Down hurlers hope to build on landmark Antrim win

By John Harrington

How big a deal for the Mourne County was Down’s victory over Antrim in the Joe McDonagh Cup last weekend?

Well, to put it into some context, it was the first time since 1993 that they’ve registered consecutive wins over their fellow Ulster county.

The common narrative after they beat the Saffrons in the final round of the League at Pairc Esler was that a forewarned Antrim would be forearmed when they played them four weeks later in the first round of the Joe McDonagh Cup.

Instead lightning struck for a second time as once again Donal Huges sealed a famous victory for Down with an injury-time goal.

For Down manager Ronan Sheehan, now in his eight year in charge of the team, it was a hugely satisfying result that testifies to the tremendous work he and his panel have put in together over the course of that time to raise their standards.

“Ah yeah, look, we're very happy, obviously both with the performance and obviously the result as well,” Sheehan told GAA.ie.

“When you reflect on how difficult other teams have found it to go up to Dunloy and get a result, teams that would be seen as being well above us in the pecking order in terms of the Dublins or Wexfords or whatever, yeah we're really, really, really happy and really pleased.

“It sets us up really well for this Saturday and indeed into the rest of the McDonagh Cup, so, delighted with that. I think the League game in Park Esler really gave us the confidence.

“We knew ourselves that we weren't far away, we knew maybe that some of our results in 1B weren't necessarily reflective of how we were playing overall.

“We felt that there were a couple of games we let slip such as the game against Wexford when we lost by a couple of points.

“We wanted to finish the league on a high and we felt that if we did that it would give us momentum to carry into the McDonagh Cup and that certainly seems to have been the case. Saturday we got over the line with a really good performance.

“I think we've shown that we're a good team and we've shown that we're a team that can compete at this level relatively consistently. While others may have been surprised by the result, we wouldn't have been surprised inside our own dressing room.

“We weren't overly confident, but we were confident in our own ability and we knew that if we performed to the best of our ability then that we had a really good chance and so it turned out.”

In developing counties like Down where winning the hearts of minds of a new generation of potential young hurlers is so vital, wins like last weekend’s over Antrim are worth their weight in gold.

“Yeah, look it's massive, but we still have loads of work to do,” says Sheehan. “Sometimes I think people look at the Down senior team or the Carlow senior team or maybe the Kerry senior team when we're going well and say that everything's going really well in that county from a hurling perspective when actually it remains a fight and it remains a struggle and that's no different in Down.

“We got a fantastic crowd that came to the Wexford game for example this year in Ballycran and we got a brilliant crowd in Park Esler as well for the game against Antrim.

“My own club, we had organised a wee mini-blitz that day where we had ourselves and Warrenpoint and Carryduff and St Paul's from Belfast were down too.

“You had maybe a couple of hundred kids were playing hurling before it and then were coming out to watch the game and that gave a great buzz. The pitch was packed with kids afterwards looking for autographs and looking for photos.

“We need more occasions like that in the middle tiers and certainly in Ulster hurling. I know in my own club we've got a great boost from it. The kids were buzzing all week after seeing Down winning and they're looking forward now to Saturday's match and coming down to Park Esler again and seeing the Down hurlers again.

“It's all part of the building process but outside of that there's far more work to be done at underage. Whether that be combined school teams, whether it be improving our development squads, whether it be growing the number of clubs we have.

“In those middle tiers it's always a battle and it's always about how can you bring through enough people to sustain the game at the level you've got to.

“For us that's very much about blooding our under 20s, blooding our younger players. We had three under 20s on the field against Antrim again on Saturday. Over half our panel are probably under 23.

“So why we mightn't be winning loads and loads of A titles although we've done pretty well at B at under 20, we have been gradually introducing two or three players each year to sustain the senior team and we need to do more of that, we need to continue that.”

The challenge now for this Down team is to follow up a great win over Antrim with a few more in this year’s Joe McDonagh Cup campaign, starting with London on Saturday.

This is Down’s sixth Joe McDonagh Cup campaign in a row and in the previous five campaigns survival was the name of the game, and quite often it wasn’t secured until the final round of fixtures.

But if they could make it two wins from two this weekend with another win over London they’d already be assured of retaining their McDonagh Cup status for another year would be emboldened to have a really good cut of potentially qualifying for the final.

“Absolutely,” says Sheehan. “Ultimately, for all of the joy and the elation of winning on Saturday it's still only two points so you've only got two points on the board.

“The same two points are available on Saturday against London so it's very important that we focus on that and it's own merits and say to ourselves we need to continue to perform to the best of our ability, get another two points that gives us four points, which would certainly make us safe which I think is always your first objective when you're in the McDonough Cup because it is so competitive and you look at really good teams that have been relegated in the past.

“Kildare were relegated out of the McDonagh Cup twice before they won it and now they're playing and performing well in the McCarthy Cup this year. Your first objective is always to get safe so I think if we win on Saturday it secures safety and gives us those four points.

“After that we've got a break week and then we can look forward to another three games after that and hopefully target wins that would put us in the position to get to a final. But our total focus at the minute is just getting over the line and beating London and getting another two points on the board.

“We have tended in the past in the McDonagh Cup to survive and sometimes survive on the last day of the competition.

“So we're in a really unique position for ourselves this year whereby after two games we could be top of the group but also have secured our position for 2027 which would be I think our seventh year in a row in the McDonagh.

We’re approaching this year in steps. We're saying there's six steps to potentially win a final. Two steps for safety, five steps to get to a final. We've one step done, we're halfway there to safety.

“Saturday hopefully if we can win that brings us to safety and then we can focus on the next three steps that maybe put us in a position to get to Croke Park.

“We won't be looking beyond London. We've been in the position ourselves where you're fighting for your life in the McDonagh Cup. They'll see this maybe as one of those games that they think that they can target. They've some good hurlers and we need to be we need to be focused and on it on Saturday.

“We talked about it at training last night that we need to keep our own standards high, we keep our own performance high and the scoreboard will look after itself.”