Down endure shock defeat away to Galway

Down endure shock defeat away to Galway

12 March 2014

DOWN’S unbeaten run in Division 2 came to an abrupt halt at Tuam as a fired up Galway side grabbed their first win of the season.

With 20 minutes to go both teams were level at 0-8 apiece. Galway then proceeded to hit 1-4 while Down failed to register a further score.

Despite an array of score getters against Louth last week only Donal O’Hare and Kevin McKernan managed to get on target in this clash.

Down were also wasteful in front of goal as O’Hare, Madine and Ryan Johnston all failed to put away decent scoring chances.

From the early exchanges it was obvious that Galway were desperate for the win. Michael Martin and Gary Sice picked off the first scores.

Donal O’Hare then hogged the limelight as he bagged two frees and an audacious point from wide on the right. Galway kept battling hard and a well taken effort from James Kavanagh had them leading 0-6 to 0-5 at the short whistle.

Straight after the restart Eddie Hoare doubled Galway’s advantage before another O’Hare effort from play and Kevin McKernan’s first of the afternoon levelled the game.

McKernan then replied to another Galway prompting in the 50th minute as both teams squared up at 0-8 each. Galway’s survival instincts then kicked in as Michael Martin parachuted them into a lead that they would not relinquish.

Another fantastic score from James Kavanagh plus one from midfielder Tom Flynn put Alan Mulholland’s side ahead by three.

Down then wasted two very scorable goal chances through Donal O’Hare and Ryan Johnston before Danny Cummins made no mistake with his to keep alive Galway’s fight for safety from relegation.

James McCartan remains hopeful that Down can achieve promotion from Division 2 of the Allianz Football League, despite their shock reversal in Tuam.

“There are three games left. It’s all to play for and we’ll see how we get on,” he said.

McCartan insisted that he wasn’t surprised by how well Galway, who had lost their first three games, played.

“Galway are a good footballing county with a long tradition and we knew that once you lose your first three games you’re going to come out fighting,” he added.

“The criticism they got I’m sure stung a performance out of them.

“But I wouldn’t be too critical of our guys. The performance was okay,” he continued.

“It was probably enough that we could have nicked the game, which sounds strange when you lose by seven, but in the second half I felt we were

creating chances that we just didn’t take.”

Galway: T. Healy, D. O’Neill, F. Hanley, J. Moore, G. Bradshaw, G. O’Donnell, P. Varley (0-1), F. O’Curraoin, T. Flynn (0-1), S. Armstrong (0-1f), P. Conroy, G. Sice (0-1), M. Martin (0-3f), E. Hoare (0-3), J. Kavanagh (0-2). Subs: A. Tierney for Hanley, K. Kelly for O’Neill, D. Cummins (1-0) for Martin, D. O’Connell for Sice, G. Higgins for Hoare.

Down: B McVeigh, D. McCartan, B. McArdle, O. Costello, C. Garvey, A. Carr, R. Boyle, P. Turley, P. Fitzpatrick, C. Maginn, M. Poland, K. McKernan (0-2), J. Johnston, N. Madine, D. O’Hare (0-6, 4f). Subs: C. Laverty for Fitzpatrick, D. Rooney for P. Turley, R. Johnston for J. Johnston, B. Coulter for Madine, D. O’Hanlon for Garvey, C. O’Hare for Maginn.

Galway 1-12

Down 0-8

NFL DIVISION 2