EAMONN Burns was more relieved than delighted after yesterday’s win over 'auld enemy' Armagh.
The Down manager has come in for a lot of criticism during his time at the helm, but he has every reason to satisfied with his afternoon's work because after trailing by a point at the end of a rip-roaring and open first half, the Mournemen bossed an attritional second against an Orchard side that looked short on ideas and genuine quality.
Whether this win – the county’s first in the Ulster Championship since 2013 - turns out to be a rights-of-passage victory that sees them kick on to unexpected success, or a flash-in-the-pan remains to be seen, but Burns was delighted to get the game out of the way.
“It’s not enjoyable,” Burns said afterwards.
“It’s pressure, it’s pressure, and I'm just happy to get out the right side of the line. It's a derby game. Somebody is going to win and somebody is going to lose.
“It could have gone either way. It was me today, it could have been Kieran McGeeney very easily.
“We’re delighted. We took the opportunities that presented themselves and when we had to defend, we defended really, really well and really hard and really disciplined, and I'm delighted for the players.”
Next up for the Mournemen is an Ulster semi against the winners of next weekend’s Monaghan-Cavan quarter in Armagh’s Athletic Grounds on June 24. Understandably, Burns hasn’t given that game any thought.
“I hadn’t thought one minute past this game today, I have been totally focused on Armagh,” he said.
“I live 30 miles from here and I remember playing for Down. John Murphy, he was the assistant to Pete McGrath said 'this is really important'. I wasn't getting the real, this-is-the-derby stuff. But if you are living on the ‘Peace Wall’ in Newry here, then you know what that means, and I know what means now because I get it all the time now that I am manager.
“I was just trying to focus on getting over this hurdle. We don't know who it is going to be until next week, but we will focus on what we did today, pick the bones from it and see how we can improve.”
Meanwhile, Armagh put together some scintillating attacking moves in the first half that led to goals for Mark Shields and Andy Murnin, but their challenge petered out after the break when the struggled to pick their way through Down’s zonal defensive system. Stand-in manager John Toal admitted the Orchardmen had not produced when it mattered.
“We had been moving well in training and in challenge matches leading up to that but we never brought it to the table when it counted today which is when it counts,” he said.
