Football

Entertaining Down sweat their way to Longford victory

Down boss Paddy Tally praised the work-rate and never-say-die spirit of his players in their win over Longford
Down boss Paddy Tally praised the work-rate and never-say-die spirit of his players in their win over Longford Down boss Paddy Tally praised the work-rate and never-say-die spirit of his players in their win over Longford

Allianz National Football League Division Three: Down 2-13 Longford 1-14

THERE’S something unruly and brilliant about this young Down team. They can take your breath away as quickly as they can leave you with your head in your hands.

Nobody tortures the soul quite like these young Mournemen.

They routinely sashay between the sublime and the ridiculous, with no sense of audience, and certainly no sense of the consequences of a failed pick-up or a mindless hand-pass.

They are both careless and care-free, but the one constant in Paddy Tally’s team is the size of their heart.

On Saturday night at a freezing Pairc Esler they breathed new life into their promotion chase thanks to a rousing finish against a resourceful Longford side with two brilliant goals from Cory Quinn and substitute James Guinness.

And while they appear to have negotiated some of the more daunting hurdles in a desperately tense Division Three, their calamitous gene means nothing can be taken for granted in their remaining games against Offaly (a), Leitrim (h) and Louth (a).

Down boss Paddy Tally praised the work-rate and never-say-die spirit of his players in their win over Longford
Down boss Paddy Tally praised the work-rate and never-say-die spirit of his players in their win over Longford Down boss Paddy Tally praised the work-rate and never-say-die spirit of his players in their win over Longford

As the dreaded saying goes, promotion is now firmly in Down’s hands – and they have the jagged memory of Louth from just under a year ago to keep them grounded in their fight to save themselves from the terrible prospect of Tier Two football this summer.

Paddy Tally’s men led 0-9 to 0-7 at the break – but they generously resuscitated their visitors by spurning 2-3 in the opening half to keep things uncomfortable right to the end.

Down were anything but ruthless.

Some desperately loose defending allowed Liam Connerton to palm to the home side’s net in the 52nd minute to narrow Down’s lead to a point [0-11 to 1-7].

And it got worse before it got better.

Midfielder Darren Gallagher, who was a towering presence for Longford all night, rose unopposed to catch and set up Dessie Reynolds to level the game before thundering over an incredible 55th minute effort and then converting a free three minutes later to put his side two up with 12 minutes of normal time remaining.

With Tier Two hanging over Tally’s men, they produced a barnstorming final 10 minutes to deservedly win this tie.

Cory Quinn may have missed Longford’s posts three times on Saturday night but when James Guinness gave him the ball close to goal, the Mayobridge magician was never going to miss.

Care-free and cool, Quinn slotted the ball home like it was a training session to put Down 1-13 to 1-10 ahead after Liam Kerr and a Barry O’Hagan (free) had reeled Longford in moments earlier.

Substitute Daniel Mimnagh and goalkeeper Paddy Collum converted frees for Longford to make it a one-point game again before James Guinness broke defensive lines in the 69th minute and smashed the ball low and hard into the corner of Longford’s net with a perfectly executed left-foot shot.

The elusive Mimnagh bagged a further two points in stoppage-time but Down had finally ran out of charity and closed the night with two precarious points to spare.

In truth, they should have been home and hosed at the break.

On those seemingly endless unforced errors, Tally said: “It’s the thing that’s hurting us and it’s hurting us in every match. In most of our games we’re creating enough chances to win games and we’re not taking them, we’re turning balls over at vital times, [but we’re making] silly and careless mistakes.

“Now, it’s not for the lack of effort, the boys are trying so, so hard to not make them. Towards the end of the game Longford put a big press on and there was a wee bit of panic set in but we just got enough to do us.”

The Down manager added: “We needed something special and Cory’s goal was super, but I thought James Guinness’s goal was outstanding. He broke the line well and put it away in the corner. We needed those scores, they were vital for us because we really were on the ropes. We play enough good football but you have to look to the things you can improve on.”

Apart from conceding a couple of frees to Longford in the scoring zone, there was absolute purpose and urgency in Down's play when Darren O’Hagan gained possession.

Brendan McArdle put Michael Quinn under house arrest for most of the game – and couldn’t really be blamed when the Longford playmaker pounced on a defensive mix-up to set up Connerton’s three-pointer.

Kevin McKernan’s point from distance in the 33rd minute helped Down settle, especially after Quinn and Daniel Guinness had conspired to miss chances to ripple Longford’s net in quick succession, not to mention the three earlier efforts that dropped into ‘keeper Paddy Collum’s arms.

Donal O’Hare’s appetite for hard graft and winning dirty ball were glowing features of Down’s performance, especially when the game was in the balance in the final 10 minutes.

Burren’s speed merchant Liam Kerr constantly asked questions of the Longford defence, hitting two points from play and forcing a first-half save out of Collum and James Guinness made a telling impression after his 50th minute introduction.

Johnny Flynn, Barry O’Hagan, Aaron Morgan and Gerardy Collins had good and bad moments on the night, but their sheer work-rate alone was admirable as they manfully kept their balance on Division Three’s cliff edge.

With five points mined out of Division Three now and a favourable looking run of games up ahead, Tally wasn’t taking anything for granted.

“I think there are going to be more twists in this League before it’s over,” said the Galbally native.

“We have to examine our performance and see what we can do better. I don’t want to be too critical of the lads because they tried very, very hard and they still hit 2-13 which is our highest score this year.”

Meanwhile, Longford boss Padraic Davis rued his side’s sluggish start to the second half that ended up resulting in their first defeat in the division, but he still wasn’t giving up hope on promotion.

“There is a momentum shift in the table but the next day that will shift again,” Davis said.

“Westmeath and Laois got promoted last year and lost two games each, so we’re all very much in the promotion race.”

As for Down, you can't take your eyes off them. It's the way they're made.

Down: R Burns; S Annett, P Murdock, R McAleenan; G Collins, D O’Hagan (0-1), B McArdle; J Flynn (0-2), D Guinness; B O’Hagan (0-3, 0-1 mark, 0-1 free), K McKernan (0-1), L Kerr (0-2); D O’Hare (0-2, 0-1 free), A Morgan, C Quinn (1-1) Subs: P Fegan (0-1) for S Annett (23), J Guinness (1-0) for G Collins (50), O McCabe for A Morgan (63), N Donnelly for C Quinn (70+3)

Yellow cards: G Collins (47), P Fegan (49), O McCabe (64)

Longford: P Collum (0-2, frees); P Fox, A Farrell, B O’Farrell; I O’Sullivan, G Rogers, CP Smyth; D Gallagher (0-5, 0-4 frees), K Diffley; M Quinn, D McElligott, D Reynolds (0-1); P Lynn (0-2), L Connerton (1-1), O Kenny Subs: D Doherty for P Lynn (23 inj), D Mimnagh (0-3, 0-2 frees) for CP Smith (52), J Hagan for L Connerton (63)

Referee: C Reilly (Meath)