Down Club Hurling & Football

[5times5times]

It was like Meath vs the Down minor team today. All meath subs 6ft+, Down were wee men.

[downtothecore]

Disappointing result. At least we are their in croke learning ar these games and we found out today we still need to find more bigger lads for this squad so we can compete better at a higher level in the future.

[grounded]

Meath set up perfectly against us. They know we struggle around the middle and like to build from the back so they set to push up from the start. The middle 8 players really struggled to get any real impact on the game. I'd agree thag the dodgy goal knocked us for 6 at a time when we wwre well on top. Thats where you want a keeper to be more commanding or communicative. Really should have bknown that that shot was going to hit the post. Havern seemed to be caught by surprise when it came off and couldnt adjust himself. Forward line really misfired after a dream match against laois. Ryan J probably only player that played any sort of a decent game today

Ach in fairness you can't really blame the keeper or Havern for that. Pure fluke. Apart from that spot on with everything else.

[johnnycool]

Needed those goal chances to count....
Better team won, but both the hurlers and footballers need growth hormones....

[Nanderson]

Meath set up perfectly against us. They know we struggle around the middle and like to build from the back so they set to push up from the start. The middle 8 players really struggled to get any real impact on the game. I'd agree thag the dodgy goal knocked us for 6 at a time when we wwre well on top. Thats where you want a keeper to be more commanding or communicative. Really should have bknown that that shot was going to hit the post. Havern seemed to be caught by surprise when it came off and couldnt adjust himself. Forward line really misfired after a dream match against laois. Ryan J probably only player that played any sort of a decent game today

Ach in fairness you can't really blame the keeper or Havern for that. Pure fluke. Apart from that spot on with everything else.

I can blame the goalie. I played with brendan mcveigh for many years and he was great for keeping the defenders thinking the ball was coming off the post. Bobo should have been doing the same. Havern looked lost under it whereas if he knew it was coming off the post he would have looked up at the very least and then judged his postiiton accordingly

[supersub]

Kerr & Johnston score their goal chances, Meath don't get the fluke goal, there'd be no word of physicality. Meath were better, but Down aren't far away.

[Phoenix rising]

Arent far away from what? They are a world away.....back to Div 3 and Tailteann Cup next year unfortunately

[supersub]

A world away from what?

Weren't far away from going straight into the All Ireland series next year.

[Dubh driocht]

Disappointing end to a roller coaster county season.
We could and probably should have won that game and the consequences of defeat are significant for us.
Firstly, Comghairdeas to Meath; best team on the day won.
It was a good day out and no doubt the younger generation are hungry to be at the top table again. 
Every player on the squad has put in a great shift so go raibh maith agaibh lads. And management.
Plenty of positives but plenty of regrets and ultimately we're still in Division 3 and unlikeliest ⁶to be competing in Sam Maguire in 2024, which hurts.
Some players rise to the challenge of a big stsge; others freeze or don't play to their potential.  Management will learn. Some of the changes could/ should have been made earlier but hard to plan for the freak goal and Meath pushed on from that.
So we pause and look forward to the County championships. Up Down.

[snoopdog]

If we win Div 3 next year then we should be in the All Ireland series barring another draw that sees sligo or Leitrim on the one side of connacht. Meath are Div 2 and hardly relegation fodder. So I'd be hopeful of winning Div 3. Clare won't be easy but they lost their great manager Collins.  We really should be winning div next term. Alot of S&C needed.  Ohagan won't be back  till spring. Will Mooney make a difference? Who else from the U20s can come in?  Guys have done well and myself and the kids have had some great days and nights out with this team and the U20s this year. Keep it up lads, as disappointing as yesterday was  its great to be back in croke pk and being competitive. Remember Meath are a division above us and take out the freak goal there wasn't a hell of a difference bar their forwards. We struggle to score from distance they didn't in the 2nd half yesterday. 
Monaghan and Derry should be a  plan to follow.

[grounded]

Meath set up perfectly against us. They know we struggle around the middle and like to build from the back so they set to push up from the start. The middle 8 players really struggled to get any real impact on the game. I'd agree thag the dodgy goal knocked us for 6 at a time when we wwre well on top. Thats where you want a keeper to be more commanding or communicative. Really should have bknown that that shot was going to hit the post. Havern seemed to be caught by surprise when it came off and couldnt adjust himself. Forward line really misfired after a dream match against laois. Ryan J probably only player that played any sort of a decent game today

Ach in fairness you can't really blame the keeper or Havern for that. Pure fluke. Apart from that spot on with everything else.

I can blame the goalie. I played with brendan mcveigh for many years and he was great for keeping the defenders thinking the ball was coming off the post. Bobo should have been doing the same. Havern looked lost under it whereas if he knew it was coming off the post he would have looked up at the very least and then judged his postiiton accordingly

So your blaming Kane for the goal?
    You could definitely level criticism of him for some poor kick outs ( i would add that our lack of a competitive midfield forces the keeper to take more risky options under the press). You could definitely level Criticism of him after the Armagh/Fermanagh game but that is unfair to blame him for that flukey goal.

[urbangael]

My fear before the game was our lack of physicality and so it proved. Wiped out in the middle third. I also had a bad feeling we wouldn't get a goal. So often the case a team bangs a load of goals and goes out the next day and nothing. The first goal could've been avoided. Bobo still lacks presence for me and was totally flat footed. After that he wobbled and in fairness the whole team did it was a big turning point. Kerrs miss was the other big turning point. If he hit the net I think it's a different game 2nd half. It's fine margins. Maybe some players got a bit carried away with the hype. Meath had played at a higher level. Some Down folk thought it was just a matter of turning up based on the laois game. Realistically a div 1 team in down would probably have beaten laois that day. This year has been an improvement but there is a lot of work to do.

[Nanderson]

Meath set up perfectly against us. They know we struggle around the middle and like to build from the back so they set to push up from the start. The middle 8 players really struggled to get any real impact on the game. I'd agree thag the dodgy goal knocked us for 6 at a time when we wwre well on top. Thats where you want a keeper to be more commanding or communicative. Really should have bknown that that shot was going to hit the post. Havern seemed to be caught by surprise when it came off and couldnt adjust himself. Forward line really misfired after a dream match against laois. Ryan J probably only player that played any sort of a decent game today

Ach in fairness you can't really blame the keeper or Havern for that. Pure fluke. Apart from that spot on with everything else.

I can blame the goalie. I played with brendan mcveigh for many years and he was great for keeping the defenders thinking the ball was coming off the post. Bobo should have been doing the same. Havern looked lost under it whereas if he knew it was coming off the post he would have looked up at the very least and then judged his postiiton accordingly

So your blaming Kane for the goal?
    You could definitely level criticism of him for some poor kick outs ( i would add that our lack of a competitive midfield forces the keeper to take more risky options under the press). You could definitely level Criticism of him after the Armagh/Fermanagh game but that is unfair to blame him for that flukey goal.

Yes sure it was very unlucky the way it came off the post right down on top of an unsuspecting havern but im saying he would have known that ball was either going to hit the post or come close to it. If he let havern know it was coming off the post he may have been more alert to it dropping. As i said brendan mcveigh was one of the best keepers for doing this even if a ball was going 2 feet either side of the post he would still make you think it was coming off the post so you would always be aware. Agree that probably being a goalie for down is one of the most hateful positions to ever play in now that we dont possess any real ability to win good clean ball around the middle so goalkeeper has to take more risks in playing the ball short. One thing we can do to alleviate teams that press up on us is get the kickout away early before they have time to set up on us. We also had a bit of luck in the long kickout over the top then flicking it on to the half forward line

[Gaelforce123]

Personally feel Management lost this one. Did a great job tactically getting to this stage but to go up against a very big Meath team with Guinness at Midfield, put our best fielder of the ball at full forward for large periods, i just could not see the benefits or potential benefits. Meath pushed up very strong on our kickouts to force the long kickout knowing they had the upper hand in middle third, that was easy to see. Im not a fan of McEvoy but surely him and Patrick Branagan should have been on much earlier and even Carr after his performance at Midfield a few weeks back. I thought Doherty had a good game as did Eugene, Rooney was quiet. L Kerr was exposed to his one sided approach they marshalled him down the right side didnt let him get in. Meath got it 100% tactically and unfortunately we looked like we had no plan B. Their big men got an easy run of it and kicked some great second half scores, Down were still close but i feel got it wrong on the line. A more positive season all in all and hopefully more to come but we will need to unearth some bigger men with talent. Missing Mooney and Donnelly and Ohagan

[grounded]

Meath set up perfectly against us. They know we struggle around the middle and like to build from the back so they set to push up from the start. The middle 8 players really struggled to get any real impact on the game. I'd agree thag the dodgy goal knocked us for 6 at a time when we wwre well on top. Thats where you want a keeper to be more commanding or communicative. Really should have bknown that that shot was going to hit the post. Havern seemed to be caught by surprise when it came off and couldnt adjust himself. Forward line really misfired after a dream match against laois. Ryan J probably only player that played any sort of a decent game today

Ach in fairness you can't really blame the keeper or Havern for that. Pure fluke. Apart from that spot on with everything else.

I can blame the goalie. I played with brendan mcveigh for many years and he was great for keeping the defenders thinking the ball was coming off the post. Bobo should have been doing the same. Havern looked lost under it whereas if he knew it was coming off the post he would have looked up at the very least and then judged his postiiton accordingly

So your blaming Kane for the goal?
    You could definitely level criticism of him for some poor kick outs ( i would add that our lack of a competitive midfield forces the keeper to take more risky options under the press). You could definitely level Criticism of him after the Armagh/Fermanagh game but that is unfair to blame him for that flukey goal.

Yes sure it was very unlucky the way it came off the post right down on top of an unsuspecting havern but im saying he would have known that ball was either going to hit the post or come close to it. If he let havern know it was coming off the post he may have been more alert to it dropping. As i said brendan mcveigh was one of the best keepers for doing this even if a ball was going 2 feet either side of the post he would still make you think it was coming off the post so you would always be aware. Agree that probably being a goalie for down is one of the most hateful positions to ever play in now that we dont possess any real ability to win good clean ball around the middle so goalkeeper has to take more risks in playing the ball short. One thing we can do to alleviate teams that press up on us is get the kickout away early before they have time to set up on us. We also had a bit of luck in the long kickout over the top then flicking it on to the half forward line

If we are talking about goalkeepers particularly, they all have their strengths and weaknesses.
        At the minute the gold standard is probably someone like Rory Beggan. He can pretty much do it all but btw is far from infallible.
   Kane has a lot of experience having been to Croke with Kilcoo and now Down. He's a decent shot stopper, good for long distance free kicks/45's and reasonable at kickouts.
    He's suspect under high balls, not very mobile and only reasonable at kickouts.
We have young Smyth coming through from the bridge and he may given time and experience be a better option.
    I'm old enough to remember Brendan play for Down and a fine keeper he was. He played with at least a functioning midfield, but he had his faults just the same. He had difficulty with short kickouts and he would have struggled as a keeper in the current Down setup.
     Our real problem as you alluded to is a lack of a midfield(i include halfbacks/forwards) who can really compete for the ball. Not since Gordon in his pomp have we been able to compete at intercounty level never mind dominate.
  Lavery knows this and he's set the team up to effectively bypass midfield.   
     Unfortunarely every other county knows this and it will always be an achilles heal until we unearth some talent there. What difference a Connor Glass would make!
    Anyway, its Lavery's first year. I'm happy with the progress he has made so far. At the very least, morale in the county has been boosted.