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Down County Football Final Rostrevor v Mayobridge
- 12/09/2002
The Harp Larger county senior football final between Rostrevor and Mayobridge takes place this Sunday in Newry. This final is a repeat of the final of four years ago when Rostrevor defeated an inexperienced Mayobridge side.
Since this Mayobridge have won two County titles and also qualified for the Ulster Club final last year. Rostrevor booked their place in this decider when they defeated Liatroim in a replay a fortnight ago. The reply failed to live up to their first match which was end to end stuff, with excitement and drama. In the reply Rostrevor were always in command but still only won by a single point after some poor shouting by the forwards.
Mayobridge with their array of county senior stars, including the legendary Mickey Linden are expected to win the title once again, and hopefully make up for their disappointment in last season's Ulster club campaign when they were defeated by the eventual All-Ireland champions Ballinderry from Derry in the Ulster final.
On that occasion, many of the players felt they didn't do themselves justice on the day, and they will be hopeing to get another opportunity in the coming months to show what sort of team they our. However, they won't want to under-estimate the challenge of what is a very well balanced Rostrevor side in a final, which has the potential to be a thrilling encounter.
The senior decider will be preceded by the minor decider and whatever happens in the under-18 final between Newry Bosco and Longstone there will be a new name on the Collie Curran Cup. Neither of these teams have been in the minor final before, and this in itself adds to the occasion.
No doubt new county manager, Paddy O'Rourke will be in attendance in what should be a large crowd. Paddy will be hopeing for some talent to be on show at the match as he commences the process of building a new County panel. Hopefully this will be the start of a new era in Down GAA with an improvement in the Mourne county's fortunes on the inter-county scene.
Paddy recently stepped down as team-manager of leading Monaghan side, Castleblayney Faughs after they were surprisingly defeated by their great rivals, Clontibret in this seasons Monaghan senior football championship semi-final, ending a hoped-for five in a row senior championship successes for the famed 'Blayney Faughs side.
Paddy had a very successful stint in Monaghan club football with the 'Blayney side winning championship and league titles along the way, and he was very popular with the 'Blayney Faughs players and supporters alike.
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