Down Ladies travelled to Maghery, Armagh on Sunday evening @ 7:30pm to take on Tyrone in their opening game of the TG4 Ulster Senior Championship.

The Down Ladies sporting their new strip from sponsor 'Around a Pound' were dealt a cruel blow in the run-up to this game with the loss of key players Lisa Morgan (ankle ) and Kyla Trainor (hamstring). The Tyrone girls had the brighter start with the first 3 scores of the afternoon coming from Maureen Teague, Caroline Kelly and Katrina Murphy. Down were slow to settle but were rewarded with a fine Michaela Downey point from play after good work from Bronagh McCurry.

Michaela added a further point from a 30yd free after a foul on L. Cunningham. Down kept battling away and were duly rewarded when Emma O'Reilly pointed to bring the sides level. Tyrone intent on reclaiming their title in 2004 responded with well taken points from Selna Oguz and Breidge Daly. After 20 mins Tyrone's Maura Kelly was 'Sin binned', a new rule introduced by congress to send a player to the line for a period of 10 mins for a yellow card, a 2nd indescretion to result in a red card. This didn't deter the red-hand girls as Clare McGarvey rattled the Down net shortly after with a well placed shot to the bottom R.H. corner.

As the interval approached a hopeful drive by Michaela Downey found its way to the Tyrone net to leave the halftime score Down 1-03, Tyrone 1-05.

Tyrone started the 2nd period with a blitz firing over 6 unanswered points from Selena Oguz (3), Clare McGarvey (2) and Ann Dooher which effectively ended Down's interest in this game. Denise Maguire did add a late point to leave the full time score Down 1-04, Tyrone 1-12.

Down's next game is against Monaghan on July 4th.

Team and Scorers:
Down - Elaine McCourt, Eliza Downey, Aiobhann Downey, Aveen Mc Evoy, Patricia.Mc Kibben, Bronagh McCurry, Maeve McConville, Denise Maguire (0-1),Geraldine Campbell, Jenna Connell, Michaela Downey (1-2), Lyndsay Cunningham, Emma O Reilly(0-1),Eileen Pyers, Emma Madine