All-Ireland SFC Qualifying round 1B: Down 3-17 Longford 2-24 (after extra time)
IT was never going to end well this year. Getting past Longford would merely have prolonged the agony. In fact, the two periods of extra-time on Saturday afternoon served to do just that.
In truth, nobody in the county had the stomach to watch another desperate chapter in the life and times of a fallen giant.
So it was best that the Down senior football team headed for the All-Ireland exit as early as possible.
There was really no point in hanging around, particularly against spirited opposition such as Longford in front of a paltry home crowd that kind of knew what was coming.
For Longford, they experienced the true romance of the All-Ireland Qualifiers in Newry on Saturday afternoon.
For Down, it was the worst kind of purgatory.
Down finished the 2016 season with just one facile win against their name – victory over St Mary’s in the Dr McKenna Cup. Everything else was instantly forgettable.
Their last Championship win, for the record, came against Leitrim in 2014.
As reporters waited outside the changing rooms in Pairc Esler on Saturday everything jarred.
Music blasted out of the Longford changing room while just a few feet away it was morgue-like in and around the home changing room.
The day felt like the end of the road for Eamonn Burns as Down manager.
He deserves more thanks than criticism, for the storm clouds were hovering overhead long before he took a sharp in-take of breath and did the county board a massive favour by gripping a poisoned chalice.
Since taking the reins, the Bryansford man has become the professor of post-match brevity.
Visibly uncomfortable when faced with a posse of microphones and tape-recorders, Burns must feel some relief this morning that he won’t have to run this kind of gauntlet again.
On his future, Burns said: “Well, we’re not going to make a knee-jerk reaction. We’ll contemplate over the next week or two and see where we are.”
Reporters still had more questions to ask but the manager was ushered away.
And that was that.
The swiftness of Saturday’s post-match interview was probably a record: it lasted 55 seconds with press reporters – hardly sufficient time to discuss what’s gone wrong in the Mourne county.
Or perhaps that’s the reason for their brevity – so that nobody gets the chance to enquire about the county’s woes in any meaningful way.
For the Longford players, management team and supporters, Saturday’s Qualifier was an extra-time thriller.
For Down, it was nothing of the sort.
The Down team posted one of the worst first half performances in living memory. Longford were allowed to dictate the terms of engagement. Sweeper and man-of-the-match Michael Quinn ran the show from start to finish.
Down were all at sea.
It only dawned on the home side to start targeting Longford’s number six in extra-time, when Mark McKay was black-carded for hauling him down in an off-the-ball incident.
But the damage was already done at that stage. Longford had the bit between their teeth and Down seemed to want the game to be over.
The visitors led 0-11 to 1-4 at half-time as Longford forwards Brian Kavanagh, Robbie Smyth and James McGivney ran riot.
Barry O’Hagan, bizarrely substituted in the 62nd minute, showed admirable determination in assisting for Conor Maginn and Donal O’Hare’s three-pointers in the 22nd and 36th minutes, respectively.
Indeed, the only real spell of Down ascendancy came after the break when O’Hare bagged two goals in the space of eight minutes which gave the home side a 3-6 to 0-12 lead after 44 minutes.
“We did [fear losing at that stage] because Down came at us very strongly after the break,” said Longford boss Denis Connerton.
“The goal after half-time was a killer. It was very bad timing conceding straight away. But we knew that Down wouldn’t lie down, they’ve some excellent players.
“They’ve had a poor season but we knew there would be big fight in them especially in front of their own home crowd and we knew we would have to play out of our skins and that’s what we did.”
It was Down who required an equaliser to force Saturday’s Qualifier to extra-time. Donal O’Hare, who top-scored with 2-9 (2-3 from play), sent over a close-range free after Mark Poland had been felled right in front of Longford’s posts.
But Longford’s superior fitness and determination saw them take a firm grip of the tie in extra-time with substitutes Seamus Hannon and Mark Hughes rippling Down’s net. The visitors outscored their hosts 2-3 to 0-5 in those two 10-minute periods, and they were full value for their win.
“It’s disappointing,” said Burns. “I’m very disappointed for the boys. I thought they worked very hard today and I thought at the end of the normal time we could have got a result but that’s the way it goes. It went to extra time and Longford finished the stronger.”
MATCH STATS
Down: M Reid; C McGovern, G McGovern, D O’Hagan; D McKibbin, A Carr, D O’Hanlon; P Turley, K McKernan; R Mallon (0-4), M Poland (0-1), J Murphy; C Maginn (1-1), D O’Hare (2-9, 0-6 frees), B O’Hagan (0-1). Subs: G Collins for D McKibbin (44), M McKay for K McKernan (53), D Turley for J Murphy (54), S Dornan (0-1) for B O’Hagan (62), K McKernan for C Maginn (84), B McArdle for A Carr (89). Black card: M McKay (78) replaced by H Brown.
Longford: P Collum; C Farrelly, B Gilleran, D Brady; D McElligott, M Quinn (0-4), D Masterson (0-3); M Brady, D Gallagher; D Reynolds (0-1), J McGivney (0-3), B McKeon (0-2); R Smyth (0-4, 0-1 free), B Kavanagh (0-6, 0-3 frees), B O’Farrell. Subs: P McGee for B Gilleran (48), L Connerton for D Gallagher (55), S Hannon (1-1) for B McKeon (60), B Farrell for D Reynolds (67), D Gallagher (returned for extra-time), R Connor for R Smyth (85), D McGivney for M Quinn (89). Yellow cards: M Brady (15, 70), D McElligott (23), D McGivney (43). Red cards: M Brady (70). Black card: J McGivney (80) replaced by M Hughes (1-0).
Referee: B Cassidy (Derry)
