DOWN v LONGFORD

[Aristotle Flynn]

Does Ross have to start with the team named in the papers or can he make changes before he hands in the team sheet? He may be playing games with Longford. Benny has been play bits of games since the start of the league. If he's not fit by now there's something badly wrong.

The Down web site is a joke.

[downredblack]

Lads , Is it 7 or 7.30 throw in ?

[Aristotle Flynn]

7

[downredblack]

Thks. Aristotle ,

[western exile]

Result  An Dún  0-19  Longfort 0-16

[Dubh driocht]

Down struggled to put away Longford on a wet and windy night before 4,500 spectators.In the first 5 minutes we should have had 2-1 but Longford, mostly through Paul Barden's frees , kept in touch. Luke Howard had a steady first 35 but faded badly and Dee Rafferty made a welcome return to the team.Mc Ardle was OK but also faded and Dan was steady enough when he came on.Both Rony Murtagh and Liam Doyle are good going forward but allow their men too much space and were punished.Decky Rooney was good, Ambrose still isn't fit for 70 minutes and despite recording 19 scores ,there is still room for improvement up front.The first 5 minutes of the second half saw 4 unanswered points from the visitors and we were looking at Wexford all over again.However, the Esler stand factor is worth 3 points and the quality of the ff line came good in the last 10 minutes. Kevin Mc Kernan is still my best bet for CHF but with 3 league games , and hopefully a play-off,to come,Ross would need to be pretty close to the starting 15 for Omagh.Mind you, Ross/DJ made excellent calls for the subs- a good game in the conditions with 2 open and committed teams.
One point of order- on a night when 6 Ulster teams were playing there was not even a score, let alone a report ,from any game on Radio Ulster.A disgrace , and everyone  on this board who pays a TV licence should demand better from the BBC

[Pangurban]

Good win, and good game in very poor conditions, however there must be a concern about conceding 16pts. to what was a weakened Longford team

[Down Gael]

Dubh Driocht has summed the game up pretty well. Just a couple of points to add, Down didnt catch a single ball in the middle of the field until well inside the last 10 minutes. Neither Ambrose or Declan Rooney got into the game at all, in fact we probably only won 25% of the breaking ball in the whole game. Our best midfield pairing is still Dan Gordon and dare I say it Jack Lynch. What Lynch lacks as a footballer he makes up in effort.
Coulter looked off the pace of the game at times tonight and then all of a sudden he sparked into life, took some great scores and made some superb passes. Sexton links very well with him and seems to have that telepathy that Blaney had with Linden and McCartan. We still need a CHF, McKernan seemed to play in the half back line when he came on even though he was wearing the No11 shirt. In fact he looked quite comfortable in defence. Maybe we should start looking at Liam Doyle as a possible CHF, although he has a good run at CHB, I feel it is only a matter of time before someone asks some serious questions of him. For me he just isnt a defender, he is too attack minded. Good to see D Rafferty back playing again.
Some fine scores from both sides, but we need to tighten up at the back and we have to get a settled midfield.

DJs touch line ban didnt seem to have much effect, he was as close to the play as ever, in fact I thought he was going to fall over the fence at one stage. He would give an anadin a headache.
Could the scoreboard not be sorted out, it has been broken since we played Cavan in the McKenna cup.

[Shamrock Shore]

Not long back from an entertaining game but with an ultimately disappointing result. I always felt we needed a goal to win as Down forwards were like the hot knife to butter and we almost got a goal twice - in both halves from Kavanagh - but the Down goalie did well on both occassions.

Talk of the game from a Longford point of view will be the Bardens. Paul was seemingly dropped for the match and then David was substituted in the first half when he was doing fine in my books. He stormed off to the dressing rooms and him and the brother failed to appear for the second half! More on this I am sure.

(Foe the Down lads the Longford team on the program was a work of fiction. FFS the lad named at no 5, Shane Mulligan, is in Australia). Even Auld Shamrock Shore has a problem working out who was who.

The conditions were poor and this went against Longford but they did use the wind to their advantage in the second half but a few bad wides as well as the missed goal opportunities meant the trip yielded no points.

Fine pitch, good crowd, solid Longford support. Div 3 life now depends on home wins over Louth and Sligo.

Mention in dispatches to Liam Keenan, Paul Kelly, Francis Magee and Archie O'Connor.

Oh and Down lads, fix the shaggin scoreboard - how difficult can it be?