Down have yet to reach peak: Hughes

Down attacker Daniel Hughes believes his side have yet to reach their peak as they prepare to face Sligo in Saturday's All-Ireland SFC fourth round qualifier at Kingspan Breffni Park.

The Mourne men amassed 10 wides against Longford in round two of the back door system, while last Saturday James McCartan's charges misfired on 15 occasions against Offaly.

If Down are to chalk up their third successive qualifier win, Hughes says a much-needed improvement is required against Sligo, the beaten Connacht finalists.

"Obviously the back door isn't somewhere we wanted to be at the start of the year," he said.

"Tyrone checked our expectations a bit in the Ulster Championship and again we find ourselves in the back door.

"Those performances we put in against Longford and Offaly have been dogged. By no means have they been convincing and I suppose we are going to have to lift our performances considerably if we want to beat Sligo."

Down claimed a 1-14 to 1-10 win over Longford in their first qualifier game of 2010. A tough battle against Glenn Ryan's charges at Pairc Esler.

Down have turned the Newry venue into a fortress over the last few years, including an Ulster SFC replay win over Tyrone in 2008.

Hughes says that home advantage can be tremendously important.

"A lot of teams, when you take the home advantage into account, it gives them an extra point or two. Offaly hadn't been beaten in Tullamore (in 2010) until last weekend, albeit they were in Division 3 of the National League.

"I would say when you go to those places they are very, very tough. Down is like that as well, and that's the way we want to keep it, especially since we are in Division 1 next year."

The talented forward came on as a substitute in last Saturday's win over Offaly - playing through the pain barrier to score a vital point, as the Saval clubman continues to recover from a stress fracture in his left foot.

Hughes has been named to start at wing forward in Saturday's clash, and knows that Sligo will be on the backlash, having suffered a one-point defeat to Roscommon in the Connacht decider.

"I watched the Connacht final, it was a great game of football and thoroughly enjoyable to watch," he said.

"I think it could have went either way, and Roscommon just got on the right end of the result. Sligo, if they were to do it again, probably wouldn't get beaten a second day.

"I believe it is as big an opportunity for Sligo (on Saturday) as it is for us.

"We are two evenly-matched teams, probably all over the field. We'll see where we are in the grand scheme of things come Sunday."