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By John Campbell May 18 2019

Down and Tyrone share a common bond as they prepare to meet in an Ulster minor football championship round three qualifier at Pairc Esler, Newry.

They have both lost to Monaghan in the competition, and while this might suggest that the Farney side are en route to retaining the title they won last year, such is quality of the teams left in the competition that predictions are remaining on hold.

Tyrone appeared to have set down an early marker when they overcame Donegal before they were tripped up by Monaghan last weekend. Yet they still appear to have key players in their side in Daniel Fullerton, James Donaghy, Michael McGleenan and skipper Niall Devlin who look capable of fashioning victory today.

For their part, Down, under the baton of former 1991 and 1994 All-Ireland winner James McCartan, ran Monaghan close before getting the better of Fermanagh.

While McCartan has his team playing an open, attacking brand of football, he is wary that the Tyrone attack could blossom.

Down are not without their own sources of scores, though.  John McGovern and Odhran Murdock, along with Adam Crimmons, are capable finishers. Belfast Telegraph

Down bounced back from their first round loss to Derry with a 2-25 to 2-19 defeat of Wicklow. The visitors led by 0-15 to 0-11 at the break before a Christy Moorepoint penalty at the start of the second half left the minimum in it.

But goals from Daithi Sands in the 49th minute and Tim Prenter in the 68th minute saw the Mourne County home.

The meeting of Kildare and Down in Abbotstown was a complete mis-match which resulted in a facile 7-36 to 0-05 victory for the Lilywhites after they had led by 3-19 to 0-03 at half-time.

Ulster SFC quarter-final: Down v Armagh, Pairc Esler, 4pm - BBC deferred

Armagh boss Kieran McGeeney has opted to go with four debutants for this one as he gets set to blend youth with experience in Newry.

Ryan Kennedy, Jarlath Og Burns, Aidan Nugent and Rian O’Neill will all make their championship bows against Down on Sunday as the Orchard men bid for their first Ulster championship win since 2014.

Down held the upper hand when these two rivals crossed swords on the same stage at the same venue two years ago, and you get the feeling supremo Paddy Tally would happily take the same one-point margin of victory here and march towards an Ulster semi-final date with Cavan or Monaghan on June 2nd.

McGeeney’s charges are the favourites at 4/5, but odds often go out the window when it comes to derbies and this one could well end up going right down to the wire.

Taken from
https://hoganstand.com/Down/Article/Index/299310

Work-rate is the key ingredient in any successful team as far as Down manager Paddy Tally is concerned.

Speaking to RTE Sport ahead of this weekend’s Ulster SFC local derby with Armagh, the Mourne County boss rejected claims that he is "overly defensive" in his coaching and how he sets teams up.

“If you're looking at your team and you're saying right, if we play a certain way we'll be hard to beat and we'll make it difficult for the opposition, surely you'll do that," he commented.

“There are days when you just have to cut your cloth to suit. Over the years, teams I've worked with, we've always made a decision that we're going to work very, very hard.

“We've always have to have an attitude within the team whereby if you don't have the ball, you have to work very, very hard to get it back. There's nothing wrong with that. That's an honest thing you want in any player.

“I don't think I'm an overly defensive coach but I just think a big part of winning games is how tight you are at the back.”