Football

Caolan Mooney hoping to return to Brewster Park with a bang as Down target Fermanagh win

Caolan Mooney's last game for Down was against Fermanagh on December 29, 2019 - tomorrow he returns to Brewster Park where he will lead the Mournemen into Championship battle. Picture by Philip Walsh
Caolan Mooney's last game for Down was against Fermanagh on December 29, 2019 - tomorrow he returns to Brewster Park where he will lead the Mournemen into Championship battle. Picture by Philip Walsh Caolan Mooney's last game for Down was against Fermanagh on December 29, 2019 - tomorrow he returns to Brewster Park where he will lead the Mournemen into Championship battle. Picture by Philip Walsh

BACK in red and black, and back to Brewster Park – 315 days since his last appearance in county colours, Caolan Mooney will put a difficult year behind him when he leads Down into Ulster Championship battle tomorrow.

It was back on December 29, 2019 that Mooney played in the Mourne County’s Dr McKenna Cup opener in Enniskillen, and that was the last Down supporters would see of him after suffering serious injuries during a late night assault in Newry – just hours after victory over Fermanagh.

Having sustained a fractured skull and a bleed on the brain, a long road to recovery lay ahead as his football career appeared to hang in the balance.

However, Mooney worked his way back in time to feature for Rostrevor after lockdown, and can’t wait to return to Paddy Tally’s side - any significance others may attribute to tomorrow’s opponents, or the venue, of little consequence to him.

“It doesn’t really matter who or where it is. I just have to get myself physically and mentally ready as best I can to go into the game as best as I can,” said the 27-year-old.

“Yes, the 29th of December at Brewster Park was the last competitive game I played, so it will be good to go back and pull the Down jersey back on again. It’ll not come into my head in terms of that being my last game for Down.”

Mooney was named in the 15 slated to start Down’s first National League game since the resumption against Leitrim last month – only for the westerners to concede at the 11th hour due to Covid concerns within the panel.

And, with promotion to Division Two secured by virtue of Longford’s concession to Cork before the final round of games, Mooney remained on the bench as Tally opted to have a look at less experienced members of his panel in the facile defeat to Louth.

Down had been building towards those promotion-defining games, only for it to be taken out of their hands, but the former Aussie Rules player feels the panel is reaching its peak coming into tomorrow’s provincial quarter-final.

“October 17 was the first thing in our heads, to get ourselves ready for that game and then the day of it, we’re told that Leitrim, won’t be coming up, which was disappointing.

“It would have been good to get those competitive games under our belt, but the way it’s been going in training, the standard has been lifted and the boys are really pushing.

“The lads who played against Louth had a chance to stake a claim. Now the boys that didn’t play will have to prove to Paddy that they’re good enough to take the position of someone who played against Louth.

“Hopefully, that drive between the boys who started against Louth and the boys trying to get themselves back into the team, will help lift the standard again and push us on against Fermanagh.”

And it will be up to the returning Mooney to help raise that standard again tomorrow.

With Darren O’Hagan sidelined due to injury, Mooney has been appointed captain – and he admits that, in the absence of crowds inside grounds, there is an even greater responsibility on him and every member of the panel to rally the troops on the big days.

He said: “It’s all well and good talking to the players but it’s not me doing it because I have to. It just comes naturally. The way things are, you’re used to having supporters there and shouting and you hear that when you’re on the bench.

“I think it plays a big part now because there’s no atmosphere. You have to try and create it, so the boys know what’s going right or what’s going wrong.”