Ladies trials on this weekend i hear..... Any truth?? Management team in place - Mark Copeland and garbhan Mc Ferran stay from last year and are adding others to the backroom staff... What will the season ahead hold for our ladies?

singer (Down) - Posts: 330 - 13/09/2011 10:15:34    1033240

No truth in this what so ever. Complete new management team being put in place...

vocational (Down) - Posts: 26 - 13/09/2011 13:08:42    1033412

There needs to be new management. I think Francie and Paul should be given a chance. Them too lads are as commited to Down ladies football, excellent coaches and will not settle with girls walking in and out of the team. Did the ladies team not take a break in the couple of weeks running up to championship?? Hardly good preparation.

weepats5 (Down) - Posts: 295 - 13/09/2011 15:52:34    1033576

New managment is not the answer, new player attitude is the answer, if a new managment was in place and they didnt succed it would be there fault again wouldnt it? time for the pre-madonna's to wake up and have a will to improve, being part of a top club in Down does not make you a great ladies footballer, the room for improvemnt to match the likes of Monaghan and Cork is as large as it ever was. Mark has been given another year and rightly so! ive heard he is planning his coaches and backroom team and looking to improve the whole set up this year; would like to see some experienced coaches on board to try and improve the squads development but this will only happen if the best players in the county are willing to learn more than they think they know!

TheKingdomgael (Down) - Posts: 167 - 13/09/2011 17:48:17    1033691

So what is the story - one post says the management is back in place and another says its complete new management..... Little harsh on the girls in that last post saying they need to change their attitude.. We have fantastic girls in the county who give there all for the caus - they need to be encouraged and brought to the next level..

singer (Down) - Posts: 330 - 13/09/2011 21:13:06    1033898

True, I am well aware that we have great girls who want to learn in the county. I am only speaking of a select few who need to work harder and be willing to listen to the managment in place

TheKingdomgael (Down) - Posts: 167 - 14/09/2011 09:58:31    1033982

Who are these girls you speak of?? Surely if a manager cant get the best out of a player - they need to address their people/man management skills...

singer (Down) - Posts: 330 - 15/09/2011 13:20:02    1035148

So every manager in place in the last 5 years is of no use then? this board is very quick to critise a manager; when the problem may not be the mnager; but the players who 'commit' and as commited to the cause as they say. I know that some players complain that they arent marathon runners when doing fitness training; These girls should realise that it takes an extremely high level of fitness to compete at intercounty level; and to match this level of fitness with the much needed ball work improvemnts, football needs to be no.1. The county is swarming with potential; but it will take extreme efforts from a fully focused managerial team and a willing group of players

TheKingdomgael (Down) - Posts: 167 - 15/09/2011 15:57:27    1035325

Well in the last 5 years the management packages put in place have left alot to be desired lets just say... the lads there at present have the know how.. players have to make major changes to their lives for county and some girls are just not willing to do that. but dont question committment of them all please. there are a number of girls who would "commit" if the right set up was there... That hasnt been the case in the last 5 years..

singer (Down) - Posts: 330 - 16/09/2011 16:04:12    1036313

I'm sure its not easy finding managers for the job, especially county as it involves a lot more travelling etc compared to club management. I'm sure people were approached but you can take a horse to water..............!! I agree it is disillusioning for girls to play county football if the setup is not professionally organised and taken by good enthusiastic coaches. In saying that the girls too have a responsibility that when they give the committment at the start of the year that they stick by that and give it a real go. I also think people are far to quick to slag off county boards and managers, everybody does there best and whilst people might not think it is good enough there is no queue forming to take over these jobs. We won a Div 2 title a few years ago and failed to build on it although I understand alot of that team are no longer about. But it proves that we have talent in this county and if we get it right we can make great strides, so heres hoping for a new dawn in 2012!!

gaa2 (Down) - Posts: 116 - 16/09/2011 16:17:32    1036335

Singer, why don't you grow a set and do it yourself.

You have systemically rubbished every manager at every level of ladies football in Down on this forum over the last number of years. We are all sick of listening to you spout your poison and unless you are prepared to do the job yourself then do us all a favour and get lost (nice way of putting it)!

Jofus (Down) - Posts: 248 - 16/09/2011 16:17:58    1036336

Singer, alot to be desired? Ulster Ladies football is Dominated by Monaghon and is very like trying to take Munster away from Cork, their is currently only one other team that can put up any sort of struggle to de-throne them. You say the managment of the last 5 years has left alot to be desired; lets put that into perspective. Sean Ohare has since been involved in the Armagh Senior mens set up and Paul McShane is currently managing Loughinisland men. Mark Copeland has won Ulster and All Ireland Titles as manager of SRC so we cannot question the ability of coaches. I agree with the comment above that quality coaches are hard to come by especially in ladies football at the minute and travel is a huge commitment for coaches and players alike. However, as mentioned above if commitment is given at the start from coaches and players, they must stick to that throughout in order to be in for a real chance. Apparently two men one from the Burren set up and One from the clonduff set up have been approached as part of Marks new plans with Mark and Garbhean and have both had to turn it down due to not being able to give full commitment to time and Travel. Maybe Mark should look at the likes of Aoibheann other past players who know the opposition so well to come into the background team as these young girls have looked up to these players from a young age? just a thought... otherwise, lets come up with some viable ideas of who you would see as 'good quality' coaches that would actually be interested in the job

TheKingdomgael (Down) - Posts: 167 - 16/09/2011 17:33:11    1036429

I didnt slate last years management at all. And winning that division 2 title a few years back was nothing to do with the people in charge - the girls at their disposal were class and it was only a matter of putting out a team. Its such a pity so many of them are not playing football anymore or have moved abroad... But i wonder if they were coaxed would they come out of semi retirement. I duno why they went to Burren management this year as they only won that intermediate league because others didnt want to - shamrocks were giving points away at the end of the season in case they got promoted and rostrevor and ballymartin were fielding weakened teams in case they got promoted. Burren only won it because noone else wanted it. |Getting Aveen Downey back would be a major move and maybe Michaela as a selector or coach. Other coaches out there would be - Lee Rooney from Banbridge as a strength and conditioning coach for the team, Barry Monaghan as physical trainer - he worked with the team before for a few sessions a few years back.

singer (Down) - Posts: 330 - 17/09/2011 20:53:29    1036954

What difference does it make where or why Burren are getting promoted? bit of a bitter statement singer; Pete McGrath was manager of An Roicht when they were fighting relegation does that make him a bad manager? Maybe whoever was approached in Burren or clonduff or any other club that he's been on to was approached becasuse they are known as a good coach that Mark thinks could help him where he is not strong>? Marks bound to have alot of connections throuh his job. your ideas are good; Lee Rooney would certainly know what he's talking about but does he have any coacing experience or any experience in the ladies game? maybe so... I say good Luck to Mark and who ever his new background team is.

TheKingdomgael (Down) - Posts: 167 - 19/09/2011 18:34:34    1038179

singer u seem to have a lot of spare time to go on this and share your bull with everyone! with all that spare time u should put yourself ford for managing the county ladies! you are forever slating managers! would love to see how you get on with the ladies! as for burren team, please wind your neck in! they won the league because they deserved to! they worked hard to win it and will work even harder for senior division! burren had the league won befor shamrocks starting throwing points, so i advise u get ur facts right. if other teams are silly enough to through point as they dont want to compete at senior level, more the fool them! The aim of sport is to be the best and play at the highest level.

d.p. (Down) - Posts: 7 - 22/09/2011 18:39:49    1040600

here Here

TheKingdomgael (Down) - Posts: 167 - 22/09/2011 18:57:51    1040612

I've been perusing this forum for quite some time now, often chuckling at the wild and outlandish statements made by some of the contributors and the one thing that is glaringly obvious is that a lot of people who post on this msg board but in particular "Singer" haven't the faintest idea what is going on either in the county sep-up or more worryingly @ club level.
I felt compelled to post this msg to let anyone from other counties who might be dropping by this forum to see what's happening in Down or indeed anyone who reads this forum and that might take this person seriously that "Singer" hasn't a clue what's going on in Down Footie nor does he/she have any inside knowledge as to the inner workings of the county set-up.
All these retired players you want to drag back have absolutely no intentions of returning to inter-county football. They have injuries that prevent them from playing or simply want to pursue other interests so stop flogging a dead horse!
I had to laugh at your theory regarding Burrens league win and again it was obvious that you couldn't have watched any games in the intermediate league this year or else you wouldn't be spouting nonsense like " Rostrevor and Ballymartin fielded weakened teams" for a start Rostrevor and Ballymartin were never in contention for the league title, the closest rivalry in that league is between Burren and Kilcoo and if you had actually watched any of those games you would have seen how hard Kilcoo fought to win all 3 games. As for Rostrevor, Burren were lucky to come away with 2 points in the 1st game as Rostrevor played out of their skins to get a result over Burren believing that they were going to get the points they needed to stay up in the intermediate league off Burren. While what you said about Shamrocks may have been the case in previous years this year however Shamrocks re-scheduled a lot of their games towards the end of the season because they didn't want to play them without the Fegans who were in USA for most of the summer.

Stop spouting rubbish, stop misleading people and stop fantasising!

Arrival (Down) - Posts: 16 - 23/09/2011 16:19:02    1041097

Wicklow playing in the junior all ireland final and they are in the same division as us... Westmeath playing in the intermediate final and they were in division 4 this year and are in division 3 next year... Are down ladies in the wrong category to enable them to compete??? How about we go to intermediate for a season or two and try to rebuild from there....

singer (Down) - Posts: 330 - 25/09/2011 13:24:26    1041736

End of season wrap on the club competitions I see - from info sent out by the county board, the final positions mostly are settled i.e.

Senior League - nothing decided. Playoff - Bredagh v Bryansford needed to decide the league winners
Senior Championship - Winners: Annaclone; Runners-Up: Bryansford
Intermediate League - Winners: Burren; Runners-Up: Shamrocks
Intermediate Championship - Winners: Rostrevor; Runners-Up: Ballymartin
Junior League - Winners: Teconnaught; Runners-Up: Saul
Junior Championship - Winners: Carryduff; Runners-Up: St Michaels
U16A League - Winners: Castlewellan; Runners-Up: Burren
U16A Championship - Final - Oct 16th - Annaclone v Castlewellan
U16B League - nothing decided. 3-way playoff needed between Clonduff, Kilcoo and Saul to decide winners and runners-up
U16B Championship - Final - Oct 16th - Clonduff v Saul
U14A League - Winners: Castlewellan; Runners-up: Carryduff
U14A Championship - Winners: Castlewellan; Runners-up: Bredagh
U14B League - Winners: Saul; Runners-Up: Ballymartin
U14B Championship - Winners: Saul; Runners-Up: Ballymartin

The senior playoff looks interesting though not sure when thats to be played yet. Any thoughts on likely winner there - Bryansford got the better of Bredagh in the championship semi but Annaclone pipped them for the county title so both teams are bound to be hungry for silverware

statto_gael (Down) - Posts: 5 - 04/10/2011 16:39:27    1046358

Does anyone know what is happening?

TheKingdomgael (Down) - Posts: 167 - 18/10/2011 13:44:15    1053998