Football

Down boss Eamonn Burns hoping 2010 veterans can step up ahead of Tyrone Ulster final clash

Stalwarts Kevin McKernan (right) and Mark Poland are the only players remaining from the Down side that took the field against Cork in 2010 All-Ireland final
Stalwarts Kevin McKernan (right) and Mark Poland are the only players remaining from the Down side that took the field against Cork in 2010 All-Ireland final Stalwarts Kevin McKernan (right) and Mark Poland are the only players remaining from the Down side that took the field against Cork in 2010 All-Ireland final

DOWN boss Eamonn Burns hopes the survivors from Down’s run to the 2010 All-Ireland final can help settle any frayed nerves heading into Sunday’s Ulster decider with Tyrone.

Of those who lined out against Cork seven years ago, captain Kevin McKernan and Mark Poland are the only ones left, while Conor Maginn and Benny McArdle came off the bench as the Mournemen slipped to a one-point defeat.

Current captain Darren O’Hagan and midfielder Aidan Carr were also part of James McCartan’s panel, and Burns insists the experience of those men – rather than his own All-Ireland winning days in 1991 and 1994 – is more relevant to the class of 2017.

“I would very rarely, if at all, go back and talk about my own career because some of the boys I’m dealing with weren’t even born when I was playing football,” said the Down boss.

“It’s akin to the people in the ‘60s talking to us when we were playing, so I don’t go back to it. Any snippets of advice I can give them, I give them but I would very rarely refer back to ‘91 and ‘94.

“In the current panel there’s maybe half a dozen or seven who were involved in 2010, so use their experience to relate to their own peers and keep lads on an even keel and get them properly prepared for the game.

“Obviously when we go to Clones on the 16th of July there’s going to be a massive crowd at it. Up to now we’ve been playing in front of maybe 16,000 – there’s going to be twice that at least.”

Prior to this year, many of the current group were more accustomed to losing than winning in county colours, but victories over Armagh and Monaghan have landed them an unexpected shot at the Ulster title this Sunday.

Mickey Harte’s defending champions lie in wait at St Tiernach’s Park, and it is a position few would have expected Down to be in at the start of the year.

But Burns’s faith in the likes of Glenn’s Shay Millar and Niall McParland, Downpatrick’s Anthony Doherty, Tullylish midfielder Niall Donnelly and Glasdrumman powerhouse Connaire Harrison has been fully justified.

He added: “It’s very encouraging to see the young fellas stepping up to the plate.

“From their perspective, they need a run in the team to get a wee bit of confidence. You know, if you put a lad in for a game, he doesn’t perform and then you take him out, that’s difficult because he’s trying to figure out if he’s involved in your plans or just being used.

“So the likes of Shay and Niall [Donnelly] were used quite extensively during the League, particularly Shay, but form dictated that. We brought Niall in against Derry and he played really well but we had to move him in different positions.

“We put him on in other games and he performed really well and in the run-in to the Armagh game his form was really good in the midfield, it’s very encouraging for us."