Dark clouds lifting as Down turn the corner

A NASTY mist had descended on Páirc Esler in Newry on Saturday night by the time the managers came back out to chew over this one.

With the future clouded maybe it was appropriate that relegation issues should dominate the thoughts of the two bosses after this Ulster joust.

But while the theme may have been the same, their take on it was miles apart with Down’s James McCartan relieved their top-flight status was assured while Eamon McAneaney admitted Monaghan were in “a dogfight” to avoid relegation. McCartan, one suspects, was overplaying the relegation card for this win now gives the All-Ireland runners-up a shot at making the league final.

But for Monaghan, the manner of this loss suggested the glass is half empty.

Only Paul Finlay displayed any cutting edge in an attack where the returning Tommy Freeman made no impact before being hauled ashore. Finlay kicked all but three of his side’s total and six of his efforts were from frees.

On the other hand, Down’s six forwards found the target. Wing-back Declan Rooney kicked a brace and midfielder Peter Fitzpatrick played as seventh forward.

It was easy to see, when they were in their stride in the second-half, how this side went so close to nailing the All-Ireland title last year.

Said McCartan “At least the win maintains our division one status for another year and that was the primary objective. There is now something to aim for and if we win our last two games we could be in with a shout.”

“There were a couple of things which were particularly pleasing having conceded 3-17 last week. It was great to keep the score down and then at the other end we really pushed on and picked off the scores.

McAneaney knows that having space for improvement is the least of his worries.

“We never showed up. We just didn’t play our normal game.

“Our work rate, our tackling, you name it, it was just sub-standard. We are definitely in a dogfight now.”

Monaghan never built on a decent opening half and were in contention when they trailed by just 0-8 to 0-6 having played against the wind. They did not score from play until Conor McManus found the range a minute before the break, but by then Finlay had kicked four good frees and landed a long-range effort after a good passing movement in the dying seconds of the half.

Down, with Mark Poland busy, put some fine passing movements together but often the end product left a lot to be desired. However, Rooney burst forward to hit two points from long range while Danny Hughes also landed a brace.

But it was the class of Marty Clarke which stood out, landing the point of the match with his left boot on a run out during a spell when the All-Ireland runners-up hit three scores in as many minutes coming up to the half-hour mark.

Conor Maginn and Paul McComiskey extended Down’s lead with a couple of points inside two minutes of the restart and Monaghan looked a beaten docket at that stage.

Finlay reduced it to 0-10 to 0-7 with his sixth but Down pulled away with Benny Coulter becoming their sixth forward to score after 46 minutes.

Poland and McManus exchanged points but any notions of a Monaghan comeback ended when Coulter was hauled down by Monaghan Vincent Corey and Clarke blasted home a penalty and then a free to lead by double scores, 1-13 to 0-8.

From there they never looked back.

Scorers for Down: M Clarke 1-4 (1-0p, 3f), P McComiskey 0-3, D Hughes, D Rooney, M Poland 0-2 each, C Maginn, B Coulter, A Carr 0-1 each.

Scorers for Monaghan: P Finlay 0-8 (6f), C McManus 0-2 (1f), C Galligan 0-1.

Subs for Down: M Doran for Garvey (65), R Murtagh for Poland (65), D McCartan for McArdle (66), A Carr for Coulter (66).

Subs for Monaghan: B McKenna for Lennon (32), B O’Brien for Freeman (65), O Duffy for McGuinness (65), C Galligan for Hughes (65), S Smyth for Downey (68).

Referee: D Coldrick (Meath).