Has resigned as Down manager. No surprise really brought them as far as he could. Had a fantastic run to an All Ireland final in 2010 which they could have won

butters1990 (Kildare) - Posts: 262 - 26/07/2014 16:53:55    1626173

Coming within a couple of points of winning an All-Ireland with a team that was in Division 3 and knocked out by Wicklow the year before was some going. We were very competitive for a few years in Division One and if Clarke and Mooney had stuck around we might've pushed on. Instead we've tried to adapt to modern football by adopting an ultra-defensive template and the results have not been pretty. Strangely even though we've been terrible these past couple of years it's quite a good job for whoever gets it, there's good players in Down. Hope there'll be a breath of fresh air around the set-up next year anyway.

Gabriel. (Down) - Posts: 412 - 26/07/2014 17:08:45    1626177

Great player, but the Down team under his command were never going to win anything, not his fault!

realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8597 - 26/07/2014 17:17:33    1626180

about 2 or 3 years too late imo.

waynoI (Dublin) - Posts: 13650 - 26/07/2014 18:06:13    1626200

Remember the Ulster Final when McCartan grabbed a Down substitute by the lapels and was geeing him up before he came on . GAA at its very best.

Donegal_D (Donegal) - Posts: 61 - 26/07/2014 18:06:37    1626201

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC4FCtj3dKk Donegal_D there it is at 04:50. Outscored 1-9 to 0-3 after that ha

Gabriel. (Down) - Posts: 412 - 26/07/2014 18:36:00    1626213

Was at that game myself, was surprised by how it went

MonaghanGlory (Monaghan) - Posts: 738 - 26/07/2014 18:51:05    1626222

Must be headwrecking in Down to see Mooney and Clarke not getting any game time for Collingwood this year. They would make a massive difference. Have dropped well back from 2010 and the young players you might build a team around are not there. They had some lovely Under-21 teams around 2008 and 2009 and put it up to counties that have seen their players flood onto their senior panels. For whatever reason Down players haven't bridged that gap. Is that Wee James' fault? I'm not so sure...

doublehop (Kildare) - Posts: 4172 - 26/07/2014 18:55:57    1626225

Who is likely to take over ? or is there any favorites yet

MonaghanGlory (Monaghan) - Posts: 738 - 26/07/2014 20:10:26    1626263

My money would be on Jim McCrory the Kilcoo manager

MissDownFanatic (Down) - Posts: 411 - 27/07/2014 12:20:20    1626419

Clarke has been the biggest loss to football IMO in most recent times , was in top three players in the country before he left , McCartan didnt have the players and when in a position to win some games players lacked belief , the fact that Benny is still so influential says it all .

Damothedub (Dublin) - Posts: 5193 - 27/07/2014 12:33:56    1626423

Have a lot of respect for James, still hold in very high regard as a manager.

He tried his best, but I don't think he could have really done anymore. Down are a seriously formidable outfit on their day, but they can also be very poor on any other day. They really lack consistency, and this is a bigger problem than lack of talent. A breath of fresh air might do the trick, maybe one or two youngsters might step up and refresh the senior team.

GaryMc82 (Derry) - Posts: 3017 - 27/07/2014 13:26:56    1626443

Cheers Gabriel, yeah McCartan didn't the result that day, but I think overall loosing Clarke was a disaster for Down. He was an unreal GAA player and very few teams could absorb a blow like that.
Can't imagine what Donegal would of won if Murphy would of went to Oz.

Donegal_D (Donegal) - Posts: 61 - 27/07/2014 21:15:04    1626862