Tailteann Cup quarter-final: Down 1-18 Wicklow 0-12
Down’s win over Wicklow at Páirc Esler in Saturday’s Tailteann Cup quarter-final gives them the opportunity to return to Croke Park and make up for some less than auspicious appearances at Headquarters of late as they prepare to face Tony McEntee’s Sligo in the semi-final.
The Mournemen lost the Division Three final to Westmeath at the end of March in the north Dublin venue, the first time they had returned there since losing to Meath in last year’s Tailteann Cup final.
With this year’s semi-final once again scheduled for Croke, a venue which saw Down put eight goals past Laois at the same stage 12 months ago, manager Conor Laverty believes it is a chance to take their developing attacking game to the biggest stage and make up for those last two visits.
“We’re delighted to get back to Croke Park. The last day we were there, we’d probably be very disappointed with our performance. So we’re looking forward to getting back there,” he said.
“I think this Down team was made to play in the big open spaces, so hopefully we can get back there to give a performance and do ourselves justice.
Forward Pat Havern led the scoring against the Garden county with 0-6, four coming from play in an energetic performance which saw accurate shooting, ferocious foraging and digging in in defence.
The Saval man has steadily improved since nervy performances against Westmeath in the League final and a display against Antrim in the Ulster SFC which lasted just 25 minutes before he was substituted before half-time.
He grew in confidence, particularly in the second half, thumping over points from the right and left and helping Down keep Wicklow at arm’s length.
“Pat’s very consistent. He’s a great trainer, he’s always on the training field. So it was only a matter of time before he was firing again,” said Laverty.
“Today, he was really, really sharp and I thought his defensive duties were brilliant. He’s in great shape. He’s in the shape of his life.”
Down settled into an early rhythm, points from Shealan Johnston and Havern coming either side of a goal from John McGovern.
James Guinness turned away in disgust at his fifth-minute effort for a point, but the sliced effort fell kindly for McGovern, who rose above Mark Jackson to punch to the Wicklow net.
Wicklow got off the mark on eight minutes when Down goalkeeper John O’Hare lost a high ball from Kevin Quinn and punched it wide for a 45, which Jackson coolly converted.
However, the visitors were otherwise struggling from the dead ball, with Quinn and Chris O’Brien sending straight-forward frees wide.
Once they found their range, though, Wicklow narrowed the gap thanks to points from O’Brien (0-2) from play and frees from Jackson and Quinn.
Down spurned a couple of goal chances by being over-elaborate in their build-up with Conor McCrickard attempting to feed McGovern instead of shooting himself, minutes after the Ballyholland man had seen a goal chance squirm wide.
However, a couple of points from Shealan Johnston saw them hold a four-point lead at half-time and two Havern points early in the second half stretched the advantage.
They needed that gap as the visitors were getting in behind and carving out goal chances, Darragh Fee seeing an effort blocked by Finn McElroy on one occasion.
Daniel Guinness and substitute Liam Kerr, with his first touch, tacked on more Down points with Wicklow relying on the free-taking of Keith Quinn to keep them in the game.
As the game became more stretched, Down found some space in behind a Wicklow defence which was increasingly pushing up trying to find a game-changing score.
Kerr and Oisin Savage both saw goal chances thwarted, but were able to grab the points which ensured a comfortable finish to the game for Conor Laverty’s men as they await Monday morning’s draw
Despite being unable to convert those goal chances, Laverty was pleased with his side’s tally of points 18 points, 0-15 of which came from play.
“There’s definitely bigger challenges ahead. We definitely understand that, but the amount of practice we have put into kicking from outside that deep blocking area,” he said.
“We’ve really emphasised that in training, we’ve gone after that very hard so I feel the boys’ striking is really good. Look at Shealan [Johnston] there today, I thought his connection of the ball was brilliant.
“We have the ability for lads to kick scores from 35, 40 metres. It’s just, once the pressure is on, just executing that.”
Down J O’Hare; P Fegan, R McEvoy (0-1 45), P Laverty; M Rooney, D Guinness, (0-2) S Johnston (0-4); F McElroy, O Murdock; F McElroy, J Guinness, P McCarthy; J McGovern (1-0), P Havern (0-6, 0-2 frees), C McCrickard
Subs D Magill (0-1) for J Guinness (24); C Doherty (0-1) for R Magill (h-t), O Savage (0-1) for J McGovern (48); L Kerr (0-2) for C McCrickard (56); R Johnston for M Rooney (64)
Yellow cards R McEvoy (19), J Guinness (21); O Murdock (51)
Wicklow M Jackson (0-3, 0-2 frees, 0-45); C Mc Donald, M Stone, P O Keane (0-1); M Nolan, E Murtagh, G Fogarty; D Healy, P O’Toole (0-1); D Fee, C O’Brien (0-2), J Kirwan; J Carlin, K Quinn (0-4 frees), JP Nolan
Subs M Kenny for JP Nolan (45); O McGaynor (0-1) for E Darcy (52); J Prendergast for E Murtagh (65); G Murphy for P O’Toole (66)
S Doyle, M Kenny, J Treacy, G Murphy, J Prendergast, A Arslan, E Darcy, P O’Toole, C O’Brien, Z Cullen, J M Call
Yellow cards D Healy (17), P O’Keane (48)