Ulster Senior Football Championship quarter-final: Down 0-15 Armagh 2-7
From Neil Loughran at Pairc Esler
NOT since Down ousted All-Ireland champions-elect Tyrone nine years ago has a Mourne outfit had the opportunity to celebrate an Ulster Championship victory in front of their own fans.
Memories of that famous Saturday night replay win have become almost sepia-tinged as Down took to the road year after year, their fortunes dipping dramatically in recent times.
Back in 2008, punters flooded the field to celebrate with their heroes in scenes reminiscent of an Ulster final success rather than preliminary round progress.
And while Down eventually bowed out of the Qualifiers to Wexford, the defeated Red Hands would hoist aloft Sam Maguire for a third time in six years that September.
Relief, more than anything else, was the overriding emotion of the Down support yesterday. And Conor Maginn, one of the experienced heads in red and black, sounded a note of caution as pats on the back came thick and fast post-match.
He wasn’t playing against Tyrone in 2008 but remembers it well, and how the summer transpired. It is a lesson for all in Eamonn Burns’s new-look collective.
“It’s an absolute dream, playing at home in Newry after all these years of all the away fixtures,” said the Bryansford clubman.
“There was some build up, coming up against the old rivals, but to be honest I don’t think we’ll get too carried away with winning this. We’ll move on to whoever wins next week out of Cavan and Monaghan.
“Hopefully that game there doesn’t define our season.”
Down have already had a few defining moments so far this year. The League victory over Meath in March was their first competitive victory under Eamonn Burns.
Having struggled as their Division Two campaign drew to a close, they were widely tipped to fall through the trapdoor as they made the long trip to Cork needing a draw at the very least.
A late Jerome Johnston score did the trick as they just about held on to their second tier status, the overall effect of going into the trenches and emerging with something to show having a unifying effect heading towards yesterday’s derby game.
“It was difficult. I’m based down south and it seemed any time you turned on the sports channels, it seemed to be about Down and the crisis we were in,” continued Maginn.
“The couple of wins we got in the League gave us a good boost. We were backs to the wall against Cork, down at half-time, things might have been looking bleak, so it was definitely a confidence booster to stay up the way we did.
“It really bonded the players. Everybody was getting it from all sides, and when we came to training here we knew the only ones who could turn it around was ourselves. The amount of whipping we got and to not get relegated, and to have stayed together, I’d say it gave us a good bit of confidence.
“When your backs are to the wall, there’s only one way to answer it.”
And the pressure of coming in as slight underdogs against your closest rival was something Down thrived on, according to Maginn – though both counties appeared to be feeling the heat as wide after wide was kicked late on.
“The pressure was a positive force.
“We put plenty of pressure on ourselves to win, that was pretty much the height of it. It’s no secret the last few years haven’t gone too well in the Championship. The only pressure was from ourselves, fulfilling what we see as our potential and putting things right from the last few years.
“We could’ve maybe taken a few more of the chances and maybe got over the line a bit easier, but we’ll not worry about that.”
