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What
happened when the sides crossed swords in the past - 02/03/03
DOWN..........0-15
LAOIS..........1-15
(after extra time) (Sunday 6th April
1986)
Taken from The Outlook Sport
MEETINGS between Down and Laois are not very regular occurrences,
but as he gathers his thoughts for the game on Sunday the
team manager Paddy O’Rourke will recall a crucial meeting
between the teams almost seventeen years ago. The venue
was Croke Park and the occasion was the National Football
League Quarter final.
Down had gone through the pre-Christmas games undefeated
with wins over Kerry and the league champions Monaghan at
Newcastle. With a win over Tyrone in Healy Park Omagh on
the first Sunday in March they completed an undefeated run
through the league to sit proudly at the top of Division
One.
The reward was a place in the quarter-finals.
Of the eight teams making up those quarter-finals, Monaghan
were the reigning National League and Ulster champions,
Mayo were Connaught champions and Dublin were the Leinster
champions.
Laois and Derry were beaten Provincial finalists. Laois
had been considered unlucky to lose to Dublin in the Leinster
final nine months previously, but they had qualified for
the league quarter-finals from the third division and most
Down supporters travelling to Croker for the game on the
first Sunday in April expected nothing but a Down victory.
Conditions were difficult at headquarters. Neither side
mastered a strong swirling wind blowing from the Railway
end. Down played against the wind but went into an early
lead with points from Brendan Mason and John Treanor (2).
But they lost their grip on the game after the opening ten
minutes and they trailed 0-05 to 0-03 at the interval.
All that after the Leinster men had received no reward from
a twice taken penalty. Pat Donnan saved the first effort
but when the referee ordered the kick to be retaken Prendergast
drove wide.
Down struggled throughout the second half and fell further
behind, trailing 0-07 to 0-03 at the end of the third quarter.
Two pointed frees from John Treanor kept Down in touch but
with ten minutes remaining they trailed 0-05 to 0-08, with
all five points coming from free kicks. Down benefited from
a series of switches which brought Treanor from the corner
to centre three-quarter and Ambrose Rodgers to midfield.
A Bundy Mason point was the first Down score from play before
a shot from Treanor came off the cross bar but was scrambled
over. With time running out Brian Conlon got the equaliser
to force the game into extra time.
Down had found a momentum and a rhythm in the final ten
minutes and this was carried into extra time. They led at
the end of the first period of extra time but were caught
cold at the restart. Reporting on the game at the time I
noted: “...Down were hardly back in their places when disaster
struck...
Straight from the throw in the ball was punted upfield towards
Prendergast. He had looked increasingly menacing in the
first period of extra time, this time he made no mistake.
He waltzed past Timmy Slavin with ease, drew Donnan and
shot to an empty net.”
Down were still reeling from this score when Laois added
two further points to go in front. Substitutes Peter Walsh
and Dominic O’Hanlon were introduced and although Down did
create chances they could manage only one more score, a
point from Mickey Linden, and thus it was the Leinster men
who went into the league semi-final.
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