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taito, great weekend for downpatrick that all but leaves you safe. I can assure you that we are working hard too get the ground ready for sunday & as long as it dont get heavy rain on friday we fully expect too play in the meadow as the drainage work that Alistar Glover put in is still working well . the groundsman TOMMY CURLETT( unpaid star) has been working flat out & hopefully ther be few tonight too help as we dont want any no results as we still think that we can win all 3 games at home & maybe at least 1 away.ps might catch you for sort out the wager we had on sat win lose or draw

Looking back to the start of the season I think the experts got it badly wrong when they predicted a tight promotion race in section two as Ballymena has romped it and Woodvale is the best of the rest. Section one should have a tight finish with CSN and North Down in a head to head but the real excitement in both sections will be in the relegation zone. Two up and two down was the best decision the NCU has made for years.

Nice post Stevie Max. I don't think your decision to hang on to home advantage was amazing but I do think it will be amazing if your ground dries out after the flood you have had. Make the decisions that serve your club best as that's exactly what everybody else does. You should never be criticised for doing the best for your club. Good luck with the drying.

Jeff i am sure you and a lot of boys were working very hard to get your place playable. Fair play to you all. After the water that was on your ground it will be amazing that you are going to play on it again this season. Interesting weekend in both sections its going to be tight at the bottom of both

Just wanted to help clarify the position of Dundrum CC, specifically on Holywood Secretarys comments regarding Dundrum v Holywood. Can Ryan honestly tell the forum that if his club and team in particular were in the position of having their ground unplayable coupled witht the fact that knowing that they were strong at home, would he be willing to switch grounds? I think not. Although I am a regular to this forum, I rarely post on it, but I read somewhere that Dundrums decision not to take up Holywoods offer was amazing. Obviously the comment was made by someone living in cloud cuckoo-land or they have no idea what playing at home means to clubs. Just one other point, Jeff Maguire didnt make the decision regarding the switch, it was a club decision and one that, under the same circumstances, we would definitely make the same call.

TAITO. dont agree that its village cricket if you aint got a scorer every club that has 1 dont realise or thank them enough (keith is a star for yous), between myself & Ted Mcnerlin we cover our games & probably one of the reasons that i cant play for seconds (they better with out 51year old ) a reliable scorer is worth far more than the 20 £ fine if you dont have one.think bout this would you sit thru 100 overs UNPAID?ps editor the features you do make great reading ! what bout some on SCORERS & GROUNDSMEN as they only get bad press??

Taito, not touchy just i spent a lot of effort not too mention over 30 phone calls tryn too get this "game" on but it didnt happen & i dont think people realise that we are tryn big time to get our pitch playable & have no doubt if we get(&will) the grass raked off outfield the groundsman has assured me that we could play as early as next tues which is remarkle after the worst floods in the MEADOW ever. In fairness too Holywood they are capable of winning home or away anywhere, but we have made a risky decision which can backfire but if it hadnt rained last tuesday we probably would have played at home today. anyway good luck today & im mean ARMAGH by that LOL.

jeff, a bit touchy about that subject?? as i said i wasnt trying to stir i was genuinely interested in what happened. thanks for lettin us know. As i said its obvious dundrum want home advantage , and as you said it could be a risk. we will see. could be a great decision too. and sure you might double up on your money soon, wont be playing again jeff your right which is probably a bonus for our boys. good luck

also wanted to mention a recent game where we played against a team who didnt have a scorer and our players ended up doing it for half of the game. Absolute discrace in my view, village cricket at its best and hopefully the ncu according to the rules picked up on this and levied the fine accordingly??

Re Gary
I don't think that is the case, otherwise we probably wouldn't have hosted Europen U17 Division 1 matches or teams practising for the ICC World T20 Qualifiers!
Our reasons for not hosting the Junior Cup have been made quite clear and accepted by people who know their cricket.
D

Very interesting that North Down are able to accomodate an Under 15 final at very short notice however the Junior Cup a totally different kettle of fish !!! Wouldn't be anything to do with their team being in it ?

I don't think any team can be expected to forfeit home advantage at this stage of the season when the chips are down and big relegation clashes are scheduled. Dundrum are taking a calculated risk admittedly, but the way they have played at home so far it might be worth it.

re ryan ,yes you did offer us your ground but the team (not my opinion) decided that they didnt want too lose home advantage & are within the rules too wait on match two on sat 20 sept,& yes it could be a bad decision but surely its DUNDRUMS call & yes after you rang Roger Bell he discussed it with me& we both agreed that it is rearanged for the first possible date sept 20(weather permitting lol). yes anyone off three teams could be relegated by then but such is life. Dundrum have taken a risk but its their decision & certainly nothing too do with you TAYTO by the way any word the 60£ bet you owe me as hear you not playing in the RETURN either?? PS i think down downpatrick will win sat & holywood will win sun so that will leave dundrum 2nd bottom which will as thet say put the cat among the pigeons. PPS tayto i will take a CHEQUE

Taito.
As match sec at Holywood, we offered Seapark to Dundrum way back when their ground was flooded. They have now (Thursday) decided to turn down our offer. We have a perfectly good, dry ground at Seapark and there is no football and now our 3rd XI will be using it.

Im not trying to stir here just trying to find the facts out? Seems an interesting decision from dundrum not to switch their game with hollywood on saturday. Is there more to this? Could be an interesting decision if we get a wet weekend in the next couple of weeks. A no result wont help either team surely. Its very very tight at the bottom with ourselves right in the middle of it. Anyone care to shed any light on it?? Could i ask what the cut off date for fixtures to be complete is? I think its fair to say that dundrum are very good at home and this more than likely had a huge influence on the decision. Could it backfire? who knows

Thanks for clarifying that Michael. In this case I totally agree that a reserve venue for International fixtures should be prepared in the event that the chosen ground is unplayable or the forecast is bad. The only two ODI grounds are Clontarf and Stormont - with the new road links it would only take teams / officials and spectators 2-2.5 hours to travel from Belfast to Dublin or vice versa.