DOWN stormed through to a quarter-final encounter with Tyrone when they blitzed Antrim at St Tiarnach’s Park, Clones on Sunday afternoon.
Conor Deegan’s side play with an unrestricted freedom and at a high tempo, but Tyrone will be a different proposition this weekend, especially ay Healy Park.
A Liam Kerr free got Down on the scoreboard within the first minute and this was quickly followed by a score from Ross Carr. Antrim responded with a point from John McCafferty, but it was an impressive Down side that held sway.
Despite losing midfielder Liam Middleton to a black card in the fifth minute, Down continued to dominate with Clonduff’s Aaron Devlin slotting effortlessly into Middleton’s place.
A free from Seamus Loughran and two more points from the dynamic Kerr free had Down buzzing and sitting pretty with a 0-5 to 0-1 lead with 15 minutes gone.
Antrim fought back gallantly and points from Pat Shivers and Tiernan McAteer left just two points between the sides, but that was as good as it got for the Saffrons as Down moved up a gear.
With Carr and Devlin calling the shots, Loughran (0-3), Kerr and Carr fired over unanswered points to send Down into the break with a commanding seven point lead.
It could have been even better for Down as they had the ball in the back of the Antrim net just before the break, but Conor McCrickard’s effort was strangely disallowed to leave his side with a 0-10 to 0-3 half-time lead.
The second half followed a similar pattern with Down again getting off to a flying start.
Antrim just had no answers to Down’s pace, power and guile and consecutive points from Declan McClements, Loughran, Conor Clarke and skipper Shane Annett had Deegan’s boys out of sight with a 0-14 to 0-3 lead.
Shivers halted the momentum with a converted free for and Tiarnan McAteer added another point to leave nine points between the sides with 48 minutes gone.
Down soon got back on track and a goal from Devlin cancelled out Antrim’s brave efforts and 12 points behind with less than 10 minutes remaining, there looked no chance of a comeback.
However, two points from Eoin Nagle gave Antrim some respite before two Carr scores had Down back on the front foot. Deegan introduced five substitutes in the second half and this allowed Antrim to take advantage of players getting up to speed and scores from Rory Brolly, Dermot McErlaine, Dominic McAteer and Eoghan McCabe added respectability to the final score.
Down scorers: Aaron Devlin (1-0), Seamus Loughran (0-5, 1f), Liam Kerr (0-4, 2f), Ross Carr (0-4, 1x45’), Declan McClements (0-1), Conor Clarke (0-1), Shane Annett (0-1). Antrim scorers: Pat Shivers (0-2f), Tiarnan McAteer (0-2), Eoin Nagle (0-2), John McCafferty (0-1), Rory Brolly (0-1), Dermot McErlaine (0-1f), Dominic McAteer (0-1), Eoghan McCabe (0-1).
Down U-20 1-16
Antrim U-20 0-11
ULSTER U-20 FC