Down make strong start count

Down 0-15 Cavan 0-11

Down made Cavan pay for a poor start and finish at Newry's Pairc Esler today as they claimed a deserved four-point win in the sides' Ulster SFC preliminary round replay.

There were almost 30 minutes on the clock before Cavan opened their scoring account, and that came after the introduction of Seanie Johnston.

The Breffni men, who trailed 0-3 to 0-0 after 21 minutes with Down scoring through James McGovern (0-2) and Ronan Murtagh, did battle well and went in at the break on level terms at 0-5 apiece.

Crucially, Cavan centre forward Michael Lyng was sent off for his second bookable offence and Down pulled away in a fiery finish with five successive points - Paul McComiskey (0-2), Daniel Hughes (0-2) and Kevin McGuigan were all on target.

Cavan midfielder Dermot McCabe top-scored with 0-5, with three of those points coming late in the first half.

The win for Ross Carr's Down side will see them in quarter-final action against Monaghan on June 10.