DOWN will need the experience of their Kilcoo contingent if they are to secure their Division Two status, according to Mourne County forward Barry O’Hagan.
The Magpies are currently preparing for an Ulster club final date with Derrygonnelly Harps on January 16, and Mickey Moran’s men will have designs on going one step further than 2020 when losing out to Corofin in the All-Ireland club decider.
Clonduff sharpshooter O’Hagan knows the quality Kilcoo possess better than most, and expects his club’s neighbours to go all the way to the Andy Merrigan Cup. If they did, it would mean any potential Down panellists missing the early rounds of a crucial Division Two campaign.
The Mournemen needed a relegation play-off win over Laois to avoid the drop in last year’s truncated League and, with the likes of a resurgent Derry coming up, alongside Galway and Roscommon - both relegated from Division One – the second tier looks like being hugely competitive again.
Ryan McEvoy and Ceilum Doherty were the only Kilcoo representatives when Down were well beaten by Donegal in last year’s Championship, and O’Hagan believes the Mourne panel could benefit from “eight or nine” coming into the fold once their club campaign is over.
“Hopefully they’ll be back, it’s just a matter of when,” said the 27-year-old.
“In my opinion, they’re going to win the All-Ireland. I honestly can’t see them getting beat. If they do, that takes them up until the middle of February, then you’d be looking at a break after that, win or lose… if Down are going to stay in Division Two, they need the Kilcoo boys back.
“At the minute, there’s probably eight or nine of them you would definitely want in. Whether they commit or not I don’t know, it’s up to those men, but you need the talent and the experience those boys have.
“Obviously their full focus is on Kilcoo at the minute, as you’d expect.”
With the likes of experienced Burren pair Gerard McGovern and Donal O’Hare, Carryduff duo James Guinness and Owen McCabe, and Bryansford goalkeeper Marc Reid currently unavailable, new boss James McCartan has cast the net wide in the search for talent to freshen up the panel.
Goalkeeper Charlie Smyth, Odhran Murdock, Andrew Gilmore and Tom Close have all come up from the U20 side that claimed Ulster success last summer, with the returning Niall McParland adding to the experience brought by stalwarts Darren O’Hagan, Kevin McKernan and Benny McArdle.
Liatroim’s Conor McCrickard – who played for McCartan’s Down minor side - is currently starring for Cork champions St Finbarr’s as he completes a year-long work placement in the Rebel County.
And, while the logistics of any potential county involvement would be tough to negotiate, there are still hopes he could be involved down the line.
Another man McCartan will hope to have at his disposal at some stage is Liam Kerr, the Burren playmaker who suffered a broken collarbone in his side’s Down semi-final victory over Clonduff.
“I was chatting to Liam last week, he’s back jogging, which is a good sign,” said O’Hagan.
“But you’re probably looking mid-February before he’s allowed contact, and coming back from injury, going into a county set-up, it’s hard.
“Again though, if we want to stay in Division Two, we need men like Liam. We know what we’re coming up against. We’ve probably played every one of the teams in Division Two at some stage in the last couple of years… they’re all massive games.
“Thankfully this year we have four games at home and three away, so we need to make Pairc Esler a fortress - for us as a county, we need to be in Division Two. If we manage that, it would be a successful year and give us something to build on.”
