Sheehan is star of show for Down

Sheehan is star of show for Down

21 February 2018

DOWN produced a masterful display of hurling when they blitzed Armagh at McKenna Park, Ballycran, on Sunday.

Marty Mallon’s young guns were too hot for Armagh to handle and they now head for Letterkenny next Sunday and a meeting with Donegal before facing title-chasing Mayo in Ballycran on Sunday, March 4.

Down started with a flourish and points from Rian Branagan and Pearse Og McCrickard gave them a 0-2 to 0-0 lead after only three minutes. Armagh responded with points from Danny Magee and Conor McAnallen, but these two scores only seemed to antagonise Down and midfielder Danny Toner swooped to net his side’s first goal in the seventh minute.

Armagh managed a third point from McAnallen, but Down piled on the pressure and points from a Mark Fisher free and Paul Sheehan edged the home side into a 1-4 to 0-3 lead by the ninth minute.

David Carvill and Sheehan exchanged points before the Newry Shamrocks man took advantage of a goalkeeping error to put Down into a 2-5 to 0-4 lead in the 14th minute.

It was all Down now and points flowed from Fisher, Eoghan Sands, Sheehan and Branagan to extend the lead to 11 points as the break approached.

However, there was still time for Tiarnan Nevin and Sheehan to swap scores as Down went in at the break with a commanding 2-10 to 0-5 lead.  

Armagh staged a bit of a revival at the start of the second half with two unanswered points from McAnallen, but Down were having none of it and Portaferry’s Eoghan Sands buried the ball in the net after a great pass from Fisher to make it 3-10 to 0-7.

McAnallen registered the game’s next two scores before Branagan kept Down ticking over with another point, 3-11 to 0-9 with 17 minutes remaining.

David Carvill plundered the next three scores for Armagh before Down were reduced to 14 men after Caolan Taggart was red-carded in the 59th minute.

Down still held the upper hand and Sheehan lofted them into a 3-12 to 0-12 lead by the 63rd minute. Cathal Carvill managed to reduce the leeway with a point for Armagh, but Down had the last word and points from Sands and Sheehan (0-2) gave them an impressive victory.     

Down: S Keith, B Byers, C Taggart, M Hughes, J McManus, M Fisher (0-2 frees), M Conlon, C Bailie, D Toner (1-0), R Branagan (0-3), D McManus, P Og McCrickard (0-1), M Magee, P Sheehan (1-7), E Sands (1-1). Subs: O McManus for McCrickard, E Coulter for Hughes, D Sands (0-1) for Baillie, PJ Davidson for Toner, L Savage for Magee.

Armagh: S Doherty, C Clifford, A McGuinness, D Bridges, C Rice, T Nevin (0-1), J Corvan, S Renaghan, K McKiernan, D McKenna, D Carvill (0-4, 0-3f), E McGuinness, C McAnallen, (0-6), O Curry, D Magee (0-1). Subs: P Quinn for Curry, C Carvill (0-1) for Magee, P McKearney for A McGuinness, P McGrane for McKenna.

Down 3-15

Armagh 0-13

ALLIANZ NHL DIVISION 2B