South Down hurlers will feel
they were robbed in the National League Division
4 Final in Cavan on Sunday. They were leading
by a point seven minutes into the announced
five minutes of injury time, when Tyrone referee
John Devlin awarded Monaghan a free directly
in front of the goal to bring the match into
extra time.
At the end of extra time one
minute of added time was announced. But three
minutes later the scores were still level. Again
Devlin gave Monaghan a free, this time in the
middle of the field. It fell short on the 21
yard line to the jubilation of the Down men.
But Devlin then awarded another free, again
right in front of the posts to rob the Down
men of their first national title.
Overall it was a close and
exciting encounter but South Down were up against
it from the start with top scorer Ciaran Sloan
missing. Monaghan on the other hand had acquired
two Galway hurlers for their full forward line.
A further blow to South Down came fifteen minutes
into the match when Colm O’Neill was forced
off through injury.
Down began brightly with a
point from John Brown in the first minute, followed
by a goal and a point from his brother Aidan.
But Monaghan came back with a goal and three
points to take the lead. A John Murphy point
left the sides level after 12 minutes.
But then Monaghan forged ahead,
scoring five points with only a Danny Doran
point in reply. Eoin McGuinness scored a fine
goal to leave the sides level again on 20 minutes,
but again Monaghan ran up five points, this
time without reply.
Points from Aidan Brown and
John Murphy kept them in touch and when Monaghan
saved a penalty, Murphy pointed the ensuing
65 to leave the Mourne men trailing by 1-14
to 2-7 at half time.
Cheered on by as many accents
from Galway as there were from Monaghan, the
Farney men kept picking off points in the second
half. Down kept in touch with scores from John
Bown, Danny Doran and Jonathan and Dan McCusker.
Three minutes into injury time Down were trailing
1-18 to 2-12 when a low free from John Brown
found the net to level the scores.
Half a minute later McGuinness
floated over a point to leave the Down men with
one hand on the title. Four minutes later came
Devlin’s controversial free.
Down effectively lost the match
in the first period of extra time when Monaghan
scored four unanswered points because the Down
men were unable to win their own puck-outs.
But in the second half, points from Aidan and
John Brown kept them in touch and when McGuinness
scored his second goal at the end of injury
time, Down seemed set for at least a draw. But
for the second time in the match Devlin’s
decision-making let him down and Southern cheers
echoed through Breffni Park.
After sixty training sessions
since October they were denied a replay by some
bizarre decisions and timekeeping.
If Down were to be faulted
by their performance it could be pointed out
that their weaknesses were their inability to
score points from distance and some of their
decision-making was poor when in possession.
But, in their first year on the national stage,
they are all still learning. All of them played
heroically but in the end their heroism counted
for nothing.
This result gives the South
Down men an insight into what it takes to win
a national title. They can feel sorry for themselves
or they can learn from it. Their strength and
determination means they will certainly learn
from it. But no team should ever be asked to
learn in this way again.
Team: D Kearns, N Conway, B
McAleenan, P McCusker, J McGrath, D McCusker,
A Higgins, J Murphy (0-3, 0-2 65s), D Doran
(0-3), J Brown (1-3, 0-2 frees) C O’Neill,
K Maxwell, J McCusker (0-1), E McGuinness (2-1),
A Brown (2-2).
Subs: T Jennings for O’Neill
(15); D McGovern for Jennings (80); J O’Kane
for Maxwell (83).
