THERE were more ups and downs at Pairc Esler yesterday than a month of summer Saturdays at Portrush and the only pity of a superb Championship clash was that one of these neighbours had to lose.
Paddy Tally could only shake his head afterwards because he knew his men had given their all.
“To lose a game like that...” reflected the Down boss after his first game of Championship football wearing the Bainisteoir vest.
Tally’s side went in ahead at half-time but had lost Caolan Mooney to a red card and they looked dead and buried for a while when Armagh moved five points in front midway through the second half.
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But the Mournemen refused to lie down. Donal O’Hare’s goal sent the game into extra-time and they opened up a three-point lead only for Armagh to mount an Andy Murnin-inspired comeback and streak ahead again. Down forced another goal but time ran out on them in the end.
“It was probably more crazy than I expected,” said Tally.
“It was a very hard game. A typical Ulster Championship match, loads of incidents and sendings off, lots of scores, goals, and that's probably what both teams went to play.
“It's just disappointing and the boys will be sore now for a few days. To lose a game like that... I suppose you have to look at the positives too, they showed great character to come back when the game could have been gone.
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“But maybe it took an awful lot out of them to play with a man down for so long. It maybe showed in the last period of extra-time when we felt we legged-out a wee bit but that's just the way it went.”
The sending off of Mooney just before the break had a massive bearing on the game. The Rostrevor clubman crudely took down Aidan Nugent as he raced through on goal and Tally agreed “it wasn’t a good tackle”.
He added: “I thought there were at least four or five challenges like that in the game that only got yellow cards. One before it on a man off the ball and nothing happened.
“For me, it was a massively big call to make at that stage of the game and it wasn't a good tackle - I understand that. Caolan will be disappointed in the way he slipped into it but I think there will be a lot of things similar.
“But it did have a massive factor in the game. We were in a good position at that stage and Caolan was having an influence on it and to lose a player of his (stature)... He is vice-captain, one of the most consistent players. But listen, you can't blame the referee. It was a hard game to referee, tough and hard and you make the odd mistake but it does be a factor on the rest of the way the game pans out.”
Next up for Tally and his men are the All-Ireland Qualifiers which begin on June 8. On yesterday’s performance with 14 men, Down will fancy their chances of making an extended run.
“There were a lot of positives but that doesn’t mean anything now, you’d like to be winning the game with 14 men and there’d be more positives,” he said.
“But you have to look at the way they played and not just the fight of them, they played a lot of good football because when you’re playing against an extra man you have to be very disciplined and controlled in what you’re doing. We did that which was very pleasing and we’ll take the Qualifiers on and look forward to that challenge when it comes around.”
