im not in the game for calling for anyones head, I know for a fact that benjy didnt have the resources, however i also feel he is possibly better as part of a county management set up that being the man who calls the shots. Good relationship with ther players but possibly lacks authority. i myself know some girls who are not interested in the county because they see it as just another club team. My point is that if the county board can string a strong management team together, one that will show the players in the county that if they get involved then they are going to be part of a professional set up that is going to be taking very seriously, preferably young enough to know the players personally as this may be another strategy to get players involved

TheKingdomgael (Down) - Posts: 167 - 11/10/2012 14:00:18    1281638

I think really management and the County Board can only go so far and do so much. I can't say alot about what has went before including 2012 but i do know looking at the squads they were very young had only a few real leaders on the pitch and that with out the Bredagh and Bryansford players, about 9 or 10, there wouldn't have been a team. So why do you lay blame Kingdomgael on County board and management all the time if the player pool was diluted and that alot of the top players in the county didn't make themselves available to the team/squad. Its easy to sit behind the screen and complain when its obvious its player commitment, player withdrawal, player apathy to the county team thats the real issue. When thats addressed you will find that Down ladies will be a much stronger, healthier and more successful team than recent past. Lets see what happens with new county board and their take on it and lets see if the county team can start a bit earlier than they did last year, Jan is too late to start, they need a couple of months before that to get properly ready for new season. Again easier said than done but lets hope for the best and show a bit of positivity as we all could be doing with it now are noisy neighbours are celebrating with the All -Ireland Intermediate Cup, ggrrrrr

gaamna (Down) - Posts: 27 - 11/10/2012 16:49:17    1281775

I think you'll find that the majority of my posts promote the fact that players need to show commitment. I am in no way slating Benjy Ward as i wouldnt Slate any person who gives up so much time and effort, My point is, in order to entice some of the old guard and some of the players who as yet have not made themselves available for our county team, I feel a new managment team is needed. I dont see benjy being the leader of this but maybe a part of it. Again its just an opinion. Bryansford and bredagh players always make themselves available and have a great stronghold on the team which is great, but maybe if coaches came in from the clubs who's best players do not regularly commit, it may encourage them to do so. In terms of commitment, i know Benjy has been 100% and no1 in the county can fault that, the girls who he does have at is disposal however, need to commit themselves. County football is a privilege as someone has pointed you out to be in the top players within your county, when they show belief in you, you should repect them and give them maximum effort

TheKingdomgael (Down) - Posts: 167 - 12/10/2012 08:17:31    1281974

I think the county needs to look at rebuilding from the bottom up. There are fatal flaws within the club set up, which resulted in around 20% of Senior games this season not being played - due to many different reasons, most valid, some less so. This is surely undermines any training plan the County Management puts in place. I feel that it is crucial for girls to be playing competitive league football, week in week out, before a county management can be in a position to select who is best placed to represent us on the field.

leg_end (Down) - Posts: 62 - 12/10/2012 13:31:16    1282129

I think Saturday night football is one of the biggest flaws in our ladies game

TheKingdomgael (Down) - Posts: 167 - 12/10/2012 14:20:50    1282169

herd ballymartin got absolutely hammered today. sunday afternoon football musnt suit them never mind saturday night football!

tomcummingham (Down) - Posts: 155 - 14/10/2012 18:05:24    1282944

Ballymartin result shows how far away Down football is. Thats a hefty defeat to a team of county champions. Anyone hear how bryansford got on? I think within Down there is also a massive gap. The jump from intermediate football to senior is massive and teams can rarely cope. i can remeber who the last team to come up and stay up in a respectable position was

TheKingdomgael (Down) - Posts: 167 - 15/10/2012 10:44:38    1283199

I think the Ford won. Not 100% though

the_guvner (Down) - Posts: 318 - 15/10/2012 12:47:14    1283281

Ford won by a point. Good result. Anyone know any results from U 16 Finals yesterday ??

monitor (Down) - Posts: 209 - 15/10/2012 13:15:29    1283304

I didnt think Ballymartin were all they were cracked up to be and this hammering proves it. I know the team they played were a good quality standard and as a previous poster said - it show how far down club football is behind the others in the province. Bryansford winning is a good omen for the county though. There needs to be quite a few of these girls on the county scene this year. they will probably struggle in the next round against the Donegal team but at last a down team wins in the provincial series...

singer (Down) - Posts: 330 - 15/10/2012 14:39:55    1283368

Good to see Bryansford winning in Ulster and flying the flag though hard to see anyone touching Donaghmoyne - anyone scoring 8-34 cant be bad. Ballymartin fell heavily to Magheraclone. Donaghmoyne B also had a good win over Strabane Sigersons in the Junior (Strabane beat Bosco if i rem right) . All Monaghan teams, so i had a wee duke at the Monaghan ladies website, i see all 3 of these teams played in their Senior 1 league.

http://www.monaghanladies.com/division-1-league.html

How does that work , 3 teams that figured in the Senior 1 league in Monaghan represented Monaghan in Ulster at Senior/Inter/Junior....Maybe i am missing something. Or maybe Down need to rethink their league structures along similar lines, a complete league overhaul to facilitate championship placings. Looking closer Cork have a similar system. Monaghan/Cork are up there at the top in terms of club/county so maybe some merit in looking at their systems.

Singer and Co including any alter ego's, the County AGM is on Mon 29th Oct. Get yer names in, you all seem to know a lot about about the whole county/club scene. Time to stop hiding in the shadows sniping at everyone for trying..

Best of luck to Bryansford in the next round

KeepItClean (Down) - Posts: 18 - 15/10/2012 17:49:04    1283520

if knocked out in 1st round of senior in some counties you automatically go to intermediate championship.

tomcummingham (Down) - Posts: 155 - 15/10/2012 18:13:53    1283540

If whats happening in Monaghan is true and we hadn't a back door system here, Carryduff would be in the senior ulster club and based on whats happening in the rest of Ireland Bryansford would be competing in the intermediate as Carryduff won the preliminary cship match but i'm not sure the intermediate clubs would have agreed or accepted this. There are very real issues in the playing standards of our leagues/cships with 2 many non events, 2 many not played and too big a gap between the stronger and weaker teams. There should be an overhaul of all structures within Down including schools, underage and everything else problem is we haven't enough people involved to run and organise what we have at present/past so how the feck are we going to do a complete overhaul of our current set up? Maybe keepitclean is correct and singer and kingdomgael can start to right every wrong by getting involved themselves rather than castigating all and sundry, offering their own sanitised versions of whats going on and sometimes lets face it talking a load of s***e. I mean how can you take someone seriously when they say the management is too old and not in touch with younger players, the greatest manager in ladies football history is Eamon Barry he's 72 and just completed Corks 7th win out of the last 8 in the All-Irelands, Kingdom wise up and come up with something a bit more constructive or keep posting to give us all a laugh. Is it time for regional teams in Down as I hear some clubs are folding or thinking of folding, it might be an answer and might raise the standards and competitiveness, only a thought? A newry based, a Upper Mourne, a West Down, Mid Down, East Down, Lecale, Belfast and maybe the stronger clubs remain in the set up???

gaamna (Down) - Posts: 27 - 15/10/2012 19:11:27    1283593

Well at last we have someone that makes sense on this board along with myself. Why cant there be a complete overhaul of the systems in place at the minute? Not sure the amalgamations mentioned would work though but maybe something along those lines. but at least its a thought. Cork, Monaghan, Dublin and Mayo are the top 4 in the country on a continual basis and then Kerry, Laois etc appear every so often. lets face it we are miles behind these teams. I dont have til go to a county board agm to voice my opinion - there are enough there. they dont listen to reason and they do their own thing anyhow. Down ladies are in serious bother if there are not changes at every level within the county. The basics like having county development squads needs addressed, the leagues for clubs needs addressing and the championship - after the farce this year - needs addressing. It is not fair that Monaghan can get away with having practically 3 senior teams competing in Ulster and we only have one.

singer (Down) - Posts: 330 - 15/10/2012 20:00:08    1283640

well you can slate me all ye like, but i am not, as i have mentioned many times, slating anyone in the managment as I would not put any fault on people who give up so much time for the managment of a county team. Also, if you read back I do not say something as silly as 'managment is too old', I do however state that there are some great young coaches in the county and their presence may coax some of the better players to make themselves available for county football. Structures can be in place, managment can be in place and players can be there 2......but in all honesty in order for Down Senior county ladies football team to be successful, the manager needs 30 of the best players in the County available for training and selection. As for an overhaul of the leagues etc...yea in theory this could work. We would need more committed members on the county board because at the minute the guys involved are overworked, we cant blame them as they are the only thing holding onto down ladies football and without them there would be nothing. People could say 'Why dont you step up kingdom', well I am heavily involved in ladies football and do alot to help with it in my own club and attend as many county board meetings as possible. As alot of people would know work and family life must come first but any extra time is always spent with ladies football. Overall from my last few comments what i would like to see is a new managment team, 4/5 people with keen interest in ladies football and are good proven coaches. This could include Benjy, I wouldnt have him as manager leading the whole thing but maybe as part of the set up - everyone gets there opinion! Then we need that group of people to hold trials or - if there knowledge is already good enough of down ladies, draw up a draft of players they want on the county...then approach them. If they decline, quickly move on and get a committed squad training sooner rather than later! County team then needs to train collectively all week every week, released to their clubs for club games only and every few weeks wen given a county team break then release to club training etc again.

TheKingdomgael (Down) - Posts: 167 - 16/10/2012 09:37:58    1283783

Have you any suggestions on coaches Kingdomgael..Its ok to say get a coach or people .. Easier said than done. Maybe you have someone or some people in mind !! Let us know.

monitor (Down) - Posts: 209 - 16/10/2012 10:56:10    1283815

Monitor have a read on the previous page i have listed options for singer on request. Not people who may be interested just people i feel have the ability and are not out of reach

TheKingdomgael (Down) - Posts: 167 - 16/10/2012 11:37:31    1283838

I don't think any1's slating you, heaven forbid any1 hurt your feelings Kingdomgael, its just any1 really interested in Down ladies likes to see constructive criticism, new ideas and well thought out plans. When this occurs you have a reasoned arguement that might help those administrators or coaches that are involved in the various county set ups. Lets hope you can then, at the county board meetings you attend (take a deep breath but remember to breath out), put forward these ideas you have and then we can assess the improvements. The big issue for county squads as said before is commitment of the player pool, very poor for last few years, and playing standards (check some of the results and scorelines in the various leagues and c'ships) and when these 2 main issues are addressed i think u'll find an overall improvement throughout the county. Regarding the county senior set up i heard a whisper over the weekend that suggests all is not as bad as we are painting in the senior set up and that things have been happening quietly in the background so fair play to all involved if its true as its been very quiet on the scene there and indeed the whisper also said there is a new county board ready in waiting as the present committee is stepping down, again its only a whisper, but lets what happens as we need to see more people helping out.

gaamna (Down) - Posts: 27 - 16/10/2012 11:56:28    1283855

Some good people there Kingdom. Maybe a mixture of them would be good. I think though that we need to have a look at the standards in juvenile competitions. Particularly this years U16 s where I hear Castlewellan STUFFED bURREN IN fINAL after stuffing Bredagh in semi final. I mean by over 30 points. This is no good to anyone. Castlewellan have now won back to back U16 Championships and 3 of the last four u14 championships. Obviously they are doing something the rest of us are not. Maybe they wuold let us in the secret and if we can get more quality teams at underage we will eventually get more quality players to choose from at Senior .

monitor (Down) - Posts: 209 - 16/10/2012 12:15:45    1283861

Having read the above comments - it seems people in the county are all thinking along the same lines. Could we not clash their respective heads together and get this thing moving forward. Whispers about county seniors being set up are out there and i have heard there is a fitness test organised for tomorrow night - how can this be?? I know for sure that noone from my club has been asked to attend this session - so does that mean they are excluded for the season? they dont get a chance to showcase thier talents or they just simply are not good enough? I think trials are the fairest way to sort out girls who are maybe fit for the county. I read the last comment about castlewellan winning 3 of the last 4 u14 titles and the last 2 u16 titles - this is fantastic to see them coming to the fore again in ladies football in the county. But at underage - that does not mean we have to litter the development squads with only castlewellan players. Ther are loads of players who play well for their club but dont have what it takes for county - even at underage level. Too many people involved with these teams have blinkered vision of their own clubs girls and this is a massive problem.

singer (Down) - Posts: 330 - 16/10/2012 13:17:11    1283911