Exciting era ahead for Down’s young guns

Exciting era ahead for Down’s young guns

4 March 2020

IF this performance was anything to go by at O’Connor Park on Sunday, then Down’s star is on the rise.

Paddy Tally’s young side were full of running, ideas and resilience as they got their promotion and Division 3 final hopes firmly back on track against a fairly decent Offaly offering.

Down stormed into a 0-11 to 0-2 half-time lead and never lost the initiative, despite losing both Kevin McKernan and Jonny Flynn to black cards in the second half.

A Barry O’Hagan free in the first minute was quickly cancelled out by by Anton Sullivan four minutes later. 

However, with a strong wind at their backs, Down piled on the pressure and tore the Offaly defence to shreds with some piercing play. 

Carryduff’s James Guinness and Kilcoo’s Ceilum Doherty put the visitors 0-3 to 0-1 in front before Kevin McKernan was sent to the sin-bin following a foul on Michael Brazil on 13 minute.

This lapse failed to derail Down’s challenge and further points from Barry O’Hagan (0-3) and a second from play for James Guinness made it 0-7 to 0-1 before Offaly eventually got their second score on 32 minutes via a Bernard Allen free. 

Down continued to dominate and they finished the first half in style with unanswered points from James Guinness, frees from Liam Kerr and Barry O’Hagan and a point from play for Cory Quinn put the visitors firmly in the driving seat.

The half ended on a sour note when Loughinisland’s Jonny Flynn was black-carded right on the half-time whistle.

Brazil and Kerr traded points at the start of the second half second half before two Ruairi McNamee frees closed the gap to seven after 42 minutes.

Quinn then blasted the ball over the bar when a goal looked on, but this was negated by Sullivan from play and a McNamee free as Offaly closed the gap to six points with 20 minutes remaining, 0-13 to 0-7.

Offaly threw caution to the wind at this stage and were unlucky when Peter Cunningham was denied a certain goal two minutes later by a superb Peter Fegan block.

Kerr and Eoin Carroll swapped scores to keep six points between the sides, but it all went wrong for Offaly when Carroll received a second yellow and then red for a high tackle on Aaron Morgan, Barry O’Hagan punishing the home side even further when he converted the resultant free.

Down introduced Glasdrumman’s Connaire Harrison late on and the first thing he did was pop the ball over the bar as did Carryduff’s Owen McCabe with Aaron Leavy pointing for Offaly as the game drew to a close.

Offaly: Paddy Dunican, Colm Doyle, Eoin Rigney, Declan Hogan, Eoin Carroll (0-1), David Dempsey, Niall Darby, Cathal Mangan, Michael Brazil (0-1), Shane Horan, Conor McNamee, Peter Cunningham, Anton Sullivan (0-2), Bernard Allen (0-1f), Ruairi McNamee (0-3f). Subs: Aaron Leavy (0-1) for C McNamee, Ciaran Donnelly for Brazil, Cian Johnson for Sullivan, Cian Donohue for Cunningham, Shane Nally for Doyle.

Down: Rory Burns, Peter Fegan, Patrick Murdock, Ryan McAleenan, Gerard Collins, James Guinness (0-3), Brendan McArdle, Jonny Flynn, Conor Poland, Barry O’Hagan (0-6, 4f), Ceilum Doherty (0-1), Liam Kerr (0-3, 1f), Daniel Guinness, Kevin McKernan, Cory Quinn (0-2). Subs: Owen McCabe (0-1) for Flynn (52), Aaron Morgan for McKernan, Paul Devlin for Doherty, Connaire Harrison (0-1) for Quinn, Niall Donnelly for Murdock.