Desperate Down succumb to Longford in horror show

29 June 2016

THE Mournemen are down and truly out.

After losing their provincial quarter-final, more misery was piled on at Newry on Saturday as Longford came to town and sent the Down men packing.

This game was finely poised in the build-up. Eamon Burns’ side were slight favourites, but there were no real convincing arguments for this.

In the end, Longford were victorious thanks to a crisp display.

Down’s efforts in the first half were sub-standard and Longford were more to the fore, so much so that they led 0-11 to 1-4 at the break.

Brian Kavanagh and James McGivney were causing all sorts of problems for the Mourne defence while Longford’s Michael Quinn was running riot all across the pitch.

Down managed a goal in the 23rd minute through Conor Maginn, but apart from that moment of inspiration they struggled to make any other sort of impact.

There was hope for the hosts in the first ten minutes of the second half.

The Red and Black pushed hard to get back into the game and they registered 2-2 to a solitary point from Longford.

Down’s scorer-in-chief, Donal O’Hare, was on hand as he swooped for two goals and by the 45th minute his side led by three.

The game ebbed and flowed as the long whistle approached.

With only seconds remaining Longford held a one-point cushion.

But O’Hare was in bullish form and he sent over a last ditch equaliser from a free kick to send the game to extra time.

It was in these additional 20 minutes of play that Down completely crumbled.

Fatigue set in and the more tired Down became, the more energised Longford became.

Two subs, Seamus Hannon and Mark Hughes, easily found the Mourne net and with Down just managing five points it was all over for 2016 for Burns’ boys.w

Eamon Burns wasn’t giving anything away about his future as Down manager after a dismal season ended.

The loss brought the curtain down on a year in which the once-mighty Down failed to win a single league or championship game.

“Well, we’re not going to make a knee-jerk reaction. We’ll contemplate over the next week or two and see where we are,” Burns said.

“It’s disappointing. I’m very disappointed for the boys. I thought they worked very hard today and I thought at the end of the normal time we could have got a result, but that’s the way it goes.

“It went to extra-time and Longford finished the stronger.”

It is dark times for the Red and Black and success seems further away than ever.

Longford’s sensational journey through the back door continues while Down’s journey to redemption has only just begun.

Down: M Reid, C McGovern, G McGovern, D O’Hagan, D McKibbin, A Carr, D O’Hanlon, P Turley, K McKernan, R Mallon (0-4), M Poland (0-1), J Murphy, C Maginn (1-1), D O’Hare (2-9, 7f), B O’Hagan (0-1).

Subs: G Collins for D McKibbin, M McKay for K McKernan, D Turley for J Murphy, S Dornan (0-1) for B O’Hagan, H Brown for M McKay (BC), K McKernan for C Maginn, B McArdle for A Carr.

Longford: P Collum, C Farrelly, B Gilleran, D Brady, D McElligott, M Quinn (0-4), D Masterson (0-3), M Brady, D Gallagher, D Reynolds (0-1), J McGivney (0-3), B McKeon (0-2), R Smyth (0-4, 1f), B Kavanagh (0-6, 4f), B O’Farrell. Subs: P McGee for B Gilleran, L Connerton for D Gallagher, S Hannon (1-1) for B McKeon, B Farrell for D Reynolds, M Hughes (1-0) for J McGivney (BC), R Connor for R Smyth, D McGivney for M Quinn.

Down 3-17

Longford 2-24

ALL-IRELAND QUALIFIERS ROUND 1

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