FERMANAGH V DOWN Preliminary Round USFC

[down6061689194]

And in the 2003 final more than 4 bridge men started.

[Trevor Hill]

As Mid Down Gael says, Boyle has yet to prove himself, he may just do that tomorrow who knows. He has only played in 5 or 6 games this year, some of those games he was used as a substitute, so we haven't really seen the best, or worst of him yet. What worries me is the standard of opposition that we faced in Division 3, it was dire to say the least and he didn't exactly cover himself in glory, but championship football can bring out the best in players and I hope, for Downs sake as well as John Boyles sake that we are calling him the next Greg Blaney tomorrow evening. Who knows.
I would be worried about the half forward line and probably the half and full back line as well. I would like to see John Fegan in the half forward line. He covers a lot of ground and we will need someone like that tomorrow against a half back line that will come forward at speed whenever they get the chance. Daniel Hughes will also play out around the half forward line, but I am not as convinced of his defensive abilities and while we are on the subject of Daniel, which Daniel will be in Enniskillen tomorrow. The Daniel who can take scores off either foot from distance and go past defenders like they weren't there or the Daniel that seems to disappear somewhere between midfield and the opposition goal?
That will leave a 2 man full forward line of McComiskey and Murtagh, good quality, early diagonal balls will be the order of the day and hopefully Ronan won`t think that he owns the ball and actually pass the odd time instead of running into trouble after being in acres of space. The big question on everyone mind is Coulter, will he wont he. Only one man on this forum can answer that for definite and he has already said Benny wont start, Ross Carr backed that up yesterday when naming, the team, but we live in hope of seeing him at some stage, he is our match winner.
As was said on the first page of this thread, its the team that cant defend against the team that cant score, I think we`ll out score them, just.

[Leo]

Really lads, even mentioning John Boyle in the same breath as Greg Blaney is taking the pi**. He reminds me of the old KitKat ad that now seems to sum up Down team selection ... "you can't mark, you can't tackle, you look like a journeyman club player .... you'll definitely get selected for Down" ....

Nothing personal but be serious - Boyle? Murtagh? Sexton? - we will win NOTHING with these type of players.

[Trevor Hill]

Leo no matter who gets selected at No11 for Down they will be compared to Blaney in one way or another, in my opinion no one will ever replace Greg Blaney unless Martin Clarke gets bored in Oz, but we have to move on and make the best of what we have got. The one thing that really pisses me off about a lot of the so called Down support is their tendency to turn on their own players, in this case before a ball is kicked. Ross Carr has selected 15 players to go out and represent us and it is our duty as Down men to go to Enniskillen tomorrow and give those boys our support.

[mylestheslasher]

Have Down or Fermanagh been playing any challenge games over the past few weeks. How have they got on?

[D4S]

Leo no matter who gets selected at No11 for Down they will be compared to Blaney in one way or another, in my opinion no one will ever replace Greg Blaney unless Martin Clarke gets bored in Oz, but we have to move on and make the best of what we have got. The one thing that really pisses me off about a lot of the so called Down support is their tendency to turn on their own players, in this case before a ball is kicked. Ross Carr has selected 15 players to go out and represent us and it is our duty as Down men to go to Enniskillen tomorrow and give those boys our support.

Well said Trevor Hill!

Lookin forward to the game and i've every faith in the lads selected.  Will be surprised though if Ambrose starts as he's still not 100%.
Get some score predictions on!

Down 1-13
Fermanagh 1-9

[FermGael]

Fermanagh 1-12
Down 0-10

[Trevor Hill]

Fermanagh 1-12
Down 0-10

Enough about the minors, how do you think the senior game will go? 

[FermGael]

Fermanagh 1-12
Down 0-10

Enough about the minors, how do you think the senior game will go? 

Hilarious

[behind the wire]

would anyone give me odds that the down team thats named is not the one that starts tomorrow?

i was surprised peter turley wasnt included in the team. same with paul murphy. would have liked to see murphy and duffin getting a chance tomorrow as both are comfortable on the ball.

i would expect peter fitzpatrick to start, maybe ambrose will be tried at full forward seeing as i wouldn't expect him to be fully fit.

anyway, best of luck to the lads tomorrow. looks like we'll get a serious soaking anyway for our trouble. surely things cannot be as bad as longford.

[down6061689194]

Nothing personal but be serious - Boyle? Murtagh? Sexton? - we will win NOTHING with these type of players.

Harsh.

Murtagh and sexton are some of the few players that are capable of taking it to teams.

Sexton can produce absolute brilliance which is more than can be said for a lot of players in the panel.

[FermPundit]

would anyone give me odds that the down team thats named is not the one that starts tomorrow?

i was surprised peter turley wasnt included in the team. same with paul murphy. would have liked to see murphy and duffin getting a chance tomorrow as both are comfortable on the ball.

i would expect peter fitzpatrick to start, maybe ambrose will be tried at full forward seeing as i wouldn't expect him to be fully fit.

anyway, best of luck to the lads tomorrow. looks like we'll get a serious soaking anyway for our trouble. surely things cannot be as bad as longford.

There has been some seriously heavy showers in Enniskillen today. I hope they're not as bad tomorrow. The wet conditions will suit neither side.

[Emmett]

Well the big day is almost here. Expectations within Fermanagh are very low, considering our Ulster campaign last year and a lot of the "sunshine fans" have came and gone. Fermanagh's team lineout is quite surprising but I would expect a change or 2 to the 15. Damian Kelly has a late fitness test so if he doesn't make it Ryan McCluskey will probably come in. Reading through some of the comments from the Down posters on here it is apparent that there is a fair degree of confidence, if not arrogance, amonsgt the Down support. Anyway heres hoping for a dry day and an entertaining day ending in Fermanagh victories for both Minor and Seniors 

[Mid Down Gael]

Nothing personal but be serious - Boyle? Murtagh? Sexton? - we will win NOTHING with these type of players.

Harsh.

Murtagh and sexton are some of the few players that are capable of taking it to teams.

Sexton can produce absolute brilliance which is more than can be said for a lot of players in the panel.

Ive yet to see it from Sexton at county level. 

[supersub]

think the down team named is just a cover for press purposes, carr keeping his cards close to his chest, reckon there will be at least 5 changes to that team named!