Football

Danny Hughes: Down go a long way to restoring pride in the jersey

Substitute Mark Poland celebrates Down's victory over Armagh at pairc Esler Picture by Seamus Loughran
Substitute Mark Poland celebrates Down's victory over Armagh at pairc Esler Picture by Seamus Loughran Substitute Mark Poland celebrates Down's victory over Armagh at pairc Esler Picture by Seamus Loughran

ENVY coursed through every fibre of my being last Sunday. On such days, ex-Down players look on with jealousy.

These are days which we will never enjoy again, but not since

I finished playing had I experienced such satisfaction without kicking a ball.

The stadium in Newry was almost full to capacity and I know that Newry Shamrocks and the Down stalwarts had been preparing for the occasion for months.

They did a fantastic job in preparing the field and the stadium for the event and, from a Down perspective, both the minor team and the senior team lived up to the occasion in defeating our neighbours Armagh in two thrilling contests.

The minor game was a great spectacle and, with the last kick of the game, a penalty was saved by Down minor goalkeeper Jack Hazard.

The two-point advantage held was enough to kickstart the Down celebrations.

We witnessed a number of future Down stars in the making, in particular Liam Kerr (inset) from Burren, who kicked six unanswered points in the second half.

He looks like a player who could hold his own at senior level and, although it is a big step up, I have seen it done before.

If the Down minors were to exit the Championship later in the series, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Eamonn Burns draft this young man into the senior panel.

When the Armagh team had been announced on the Thursday evening before the match, I was actually attending a pre-match event for Armagh TV alongside Benny Tierney, Stevie McDonnell and Tony Kernan.

It was a very well-run event and the great Jimmy Smyth kept a good tight rein on the outrageous Benny Tierney who is a laugh-a-minute in between the more measured Tony Kernan and Stevie McDonnell. Boy, could Armagh have been doing with these two latter-named players.

I was isolated alright on the night and, while I plumped for Down to win by a point, this was an opinion based on a hope rather than any fact-based evidence.

The one thing Armagh supporters and ex-players agreed on was that the Armagh forward line was something to be excited about.

‘Really’, I thought? Where is the evidence?’ I said at the event.

Which brings me to my point.

The same forward line Armagh started with against Down had played throughout the National League in some shape or form.

They may have scored plenty against Division Three opposition, but this was the same team who failed to get promotion from the third tier.

Antrim gave them a real scare if I recall and just look how badly they were beaten against Donegal.

The first half was as good a Championship match as you will see so far this year.

It had scores, in particular goals, for each side. Yet worryingly from a Down perspective, Armagh looked like scoring a goal on every attack in the last 15 minutes of that half.

Down looked dangerous up front, more composed on the ball and some of their counter-attacking was excellent too.

Down began to lose momentum in the half when they started to move laterally with the ball and this played into the hands of a sluggish Armagh who were intent on trying to give the ball to Jamie Clarke every time they went forward.

This must be a huge frustration for Andrew Murnin who got a goal and almost nabbed another when it hit the post.

You can see Jamie Clarke’s class when he gets a yard of space, but that was difficult during an afternoon where Darren O’Hagan gave an exhibition in man-marking.

Because Clarke was expected to get every ball and finish it for Armagh, all the Orchard forwards became peripheral figures when Down got their defence sorted out for the second half.

Down played smarter, more controlled and generally better football than their neighbours.

While the plaudits will go individually to players such as Darragh O’Hanlon, Darren O’Hagan and Caolan Mooney

who were all excellent, I thought Shay Millar was brilliant. Closely following him was another debutant, Niall Donnelly.

They may not be familiar names at the minute, but they certainly made themselves well known in Down with their performances.

The Mourne management deserve huge credit and have taken a fair bit of criticism over the last two years, including from yours truly.

I think most supporters and fans would appreciate that while football in Down has been below-par at times, the feeling is that there are enough players in the county to be competitive at much higher levels.

This frustration up until now had led to criticism. And perhaps, coincidentally, the pendulum has begun to swing in a positive direction, leading to change across the county from underage levels right up.

Beating Armagh was just the start. If Eamonn Burns’s team believe that they can beat Monaghan or Cavan then it is in their own hands.

Neither team will fancy playing them and, with Down likely to be going in as underdogs, what have they got to lose?

For many years, I was involved in teams who reached Ulster semi-finals only to play within ourselves come the actual occasion.

We lived with the 1991 and 1994 teams in our memory and we even played with some of these legends when first joining the panel.

While some of us have also played with the current squad, there should be no inferiority complex and the pressure of playing with Down should only amount to the pressure they put on themselves.

They have achieved where my generation failed – beating Armagh in the Championship.

The post-mortem has started in Armagh and ultimately the blame will be placed at Kieran McGeeney’s door.

Without being party to the team’s strategy, if the forward line was as good as some supporters thought, it’s the individual players themselves who need to take a good look at themselves.

On the other hand, if I was being critical of the management, withdrawing Oisin O’Neill and Charlie Vernon seemed harsh.

Sending on Ciaran McKeever with 30 seconds remaining was mind-blowing. The team looked generally devoid of any ideas on how to break down a defensive system, which is strange in the modern era.

Ultimately, though, as a player you support any manager by performing for him. Eamonn Burns suffered and has come out the other end and now it looks like it’s Kieran McGeeney’s turn.

A back-door run is the only option left. If that fails the only door remaining is the trap door.

And that only ends in one thing.

Armagh could learn from Down in this instance and a knee-jerk reaction is never advisable.

Success takes time and faith. There are no quick fixes.