SHC QUALIFIER: Cloonan leads Galway win over Down

Down 1-14 Galway 5-19

The Mourne men’s championship dreams may be over after their fourth outing, but they refused to bend to their vaunted opponents, with Brendan McGourty and Andy Savage both pointing for an early 0-02 to 0-01 lead.

Indeed Down were just two points in arrears at the interval thanks to a run of five unanswered points, with corner forward Stephen Clarke striking three crisp frees in the absence of injured talisman Paul Braniff.