All-Ireland Senior Football Qualifier Round One: Down 1-13 Tipperary 1-10
THIS current Down team may have quite an exhaustive list of rough edges – but one thing they don’t lack is resilience.
The Mournemen have it in spades.
Giving away serious height and weight advantages to Tipperary yesterday, Down overcame early-match nerves and a ropey kick-out strategy in the first half to finally nail their visitors in the closing stages of an attritional Round One Qualifier in Newry.
For the second Championship game running, Paddy Tally’s bench was hugely influential. It almost got them over the line against Armagh in last month’s Ulster Championship – but it clinched the deal for them yesterday.
Substitutes Cory Quinn (0-3), Paul Devlin (0-1) and Barry O’Hagan (0-1) played their part when they were thrown into the fray, while young Pierce Laverty and Owen McCabe added legs and aggression in the second half.
Cory Quinn, Mayobridge’s diminutive attacker, is fast becoming Down’s super sub after hitting three sublime points in the final 20 minutes that helped seal their place in the next round.
One of Tally’s St Mary’s prodigies, the 24-year-old made the hardest part of the game look easy, especially in a game where scores were desperately hard to come by.
Quinn, in his first year with the Down seniors, has yet to start a game in 2019 – but his dramatic impact from the bench virtually condemns him to the role.
Asked about the unwanted ‘super sub’ tag, Quinn said: “You don’t want to be labelled but as long as the team wins and I’m making a contribution is the main thing. I haven’t started any matches, but maybe I’m getting closer.”
Tally, whose inter-county managerial career experienced lift-off yesterday, said: “Cory is a gifted player. He has the ability to do things that are a wee bit unpredictable and he showed that today. He’s been doing it for years and in various League matches he came on and made a big difference. He has that composure where he makes things look easier.”
Down edged into a 0-2 to no score lead after six minutes but they trailed their visitors up until the final 10 minutes when Donal O’Hare pounced on Conor Francis’s shot that came back off the post and the Burren man rammed the loose ball through a ruck of players to put Down 1-9 to 1-7 ahead.
With the help of Quinn, Devlin and Barry O’Hagan, the Mournemen out-scored a tiring Tipperary side 0-4 to 0-3 in those closing stages to bank a precious Championship win.
Yesterday also signalled the end of Liam Kearns’s four-year reign as Tipperary manager. He acknowledged their humiliating Munster Championship defeat to lowly Limerick last month helped bring the curtain down on his tenure that included an All-Ireland semi-final appearance in 2016.
“I felt we had to win two or three rounds of the Qualifiers to justify staying on,” said a candid Kearns.
“I couldn’t stand over the Limerick performance, to be honest. The buck stops with the manager.
“In fairness, we never got the team right this year and it caught up with us big-time.”
When the lively Philip Austin waltzed past Ryan McAleenan and Daniel Guinness and thumped the ball past Rory Burns in the Down goal in the 14th minute, Tipp looked as though they had the defensive structure and counter-attack to win the game.
“I felt we should have been more up at half-time (1-5 to 0-5), and I was concerned with our fitness levels. It was down the stretch where Down finished stronger than us,” Kearns added.
In the opening half, Down’s attacking play lacked tempo and the excellent Pat Havern had to work over-time to register the first of three scores.
In the second period, though, Down were wiser with their kick-outs, while Tipperary’s malfunctioned and gifted Connaire Harrison and Havern a point apiece in the 46th and 48th minutes that cut the Munster men’s lead to a point.
There were nevertheless a few heart-in-mouth moments for the home support. Rory Burns made a brave save to deny Brian Fox in the 54th minute while Kevin McKernan erected a ‘None Shall Pass’ sign after McGrath’s first-half major.
Darren O’Hagan conceded just one point off the mercurial Michael Quinlivan – and denied the Tipp attacker in the 53rd minute with a fantastic tackle when Down were trailing 1-7 to 0-9.
The returning Benny McArdle kept Conor Sweeney scoreless from play on the edge of the square but arguably the biggest performance of the day in red and black came from Johnny Flynn at midfield.
The Loughinisland man edged his engrossing battle with the highly rated Steven O’Brien and never wasted a possession all day.
Wing-forward Conor Francis’s energy levels began to sicken the Tipperary defence in the final quarter and it was his jet-powered run that led to O’Hare’s game-winning major.
It didn’t look good for Down at the break but they kept chipping away at Tipp’s resolve and their never-say-die spirit finally broke their opponents.
“I was very relieved because we all knew if we didn’t win, the next time we’d be getting together would be November for pre-season, which would be unbearable,” said Tally.
“I feel these lads can go somewhere in this competition. It would be an awful shame to leave it here today.
“I think there was a bit more hunger from the Down team especially in turning balls over and tackling. They showed a greater desire to win the game.”
Down: R Burns (0-1, ‘45; D O’Hagan (0-1), B McArdle, G Collins; R McAleenan, K McKernan, D Guinness; J Flynn, C Poland; C Francis, J Johnston (0-1), J Guinness; P Havern (0-3), D O’Hare (1-0), C Harrison (0-2) Subs: P Devlin (0-1) for C Poland (25), O McCabe for D Guinness (h/t), P Laverty for J Guinness (47), C Quinn (0-3) for J Johnston (47), B O’Hagan (0-1) for P Havern (57), C Maginn for D O’Hare (70)
Tipperary: E Comerford; A Campbell, J Meagher, S O’Connell; D Brennan, R Kiley, E Moloney; S O’Brien, J Kennedy (0-1, ’45); J Keane, P Austin (1-1), B Fox; C Sweeney (0-4 frees), M Quinlivan (0-1), L McGrath (0-2, 0-2 frees) Subs: B Maher for L McGrath (56), L Casey (0-1) for J Kennedy (57), K Fahey for E Moloney (62), L Boland for P Austin (65), P Maher for J Keane (69)
Referee: F Kelly (Longford)
