Down, but omens good

Down, but omens good

26 June 2019

FORTITUDE, bravery and resilience were not just enough for Down at Pairc Esler on Saturday night when Mayo rode their luck to progress into round three of the All-Ireland Qualifiers.

Paddy Tally’s players can hold their heads up high as they now head back to their clubs full time, knowing they gave it one last hurrah in an action-packed clash.

Unfortunately, the only sour note was the fact that had Down taken all their chances they might just have pulled off a shock result.

Down had been hoping to catch their visitors on the hop following their disappointing Connacht semi-final defeat to Roscommon in Castlebar last time out, but it wasn’t to be.

Conor Loftus opened the scoring for Mayo, but with four minutes gone Connaire Harrison brought the sides level in a lively start.

Andy Moran nudged Mayo ahead again in the fifth minute, but John Horan’s side were visibly rocked three minutes later when Caolan Mooney pounced.

The enigmatic Rostrevor man produced a dynamic charge that cut right through the heart of the Mayo cover before beating ‘keeper David Clarke all ends up and give his side a 1-1 to 0-2 lead.

Mayo were not for rolling over and with powerhouse Aidan O’Shea dominating from his central position, the visitors started to dictate.

Points from Kevin McLoughlin and Fionn McDonagh brought the sides level yet again, before Saval’s Pat Havern pointed Down back into a 1-2 to 0-4 led with 20 minutes gone.

Pairc Esler was throbbing at this stage with both sides receiving vociferous support, but it was Mayo fans who were the happier as three further Loftus points, including two frees, and another score from McDonagh had the visitors 0-8 to 1-2 in front with half-time approaching. 

Carryduff’s Owen McCabe and O’Shea swapped points as did Donal O’Hare and Chris Barrett  to leave Mayo with a hard-earned 0-10 to 1-4 lead at the break.

Lee Keegan, who continuously stormed forward into attacking positions, extended Mayo’s lead to four points at the start of the second half, but this score was quickly cancelled out by the imperious Mooney.

Alas, a momentary lapse in the Down defence with 42 minutes gone proved critical when a quickly taken Mayo free caught the home side out and Loftus was on hand to beat Rory Burns with an unerring finish to the net.

Moran tagged on a point as Mayo seized the moment to move 1-12 to 1-5 clear, but roared on by their indefatigable support, Down went for broke and scores from O’Hare and the newly-introduced Cory Quinn reduced the deficit to five points.

Down squandered a few scoreable chances at this stage as the game entered the last quarter.

Keegan and Harrison exchanged points before Clarke denied O’Hare a certain goal in the 56th minute.

However, Down kept plugging away and scores from Quinn and Jerome Johnston brought Mayo’s lead down to three points with 10 minutes remaining.

The momentum was now with Down, but Mayo picked them off on the counterattack. O’Hare and Diarmuid O’Connor exchanged points before Keegan and Ciaran Treacy finished the job in added time.

Mayo’s five-point winning margin was a bit flattering and the final result would have been so much more different had Down taken all their chances.

Down’s season is now over, but Tally has laid the foundations for better things to come.

Saturday’s defeat may well have been the last game in a Down shirt for a few of the side’s older players as there is a plethora of young players just waiting to get their chance and Tally seems to be the man to give them that opportunity.

Down: R Burns, D O’Hagan, B McArdle, G Collins, R McAleenan, K Kernan, D Guinness, J Flynn, C Poland, C Francis, C Mooney (1-1), P Laverty, P Havern (0-1), D O’Hare (0-3, 2f), C Harrison (0-2). Subs: J Guinness for Laverty, J Johnston (0-1) for D Guinness, C Quinn (0-2) for Havern, B O’Hagan for McCabe (0-1), P Devlin for B O’Hagan (black card).

Mayo: D Clarke, C Barrett (0-1), B Harrison, K Higgins, L Keegan (0-3), C Boyle, P Durcan, D O’Connor (0-1), A O’Shea (0-1), F McDonagh (0-2), C Loftus (1-4, 3f), J Doherty, K McLoughlin (0-1), D Coen, A Moran (0-2). Subs: E Regan for Coen (black card), F Boland for Doherty, C Treacy (0-1) for McLoughlin, M Plunkett for Moran, J McCormack for O’Connor.

Down 1-11

Mayo 1-16

ALL-IRELAND QUALIFIERS