FERMANAGH V DOWN Preliminary Round USFC

[aroundincircles]

General view today was Carr out. For a number of reasons

-faliure to take Aidan off.
-Leaving Mccomiskey on and taking Murtagh off!
-Lack of urgency in making changes
-unable to see that High ball wasn't working.

Personally I want Pete Mcgrath as I doubt the U21s would have won Ulster never mind coming a kick from All-Ireland without him. The 2nd half against Armagh was superb and some nice changes and tactics involved.

Ross is too long new a this stage.

The only decent thing about today was Peter Turleys performance, at last a strong defender. He may have only showed gilimirs.

And I'd bet money we get the losers of Tyrone Armagh or Dublin Meath, always the way.

FFS what match you watching turley fouled all day his man even got man of the match.

[fitzroyalty]

as a neutral i have to say the down management looked lost today. before the match i had a sneaky feeling they would win, and they probably would have if the right calls were made. don't think it was wise sacrificing a fully fit player to have benny coulter starting, can't for the world of me understand this mindset in down that they can't play/win without him  delivery into the forwards was useless and the fouling by the backs was pathetic. it seems to me down underestimated fermanagh in this respect, a man on his championship debut got motm and fair play, though it wouldn't have been the case if it was Tyrone/Derry/Monaghan or even Armagh that they were up against. ross carr talks a good game but the bluffings over, he has been found out - time to push on.

[Emmett]

Just home after a few celebratory post game pints. It is absolutely amazing what a good result for your county in the championship can do for spirits in the community. As for the match I thought it was a fairly decent standard considering the conditions and there were a few encouraging performances froma Fermanagh perspective. Ciaran McElroy got through an immense amount of work and won countless breaking balls, Blobby made a very good start as our answer to our FF and free taker problems, Tommy McElroy in my eyes is amongst the very best wing halfs in the game. Things are looking more positive than a few weeks back and we have Barry Owens and Ciaran O'Reilly to come into the mix. Can't wait til the next battle on 6th June. Another tough game awaits...............

[tirnaog]

I know howCarr and Kane must feel tonight but as a manager of a football team,and of a county football team you have to face up to standing watching for 25 mins the same mistake being made over and over again and not knowing that something has to be changed this is basic manegerial skills that are not being demonstrated so come on guys its hard to admit your wrong be even more demoralising to let this happen time and time again its time to face facts

[Leo]

Somewhere else on this thread before the game i had to challenge some idiot who suggested that John Boyle was the new Greg Blaney. I pointed out that he can't mark, cvan't tackle and when he does get the ball just wants to de wee soccer turns back twards his own goal.
Just the sort of player you want to bring on when you are playing sh**te against Fermanagh.
First action, a juvenile foul on the 21 in front of goal for an easy Fermanagh point.

Second action was more of  a gesture to a Fermnagh player like an usher at a wedding than it was a tackle.

If our management think we can go anywhere with players of intermediate club standard while Walsh and Clark are at home and Cole is left warming his arse in the stand, then we deserve days like this.

And if they think you can take on a well organised tight outfit like Fermanagh with team selection gimmicks, untried players in infamiliar positions and brainless tactics, then I'm sorry but we should aspire to better in Down.

The season is over. For God's sake put the county out of its misery by bringing in new management now and building now for next season. To say there is no point in changing at this stage is to abandon any idea of rescuing anything from these dismal ashes.

It is beyond a joke at this stage.

[Mourne Rover]

I suspect most of those criticising Turley were watching on tv rather than attending the game. Watching from the stand you could see that he brought a physical presence to our defence which had been missing in the league, was solid under high balls and showed a fair amount of pace. Carson scored a single point from play against him, and got a couple of generous frees as well, but our problems today were much further out the field.

It was a strange sort of match in many ways, as the atmosphere was flat most of the time and between the rain and live tv coverage the ground was probably only around half full.

Fermanagh, if they can get Owens and McCluskey fit, and McCabe comes back as well,  must have a decent chance of getting back to the Ulster final, but it is still hard to see them winning it.

Every other county will want Down in the qualifiers, although we should have a fully fit Dan, Ambrose and Benny by then. However, the combination of an under pressure management and a general lack of confidence all round is likely to mean a short summer for us.

[Gold]

Yea TAM seemed like just a push to me too???  I dunno would like a bit of a closer look again

was right in front of me i was in the 2nd row--was deffo a sending off--Carr went out of his way to follow McGrath and pushed him in the back of the head with 2 raised hands--not the worst strike ever(you couldnt even call it a strike) but he had no need to do it, followed McGrath raised both hands and pushed him to back of head--the ref had no other option than to send him off--Carr was purely frustrated and lost the head

[guevara]

Dark day for all Down men!!
Having been to game & watching it on tv there now Im convinced we had the game in the bag.
After half-time we had chance to pull away but poor decision making all day led to Fermanagh dominating the last quarter of the game.
Some of the players couldnt pass ball 10 yards today, conditions werent an excuse as Fermanagh had to deal with same!
The tactic of playing Benny backfired & Fitzpatrick was success in the 1st half but Fermanagh sorted it out in 2nd half!

McVeigh - Nothing to do all day, kickouts were good.
Howard - Solid enough at corner back
Turley - excellent 1st half found Carson harder to mark when he roamed about.
Rafferty - same as Howard.
Duffin - Struggled all day. Poor passing. Didnt look fit & was lucky to remain on pitch.
Garvey - Thought he kept his man generally quiet, but did little to get forward.
Rooney - Doesnt look fit & seemed slow. Murphy shouldve been used somewhere in HB line.
Gordon - Some great catches, good passer of ball & carries a lot of burden on young shoulders. Kicked couple of poor wides.
Kearney - Kicked great point but couldnt get in the game at all.
Carr - Thought he was poor. Poor passing, one out over end line he couldve fisted to Dan. Strruggled to make an impact in the game. Unfairly sent off.
Coulter - Clearly unfit. Unfair to play the lad full game even though he may have wanted to. Kicked a wonder point.
Murtagh - Goes through a serious amount of work but cant seem to get into games.
Hughes - I totally disagree that he was good today. Kicked first 2 passes out of play & to opposition. wasted chances & took wrong options a lot. Work ethic isnt in question but doesnt deliver enough.
Fitzpatrick - Excellent first 35 & used his frame well but ball in was very poor. Wereas Carson got ball in front early Fitzpatrick had to deal with Garryowen after Garryowen. Forced to try & feed off scraps.
McComiskey - Failed to deliver again. fumbled the ball too much. Couldnt get ball up off the floor & never took on his man all day.

[Mourne Rover]

Guervera, you are correct to say that our forward line as a unit did not work today, but Hughes, while he made a couple of mistakes, always made himself available, ran at the opposition and took a couple of great scores. McComiskey also made some handling errors, but he was given a poor supply on a wet day, and still managed to show his ability in flashes.

When we went two points up early in the second half, we had three relatively straightfoward chances for further scores and missed them all. I think Carr, Murtagh and Hughes were at fault, while Fitzpatrick, after starting well, had two dreadful attempts at passes.

If we had taken even one of those opportunities, we would probably have gone on to win, but the evidence is that we would have been papering over the cracks.

Our selection, tactics  and substitutions were all flawed, and most of our players went missing when they were needed in the final quarter. It looks like it's back to the drawing board.

[Fermanaghandsam]

Great day, Fermanagh quite simply out fought and out played Down. They were easily the best team. Defensively Fermanagh were as solid as a rock, and finally our forwards started to show some sort of form. Down were awful but, they had no game plan and could not handle fermanaghs defensive system. Surely they had trained knowing Fermanagh were going to play this way. Anyhow my ratings for what they are worth

Breen 7.5: Done well, but in 2nd halfs some kick outs were poor
Brady 8: Did really well, dealed with everythinghe needed too
Lyons 8.5: After an average 1st half, he was excellent in 2nd, great high catching and running from defense
Bogue 7: 1st game for a long time, so done reasonably well.
Clucker 7: done ok, but not by his high standards
Shane 8: His best game in a Ferm jersey for a long time, excellent strength
Tommy McElroy 8: Great Running from defense, and excellent point
Marty 7: Struggled a bit but came good at the end
James Sherry 8.5: Excellent, some great points and great workrate
Little 6: his worst game for a long time, didnt look sharpe, but he tried hard and the next day he will be better
C McElroy 9: His best ever game for the county, worked so hard and excellent point
Ryan K 7.5: Tried hard, won alot of ball, but give too much of it away
Eamon 7.5: Won a ton of ball as usual, excellent workrate as usual
Blobby 9: Great 1st start, showed well for the ball, took on his man and kicked his frees, dream debut
D Keenan 7: Tried hard, got a point, and will improve, could become a star

Subs:
Pete Sherry 8.5: excellent, won every ball that came near him

[rrhf]

A previous poster suggested to bring in the new manager now,  would it be fair to ask Pete Mc Grath be able to deliver in just 7 weeks?

[full back]

A previous poster suggested to bring in the new manager now,  would it be fair to ask Pete Mc Grath be able to deliver in just 7 weeks?

If he came in he would have nothing to lose

A poor game IMHO, with no atmosphere
Seemed more like a league game than a championship with the lack of intensity in it

[Mickey Linden]

Terrible day for Down lads! hard to see where they can go from here. SOme of their play was simply awful. I thought the game was won from the line. ORourke proved to be much cuter than Carr and at least had a game plan. Im honestly not sure what Downs tactics were and what they were trying to do in the second half.

However, in Carrs defence I just dont think he has the players to work with to be honest.

[downredblack]

Somewhere else on this thread before the game i had to challenge some idiot who suggested that John Boyle was the new Greg Blaney. I pointed out that he can't mark, cvan't tackle and when he does get the ball just wants to de wee soccer turns back twards his own goal.
Just the sort of player you want to bring on when you are playing sh**te against Fermanagh.
First action, a juvenile foul on the 21 in front of goal for an easy Fermanagh point.

Second action was more of  a gesture to a Fermnagh player like an usher at a wedding than it was a tackle.

If our management think we can go anywhere with players of intermediate club standard while Walsh and Clark are at home and Cole is left warming his arse in the stand, then we deserve days like this.

And if they think you can take on a well organised tight outfit like Fermanagh with team selection gimmicks, untried players in infamiliar positions and brainless tactics, then I'm sorry but we should aspire to better in Down.

The season is over. For God's sake put the county out of its misery by bringing in new management now and building now for next season. To say there is no point in changing at this stage is to abandon any idea of rescuing anything from these dismal ashes.

It is beyond a joke at this stage.

FFS Leo will you give over about John Boyle ? are you waiting for someone to say you were right about him all along ? If only our problems began and ended with one player .
I'll agree that the farce of naming Mickey Mouse teams is a complete waste of time and energy and the inclusion  or not of Benny and Dan Gordan would be the only interest to opposing teams , managers or supporters when reading Down team selections . Name the team on a Thursday after training like everyone else and leave it at that , POR was crucified by everyone for not having a plan B , but here we are 3 yrs on and we are still lumping it in on top of Benny . We all know how special he is as a player for Down but  when he is clearly not fit or on other days when he is being well marked the management have to be able to say right this isn't working .
I think I heard Pete McGrath's name mentioned about 5 times in the time it took to get  from behind the goals to the gate yesterday , The supporters have clearly lost whatever confidence they had left in Ross and DJ and unless they put together a miracle run in the qualifiers you would have to say their time is up .

Congratulations to Fermanagh , fully deserved their win yesterday . Hope they can go on and win  Ulster now .

[Logan]

I was a bit surprised at the poor fitness of the Down lads considering the training they did and the fact they had Paddy Tally on board.