Football

Down midfielder Peter Turley: We didn't believe last year - now we do

Downpatrick midfielder Peter Turley was black-carded in last year's comprehensive Ulster Championship defeat to Monaghan
Downpatrick midfielder Peter Turley was black-carded in last year's comprehensive Ulster Championship defeat to Monaghan Downpatrick midfielder Peter Turley was black-carded in last year's comprehensive Ulster Championship defeat to Monaghan

DOWN stalwart Peter Turley admits confidence has come flooding back to the Mournemen during their shock run to the Ulster final, and says they can’t wait to be written off again ahead of their July 16 date with Tyrone.

After toppling Armagh in the provincial quarter-final, few gave Down any chance of beating Monaghan in the last four - especially against the backdrop of last year’s Ulster SFC meeting when the Farneymen had 19 points to spare against Eamonn Burns’s beleaguered side.

But the tables were turned on Saturday night as the Mournemen pulled off the biggest shock of this year’s Championship, holding off a late Farney fightback to seal a two point win at the Athletic Grounds.

Turley was black-carded when the Mourne County were cast aside in Clones last year, and the tenacious midfielder says the Down players didn’t really believe they could beat the defending Ulster champions that day.

The return of key men like Caolan Mooney and the Johnston brothers – Ryan and Jerome – has played a huge part in their revival, with Turley explaining that Down’s mindset has come full circle following their annus horribilus in 2016.

“What a difference a year makes,” said the Downpatrick firefighter.

“Last year we went into that game against Monaghan and we didn’t believe. People were saying they think they could beat them but they knew deep down that the boys were lying. Going into this game, the boys had real belief.

“I don’t know what the difference was, the boys have just gelled this year for some reason. We’re really, really strong and I just knew that no matter what happened we were always going to battle until the end.

“Last year we were three down at half-time, and we went out and just flopped. But this year we knew the job was only half done, and we just kept battling away and kept attacking them.

“And we believed in it. The difference between this year and last year - apart from the players, the likes of the Johnstons coming back - is the belief. We believed this year, last year we didn’t.

“Everybody was asking what I thought and I said it would be tight, everything needs to go right for us, but it’ll be close – it definitely won’t go the way it went last year, and hopefully we’ll get a rub of the green, and we did.”

Prior to Down’s opener against Armagh at the start of the month, the bookies had the Orchard as slight favourites, while they were available at 4/1 before Saturday’s night’s clash with Malachy O’Rourke 2013 and 2015 Ulster champions.

The early pricing has them similarly distant odds to dethrone Tyrone in three weeks’ time, but Turley insists the underdog tag sits easily with Down now.

“We’ve been written off, and we’re going to be written off against Tyrone as well but we’re happy enough,” he added.

“We’ll enjoy this first then we can think about Tyrone in a few days’ time.”

One of Down’s star performers against the Farneymen was forward Connaire Harrison, who gave Monaghan man-marker Drew Wylie a torrid evening in Armagh, scoring three points from play and leading the line superbly.

The Glasdrumman man has been in and out of the Down team in recent years and didn’t feature at all in their Division Two campaign, but Turley wasn’t surprised by Harrison’s show-stealing performance.

“He’s been playing brilliant.

“He didn’t play any of the National League, but he’s been playing brilliant at training and Eamonn’s rewarding the boys who are putting it in at training. That just shows - he has come in and it’s paid off for him.”