Sport

In The Irish News May 17 1998: Vintage Carr sets Down on the road

OFF TO A FLYING START... Down’s Finbar Caulfield and Tyrone’s Ciaran Loughran battle for possession during yesterday’s Ulster Championship opener at Healy Park in Omagh. Down won the match 0-15 to 2-7 to progress to the quarter-finals.
OFF TO A FLYING START... Down’s Finbar Caulfield and Tyrone’s Ciaran Loughran battle for possession during yesterday’s Ulster Championship opener at Healy Park in Omagh. Down won the match 0-15 to 2-7 to progress to the quarter-finals. OFF TO A FLYING START... Down’s Finbar Caulfield and Tyrone’s Ciaran Loughran battle for possession during yesterday’s Ulster Championship opener at Healy Park in Omagh. Down won the match 0-15 to 2-7 to progress to the quarter-finals.

WEARING little more than a smile, Ross Carr sank back against the dressing room wall and contemplated thoughts of his last game for Down.

Filled with motivation, the fear of the unthinkable, he admitted had been the driving force behind his best performance in a Down jersey for four years.

“I suppose this year it was a question of whether to go back or not, but having been beaten by Tyrone at the start of the championship the last two years was hard to stick,” he said.

“At half-time I was sitting in here and the thought of losing again was what got me through. I knew this could have been my last game for Down and I was afraid of that more than anything else.”

Reflecting on what had just been achieved, the 32-year-old said talk of Linden, Carr and Co on the scrapheap had inspired him to greater heights than he had thought still possible.

“I’m not saying that somebody like Shane Mulholland would have been less disappointed than me if we had lost.

“But at the end of the day, he has 10 or 11 years championship football left in him. I was scared that me and guys like Mickey wouldn’t be here again.”

Tyrone: Finbar McConnell (capt); Paul Devlin, Fergal Logan, Fay Devlin; Sean McLaughlin, Colin Holmes, Terry McKenna; Jody Gormley, Davitt McElroy; Brian Dooher, Adrian Cush, Stephen Lawn; Ciaran Loughran, Eoin Gormley, Gerard Cavlan.

Subs: Ciaran McBride for Cavlan (55), Brian McGuckian for McKenna (59). Goals: Adrian Cush 1 (pen), Stephen Lawn 1. Points: Adrian Cush 3, Eoin Gormley 2, Stephen Lawn 1, Brian Dooher 1.

Down: Michael McVeigh; Finbar Caulfield, Brian Burns, Miceal Magill; Simon Poland, Conor Deegan (capt.), Paul Higgins; Gregory McCartan, Sean Ward; Ross Carr, James McCartan, Gerard Colgan; Gerard Deegan, Mickey Linden, Shane Mulholland.

Subs: Mal McMurray for Burns (34), Aidan Quinn for Colgan (38), Shane Ward for Quinn (54).

Points: Ross Carr 5, Shane Mulholland 5, Mickey Linden 2, Conor Deegan 1, Gerard Deegan 1, Shane Ward 1.

Referee: Pat McEneaney (Monaghan).

Attendance: 15,000

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SETANTA enjoyed mixed fortunes at the Annual Belfast Trades Council Sponsored Junior Blitz tournament at the Grove on Saturday.

They beat Cathal Brutha 6-5 after extra time in the girls final with their goals coming from Danielle Fitzpatrick (two goals), Karen Devlin, Patricia Murray, Liza Dalton and Natalie Fitzpatrick (one each). Majella O’Loan (two) Catherine Cassidy, Colleen McAlea and Deirdre Mulholland (one each) replied for Brutha.

A very good young Clonard side won the boys event with a 6-3 victory over Setanta.

Their goals came from Kevin Hughes (three), Ciaran McGlue (two) and Kevin McCann (one).

Michael Gillen (two) and Eamon Kerr were on target for Setanta.

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JACKIE McKernan and Vicki Jamison claimed victories at the opening meeting of the British Track and Field season in Loughborough yesterday.

McKernan hurled the discus 56.66 metres while Jamison won the 400 metres with a time of 53.63 seconds.

ulie Davis finished third in the B 400 hurdles in 62.84.

Annadale’s Jim Campbell came in ahead of his compatriots Peter Matthews, Noel Cullen and David Burke when he took sixth place in the 5000 metres. Campbell clocked 14.06.72.

In the British league on Saturday, Ballymena and Antrim athlete Eddie King broke 1.52 to win the 800 metres. Meanwhile northern athletes Paul Curran and Danea Heron won medals at the BLE multi-events championships.

North Down’s Curran had six personal bests when winning the silver with 6366 points. Heron, from the Olympian club in Derry, took silver in the heptathlon with 3612 points