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Monaghan v Down

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Got my ticket yesterday. From Down's point of view shutting down Conor McManus is obviously key. If Mark Poland is picked up by Dessie Mone which seems likely it will be a key battle. If Poland coud win that battle it will greatly help us to have a greater attacking threat. Im am concerned about midfield getting enough ball. Henry Brown hasnt got much experience and Monaghan could get the upper hand in that area. REDANDBLACK30 (Down) - Posts: 1617 - 03/06/2016 12:52:52 1861192 Link
Replying To MadgeKing: "So the Monaghan forward line is just as predicted (take your pick of the Hughes boys). Very strong in defence as usual but they could struggle in midfield and there's not a lot of scores in the half forward line. It looks a conservative choice by Malachy O'Rourke and if anything will give Down some confidence. This may not be the walk in the park everyone expects" Yeah predictable enough line-up, though I would have always guessed Kieran Hughes would be more likely in midfield as he has been lately. It may look conservative but it's a fairly strong all round team and bench that's named, with a good blend of youth and experience. The only injury doubt is Barry McGinn, which is a shame as he was probably in with a good chance of starting after a great u21 campaign. Obviously the main thing to look at is our dependency on McManus with not alot of shooters in the forward line, and while it might be tough to win with in August, I'd be surprised if it cost us this weekend. There's a good chance it won't be the handy win alot of people are predicting. It could be tight enough into the second half but I'd expect us to pull clear in the last 20 minutes, especially with the experience and fresh legs we can bring off the bench. Down have some injury problems which could cost them when it gets to this stage. Clearly though we'd be looking towards building a wider spread of scorers which is why I'm a bit surprised one of the younger forwards isn't starting. I still think there's a good chance someone like Daniel McKenna will be a late change. patk (Monaghan) - Posts: 936 - 03/06/2016 13:26:15 1861211 Link
Having read the Sindo I am wondering what odds on Brolly (if on SG panel) namedropping Padraic Duffy ( DG of GAA) and informing us that Monaghan players unlike Armagh are available to their clubs for 75% of league games... Looking forward to another 10,000+ crowd in Clones today. Curlew66 (Roscommon) - Posts: 506 - 05/06/2016 13:28:32 1861757 Link
Brolly looks like a schoolboy who is late for school, tie and shirt all over the place......nothing personal Joe just observational analysis. Ulsterman (Antrim) - Posts: 9703 - 05/06/2016 14:46:04 1861787 Link
Some wasteful efforts by Down coupled by a few "soft frees" converted by Mc Manus are the difference at half time. seanie_boy (Tyrone) - Posts: 4235 - 05/06/2016 14:47:55 1861789 Link
The refereeing is a bit of a joke. 'Home town' decisions are the rule of the day it seems. Tough luck on Down Monaghan should win without any help from the ref neverright (Roscommon) - Posts: 1648 - 05/06/2016 14:49:17 1861790 Link
Down have the beating of Monaghan here. Need to sort their kickouts though quickly. 50/50 from their own kickouts is not good enough at this level. gotmilk (Fermanagh) - Posts: 4971 - 05/06/2016 14:50:25 1861791 Link
Replying To neverright: "The refereeing is a bit of a joke. 'Home town' decisions are the rule of the day it seems. Tough luck on Down Monaghan should win without any help from the ref" I agree. The referee has been very poor here. Shame. Sam2002 (Armagh) - Posts: 6 - 05/06/2016 15:04:33 1861793 Link
Monaghan's running game has been superb. Down are at sea and looking clueless. Although some poor decision making from the referee hasn't helped them. Toney (Meath) - Posts: 298 - 05/06/2016 15:13:12 1861797 Link
Something we've seen all too often from Down this year, go 5 or 6 points behind and we lose heart, almost as if the players have given up, off to the qualifiers we go... Downdan00 (Down) - Posts: 14 - 05/06/2016 15:22:00 1861799 Link
I thought the Ulster championship was supposed to be competitive. uibhfhaili1986 (Offaly) - Posts: 1296 - 05/06/2016 15:25:29 1861804 Link
Down completely lost any sign of a plan or organization in this second half. Continually running in to contact,not picking up runners and basically not defending at all! Allowing Monaghan to run at them with ease and pick off scores at will. seanie_boy (Tyrone) - Posts: 4235 - 05/06/2016 15:34:15 1861811 Link
Pathetic non-performance from Down. cuederocket (Dublin) - Posts: 5084 - 05/06/2016 15:35:49 1861812 Link
Very poor Down performance in that 2nd half, those 3 Monaghan points before half time were exceptionally damaging as it gave Monaghan the incentive going into the 2nd half. It was a dead rubber game after half time, Down were ineffective in the entire 2nd half and Monaghan ran away with it. GaryMc82 (Derry) - Posts: 3017 - 05/06/2016 15:42:30 1861815 Link
Poor, clueless, lost, pathetic. Just some words used by previous posters on Down. This is simply where Down football is at this moment. Today was not really a surprise. No Down supporter really believed we could win. In fact, most feared the worst, and this materialised in the second half. For anyone who has watched Down this year, we knew today could happen. I felt immensely sorry for the Down players in that second half, not angry. They were hung out to dry. That 15 has never played county football together. Today we had around 7 debutants. Add to that another 4-5 of them with only 1 year of county experience behind them. Down were always going to be on a hiding to nothing. Who can blame the players for losing heart? The majority of these players have only ever experienced hammerings at county level. A lot of them will not recover from this season. It's a sad day for Down football. But it's a day that has been coming for a long long time. Pete McGrath was spot on, Down football is at its lowest ebb for 30 odd years. Heres hoping the darkest hour is before the dawn! An Dún Abú MourneArmy (Down) - Posts: 1787 - 05/06/2016 15:59:10 1861822 Link
A dark day for Down indeed. That was very poor from them. The emoji with the monkey covering hid eyes just about sums this performance up. Bring back Pete McGrath! Reformation (Cavan) - Posts: 356 - 05/06/2016 16:26:54 1861832 Link
I dont mean to stick the boot into Down posters on here,but that second half was probably the worst half of football i ever saw a team give in an Ulster championship game.It was nothing short of a disgrace.It made me angry to watch it so i can only imagine how loyal and proud Down folk feel.Insipid,lethargic,clueless,spiritless,gutless,waste of space.We can all accept our teams being beaten.The only requisite is they leave every ounce of energy on the field.All the Down players did was leave tarnished careers on the field. cuederocket (Dublin) - Posts: 5084 - 05/06/2016 17:57:16 1861858 Link
Malachy ORourke is probably the best manager in the country at the moment. Down were awful but he really has that team firing on all cylinders. I don't think they would be too far off any of the top teams at the moment. Daith (Kildare) - Posts: 1171 - 05/06/2016 18:58:51 1861885 Link
When you consider that Down had 7 championship debutants and 5 players only playing their second year of championship, You can easily understand why there seemed to be a total lack of leadership all over the pitch, why heads and overall confidence just seemed to drop, why there seemed to be so little fight, urgency and guts to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and try get back into it, and It also explains the naivety of their defending and carrying the ball into the tackle. I dont think its a day to put the boot into players. I dont think its ever a day to kick a team down when they train so hard 3, 4 or even 5 times a week with very little reward at the end of it and it. No players go out and intentionally fall apart in one half. Sometimes you just have to credit the oppo and on this occasion Monaghan are just more streetwise, with better, fitter and more experienced players. waynoI (Dublin) - Posts: 13650 - 05/06/2016 19:07:19 1861889 Link
Was hoping this game would be a little closer , even interesting and was looking that way from the opening twenty minutes. Not sure if Down were that bad or Monaghan that good, but I'm going to lean a little bit on the down being that bad as they also had a terrible league too.Next few ulster games are interesting , still hard to pick a winner between Cavan,Tyrone,Monaghan and maybe Donegal but I think I'll go with Tyrone based on their performance against Derry BarryPD (Dublin) - Posts: 34 - 05/06/2016 19:12:13 1861893 Link