Allianz National Hurling League Division 2B: Down v Mayo
(Sunday, Pairc Esler, 2pm)
DOWN beat Mayo with 12 points to spare last season, but manager Mickey Johnston doesn’t expect that result to have any bearing on Sunday’s top of the table showdown.
Johnston says his Ards men “go into the unknown” against a Mayo side who beat Meath last time out to claim second spot in Division 2B.
“Last year is last year,” he said.
“They’re a different team and we’re a different team. They got a great result against Meath and could have beaten them by a lot more.
“They have a couple of good additions in the McManus’ [Joseph and Gerard] from St Jude’s in Dublin and they have a couple of boys from Galway hurling for them, so you’re not really playing Mayo - you’re playing Mayo and a few boys from outside that are brought in.
“That certainly has strengthened their unit, although the downside for them is that Keith Higgins isn’t available to them. But they beat Meath without him and we’ve struggled to get over them in previous years, so we don’t know what we’re going into, we’re going into the unknown to a large extent.”
When these sides met in Castlebar last year, Down came out on top by 2-21 to 0-15, but the westerners, who survived a relegation play-off, have started 2016 brightly. Like Down, they have won two out-of-two so far. They began with a 1-14 to 0-13 win against Donegal on home soil and followed that with another four-point success: 0-19 to 2-9 against Meath in Trim.
Meanwhile, Down began with a workmanlike win over a determined Armagh side and followed it up with an impressive display against old rivals Wicklow in a bad-tempered affair in Newry.
Johnston has a full panel to pick from apart from the suspended Aaron O’Prey, who was sent-off against Wicklow: “We have a full bill of health,” he said, who confirmed that Conor Woods - normally centre half-back - will continue in his midfield role on Sunday.
“Caolan Taggart is a very capable centre-back and Conor brings a lot more dimensions when he’s in midfield – he opens the game up and can hurt teams from midfield on the scoreboard and distribute the ball well,” he said.
“He can also drop back and play a holding role, which he has on numerous occasions.”
He added: “We’re in a good place in terms of player availability. We’ll just keep our powder dry and go for it on Sunday.
“Armagh and Wicklow were both massive physical tests and we came through them, but Mayo are a different team, they play a totally different style, so it’s a question of whether we can push on from here.”
TEAM NEWS
Down: S Keith; J McManus, P Flynn, M Conlon; J McGrath, C Taggart, C O’Prey; C Woods, S Nicholson; R Brannigan, F Conway, D Hughes; C Mageean, D Toner, C Bailie.
Mayo: D O’Brien; B Hunt, P Connell, A Brennan; A Lyons, G McManus, C Freeman; E Collins, C Charlton; C Scahill, K Feeney, S Regan; J McManus, G Nolan, S Boland.
