Agonising reversal for hurlers in 2B decider

30 March 2016

IT was a battle like no other at Dowdallshill when old foes Down and Armagh served up a fiery encounter that went the way of the Orchard County.

Despite a very muddy pitch cutting up rough as the game progressed, along with strong wind and rain, both sides contributed to an energetic and pulsating encounter.

Down talisman Danny Toner took the game by the scruff of the neck in the early stages as he bagged three points, two coming from frees.

Armagh went through a wasteful patch with some wayward shooting before Declan Coulter opened their account.

Toner then landed his fourth from a free before Ryan Gaffney, from placed balls, began to edge Armagh back into the contest.

In the 16th minute Scott Nicholson landed a fine effort for the Mournemen before further frees from Gaffney had the Orchard County 0-7 to 0-5 up with 19 minutes on the clock.

Down were in bullish form and James McGrath progressed forward, undeterred with a double whammy of points to level the contest with 22 minutes on the clock.

Stephen Reneghan and John Corvan were beginning to assert supreme control over the middle third by this stage and in the run in to half-time Armagh hit five without reply.

Nathan Curry swooped for a sublime score with middle man Reneghan hitting two and the accurate Gaffney planting another two set-pieces to help establish a 0-12 to 0-7 half-time advantage.

Within three minutes of the restart Down were nearly dead and buried. However, they had Ballycran stopper Stephen Keith to thank for a top drawer save.

The brave net minder threw himself towards Declan Coulter’s penalty strike before making contact and ushering the sliotar out of danger

With this renewed impetus Down staged a dramatic recovery as they roared back into the contest, led by some fantastic graft from Conor Woods.

Toner and Rian Brannigan got the bandwagon rolling with scores before sub Christopher Egan shimmied to the net to draw the contest level.

Armagh soon got to grips with the game again and their cause was assisted with the red carding of John McManus, plus the fact that Scott Nicholson’s goal effort was tremendously slapped over the bar for a point by goalkeeper Doherty.

The game started to get messy as the free count rose which led to conversions from the main two protagonists, Toner and Gaffney.

However, the usually reliable Toner soon began to falter and he wasted two glorious opportunities to put Down ahead.

Yet it was the Orchard County who saw out the game with more conviction. Corvan and Coulter were on target to grasp a two point advantage and despite Clifford

(Armagh) and Mageean (Down) being sent off late on, the Cahal Carville-captained side held on for a momentous success.

Down played well in patches, but it was Armagh who played their best stuff at the critical junctions. It was a top drawer final with Michael Johnston now having to return to the drawing board ahead of the championship.

Armagh: S Doherty, C Clifford, A McGuinness, N Curry (0-1), C Toner, S Gaffney, K McKernan, S Reneghan (0-2), J Corvan (0-1), R Gaffney (0-11, 10F), D Coulter (0-4), D Carvill, C Carvill, E McGuinness, C Corvan (0-1). Subs: C Devlin (0-1), P McKearney, P Hughes.

Down: S Keith, S Ennis, P Flynn, C O’Prey, J McManus, A O’Prey (0-3, 3F), J McGrath (0-2), S Nicholson (0-2), C Woods, F Conway, D Hughes, R Brannigan (0-1), S Dineen, D Toner (0-7, 6F), C Mageean. Subs: R Campbell, J Doran, P Sheehan, C Egan (1-0).

Armagh 0-20

Down 1-15

NHL DIVISION 2B FINAL

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