Allianz National Football League Division Three: Antrim 1-6 Down 1-15
From Brendan Crossan at Corrigan Park
UNBEATEN Down look like a team that’s absorbed the harsh lessons of 12 months ago and are primed for a much-needed promotion push after dismissing Antrim at Corrigan Park yesterday afternoon with more than a bit to spare.
Only for some wayward shooting, the visitors could have been a speck in the distance long before the final whistle.
Down’s wastefulness kept Antrim in this Division Three tie for longer than they probably deserved – as the hosts went scoreless for 12-minute, 20-minute, 11-minute and 17-minute spells.
Goalkeeper Michael Byrne drew Antrim level with a 47th minute free – the home side’s fourth unanswered score of the day – but they flatlined badly for the remainder of the game as the visitors responded with an impressive 1-6.
Ceilum Doherty, who did a fine tracking job on Antrim’s best line-breaker Marc Jordan, hit a stoppage-time goal to put some justifiable daylight between the sides at the end.
The Saffrons, who’d recorded two wins out of two in the division before yesterday’s tough assignment, never really tested Down’s resolve after they’d drawn level.
With Down five points ahead, the expectation was that 64th minute substitute Pat Shivers would be thrown in at full-forward in search of a goal – but the aerial onslaught never materialised as the Cargin man was posted to midfield.
In those closing minutes, Antrim meandered, were turned over on numerous occasions and punished on the counterattack.
A comeback from the home side never looked on the cards.
“Down were well set up,” Antrim boss Andy McEntee acknowledged afterwards.
“I’d need to look at it again but I still felt when we went from level and then out to three points behind, we took a couple of bad options.
“You wanted to be there with five or 10 minutes to go and they punished us on the break.
“You start pushing, pushing, pushing and you’re leaving gaps behind you; that’s when a team with their particular qualities look very good.
“We just got stuck on 1-6 for a long time…”
In fairness, when you surveyed the amount of injured players around the perimeter of the fence at Corrigan Park yesterday, it was always going to be a stretch for Antrim to upset a Down side full of athleticism and a couple of class acts.
“I think we counted 10 fellas who either played League or Championship for us last year who are just not available to us for one reason or another,” McEntee added.
“It’s a learning curve, a pretty steep learning curve. But some of the guys who came in have done really, really well – but, ultimately, we weren’t good enough today. We’ve got to be better.”
It was a bruising kind of encounter at Corrigan yesterday with very little space to be exploited in the either attacking half of the field as the game evolved into negating each other’s perceived threats.
Yesterday’s rugged encounter will no doubt stand to the likes of Odhran Murdock and Liam Kerr.
Antrim’s Colm McLarnon and Kavan Keenan handled their respective threats well, but the Down duo kept asking questions throughout and, crucially, they showed their durability on a dogged afternoon.
Murdock had a 48th minute goal chance brilliantly saved by Byrne while man-of-the-match Pat Havern and substitute Oisin Savage made the most of what space was on offer at Corrigan Park yesterday.
For Antrim, midfielder Patrick McAleer – who smashed to Down’s net to open the home side’s account on 12 minutes – punched his weight throughout.
Dermot McAleese typically emptied the tank for an hour, rookie playmaker Niall Burns of St Gall’s showed encouraging glimpses and Patrick McBride and Dominic McEnhill posted very decent showings.
But with no Ryan Murray, Ruairi McCann (Aghagallon), Conor Stewart, Kevin Small, Eoghan McCabe, Peter Healy, Stephen Beatty or Patrick Finnegan, the Antrim manager had to drill uncomfortably deep into his resources.
He’ll be hoping to have a better hand to play when the two counties clash in this season’s Ulster Championship in Newry on April 14.
“There is huge spirit about Antrim,” said Down selector Mickey Donnelly.
“We came to watch them a couple of weeks ago against Offaly; they went down a man with 20 minutes to go and ground it out in horrendous conditions. We knew they weren’t going away and that proved to be the case.”
It was around this time last year the wheels began to come off Down’s promotion push and while this was far from a vintage performance from Conor Laverty’s side, they are a team bouncing fit with good options - and when the gaps eventually appeared in the Antrim defence after the hour mark, they hit 1-4 without reply to run out nine-point winners.
Donnelly added: “We’ve a lot of lads who can cover a lot of ground and that probably came to the fore, and our bench made a big impact too. To spring somebody like Danny Magill, Anthony Doherty and wee ‘Sav’ [Oisin Savage] kicked two from play - they’re massive players for us.”
It’s three wins out of three for the Mournemen with back-to-back home ties coming up against Offaly and Sligo. Division Two football is edging closer for Conor Laverty’s men.
Antrim: M Byrne (0-2 frees); R Boyle, E Walsh, K Keenan; M Jordan, J Finnegan (0-1), D McAleese; C McLarnon, P McAleer (1-0); E Hynds, N Burns, R McCann; P McBride, C McGettigan, D McEnhill (0-3, 0-2 frees) Subs: B Kelly for C McGettigan (h/t), R McQuillan for N Burns (54), D Lynch for D McAleese (59), P Shivers for C McLarnon (64), O Doherty for E Hynds (68)
Yellow cards: M Jordan (17), C McLarnon (60), P Shivers (65)
Down: J O’Hare (0-1 ‘45); P Fegan, R McEvoy, P Laverty; C Francis, M Rooney, C Doherty (1-1); O Murdock (0-1), N McParland; J Guinness (0-2), L Kerr (0-1), D Guinness; C Mooney, P Havern (0-6, 0-3 frees), S Annett Subs: J Flynn for N McParland (5 inj), O Savage (0-2) for J Flynn (33), D Magill (0-1) for S Annett (43), R Magill for C Francis (56), A Doherty for J Guinness (64)
Yellow card: J Flynn (31), A Doherty (65)
Referee: E McFeely (Donegal)
