Now to finish 'em off

Now to finish 'em off

21 May 2014

NEWRY will be rocking on Saturday when Down and Tyrone battle it out again in the Ulster Championship.

A record crowd is expected at Pairc Esler after James McCartan’s side came within a whisker of sneaking a win at Omagh last Sunday.

Two injury-time frees from Sean Cavanagh earned Tyrone a 2-11 to 3-8 draw in a surreal match at Omagh.

With 13,266 spectators watching on, the Red Hands seemed to be coasting when Darren McCurry’s goal fired them into a seven-point lead (2-9 to 1-5) with 16 minutes left.

But Down posted 2-2 inside five minutes, the goals coming from Donal O’Hare and Conor Maginn, before a Benny Coulter point on 63 minutes made it 3-8 to 2-9.

Tyrone had led by 1-5 to 0-3 at the end of the first half, with Peter Harte netting a 25th-minute penalty. Down rang the changes at the break and on came Benny Coulter for Peter Turley, Jerome Johnston replaced Ambrose Rogers and Ryan Johnston took Ryan Boyle’s place.

And what a difference they eventually made.

Five minutes into the second half Down were awarded a penalty, which Aidan Carr calmly despatched, with Morgan sent to the line with a black card for his part in that incident.

A brace of Coney points gave Tyrone a 1-9 to 1-5 lead before the sides traded goals to leave it 2-9 t0 2-5. Maginn raced through to plant a third Down goal in the back of the Tyrone net and the match was now very much back in the melting pot with just a point separating teams, 2-9 to 3-5.

Conor Lafferty equalised and Mark Poland completed an amazing comeback as he fired the Mourne County into the lead for the first time on the hour, 3-7 to 2-9. 2-2 inside the space of five minutes!

Substitute Coulter made it a nine-point swing as he doubled the gap seven minutes from time and Down started to play down the clock as a shell-shocked home team tried to regroup from that double whammy of three-pointers.

Cavanagh ped over a short-range free with an amazing match already having entered four minutes of injury time and the former player of the year nailed a pressure free from distance with the last kick of the game deep into added time to earn his side a replay.

Down will have been buoyed by their memorable comeback, but manager James McCartan has been left with a number of headaches. Should the Johnston brothers, Jerome and Ryan, along with Benny Coulter be in from the start given their superb performances from the bench in Healy Park?

Should the team abandon their defensive strategy and go all out attack and pulverise a vulnerable Tyrone defence?

Mickey Harte also has a number of conundrums on his lap and all his managerial know how will be required if he is to beat Down in their own backyard.

There is little between the teams in terms of quality and it could all come down to who is the cuter on the line.

Down’s big guns, Kevin McKernan, Mark Poland and Conor Laverty, will be expected to produce the game of their lives while the inclusion of the returning Dan Gordon is not out of the question.

Tyrone may call in triple All-Ireland winners Conor Gormley and Stephen O’Neill from the start as they seek to advance to meet Monaghan.

It promises to be quite a match.