Corrigan hopes charges will not suffer stage fright

DOWN’S appearance in the second of the Bank of Ireland Ulster SFC semi-finals in Clones tomorrow signifies the substantial progress under new manager Paddy O’Rourke. Or does it?

Footballing aristocrats they may well be, based on their exploits in the 1960s, and a reputation for flamboyant play that carries forward to the new millennium.

But time moves on. The fact is, the Mourne county has been kept very much in the background in recent years due to declining fortunes and the comparable success of the other counties, specifically Armagh and Tyrone.

Based on tradition, Down would be expected to breeze past Fermanagh, the only county never to win their provincial title.

But, while their quarter-final win over Monaghan merits more respect than their opponents' success against Donegal, it remains to be seen if they can enhance their reputation tomorrow.

Lest we forget, Down hadn't won a single championship game since 1999 when they beat Tyrone in the semi-

final last year before going under by 12 points to Donegal in the decider.

Conversely, Fermanagh reached the semi-final stage last year and again in 2000, and earlier this season they contested the Division One semi-final of the league, where they lost by 4-11 to 1-11 to champions Tyrone. But, it's 21 years since they last reached a final and before that they were only involved in three others, in 1945, 1935 and 1914.

Nevertheless, current manager Dominick Corrigan is only concerned about recent history and about the number of times they have flattered to deceive.

"We're pretty much sick of the sight of reaching semi-finals and not performing," he says. "It's high time we changed all that and Sunday is the time to do it."

Strong words from a respected manager, he was assistant to John Maughan, who takes heart from the character his team showed in the win over Donegal.

That was achieved without the services of key player Tom Brewster (back for this game) along with the loss of replacement Colm Bradley, who was dismissed 15 minutes from the end.

"I was very pleased with the result, even though the performance was less than satisfactory.

"But, I suppose it's changed times that Fermanagh can grind out a result playing poorly. That's a sign there's self-belief in the team and a bit of confidence there that was missing before," he says.

Corrigan, a school teacher associated with successful St Michael's, Enniskillen sides in colleges competition, has no doubt their appearance in the league semi-final brought the team an obvious benefit.

Indeed, he describes it as being "absolutely crucial" to their championship preparations. "We really found about our team that day in Croke Park.

We found out our defence wasn't tight enough and we found that we weren't competing strong around the park.

So, the lessons we took from that game were very valuable to us for the championship." Corrigan recognises that Down will benefit enormously from their win over Monaghan, who, it will be remembered, shocked All-Ireland champions Armagh in the preliminary round.

It's the old story. Any time Down get a bit of momentum behind them, they go from strength to strength. And, he knows they will fancy their chances of winning this game.

It's all down to tradition. "Down see themselves as potential Ulster winners this year. We have to work hard to stop them in their tracks. I see them as a major force in Ulster football again. There's no doubt about that."

He praises Paddy O'Rourke for doing tremendous work during his time in charge. Corrigan was impressed by their form in the league, believing them unlucky to lose in a number of games by a point or two.

"The message is that they are back stronger than ever and that Fermanagh will have their work cut out to beat them," he said.