BATTLING forward Connaire Harrison says Down are capable of "mixing it with the big boys" in Division One this season.
After Sunday's two-point loss to Monaghan, Harrison and his team-mates boarded the team bus for the journey home from Clones last Sunday with no points to show for their efforts - but their performance hinted that better days may be around the corner.
After the drubbing they had taken from Donegal the previous Saturday night no-one gave them a chance against Monaghan, but in the end – though Down rode their luck at times - there was only a kick of the ball in it.
The Mournemen didn’t start like a side low on confidence and held a 0-5 to 0-2 lead early in the first half. Monaghan reeled them in with a six-point blitz and held on at the death when Down launched a late rally.
Harrison finished the game with four points and the Glasdrumman clubman says he has “100 per cent” faith that Down will make a case for themselves in Division One.
“It’s disappointing, but there’s a whole lot of positives we can take out of that game,” he said.
“There was a kick of the ball in it and we have a lot of boys to come back in and they were probably near full strength there.
“If it hadn’t been for wee individual things that we can improve on we probably could have won the game.”
From early on it was clear that Down had drawn a line over that opening round defeat and the movement of Harrison and Shay McArdle gave them a potent outlet in attack.
“We probably let ourselves down a bit at Pairc Esler (against Donegal),” Harrison admitted.
“But we’re not turning up at training every week just for the craic, we know we’re capable of mixing it with the so-called ‘big boys’ of this division.
“Everybody got their head down (after the Donegal game).
“There was a few things said, probably everybody didn’t pull their weight last week but they did out there today and it was a big performance from us but, at the end of the day, we still came out on the wrong side of the result.”
Harrison rejoined the Down panel this year after missing the last two seasons. When he left the squad in 2013, the Mournemen were relegated from the top flight under James McCartan.
“I was away out of the panel for a couple of years there. I took a break out and went to New York, I was playing a bit of football out there,” he explained.
“The last time I played we were in Division One so I knew what I was up against when I came back. I learned from that wee bit of experience and I took it into today and last week.
“We know ourselves that we can up it another bit and we can compete in this division.
“It’s just about getting the break of the ball and wee bits of luck so things go our way. “Our luck will turn, we know it’s going to turn and we know there’s big performances in us to take points of the big teams in this division.
“Us boys wouldn’t be turning up to training five/six nights a week or whatever it is we’re doing if we didn’t. We’re doing that because we know we’re good enough to compete with these boys and we’re hoping that we can get a few results in the next few weeks and hopefully give ourselves a chance to stay in the division.”
Harrison had a late free at Clones and if he’d converted it Down might have had a chance of snatching a draw.
He explained: “The referee said ‘you have 30 seconds left’. I had cramp just before it and just as I went to kick it I got cramp again and I pulled it and it went wide.
“But sure these things happen and you have to get on with it. You don’t dwell on it and we’ll go to training and look at the DVD and hopefully things will turn for us the next day.”
