DOWN can set their sights on promotion to Division One next season, according to marauding wing-back Caolan Mooney.
The St Bronagh’s, Rostrevor star is confident that the Mournemen can use the experience of the 2017 season that included Division Two survival and a place in the Ulster Championship final as the springboard to challenge for a return to top flight football in 2019.
“I think we’re good enough to push for Division One this year,” said Mooney, who is preparing for Sunday’s Ulster Intermediate final showdown against Moy.
Mooney made his debut for Down in the All-Ireland Qualifiers back in 2011 before AFL giants Collingwood enticed him to join his county colleague Marty Clarke in Australia.
But after three years with ‘the Magpies’ in Melbourne he decided it was time to return home.
“I had another year left on my contract but I walked away from of it,” he explained.
“I just didn’t want to play for them anymore. I thought I was missing stuff at home and I decided it was time for me to go, if I had been playing more football over there at senior level it might have changed my mind.”
His return to Ireland raised hopes of a Down resurgence among fans but Mooney struggled to make an impact. Looking back he says: “I wasn’t ready at all”.
“Marty Clarke didn’t make it easy for me because he came back in and Down made the All-Ireland final,” he added, half joking.
“But I think that year Down had a serious team and Marty was the missing cog in the wheel and really helped them. A lot of people have expectations that you’ll come back and you’re instantly going to help your team win championships and whatever, but it’s not that easy.
“Players have to get adjusted back to Irish life and accustomed to Gaelic Football because it’s two different sorts of fitness.”
He added: “When I came back I was 93kg and I was playing this year at 84kg,” he explains.
“It took me a couple of years to shred a bit of weight and that extra weight I was carrying didn’t help my hamstrings.
“Gaelic is more about speed and the AFL is more about endurance. It took a toll on the hamstrings playing Gaelic when I wasn’t physically conditioned for it. Last year (2016) getting away from Down really gave me that buzz to want to come back in so I really tried hard to get into the shape of my life.
“I felt I did that but then just before the Armagh I tore the patella (knee injury) and that set me back about five or six weeks and I went through the Championship trying to chase fitness.
“I was playing on a Sunday and then I couldn’t train again until maybe the Thursday because the knee wouldn’t settle down.
“By the end of the summer I wasn’t as fit as I’d like to be and I’ll concentrate on getting that right for next year.”
Mooney missed the 2016 season - “I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind” – but he was instrumental in Down’s comparative resurgence in 2017.
Twenty-one months without a League or Championship win ended with victory against Meath and Down followed that up by seeing off Derry then drawing with Cork in the final round of fixtures to avoid the drop to Division Three.
“Coming in against Fermanagh and Clare last year it was still that dark period where you were thinking ‘is this going to be a repeat of 2016?’” said Mooney, who
“We had a team meeting after the Clare game and we discussed a few things and came out against Meath and showed what we are good at – using our speed and driving from deep.”
With League survival achieved, Down went on to beat Armagh and Monaghan in the Ulster Championship. Despite losing the final to Tyrone, they regrouped impressively and were well in contention in their round four Qualifier with Monaghan at Croke Park until the Farneymen’s bench strength allowed them to pull away in the second half.
“Last year we tried a system that we weren’t used to,” he said.
“For part of the year it worked but against Tyrone we got exploited because Tyrone are that bit further down the line.
“At half-time against Monaghan we were a bit disappointed it was a draw because we thought we had dominated that game but Monaghan’s strength-in-depth showed in the second half. They made a few changes and we couldn’t handle it, so I think we need to start strengthening our squad from the bench.”
