Down pushed hard by Tyrone

Down pushed hard by Tyrone

18 April 2018

DOWN’S U-17 hurlers are top of their group after a hard-fought victory over a determined Tyrone side last Sunday and have qualified for the quarter-finals with one league game remaining.

Down were given the biggest shock of their campaign by a well drilled and skilful Tyrone side.

It took the dogged persistence of corner forward Eoin Magee to get the goal to level matters and a moment of class from Stuart Martin to snatch the winner with the game in injury time.

The weather conditions contributed to a fast-paced open style of hurling and just eight minutes played Down led 0-4 to 0-3, as Coulter, Martin and Ciaran Watson, with a long range effort, got Down off to a good start, while Cain Ferguson and Rory Weir did likewise for Tyrone.

Eleven minutes disaster struck when Down’s Caolan Coulter and Anthony Crossan of Tyrone were shown red cards after an off the ball altercation. This effected Down drastically as their talismanic scorer over the last three games was now out of the game.

Stuart Martin, Sean Hughes and Eoin Magee responded for Down by pushing their side further in front with the next four scores to establish a five-point cushion. 

Tyrone started to eat away at Down’s lead as midfielder Fergal Donaghy lofted over a long-range effort from midfield.

The next seven minutes saw two of his Dungannon clubmates do the same — Sean Paul McKernan with a 70m free and Ferguson from a free on the 50m line. 

Down appeared sluggish and had appeared out of sorts and with just one minute to go it took a 30m point from midfielder Aodhan Furlong to stop the rot when he drove the sliotar over the crossbar to see Down go in at half-time with a four-point lead, 1-10 to 0-9.

When the game restarted, Tyrone’s Ferguson was now making the most of the extra space around goal and by the 15th minute the visitors had blitzed Down with five points.

Tyrone now looked serious contenders for victory, but Hughes kept Down’s nose in front with two well-taken points.

Cian Lyons, Oran O’Connor and Mickey Toner were made to work extremely hard under the increasing Tyrone onslaught and thankfully for Jamie Fowler and John Paul Napier the Down lads stood to the test.

The next 10 minutes saw the sides trade scores as Down crept further in front, only for Tyrone to peg them back again.

Down brought on a few substitutes and when McKeown saved from a Tiernan Murphy piledriver, Tyrone replied with a goal from Ferguson when he bundled the sliotar past Down’s Cahal Lavery to give his side a one-point advantage. 

Suddenly, the game had swung in Tyrone’s favour as they quickly tacked on two further scores to lead by three, leaving the Mourne county shell-shocked as time was running out.

It was with three minutes left that the determined and lively Magee broke the shackles of Devlin and Brian Rush and as he bore down on McKeown’s goal he managed to kick the sliotar to the net to level the game, much to the relief of all the Down support.

With the game now in injury time it looked like the game was to finish level, but it was pure class and brilliance of Stuart Martin in turning his marker to find the smallest of spaces and swing the sliotar over the black spot 40m out on the sideline to snatch the winner.

This was a nerve-jangling game of hurling for Down and Tyrone can be counted extremely unlucky not to have come away with a deserved victory after a fantastic effort.

After the game referee Máirtín McGann awarded the best and fairest to Stuart Martin of Down and Cain Ferguson of Tyrone. 

Down: Cahal Lavery, Oran O’Connor, Cian Lyons, Michael Toner, Darragh Kelly (0-1), Ciaran Watson (0-1), Lukas Boyd, Aodhan Furlong (0-2), Rory Brown, Sean Hughes (0-4), Stuart Martin (1-3), Owen McDermot, Eoin Magee (1-4), Oistín Devlin, Caolan Coulter (0-1). Subs: Ciaran McMullan for McDermot, Tiernan Murphy for Devlin, Imran Hussain for Boyd.