THE highlights of an attritional first 40 minutes at Pairc Esler on Sunday were a series of long-range points from the accurate boot of Bryansford’s Danny Savage.
Playing in midfield, Savage found pockets of space just behind the ball as his team-mates worked it patiently into shooting positions and when it eventually came his way he split the Glenn posts again and again. He finished with five points, an excellent return from the former Down forward who has always had the handy knack of putting scores on the board.
“It was just one of those days when it comes off for you,” said Savage after his side’s one-point win.
“On other days those shots slip wide of the posts so it’s good to get one of those days when they go over the bar. As long as we get the win that’s all that matters.
“I thought we were comfortable enough but when they got the goal it let them back into it. It’s three or four years since we won a first round game in the championship so the aim was to get through today and we’ll see what happens over the next few weeks.”
Next up for the Ath Bhriain outfit is a second round championship clash with a Clonduff side that blew away Carryduff on Monday night in an entertaining affair that ended 4-11 to 1-9.
Bryansford, Ulster champions in 1969 and 1970, contested the first-ever All-Ireland club final under legendary former manager Sean Smyth with a style and flair that earned them followers from way beyond their county’s border.
With 11 county titles to their credit, the club still sits third on Down’s roll of honour but the last of those came back in 2003 and, after too many years of falling at the first hurdle, the Newcastle-based sleeping giants appointed Steven Poacher as manager in a bid to change their fortunes.
“It’s Stevie’s first year in and it’ll probably take a while to buy into what he’s doing but we’ve made a good start,” said Savage, who reached the Sigerson Cup final with Ulster University in 2014.
“Every team is playing that (defensive) style now aren’t they? Any of the games I’ve watched over the last couple of weeks, all the teams are taking that stance. You have a nervy-enough start to the game and then you try and express yourself in the second half.
“I thought we attacked well at times (against Glenn) but, at the end of the day, it probably wasn’t our best performance so we have plenty to work on going into the second round.”
Savage played U21 and senior football for Down in 2013 but he hasn’t been seen in the red and black jersey since the Mourne county took on Roscommon in Division Two back in February 2015. A return to the inter-county scene is not on his mind at present.
“I’m not even thinking about that to be honest,” he said.
“With Stevie in there now, the club is all I’m thinking about. We had a good underage system in the club but it just hasn’t been good enough at senior level. With Stevie in now we think we can start getting back towards the top table – we’re still a long way off Kilcoo and Burren but it’s his first year in and we’ll see how far he can take us.
“The last couple of years we’ve been in relegation battles so it’s just about trying to improve that really and go on from there.”
