Football

Down will hold their own in Division one says Mooney

Downs’ Caolan Mooney and Donegal’s Patrick McBrearty were in Belfast on Wednesday to announce further details of Setanta Sports’ coverage of the 2016 Allianz Leagues. The pair will go head to head on Saturday night at Páirc Esler in the opening round of Division One games at 7pm which will be shown on Setanta Sports 1. Throughout the course of the competition, Setanta Sports will bring 17 exclusively live games to viewers across Ireland
Downs’ Caolan Mooney and Donegal’s Patrick McBrearty were in Belfast on Wednesday to announce further details of Setanta Sports’ coverage of the 2016 Allianz Leagues. The pair will go head to head on Saturday night at Páirc Esler Downs’ Caolan Mooney and Donegal’s Patrick McBrearty were in Belfast on Wednesday to announce further details of Setanta Sports’ coverage of the 2016 Allianz Leagues. The pair will go head to head on Saturday night at Páirc Esler in the opening round of Division One games at 7pm which will be shown on Setanta Sports 1. Throughout the course of the competition, Setanta Sports will bring 17 exclusively live games to viewers across Ireland

POWERFUL gusts drove rain across in sheets when Caolan Mooney and Donegal’s Paddy McBrearty met on the top of Belfast’s Cave Hill yesterday.

They’ll meet at lower altitude on Saturday night in Newry on Saturday night when the serious business of the National Football League begins in earnest.

Setanta Sports will broadcast live from Pairc Esler and even before the ball is thrown in it appears that Down have a mountain to climb as they scramble for survival.

McBrearty’s Donegal are just the start of a campaign that will see the Mournemen – promoted from Division Two last year – face All-Ireland champions Dublin, Munster champs Kerry, Connacht champs Mayo and Ulster’s top dogs Monaghan.

Cork and Roscommon are also in the mix and Down have to travel to play both. The last thing it is is easy but Mooney is well aware of that.

“Going on the form of last year people have every right to question whether Down will be good enough to play in Division One,” said the St Bronagh’s Rostrevor clubman.

“But we have 35 boys in training since November who are pushing each other and competing for positions

“You can only do what you can do. We’ll put 15 men on the pitch and the six subs you can bring on and pray we come out on the right side of the result.”

Prayers can’t hurt, but Down will discover quickly that they’ll get no favours in the dog-eat-dog world of top flight football.

Donegal will make the journey to Newry eager to exploit every sign of weakness in the Mourne camp.

“Over the last four or five years Donegal have been competing in Ulster and they won an All-Ireland as well,” Mooney acknowledged.

“It’s a tough task for us. Compare our year to their year: We were knocked out by Wexford in the Qualifiers and they got to the Ulster final and the All-Ireland quarter-final.

“It’s a big ask but we’ve been training hard and these are the sort of nights you want to play football: a big crowd in Newry, the first round of Division One… It’s an exciting time, but people aren’t going to give us much of a chance.”

Of course, people – inside and outside the county – can say what they like but ultimately it’s up to Down’s players to prove them wrong. Mooney believes they can and will.

“Down always had talented players, they always produced a nice few flair players,” he said.

“Just to get Benny Coulter, Marty Clarke, Kevin McKernan, Mark Poland back, get their experience back would mean a lot, especially for the young boys.

“There’s a lot of young lads between 20 and 23 and the likes of ‘Polie’ (Mark Poland) can bring them on with their experiences.

“In a couple of years, when they start maturing, you never know what might happen.

“The aim is staying in Division One and I’m saying yeah, we can definitely stay up. On any day any team can beat any other team so we’ll take Saturday night and get two points and push on from there.”

Meanwhile, McBrearty insists that Donegal expect a determined challenge from Down in Saturday night’s opener.

“Down probably see themselves having a good enough opportunity against us,” he said.

“We don’t have a good record in Newry, we’ve never won there since I’ve been playing.

“We definitely look at it as a tough match but we’ll concentrate on ourselves and hopefully get the year off to a good start.”

Donegal beat the Mournemen in the first game of the Dr McKenna Cup and, while that run out will count for very little tomorrow night, McBrearty hopes that the return of experienced operators will help the new faces in the panel settle into League football.

“The McKenna Cup was used as getting new lads into the panel and into the inter-county scene,” he said.

“Hopefully they’ll bring that experience into the League and with that bit of experience back – Neil Gallagher, Frank (McGlynn) and Murph (Michael Murphy) and a few of the other lads – hopefully they can help them along.”

As for targets, McBrearty puts it simply: “To go out and win every game.

“We want to improve and get a bit of momentum going into the Championship because the League probably hasn’t been taken that seriously in Donegal.

“You obviously didn’t go out to try and lose any game but the Championship was out overall aim. We’ll go out and try and win every game if possible and try and improve every day.”

Live National League games on Setanta Sports

All games 7pm unless stated

Saturday: Dublin v Kerry (Setanta Ireland), Down v Donegal (Setanta Sports 1)

February 6: Mayo v Dublin (Setanta Ireland), Armagh v Laois (Setanta Sports 1)

February 13: Tipperary v Dublin (Hurling, Setanta Ireland), Limerick v Wexford (Hurling, Setanta Sports 1)

February 20: Cork v Waterford (Hurling, Setanta Ireland), Dublin v Galway (Hurling, Setanta Sports 1)

February 27: Dublin v Monaghan (Football, Setanta Ireland), Armagh v Fermanagh (Football, Setanta Sports 1)

March 5: Dublin v Cork (Hurling, Setanta Ireland, 5pm), Dublin v Cork (Football, Setanta Ireland), Tyrone v Derry (Football, Setanta Sports 1)

March 12: Cork v Kilkenny (Hurling, Setanta Ireland), Down v Dublin (Football, Setanta Sports 1)

March 26: Dublin v Donegal (Football, Setanta Ireland), Tyrone v Armagh (Football, Setanta Sports 1)