Down Club Hurling & Football

[befair]

Just watching Castlewellan/Bryansford on Down GAA TV. Jersey clash is ridiculous, both teams with black shorts, dark green jerseys, Bryansford with a gold strip. No consideration for elderly or visually impaired. Must be difficult for players as well

[thewobbler]

Just watching Castlewellan/Bryansford on Down GAA TV. Jersey clash is ridiculous, both teams with black shorts, dark green jerseys, Bryansford with a gold strip. No consideration for elderly or visually impaired. Must be difficult for players as well

It drives me mad.

Why any club / mentor believes there's an advantage in wearing "first choice colours" over improving visibility for their playmakers, I'll never know.

[befair]

Just watching Castlewellan/Bryansford on Down GAA TV. Jersey clash is ridiculous, both teams with black shorts, dark green jerseys, Bryansford with a gold strip. No consideration for elderly or visually impaired. Must be difficult for players as well

It drives me mad.

Why any club / mentor believes there's an advantage in wearing "first choice colours" over improving visibility for their playmakers, I'll never know.

In the final seconds, Bryansford were on the attack searching for an equalising score. It was helter-skelter, and Danny Savage, one of their best players for years, passed the ball straight into the arms of a Castlewellan defender, who booted it downfield and the ref blew the final whistle. I wouldn't be surprised if the similar colours had something to do with the misplaced pass

[blackwater1992]

Switching to Down LGFA briefly - there was a lot of discussion in county board this year whether to include B Teams in the championship and ultimately they were approved without it going to a vote. Burren B are in the junior final, and Carryduff B just won the intermediate title. Surely this is very unfair to the clubs with only one panel? Players from the senior team involved in the B Teams squads which makes a mockery of it all.

[Mournenan82]

Switching to Down LGFA briefly - there was a lot of discussion in county board this year whether to include B Teams in the championship and ultimately they were approved without it going to a vote. Burren B are in the junior final, and Carryduff B just won the intermediate title. Surely this is very unfair to the clubs with only one panel? Players from the senior team involved in the B Teams squads which makes a mockery of it all.

Without knowing a great deal about, surely if you've been involved in the senior championship it rules you out of playing the intermediate? Going forward should probably need to submit squads before it starts. Don't disagree with b teams competing but it needs to be an actual b team

[thewobbler]

Switching to Down LGFA briefly - there was a lot of discussion in county board this year whether to include B Teams in the championship and ultimately they were approved without it going to a vote. Burren B are in the junior final, and Carryduff B just won the intermediate title. Surely this is very unfair to the clubs with only one panel? Players from the senior team involved in the B Teams squads which makes a mockery of it all.

Surely they've a named 10/13 rule in place?

Anyhow this is an awkward one. A club like Carryduff that has a trillion or so players, can't really progress its players  if it's just A football and "junior B".


But there has to be very strict eligibility or it becomes a farce. In men's football this eligibility criteria (for ACPRFC)has been decimated in recent years and in doing this, the only thing it ensures is that the best senior teams also have the best second teams.

And oddly it seems to to be the smaller clubs that voted for it. "We can't field reserves if there's 13 excluded" and so on.

[blackwater1992]

From what I understand there have been senior squad players who wouldn't necessarily get on the pitch for a senior match but play in intermediate/junior - they'd still be a level above. Not sure how best to fix it, these girls need to get game time and the only real solution is a reserve championship but in the meantime the B teams will win championships

[DuffGael]

Top 13 named and then any girl who plays senior cannot play in the championship below. So all the girls who played for carryduff today in the intermediate have not played in any of the senior championship matches this year.

[Splash]

Carryduff picked up an important point vrs Ballycran at the weekend and from all accounts were unlucky not to get the win.

They now face Bredagh and Liatroim in their final games, and I think if they beat Bredagh they would get a semi-final spot.

Ballycran have always known they were going to struggle but should secure that other semi-final spot and they'll be dangerous enough come the time.

I find it hard to believe but our lads were telling me that Liatroim won the toss on Saturday and elected to play against a gale of a wind.

The game was over as a contest after 20 minutes as we'd put something like 5 goals and 12 points on them, Prenter was having a field day. They then got a man sent off, he reacted to a bit of manhandling by our fullback with a clip of the hurl to the back of his head, not a full swing by any stretch, referee saw it for himself and a straight red was shown.

They did rattle off a few points in the second half, but the game was well out of reach and petered out long before the final whistle.
I'm not sure we learned anything from this game TBH.

Liatroim are almost certain in the intermediate now I'd have thought with Carryduff up next and the final game v Ballycran.

Ballycran may well need to beat Liatroim in their final game as it's hard to see them get anything from their next game against Portaferry.

We need another point to secure a home semi-final although if some results go our way, i.e. Carryduff beating Bredagh our current 6 points would be enough.

Ports are resting key players all the way and still winning comfortably. They're still the team to beat.

JC - how big of a problem for Ballycran would them ending up in the intermediate? That seemed impossible a few years ago.

They've dropped down to the lower division at underage level, we were up there a couple of weeks ago. Are they struggling for young lads much more than yourselves or Portaferry? You've a good minor team I heard but Bredagh are strong too. Castlewellan seem to be on top at 16s and Liatroim are very strong at 14/15.

Ballycran dipping into intermediate would be a blow to them alright, we weren't far off it a few years back either if the truth was told, so it can happen easily.
They have been hit hard with emigration to Australia mostly in recent years and young, talented lads not committing to the hurling and playing soccer and rugby. They seem to have enticed a few back the last month.

Ballycran have a few very decent hurlers in their minors and U16's but would be struggling for numbers to give them competitive teams to compete with the likes of Bredagh, Castlewellan who won't be dipping into the younger age groups so will struggle, much like ourselves at U16 and U14 this year.

It's been near on 5, maybe 6 years since an underage championship has been won by an Ards team and I can see all three not going to an Ards club again this year.

Am I concerned about that? From a Ballygalget perspective, no to an extent as our minors got to three finals in recent years, lost them all to Bredagh yet two of those players have made it onto the County seniors and the vast majority are still hurling away, training like mad with the seniors, pushing onto the panel and a further one made his senior championship debut vrs Liatroim and did very well with another lad still in minors coming on near the end.

They've pushed the "social" hurlers off the senior panel, the lads who rock up once in a while to training and still got handed senior jerseys are no longer needed to make up a panel and whilst it will take another few years for some of them to mature they've the right attitude and that sets the bar for the other juveniles also coming up through the ranks even if they are getting hammered at U16 and U14 that they see the lads a few years older getting starts for the seniors in the Antrim leagues and then championships.

Ballycran are where we were 5 or 6 years ago, the spine of the team is well past it's prime and no young lads to fill the gaps and a few lads who don't have the shape to suggest they're committed enough to be a proper senior hurler.

This is a true story that the last time we won a Down senior championship we were due to play Slaughtneil in the Ulster final in Armagh, the senior manager called me the Thursday night before to ask if I could call the parents of some of the older U16's to see if they'd strip out to do the warm up and sit on the bench to look as if we'd a panel as we were down to 19 fit players and one was the sub keeper.
Hence why we adopted an internal policy to ensure we retained juvenile players for as long as possible and whilst it may have cost us one of those minor finals as we'd better U16's on the bench than some of the 17/18yo's that started it will work out in the long run.

I've been around too long to get excited about the next boy wonder hurler at U14 or whatever.

Carryduff seemed to be very unlucky not to get the win against Ballycran on the last day out. The competitiveness of Carryduff in only their second season of senior championship hurling has been a welcome addition.

Think I'm right in saying Ballycran could still find themselves in the intermediate if they are beaten by Liatroim?

I'm sure Ballycran won't want to be playing intermediate hurling, but the fact is other clubs seem to have better underage coming through and that's just something our senior clubs are going to have to be ready for. I remember being up in Ballycran about 5 years ago and one of their men telling me they didn't seem to have the numbers coming through as much.

I still personally think they'll avoid the drop to intermediate- at least for the time being.

There was a time where I thought Ballygalget could have found themselves playing Intermediate hurling- and Ballycran seem to be in a similar position now.

I'm glad to hear JC that Ballygalget had the very sensible approach to try and ensure they retained as many hurlers as possible- even if it has meant potentially losing out on minor titles. It seems to be working and will only do good in the long run for the club.

[Splash]

Numbers playing overall seems to be an issue for clubs. 3 of the intermediate teams had 3 or 4 subs this weekend and a lot of lads around or over 40.

At least you are holding on to your lads even if there's only a few of them. Have Bredagh held on to those minor lads over the last few years?

Yes and no. Bredagh are a club who always struggle with holding onto players right through to senior. This is no secret to anybody I'm sure- other interests, other commitments, fellas want to leave Belfast, etc.

But there are still plenty of good hurlers in Bredagh who have come through the ranks and have been part of successful underage teams.

I would imagine Bredagh is such a big club that it's no big stretch to say that if they hold on to only half their players, there are years were that could still be more than if the likes of Ballela, Ballyvarley, or Kilclief held onto all of theirs.

[johnnycool]

Bredagh can count themselves unlucky they didn't get something out of the game yesterday, poor shooting both from dead balls and play was their downfall.
The conditions were really poor all the same, we were more accurate in the first half with the wind than Bredagh were in the second when they had it. Their 2 first half goals kept it interesting.

We weren't great again and that will be a concern for the management, but a home semi-final is secured with a dead rubber v Portaferry to come. Considering our Antrim league form we'd have taken that. Only the one serious injury to date is better than we normally have. A cruciate at that..


Liatroim are right back in the mix with a good win over Carryduff, who for some reason fail to push on as the championship progresses.

The final 2 semifinal berths are all to play for, with Carryduff the least likely to secure one, but it's not beyond all comprehension. Beat Bredagh and hope that Ballycran beat Liatroim and then they and Ballycran secure the two final spots.

Much will depend on who wins the Ballycran v Liatroim game in 2 weeks time. Either team wins it and they're in the semi-final, Ballycran can afford to lose as long as Bredagh don't beat Carryduff.

Bredagh beat Carryduff and they secure a semifinal spot.

Liatroim must beat Ballycran, that's all they need to do.

It's all to play for on the last day, but it has to be said Portaferry are still out and out clear favourites and have been able to canter through without exerting themselves, They've got their defensive positions nailed down and will be looking beyond Down I'd have thought.

[Square Ball]

up in Liatroim for the Loughinisland game of Friday night, we were beat, but.... have to say their facilities are class and that main pitch is in excellent nick and I would say one of the best in Down 

[Targetman]

I'd say the best in the County.

[johnnycool]

up in Liatroim for the Loughinisland game of Friday night, we were beat, but.... have to say their facilities are class and that main pitch is in excellent nick and I would say one of the best in Down 

Don't be blowing Walts head up any further...

But, yes indeed they've come a long way with their facilities and they've a great top pitch with a great surface all year round.

[Walt Jabsco]

The head has gone a long time ago JC helped on its way by yourself during your playing days although there was many more a lot worse than you.

The bottom pitches aren't too shabby either

SB see any difference on Saturday from Friday evening?