Down v Kildare Round 2B Qualifier

still home and away as roscommon won in cavan and tipp beat laois in portlaois. i believe sky sports 3 are showing a qualifier next sat at 5.

my mistake there as roscommon and cavan were in same round as us today but tipp now play the losing munster or connaught finalist after winning away to laois

So Tipp play Galway

Well done to the players and management for turning things round from the Meath game. It was great to see the lads dig deep and kick on in the 2nd half when Down drew level. Great to see Ciaran Fitzpatrick doing well on his first championship game, young players like Tommy Moolick, Fergal Conway and Padraig Fogarty stepping up to the plate and older hands like Paidi O'Neill and Alan Smith showing leadership up front. The way we finished spoke well for our fitness and conditioning.

Kildare must be the most unpredictable team in the country. I thought we might struggle against Louth and Down and we ended up winning easily, while I thought we might win against an under strength Meath and were well beaten. I suppose we have to remember we have a lot of young players and a new management team so we have to be a bit more patient.

Congrats to players and management, a much improved performance by both, A comprehensive win in the finish playing our best football when the pressure came on from Down in the second half. Fergal Conway, Ollie Lyons Tommy Moolick were great throughout while all the forwards did well at different stages and all contributed on the scoreboard, I think Smithy has earned a starting spot, and it was great to see Hugh Lynch making a big impact at midfield when he came on. The draw for the next round will be very interesting!

I give up trying to predict what Kildare will do next. When Down got the run on them after half time it was looking like curtains and you just hated the gathering roar from the home crowd with Benny doing his utmost to break our hearts again. Great fight, fitness and yes, no little skill from the forwards in the final quarter to see it out convincingly. Another famous edition to our qualifier story.
Let's not forget the belligerent defending in the first half as we restricted Down to one late point from play and Donnellan hadn't a save to make. Really thought we were going to regret some bad wides in that opening half. Great boost for the younger lads for whom this was their first significant championship win. Thought Conway had his best game yet and stood up physically, White was instrumental before his black card (proving some right though that he attracts cards too easily), Moolick got through mountains of work as usual (and what a goal!). Niall Kelly hopefully quietened a few doubters particularly in the second half and Podge continues to offer a great outlet at FF. Special mention for Smithy who spells danger as soon as he gets on the ball and must be close to a starting place surely (particularly with EOF failing to really stake a claim).

As for the tactics, I thought we struggled to deal with Mckernan's sweeping in the first half while we effectively had Conway sweeping most of the game which worked ok.

But I am going to say it - Down were unexpectedly  awful lads and let's not kid ourselves.  It's a good win and sets us up potentially for a decent year still, but we'll get a sterner test from either Rossies or Armagh and possibly even Clare next week.

No doubt the script reads Jason v Geezer though.. Tommy K will be on the first flight back from Brazil for that one!

Cheerio Jayson Rhine - don't let the door hit you on the way out

Great win, great weekend with Laois, Tyrone and Cavan all losing.

Home draw please if there is still a home and away scenario. No doubt Armagh will come out either way and the forum may spontaneously self combust.

Crofter wrote:

I give up trying to predict why Kildare will do next. When Down got the run on them after half time it was looking like curtains and you just hated the gathering roar from the home crowd with Benny doing his utmost to break our hearts again. Great fight, fitness and yes, no little skill from the forwards in the final quarter to see it out convincingly. Another famous edition to our qualifier story.
Let's not forget the belligerent defending in the first half as we restricted Down to one late point from play and Donnellan hadn't a save to make. Really thought we were going to regret some bad wides in that opening half. Great boost for the younger lads for whom this was their first significant championship win. Thought Conway had his best game yet and stood up physically, White was instrumental before his black card (proving some right though that he attracts cards too easily), Moolick got through mountains of work as usual (and what a goal!). Niall Kelly hopefully quietened a few doubters particularly in the second half and Podge continues to offer a great outlet at FF. Special mention for Smithy who spells danger as soon as he gets on the ball and must be close to a starting place surely (particularly with EOF failing to really stake a claim).

As for the tactics, I thought we struggled to deal with Mckernan's sweeping in the first half while we effectively had Conway sweeping most of the game which worked ok.

But I am going to say it - Down were unexpectedly  awful lads and let's not kid ourselves.  It's a good win and sets us up potentially for a decent year still, but we'll get a sterner test from either Rossies or Armagh and possibly even Clare next week.

No doubt the script reads Jason v Geezer though.. Tommy K will be in the first flight back from Brazil for that one!

Crofter - can we not even take credit for making them look awful??

I have to say when we conceded 5 points in the first 5 minutes of the second-half I was worried and the locals suddenly found their voice. However what was good was we never panicked and always seemed to have confidence to keep plugging away, something I was worried might have suffered after the last day. A number of players stood up in the second-half - Smith and Kelly in particular - and it has to be said if a Dublin player had scored Moolick's goal in Croke Park we'd never hear the end of it - a fabulous strike! That's one moment I'll be staying up late for tonight to see on The Sunday Game after the WC final.

We often play better away and get a great crowd travelling - we outnumbered Down's support today.

Would like to avoid Roscommon actually as they look dangerous in attack and who can forget ther minor win in Tullamore last summer?

Great to be on the road again and if we win next week we've a 50/50 chance of a second crack at Meath which I think the team would relish...

jimmers wrote:

Crofter wrote:

I give up trying to predict why Kildare will do next. When Down got the run on them after half time it was looking like curtains and you just hated the gathering roar from the home crowd with Benny doing his utmost to break our hearts again. Great fight, fitness and yes, no little skill from the forwards in the final quarter to see it out convincingly. Another famous edition to our qualifier story.
Let's not forget the belligerent defending in the first half as we restricted Down to one late point from play and Donnellan hadn't a save to make. Really thought we were going to regret some bad wides in that opening half. Great boost for the younger lads for whom this was their first significant championship win. Thought Conway had his best game yet and stood up physically, White was instrumental before his black card (proving some right though that he attracts cards too easily), Moolick got through mountains of work as usual (and what a goal!). Niall Kelly hopefully quietened a few doubters particularly in the second half and Podge continues to offer a great outlet at FF. Special mention for Smithy who spells danger as soon as he gets on the ball and must be close to a starting place surely (particularly with EOF failing to really stake a claim).

As for the tactics, I thought we struggled to deal with Mckernan's sweeping in the first half while we effectively had Conway sweeping most of the game which worked ok.

But I am going to say it - Down were unexpectedly  awful lads and let's not kid ourselves.  It's a good win and sets us up potentially for a decent year still, but we'll get a sterner test from either Rossies or Armagh and possibly even Clare next week.

No doubt the script reads Jason v Geezer though.. Tommy K will be in the first flight back from Brazil for that one!

Crofter - can we not even take credit for making them look awful??

I have to say when we conceded 5 points in the first 5 minutes of the second-half I was worried and the locals suddenly found their voice. However what was good was we never panicked and always seemed to have confidence to keep plugging away, something I was worried might have suffered after the last day. A number of players stood up in the second-half - Smith and Kelly in particular - and it has to be said if a Dublin player had scored Moolick's goal in Croke Park we'd never hear the end of it - a fabulous strike! That's one moment I'll be staying up late for tonight to see on The Sunday Game after the WC final.

Suggest you look at the overall balance of my post. Down started the match as flat as we did against Meath - was that down to Meath? Today was a gutsy win with no little skill involved but don't fool yourself about Down's quality. Agree re Moolick's goal - absolute screamer!

Delighted to hear Moolick played well. He got a lot of unfair criticism on here and elsewhere after the Meath game, he's not one for hiding when the going gets tough. Big player for Kildare now.

Two black cards and still won easily, testament to the strength in depth of this panel.

Armagh in Newbridge would be ideal.

Agree about Roscommon. Clare obviously the weaker of the 3 and the preferred option. If we draw Armagh we all know it'll be all about you-know-who and lets face it, he knows our team and panel intimately so the psychological games will be a huge part of it.

Were we not consigned to all away qualifiers this year for abusing McQuillan in Newbridge last July.

flourman wrote:

Were we not consigned to all away qualifiers this year for abusing McQuillan in Newbridge last July.

Are you serious?

Brilliant win up the north never an easy place to go, not gonna lie didn't expect us to win by 10 points at the start of the game anyway!! The lads showed some character when the game went level and we kicked on from there. What a fucking goal by Tommy Moolick by the way!! Cill Dara abu!!

What a difference two weeks make.

Massive improvement in terms of intensity and workrate, everybody really looked up for it today. Would have been easy for heads to drop ten minutes into the second half with Down enjoying a bit of a purple patch and getting back level. Looked like the wide count would come back to cost us at that point too but great character shown to keep the heads and keep plugging away.

Conway and Fitzpatrick were excellent at the back, particularly in the first half. Conway had a great first half, broke up a lot of play and held the line well. Down must have gone at least twenty minutes before Coulter scored just before the break.

Chalky, Moolick and O'Neill got through a mountain of work around the middle and Kelly, and to a lesser extent Flats linked the middle third with the forwards pretty well too. Rocket of a goal by Tommy, obviously just warming up against Meath.

Thought the subs were pretty much spot on and the lads coming in really stepped up, Smith had an immediate impact for the third game in a row and is surely close to starting the next day. Good to see O'Grady back too, was one moment where it looked like Coulter was in on goal but for the ball bouncing away from him, apart from that he did pretty well and kept things tight.

Overall it's probably the biggest result we've had in the qualifiers, aside from ten or fifteen minutes after half time we dominated Down and probably could have put up a higher score.

We should have enough to get past both Clare or Roscommon home or away, but it looks to be set up nicely for us to face Armagh next weekend, after that another crack at Meath would do.

LillieLad wrote:

flourman wrote:

Were we not consigned to all away qualifiers this year for abusing McQuillan in Newbridge last July.

Are you serious?

I'm not sure, I thought we received some kind of punishment to that effect - looking for some confirmation.

flourman wrote:

Were we not consigned to all away qualifiers this year for abusing McQuillan in Newbridge last July.

What ????

As someone mentioned earlier Sky have a double header next Saturday - a football qualifier is being shown before the Waterford/Wexford hurling qualifier. Likely we will feature if we draw either the Rossies or Armagh.

Article on Conleths and McQuillan from last summer - can't find anything about a ban

http://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/gaa/gaa-boss-paraic-duffy-says-2082329

Hope I'm way off the mark : wouldn't be the first time

flourman wrote:

Cheerio Jayson Rhine - don't let the door hit you on the way out

+1

Crofter wrote:

Article on Conleths and McQuillan from last summer - can't find anything about a ban

http://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/gaa/gaa-boss-paraic-duffy-says-2082329

Think they installed some portacabins at the end of the stand at the Kilcullen end a while back for that reason.

Post moved to qualifier thread