DOWN haven’t lost in Ballycran in the four years since Ronan Sheehan took up the reins – and the Newry man hopes to keep that record intact as they prepare for Sunday’s National League opener against Carlow.
With home games against Tom Mullaly’s Barrowsiders, Kildare and Kerry in Division 2A, before Ulster rivals Antrim, Offaly and Meath make the trip up the Ards peninsula in the Joe McDonagh Cup, Sheehan believes how Down fare in Ballycran will dictate how their year pans out.
“The two home games I’ve lost were against Derry in Pairc Esler, then against Derry in Portaferry,” said Sheehan, who will again have former Dublin and Tipperary hurler Ryan O'Dwyer involved as part his backroom team.
“I don’t know what it is about Ballycran. The narrow confines of the pitch probably shouldn’t suit our team but we seem to be able to find pockets of space that other teams can’t.
“There’s no doubt the extra hour, hour and a half after Newry, coming up the Ards peninsula… it seems to get into the psyche of our opponents. In League terms, we’ll be looking to get at least four points from our three home games, and if we do that it puts us in a pretty good place.
“The home games are vital.”
The recurrence of a knee injury rules out experienced sharpshooter Danny Toner, while Liatroim’s Ruairi McCrickard requires surgery after picking up a shoulder injury in the Conor McGurk final victory over Donegal and is not expected to feature much year.
Ballygalget’s talented Tim Prenter is part of James McCartan’s Down football panel, while Ruairi Campbell is expected back in mid-February after hamstring problems blighted the last year.
With Portaferry’s Darragh Mallon back in the fold, though, Sheehan’s panel has taken on a settled look and, having comfortably retained their place in Division 2A on their long-awaited return last year, he insists that has to be aim again.
“In this League and Championship, the margins are incredibly tight. A couple of years ago Offaly got relegated out of the McDonagh Cup and now they’re back in Division One.
“Realistically, until we see where we are after match three, my ambition remains consolidation and ensuring we retain our status because 2A is head and shoulders above the quality in 2B. I do feel that whoever goes down this year out of 2A will bounce straight back up again.
“We’ll know after three games whether we are looking to try and secure safety, or at a possible League semi-final. I’d say you will probably need six points to get to a League semi-final, and four for safety – there’s not an awful lot of difference, so the margins are wafer thin.
“We have ambitions to do well but teams that look ahead of themselves in Division 2A or in the McDonagh Cup can end up in relegation trouble – look at Kildare last year, they lost to Carlow in extra-time, by two points to Westmeath and ended up being relegated out of the McDonagh Cup.
“For the development of hurling, we absolutely want to stay up. If we went back to 2B, I’d be very confident we’d bounce back up again, but it’s a lost year for players and a lost year in terms of development.
“This is only the second year in 10 years we’ve been playing at this level, so we need to be realistic about that. But the lads have worked incredibly hard over the last six to eight weeks, they did a lot of work themselves pre-Christmas, they came back in really good shape.
“We’ve loads of matches under our belt, so we’re in good shape and we’re confident of giving a very good show in the National League.”
Sheehan would love to be in the promotion mix when all is said and done while, looking further along the line, retaining Joe McDonagh Cup status is also vital to Down’s development.
But the Newry Shamrocks man believes a degree of realism is still required, especially when considering the jump Down have made in during recent years.
“Even to sustain yourself at McDonagh Cup level is a big challenge for a county like Down.
“Offaly and Antrim are both in the McDonagh Cup this year – both of those counties would consider themselves Liam MacCarthy counties, and Offaly in particular would have ambitions to kick on.
“That what we’re competing with, which is fantastic for Down hurling, but that probably is the realistic bar for us at this stage. I don’t think people really realise the amount of work that has to go in to even play at the level we’re at. It’s a huge commitment, and the guys are working so hard.
“If we’re still playing McDonagh Cup in five years’ time, then we can maybe reassess our ambitions of where we want to go. But from an Ulster hurling perspective, every county should be setting themselves realistic goals and working towards those.”
