Down SFC round three
Mayobridge v Warrenpoint (Sunday, 7pm, Pairc Esler, Newry)
The revived force against the nearly men.
Around the turn of the century, Mayobridge were the equivalent of current kingpins Kilcoo, winning eight Down championships out of 10 from 1999 to 2008, although the light blues fell just short on the Ulster stage.
Warrenpoint came so close to ending a 69-year wait for senior championship triumph last year, but those trophy-gathering Magpies edged them out after extra time, having also beaten the Blues in the 2019 decider.
This season neither truly seem like serious contenders to dethrone Kilcoo, certainly not on the evidence of the latter’s comfortable win against the ‘Bridge last Sunday evening, by
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. That eight-point margin matched the gap from last year’s semi-final meeting.
The ‘Point have been even less impressive – they showed some spirit in losing 0-12 to 1-5 against Burren in their opener but then struggled past relegated Bryansford.
The line of form suggests that the ‘Bridge are capable of winning comfortably. In contrast to Warrenpoint, they trounced Bryansford, winning by 3-10 to 1-4 in round one.
However, it was then a case of ‘one step forward, one step back’ with that limp display against Kilcoo, who never had to hit top gear to see off
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’s side in Pairc Esler.
Yet Mayobridge obviously have to put that disappointment behind them.
This is their second chance; it’s the last chance saloon for everyone now.
Mayobridge launched a series of ‘Hail Marys’ towards the Kilcoo ‘square’ last Sunday night, to little or no effect. Even when they got hands on the ball in the danger area and Caolan Gallagher was fouled, the subsequent spot kick from Shane Annett was saved by Kilcoo ‘keeper Niall Kane.
They’ll surely still persevere with the long range kick-outs from Charlie Smyth, and still target Conlet O’Hare and Annett, with the latter having netted two goals in that opening demolition of Bryansford.
However, Poacher is more than smart enough to know they’ll have to mix up their approach against this experienced Warrenpoint outfit.
CPN player-manager
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will be content with the defensive side of his team’s performances so far, conceding just one goal, against the ‘Ford. In attack, though, they’ve only managed 2-15 over their two outings, and they’ll surely need to up their scoring average significantly.
Mayobridge will want to respond after that disappointing display last weekend, and Sunday evening will be their chance to show they can still have a serious say in the destination of this year’s title.
RGU Downpatrick v Castlewellan (Sunday, 4.45pm, St Patrick’s Park, Newcastle)
It’s getting on for three decades since these clubs were at the top of Down football, RGU winning three of the first six titles of the Nineties, Castlewellan collecting two, with three final clashes between them.
Now, though, even the winners of this tie will surely struggle to go any further than the last eight this year.
The quarter-final stage has been their limit in recent seasons, with Castlewellan well beaten by Loughinisland last year, Downpatrick defeated fairly comfortably by Clonduff in 2021. The Hilltown men also saw off RGU in this year’s round 2A, by
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on Monday evening.
However, Downpatrick did trouble the Yellas in the opening 25 minutes, with Tom Smyth scoring two points from the half-back line and the renowned pace of Caolan Mooney causing bother.
RGU then shot themselves in the feet, conceding a soft goal before half-time and an even worse one shortly after the teams turned around. After that the Downpatrick challenge faded against a disciplined Clonduff defence.
Castlewellan do at least come into this off the back of a win, the only goal of the game separating them and Bredagh in round 2B, having been beaten in round one penalty shootout by Longstone.
Castlewellan finished second in Division Two, ahead of Downpatrick in third, so a tight tussle is to be expected.
In truth, though, the winners of this will be team wanted by the four sides already through to the quarter-finals.
