FERMANAGH V DOWN Preliminary Round USFC

[pintsofguinness]

I was expecting that game to be dire but thought it was pretty decent.  Down are an indisciplined shambles with no descernible game plan.  

Has Pete McGrath been away long enough to be considered for a possible return?

In  what way was a grame with 57 frees and terrible aimless kicking decent?

f**k sake gnevin you've your opinion on the game and so do other people, you've made your point, leave it at that.

Sorry ,I must be lost.  Can you direct me to the discussion board?

Yes, this is a discussion board, that's why youre free to say it was a shit game if that's what you think and someone else who enjoyed it can express their opinions.

[Pangurban]

Resorvoirdubs have a discussion board, but they rarely have much to discuss

[Gnevin]

I was expecting that game to be dire but thought it was pretty decent.  Down are an indisciplined shambles with no descernible game plan.  

Has Pete McGrath been away long enough to be considered for a possible return?

In  what way was a grame with 57 frees and terrible aimless kicking decent?

f**k sake gnevin you've your opinion on the game and so do other people, you've made your point, leave it at that.

Sorry ,I must be lost.  Can you direct me to the discussion board?

Yes, this is a discussion board, that's why youre free to say it was a shit game if that's what you think and someone else who enjoyed it can express their opinions.

I see but I'm not allow to ask them why they thought it was good or too counter my points as to why I though it was bad?  I see .

[INDIANA]

How can stars at u21 level look so average at senior level.


Simple answer.....Management, and the present Down Senior Management are so incompetent that a good U12 player should not be placed in their care

I find it extraordinary in Down - I mean I couldn't believe I was watching the same players. from u21 level I would have though that being from Ulster was supposed to improve your tackling not make it worse. Just pure lazy at times.
I enjoyed the first half. The 2nd half was diabolical though- like watching a bad junior B game.

[DownFanatic]

Congragulations Fermanagh on fully deserved win. Down were disorganised, at times dirty, sluggish and uncommitted. Resignation should not be an option for Carr at this stage, him and his team must be dismissed now, before we suffer further humiliation by losing to some team like Carlow in the qualifiers. He never had the ability to manage a football team at any level, and this should now be clear to all. If he is not removed before the qualifiers, then Down supporters should vote with their feet and stay home. It will be for the long term good of football in the County.  Pete Mc Grath should be asked to take over for the remainder of what will be a short campaign, and try to restore a little credibility and pride.

Its highly unlikely that Ross and Co. will leave or get ousted before the Qualifier game.

[Gnevin]

Congragulations Fermanagh on fully deserved win. Down were disorganised, at times dirty, sluggish and uncommitted. Resignation should not be an option for Carr at this stage, him and his team must be dismissed now, before we suffer further humiliation by losing to some team like Carlow in the qualifiers. He never had the ability to manage a football team at any level, and this should now be clear to all. If he is not removed before the qualifiers, then Down supporters should vote with their feet and stay home. It will be for the long term good of football in the County.  Pete Mc Grath should be asked to take over for the remainder of what will be a short campaign, and try to restore a little credibility and pride.

Its highly unlikely that Ross and Co. will leave or get ousted before the Qualifier game.

Sure what would be the point from what I seen today it would be unlikely anyone got improve Down in the 7 weeks they'd have. Best to leave them in and have someone new build for next year after the qualifiers .

[Pangurban]

Then that is a shame and disgrace

[behind the wire]

just in from enniskillen. embarrassed to be a down man. my reports on downs league games would apply nearly to the letter with for that performance. no game plan, no structure - don't even look like a team. as someone pointed out already junior B football. the biggest embarrassment was that the game was live on national tv.

referee was shocking but down deserved nothing more from the game.

downfanatic im sure even you (forever the optimist) wouldn't be confident going into the qualifiers.

[balladmaker]

It was apparent from the body language of the Down team as they stood for the Anthem that they were not there with any great belief.  Fermanagh stood arm in arm, while the Down players slouched individually.

A poor quality game, it had preliminary round written all over it.

Have to agree with Brolly....Down were managerless.  Another low for Down football.  Would like to be a fly on the wall in the Carr household this evening.

[Ping Pong Santa]

Very Rarely are first round games classics Gnevin
Most teams havent had a "competitive" match in at least 3/4 weeks.
Always littered with mistakes.
Case in point
Last Year, Down/Tyrone draw in Omagh,while not a bad match was littered with too errors and mistakes,
The Replay in Newry the week after was for me the Best match of the year in the  championship.

I didn't excpet a classic but a semi decent game of football would of been nice, the errors made too day would be called dire at Junior B level , let alone Inter County .

Yes Gnevin, speaking of errors... 

[Mourne Rover]

First things first - congratulations to Fermanagh, who had a game plan, had the confidence to stick to it when things were not gong well, and finished the stronger and fitter team. They never played as well as they did last summer, but, in the final quarter at least, they did not have to.

From a Down point of view, it was another deeply frustrating and depressing day. We were in a winning position in the third quarter, and missed some simple chances which could almost have wrapped the game up, and then lost our way completely.

A couple of dodgy frees brought Fermanagh back into it, we fell apart and it was all very hard to watch. As everyone has been queuing up to point out, the long ball into an unfit Benny was not working but we stuck to it relentlessly. Our substitutions did not work, and arguably made matters worse, so it was a bad day for the management.

Naming a spoof team, and making wholesale changes before the throw-in, is a dubious approach, which was never going to confuse a shrewd operator like Malachy O'Rourke, and we end up with players switching to roles which they were never given the opportunity to try out in the league.

It's easy to be wise after the event, but throwing Benny on in the final quarter when we were struggling would have given us a big lift. He was pretty obviously only fit for around 20 minutes, he did get a wonder point shortly after the break but he looked a forlorn figure lolng before the end.

Our defence, amazingly enough, was reasonable until the closing stages, and Turley, given his lack of match practice, competed well. Howard and Rafferty were OK, and McVeigh did not have a shot to save and placed his kick-outs effectively.

Duffin was ordinary, Garvey had his moments but faded, and Rooney saw a lot of the ball but his only idea seemed to be finding a tightly marked Benny. Murphy, if he was fit, should have been in.

Dan was good in the first half, but probably was not fully match fit and his influence declined progressively. Kearney was in and out, took one good point and may have been taken off too soon.

Carr looked well out of sorts after his move to the attack, Murtagh worked hard without achieving too much and Hughes, despite a couple of misses, was probably our best player.

McComiskey had his moments, but did not really sparkle, and Fitzpatrick was excellent in the first half but his inexperience showed when he gave away possession cheaply on two crucial occasions in the second.

We have a friendly against Dublin next week to open the Carryduff pitch, but it will be a long tough wait until the qualifiers and we can only be apprehensive about our prospects.

Finally, in response to a query from a previous poster, the last time we won a championship match in the rain was against Donegal at Clones in the preliminary round of 1996. Some things never seem to change.

[thewobbler]

On another note, someone above suggested that Down have only 4 or 5 county standard players.

This is a load of nonsense.

Nearly every Down player today has played in All-Ireland finals at minor, under-21 or Sigerson level. Meaning that at least one stage they were as good as any of their peers in the country.

[Gnevin]

Very Rarely are first round games classics Gnevin
Most teams havent had a "competitive" match in at least 3/4 weeks.
Always littered with mistakes.
Case in point
Last Year, Down/Tyrone draw in Omagh,while not a bad match was littered with too errors and mistakes,
The Replay in Newry the week after was for me the Best match of the year in the  championship.

I didn't excpet a classic but a semi decent game of football would of been nice, the errors made too day would be called dire at Junior B level , let alone Inter County .

Yes Gnevin, speaking of errors... 

Well that's my argument shot to bits. I guess I'll have concede it was the best game of football ever now .

[DownFanatic]

just in from enniskillen. embarrassed to be a down man. my reports on downs league games would apply nearly to the letter with for that performance. no game plan, no structure - don't even look like a team. as someone pointed out already junior B football. the biggest embarrassment was that the game was live on national tv.

referee was shocking but down deserved nothing more from the game.

downfanatic im sure even you (forever the optimist) wouldn't be confident going into the qualifiers.

Not overly confident. We have one last go of it and hopefully we can learn from our mistakes. A settled starting XV is crucial. We may sneak a win or two in the backdoor but that will be the height of it.

[Zulu]

On another note, someone above suggested that Down have only 4 or 5 county standard players.

This is a load of nonsense.

Nearly every Down player today has played in All-Ireland finals at minor, under-21 or Sigerson level. Meaning that at least one stage they were as good as any of their peers in the country.

In fairness wobbler that doesn't make them IC standard senior players, I felt before today that Down were an average team, they were beaten by Tipp and Wexford in the past 12 months after all, but after today I'd have to say Down are a very poor team. It can't all be Carr's fault, you would expect senior IC players to modify the tactics if they are blatantly not working, you would expect IC players to be able to fist pass the ball accurately or to know when to fist or kick pass. Although I thought some of the frees Fermanagh got in the second half were soft the Down players were woeful in the tackle and it was quite easy for Fermanagh to get a run on them. Minor and U21 AI's are of little value if that is what is being produced at senior level.