FERMANAGH V DOWN Preliminary Round USFC

[dodgy umpire]

I know a lot has been said about the quality of players available to Down, that is fine if the players arent there but that Down team on Sunday were not physically conditioned to last 70 mins of championship football. Why are they not fit at the end of May, what have they been doing since Christmas?  Question posed by MINDER

Sorry lads just wanted to put this post on this thread too, to see what discussion we might get.  My response to the question in bold is below.


Maybe the boys are tired/demotivated because they didn't get a break like other counties, as Ross + DJ called training a week after last years all-ireland final and they trained through november + december !  Not that this is an excuse for the display on Sunday but all small things can build up an lead to an unmotivated panel of players?! How the hell are they supposed to peak in the summer? We are not as good as but why can't we learn from the likes of Tyrone, Kerry, Dublin.  I'd be fairly sure none of these counties were training collectively in October, November, December!  County training takes up so much time these days, rush home from work + out the door, or rush straight to training from work.  Then after the training there's maybe a meal or a meeting.  Fellas need a bit of down time too with friends + family?  I'm sure some hated going out training in November + December, but did it because they knew if they didn't they wouldn't be playing championship football for Down this summer!  Not the only or even the main reason for Sunday's defeat but as I said before small things can build up and make a panel of players unmotivated + resentful!

One other thing that I haven't seen mentioned yet, I was behind the goals on Sunday and before throw in, the Down players spent 10 minutes shooting practice, kicking the ball into the goals.  We did this at underage level, I didnt notice the players at all trying to gee each other up, doing intense drills or looking like they were up for it.  The only time in the game Down looked like playing with any urgency was in the 1st 10 minutes of the 2nd half. I believe it comes down to the management to have a team psyched up+motivated before + during the match.  Why didn't these fellas play like a motivated team?

i must have been pretty close to you as i was in the same position myself and was a little unnerved by the very casual attitude taken by the players prior to throw in. all well and good being relaxed and settling in hours before the match but the lack of focus/intensity 10 mins prior to throw in was a little odd.

in reference to the question: these are amateur players, training all year round is unnecessary, especially when you consider the other commitments of the u21s etc ( mc comiskey while showing glimpses of his full ability seemed done)

[Boozehell]

As a Down fan that was at the match I was surprised by Ross's reaction to his son getting sent off.  Any other manager would have taken him off sooner but as he is the manager's son he will never be taken off no matter how bad he plays.  Also Down were lucky not to have had a few more sent off namely Paul Mc Comiskey for the boot challenge which earned him a yellow card but as it was the 1st minute that probably saved him and secondly Stephen Kearney for the head high tackle which again earned him a yellow card.

[Mourne Rover]

McComiskey was deservedly booked for a high tackle, which was a typical forward's challenge and had nothing to do with a boot. There were plenty of other similar tackles from both sides, and the Fermanagh corner back had Benny's jersey almost hauled off his back throughout, but the only red card offence on display was unfortunately but definitely from Aidan Carr.

[RadioGAAGAA]

There was a moment in the 1st half summed it up for me - fermanagh had the ball around the midfield, and our two corner backs were on each other's men, both well out on the wings.

No problem as the two men were marked, irrespective of who was marking them...

But no, our lads decide to cross over the entire width of the field to get onto their own men... leaving the two Fermanagh fellas completely free with the ball (in Fermanagh's possession) not 30 yards away!

I'm sure the Fermanagh players couldn't believe it!


A f**king under-12 wouldn't have made such an inept decision! Not 1, but 2 of our county seniors do!


I don't know what is being told to the players - but by jesus it isn't working!

New management for the qualifiers please - and failing that definitely for next year.