are into 'A' grade finals at U-13 and U-15 level. Are some of the mainland clubs now on par with Ards' sides in most age groups?

[terrifictommy]

Is there no live streams this weekend? Enjoyed all that coverage last week.

[johnnycool]

Bredagh beating Ballygalget at the weekend must have been the 1st time in a long time, a non-Ards club beat an Ards club.

Maybe Laoitrim have done it at some stage, or would it go right back to when Kilclief reigned supreme.

No, beat one of them in the championship previously

Bredagh have beat both ourselves and Ballycran last year, so not really a surprise. We've fallen down and will take a while to get back up and not taking away from Bredagh who've some fine hurlers in their team and probably should be with the county panel if not already.

RIP Martin Spike Baile, the last few years have been hard on the family as he'd an aggressive form of dementia take hold, hard to watch the impact it had on him, big, strong lad wasting away. Only turned 60 the other week.

Some player in his day, very unpredictable in all sorts of ways and was in his pomp when a lot of us young lads started coming through, he'd always look out for you, some craic on team building nights out.

Condolences to Sheila, Shane, Naomi, Caolan and especially the Da, Seamus, our treasurer for lord knows how many years, runs the bar, cuts the grass, you name it.

What is the landscape like now in Down regards club hurling at underage? I see Castlewellan are into 'A' grade finals at U-13 and U-15 level. Are some of the mainland clubs now on par with Ards' sides in most age groups?

Castlewellan are coming strong at U15, in saying that I was surprised they beat Portaferry in Portaferry on Sunday past as the Ports would have been considered strong favourites based on results going into that game but they did beat us in the U13 final last year so they should be there or there abouts.
U13 they're the strongest team I've saw this year and should win that one.
They've also got a strong P7 outfit to boot in the go games, so keep up the good work is all I can say. They play a decent style of hurling and have plenty of skill in them.

We play O'Rahillies in the U17 semi-final on Wednesday evening in Liatroim which is a combination of Castlewellan, Liatroim, Balella, Ballyvarley and I think a Clonduff lad going by his shorts, they're probably slight favourites based on the last encounter and the winners will face Bredagh in the final, so the Ards aren't as dominant at underage as it used to be and that's a good thing for Down hurling.
From a Ballygalget perspective we've always struggled with teams able to field a full compliment of lads in their last years at that level. We don't have that luxury and will always be dipping into the younger lads to field and there's nothing you can do with a 14yo playing against a 16 or 70yo which will happen in quite a few positions on Wednesday night.

[Truth hurts]

Any thoughts on tonight? I think Rostrevor will win ok, Saul to take the Kingdom and I have a feeling the Stone can raise their game. They have a few scalps over the years in the championship and we could have another massive one tonight.