Hurling & Camogie

Down hurling boss Marty Mallon happy ahead of London trip

Down hurling manager Marty Mallon at their Christy Ring Cup Group 2 game against Armagh. Pic Philip Walsh
Down hurling manager Marty Mallon at their Christy Ring Cup Group 2 game against Armagh. Pic Philip Walsh Down hurling manager Marty Mallon at their Christy Ring Cup Group 2 game against Armagh. Pic Philip Walsh

DOWN hurling manager Marty Mallon joked that they’ll be at one well-attended event in London this weekend – the royal wedding - but insisted that he’s not concerned about absentees in other regards.

A very small crowd watched Down crush neighbours Armagh by 28 points in their Christy Ring Cup opener at Ballycran on Saturday despite the hosts missing a number of more experienced players for various reasons.

Even though the competition is now re-framed as the third tier of the senior hurling championships, the Portaferry man acknowledged that the attendance at McKenna Park was disappointing, but preferred to focus on the positives of those present:

“It isn’t the same, but that’s where we’re at at the minute. Down hurling hasn’t been on a high for a long, long time, since probably the Nineties, I suppose. But we just have to keep building and keep going.

“The true hurling people are out and those are the people we want to see, not people who only come when there’s a bit of glory. The true hurling people are here backing us. Anyone we’ve spoken to says ‘Stick with what you are doing and keep going’. That’s all you can ask for.”

What Down are doing this year is working with younger players, with some of their better-known names of recent years having stepped away from the inter-county scene.

“We’re trying to build with young fellas. There’ve been fellas around the county set-up for seven, eight, nine years and they’ve done nothing,” declared Mallon.

“So we’re just trying to get young fellas in to play good, fast, open hurling. I know it’s going to take time but to be fair to them they’re digging in and they’ve been great.

“The county board have been absolutely top class. Anything we ever ask for or want is there. The players are treated properly. We’ve no qualms with anybody.

“There are players refusing to come into the panel, players who have left the panel – that’s their decision. If they’re not hungry enough, that’s the way it is. It’s easy to take the exit door. The boys who are there are the boys who want to play, who are young and hungry.”

After the annihilation of Armagh, Mallon’s thoughts immediately turned to their trip to London, taking on `the Exiles’ in their second Group 2 game, at McGovern Park, Ruislip on Sunday.

Although he quipped “We travel on Saturday and go to the royal wedding for a bit of a day out”, he knows they’ll face a serious challenge in the English capital.

“It’s a massive test – against a big, strong team away in London; they beat Derry by a couple of points.

“London’s a big test, a massive test. Hopefully we’ll have a couple of lads back, Caolan Taggart, and Rian Brannigan will return. John McManus is maybe not so far away, so hopefully we’ll strengthen a bit, add some experience.”

Mallon is content with the structures in hurling now, with matches mostly against teams of similar standard, albeit that Armagh are struggling badly at the moment:

“We’re happy with it. We’re batting off three or four clubs here, but we’re getting plenty of games and experience and that’s all you can ask for.

“You can always complain about the GAA and its structures but we’re playing [club matches] in the Antrim League every Sunday, we’ve a National League behind us, and we’re in to the Championship right away. That’s all you can ask for, we’re playing plenty of hurling.”