hows the indoor fitness going 4 the county squad? Any new faces? heard the outdoor fitness was tough but good, lets hope they can continue with this and atleast have a chance to do something good in 2013. Good luck to the Bryansford team on Sunday against the Donegals champs hope they do well and promote Down football and standards but they are meant 2 b a good team so it'll b a tough 1. I'm goin to support them and it'll be interesting 2 c how many of them move in2 the Down set up, i would think a good few based on last few years squad make-up. It seems along time to the club season starts, hate the long winter months of no football so it Newcastle for me on Sunday. Is it at 2 or 3 pm?

gaamna (Down) - Posts: 27 - 25/10/2012 12:52:08    1288076

Was talking to a player this morning who is feeling the effects of indoor circuits they were put through last night. haven't heard of any new names within the squad though. Girls are meant to be very happy with the training which is apparently very hard but well done with all 3 men in the set up having big contributions. Ill not go down the negative route this time as I'm only hearing good reports and numbers are said to be very good with more players to come yet. Bryansford are a strong outfit and hopefully can put Down clubs back on the map with a win on Sunday, Game is at 2PM

TheKingdomgael (Down) - Posts: 167 - 25/10/2012 13:58:07    1288124

I hope to see a few new faces on the down ladies team this year ,

Bigwigingaa (Down) - Posts: 51 - 25/10/2012 14:24:18    1288147

I would have thought there would be a few Clonduff girls brought into the squad like the Gribbens now that the managment has two Clonduff men in it. Theres still Benjys Bryansford contingent to join the squad im sure there will be a few of them. I know there are 4/5 young girls brought in this year maybe to push the older girls for places

TheKingdomgael (Down) - Posts: 167 - 25/10/2012 14:54:22    1288167

Would be great to see Bryansford get a win at the weekend but they are up against a very good Termon side. I think they beat Bredagh a few years back in Ulster. All the best to the Ford girls.

the_guvner (Down) - Posts: 318 - 25/10/2012 14:57:41    1288169

Up on 11 or 12 ford players on the county panel. Are you having a laugh. They were beat by 9 points yesterday and it should have been about 15. The county manager needs to look at what he is doing. The county champions they may be - but the county team they are not. #joke

duff (Down) - Posts: 145 - 29/10/2012 13:20:14    1289572

I was given the impression there was only 8 or so on the panel? who are the 11/12? They dont have the strength to have that many girls on the panel....some good club players but county is a different challenge. Was told there was big numbers in Tullymore park yesterday morning, good to hear they are working hard. Have to say hard luck to byransford, beating by a much stronger outfit but they are a young team with a few experienced players, there is alot still to come from this team

TheKingdomgael (Down) - Posts: 167 - 29/10/2012 14:04:24    1289592

Without trying to sound negative (and no doubt some of you think I will be) is it just me or does it not seem a bit early for the county team to be training in Tullymore and Castlewellan in October. It is great news that they have got the squad together and a management team in place but as the league generally does not start until February and the championship is in May/June should they really be doing this intensive fitness training so early. I would be of the opinion that a few sessions in the gym for a number of weeks to try and strenghten our young team up and then around December time start the outdoor fitness work would be more beneficial. I just have a big fear that it is a long enough year without starting outside so early outside endurance work.

gaa2 (Down) - Posts: 116 - 29/10/2012 16:06:00    1289666

I think the management have got it right getting girls in training now. If the fitness work gets done now, come January then you can focus on patterns of play and systems etc. To be honest with you I thought the girls weren't fit enough last year.

the_guvner (Down) - Posts: 318 - 29/10/2012 16:24:35    1289672

Guvner i have to agree with u there, the ladies county team has been a bit of a running joke over last few years, and so by starting 8 or 9 weeks b4 the christmas break i can see where and what the management team are trying to do; 1. find a committed group of players 2. try and get them fit prior to the Dowd in Jan which is 9 weeks away 3. test the commitment of above squad by doing hard tough sessions and see what way they respond to really hard sessions, 4. build a good team spirit 5. have a good foundation to try and work on playing styles and tactics in matchs rather than use the matchs to get fit, 6. be more professional in the whole set up. I'm sure they have other reasons on top of this and having looked at alot of previous posts from us all low and behold they r doin what we actually asked them to??? Now posters are complaining, poor management and the CB who have backed them, should prob get out of there b4 Kingdom and all really start tearing strips of them. Anyways i spoke to a few of the girls on Sunday and there luvvin it saying its bloody tough but thats what they want and what they were used to with the unis etc. 2 sessions a week doesn't sound 2 much or OTT either as other counties like Monaghan, Cork and Dublin do this every year thru winter months plus not alot else happenin so mite as well put effort in. Good luck to whole County set up, u need it with us lot hounding u!!! Hard luck to Bryansford they just cudn't stop the goals and that was the difference and be brill to see a few on county squad or make team but have to agree not 12 or 10 maybe 6 or 7 would be closer to mark but hey if they are prepared to commit let them at it.

gaamna (Down) - Posts: 27 - 29/10/2012 18:42:16    1289740

P.S. GAA2 I like the real scientific approach u take to your sports training.... should they be training intensively??? a few sessions in the gym for a number of weeks??? starting endurance work in pre season??? long enough year?? as far as i'm aware the county teams haven't made it 2 August so i see what your really saying FAIL TO PREPARE AND PREPARE TO FAIL, well honestly i think we've all had enough of that auld s**te the last while.
P.S.S. Your not "Without trying to sound negative" it should just read "I am sounding negative" give the squad a chance atleast.

gaamna (Down) - Posts: 27 - 29/10/2012 18:51:56    1289747

Have to completely agree with gaama there. If that's what the management are trying to do which i suppose sounds about right then fair play to them... what better way to test girls commitment than tough sessions at this stage of the year and with the Dowd only being 9 weeks away they would be better getting the dogging session done now and get the fitness up and use the dowd for team selection and tactical experiments. Fair play to the men and girls anyway..... When i was doing forest parks on a Sunday morning it definitely took commitment. If gaama is right and the girls are enjoying it then the men are doing their job so far

TheKingdomgael (Down) - Posts: 167 - 30/10/2012 09:45:29    1289915

I wonder would yas get off your high horse. Yes its great to see committment but my point was from a purely physical perspective. Uni girls are training flat out now because there leagues start now and their holy grail is in March, the Down girls is in Sept/Oct next year. My point is that maybe it would be more prudent implementing a strength and conditioning programme rather than purely fitness at this stage of the year and it will also show committment. If you look at a county teams year (those of you have have a clue) and sit down and plan out when you should be peaking and tapering off then I think you will find that mountain running in October is not in line with modern training practices and I can forsee injuries due to this practice. There may well be 30 plus girls there and whilst I agree that is good, I will reserve judgement until next March or April when players don't get playing after having trained like mad for 6 months at that stage. If I'm wrong so be it and I really hope I am. Now dont start ranting and slating what I have said, it is my opinion, I dont slate anyones else's!!!

gaa2 (Down) - Posts: 116 - 30/10/2012 12:10:07    1290009

I'm not on a horse its a donkey! How or why is the ladies "Holy Grail" Sept/Oct i wud think getting out of Div 3 wud b pretty high up the ladies wish list and to try and play a higher level of football in Div 2 so how does a team get there, by getting fit prior to the National league in Feb so that they can compete and indeed win promotion. Strength and conditioning is part of this years plan by all accounts and the girls i talked to have the sore muscles to prove it and have all been tested to improve these areas that are weak so i think the management have been "prudent" and the girls, well the few i talked to, r buying in2 the programme. Not sure about the mountain training but know that Forest Parks are being used to improve endurance/stamina so u must know more than the 1s i've chatted 2. Plus its nice 2 change the venue and training styles as it may b a long season (Sept/Oct) if they win c'ship games which 2 b fair has been a bit of an achilles heel GAA2 unless u r hoping its along season or unless u r talking about another county but Downs seasons have been pretty short of late none 2 my memory getting even close to the dizzy heights of Sept? On your opinions that girls don't get picked having trained like mad well thats tough, it really is, training is only a part of getting played, u need to actually perform when your on the pitch just thinking that 2 train will get you on the team is a wee bit naive but well its probably been the case 4 so long u think that training is a guarantee u'll get picked. Wrong any successful team and I was lucky 2 be on a few only were successful becuz the whole squad bought in2 training and fought 4 a place. I mean u cud train all year and still not be good enough on the pitch it mite be your passing, tackling, shooting, decision making etc that isn't just quite as good as the other girl. I hope that girls will b picked on merit over all aspects of squad prep and not just that they trained, we cud have a bloody team of athletes but we wudn't win a game! I'm not ranting or slating just picking holes in a poor arguement that has been repeated time and again. Lets give the ladies a chance this year and not slate them after a couple of weeks theres far 2 much negativity in dis forum lets be positive!

gaamna (Down) - Posts: 27 - 30/10/2012 17:41:09    1290250

There is no club in down that has 5, 6 or more players fit for county football in my opinion. I remember a few years ago when Clonduff won 3 titles in a row - they had about 3 players on the panel, Bredagh won 2 in a row and had 2 or 3 players on it - this was simply because they only had this amount fit for it. The Ford have won one title and even before they had that piece of silverware they had way too many on the panel. Back in the day - when there was only really Bosco and Castlewellan in the county - the two teams made up the majority of the county panel - but now we have 24 teams - hold trials, go and look at all teams during the season at least 5 games per club to see if there is anyone strong enough for the step up. I know for sure my club has more girls fit for county football and would be keen to play - but they didnt get "THE TEXT MESSAGE" to invite them. What a professional way to assemble a panel!!!

duff (Down) - Posts: 145 - 31/10/2012 09:18:26    1290483

I do agree in part with this, trials give more people an opportunity to impress but they dont really give a manager enough time to see what a player is like over enough time. Any player can do well and a couple of trials and then end up not being worth there place on the team. As county manager last year i ma sure benjy Ward seen plenty of club football to know who is up to the standard. I know ryan mcshane and mark copeland were managing clonduff last year and saw plenty of football and i also saw them at other clubs games also, maybe they knew they were entering the set up this year? I agree no team has 10,11,12 etc players fit for county football.... theres no way, if that was the case they would be an ulster winning team. If you look at any county mens team, there is never anything like that, it is the cream of the crop over 12-15 clubs. the best players for a position, the best attacking player gelled with similar players to make a winning formula. Im not going to question these mens formula for picking a squad....people are always going to feel down about not getting a chance for their county, but maybe they think they have seen enough to know who can do what? What i dont understand is these very young girls they have in the squad....great for their age but would the county board not be better helping them in developing squads rather that throwing them in out of their depth?

TheKingdomgael (Down) - Posts: 167 - 31/10/2012 12:15:29    1290585

Kindomgael i agree with you wholeheartedly about those underage girls. I also think they are fantastic players in their own right - but - this is county senior football we are talking about. When them girls are 19 or 20 where will they be? My guess is retired. they will have conquered the county under16, minor and now senior at such a young age - they will have no hunger to continue. I have seen it happen before. Surely they would be better suited in a minor development squad now and train with girls their own age - play games with girls their own age and when championship is done and dusted they play for the seniors if they have competed to a good level at minors. This is what James did with Mooney a few years back and indeed its what wee pete did with Benny way back in 2000. Kindomgael - you probably have watched more ballymartin games this year as you are from that area - surely they have more girls worthy of a chance than 2?? They win the intermediate championship and yet the two teams in the semi finals - Mayobridge and Kilcoo - have more on the panel than they do (although Kilcoo are league champions)... that dont make sense to me. My club get beaten in a county senior final this year and were league champions and we get hardly any players who get "the text". Trials are not a one off. Surely they could hold a south down panel v east down panel over a number of weeks and wean the panel down as they go along. if there were 24 on each panel and they played a full game each weekend over the period of a month and one night per week they meet up and do skills work they will find out who is up for the challenge. and out of 48 girls they will find 30 for sure that are good enough. Leave the young girls with their own age group and pick senior girls for a senior panel.

duff (Down) - Posts: 145 - 31/10/2012 14:38:46    1290701

gaamna, whilst your thinking maybe theoretically sound reality is somewhat different in Down and you cant see that then your just kidding yourself. Performing on the pitch along with committment in training is the best scenario from a management point of view to picking a team, but when you are asked by the girl who is number 23 why she isnt getting to play and you tell her she isnt playing well enough over and over again despite her great committment just wait and see how long she sticks around. Maybe until a bit of gear is fired around and off she will go with her tail between her legs along with a number of others. Now if you havent seen that happen before then you havent been around too many county teams. It may well be naive for players to think they all should be playing but its what they think!!!!!!! Football interferes with the fake tan night, the getting hair done night, the boyfriends/girlfriends birthday night, the wee brothers school play night and whatever else they can think off. Now before you start, I am not tarring everyone with the one brush here but the biggest problem in Down is that football (and its the same for camogie) does not get a high enough place in the pecking order in alot of girls lives so when they get this, what should be a privilege TEXT (which is a joke), it will be great for a while but it soon wears off. I have seen if far too many times!!! Now thats my rant over about your hole picking in my original OPINION and I'll go back to it and say my main point was about training methods at this time of the year. Players can get more than fit enough together with skill development and team play in a lot less time than from October to February and concentrated strength and conditioning should be done at this time of the year as Down teams are badly lacking (and have always been) in this department.

gaa2 (Down) - Posts: 116 - 31/10/2012 15:14:17    1290721

I'm reading alot of posts here about the set up for the county panel - some good some bad. For the record here is my take
1. the management are right to introduce training at this early stage - the football season in down this year was so disjointed that there would be very few players coming into preseason training having played a tough season involving football week in week out.
2. the Down league needs to constructed in a way that keeps girls interested in playing football not spending 5-6weeks training without a game. only then can you introduce development squads. Until this is sorted out I feel players will drift away from football alltogther.
3. To introduce more football there should an added championship mid season involving "regional" teams (but not involving any players on the county panel). These regional teams could be (only examples) Annaclone/Tullylish/Saval, - Ballymartin, Rostrevor,Kilcoo, - Downpatrick, Saul, Castlewellan, - Burren, Bosco,Shamrocks etc etc. This would give an added championship style football at a competitve level and also intoduce those from the lower leagues into senior football. The above plan would aslo allow county management to look at players outside of their current panel.
4. Communication between County management and club managers. It would be interesting to know how the Benji Ward decided on who to pick for the pre season training I do not know how many league matches in Down the county management team went to and how many mangers they spoke to after the games. I know Annaclone won the championship in 2011 and their manager was not contacted once about players he felt should be called to the countylast year. Surely the first point of contact should be with the clubs - afterall they know their players best. they send the players they feel are good enough and the county take it from there even if it 8-10 players. a club manager has the right to reward their players for their hard work by sending them to the county trials.

just my thoughts.

bannside (Down) - Posts: 20 - 31/10/2012 15:35:08    1290739

gaa2 as far as i have been told they do strength and conditioning midweek and outdoor on a sunday morning

TheKingdomgael (Down) - Posts: 167 - 31/10/2012 15:43:58    1290744