DOWN coach Gearoid Adams has backed summer sensation Connaire Harrison to prove he is no one-season wonder by starring again in red and black next year.
The Glasdrumman forward had been in and around Mourne panels since 2013 without ever cementing a starting spot, and looked set for another season spent watching from the sidelines after missing the League with a groin injury.
But Harrison never looked back after being given the nod for the Ulster Championship opener with Armagh, turning in a top class performance against the Orchardmen before twice leading Monaghan a merry dance.
Down may have lost in the Ulster final to Tyrone before eventually bowing out against the Farneymen, but Harrison made such an impression that he was nominated for an Allstar award.
If he came in under the radar during this year’s Championship, though, he can expect to have a target on his back in 2018 – but Adams believes is a challenge the 27-year-old is ready to accept.
“There’s always the old scenario that, if you’re good in your first year, it’s even harder to keep that momentum going or improve, but I think Connaire is good enough to improve this year,” said the former Antrim joint manager, now part of Eamonn Burns’s backroom team alongside Cathal Murray.
“Talking to the rest of the boys, he’s learnt a lot from last year. Basically what is required is the men around him to be smart, and to know when to use him. Then the management team have to work out a system of play and a way to create space for Connaire to get on the ball.
“As he showed last year, he was lethal in games, so we’ll be looking more of the same.
“Eamonn has been telling the players that while Down maybe went under the radar last time, that definitely won’t happen next year.
“In terms of what Down has achieved in the past, getting beat in an Ulster final is probably below what they want. They have created the foundations last summer and, with the tradition they have, they want to go a step further.”
Despite his relative inexperience at inter-county level, Harrison is now among the older heads on the Down panel following the retirement of stalwarts Mark Poland and Aidan Carr.
While there has been much talk about those exits, Harrison will have paid as much attention to one entrance as his brother Shane has returned to the panel.
He will battle for the goalkeeper's jersey following Michael Cunningham decision to head to America.
Half-back Conaill McGovern and Kilcoo forward Jerome Johnston are also out of the picture for the time being, yet Adams has been impressed with what he has seen from the squad so far.
“Every man so far has given 100 per cent at training.
“I haven’t got to know all the players yet, far from it, but every training session we’ve done they’ve been willing to listen and to take any advice.
“You can see the average age of the panel is very young and some of the older boys have moved on. I was with Aidan at Clonduff so I know what a good player he is, and obviously I know how good a player Polie was throughout the years.
“But, coming into the panel, there’s a breath of fresh air. There’s obviously established players - as in men who established themselves during the summer in that run Down had in the Ulster Championship - and people are coming in trying to take positions.
“That’s what the McKenna Cup is for – for Eamonn to have a good look at any fresh talent at his disposal.”
