The 16th Man

IT WAS a weekend of change in the Ulster Bank Senior Football Championship last weekend writes Ciaran Daly.
For the first time ever, results at the quarter-final stage mean that none of the four semi-finalists will be provincial champions.
In fact, none of the sides through to the semi-finals even competed in their provincial finals.
It also means that neither Kerry nor Tyrone will feature in an All-Ireland final for the first time since 2001.

The changing of the guard came about with two performances, both worthy of champions on Saturday at Croke Park. It truly was a D-day with Down overturning champions Kerry and Dublin later disposing of Ulster giants Tyrone.
Coming into game Kerry had never lost an All-Ireland quarter-final and Down had never lost to Kerry in the Championship. Something had to give. In the end the Kingdom yielded to a masterful Mourne display.

The northerners had a firm grip on the game before the first minute had fully elapsed. Mark Poland netted after 52 seconds following some neat play by the industrious Paul McComiskey. The diminutive forward was wreaking havoc in the Kerry defence in the opening exchanges and it meant that after 10 minutes Down led 1-03 to no score.
Bryan Sheehan, usually so accurate with his kicking, was guilty of misfiring before eventually registering Kerry’s first score on 14 minutes.

From that point onwards the Kingdom enjoyed their best spell of play as Seamus Scanlon and company began to dominate midfield. Colm ‘The Gooch’ Cooper came to the fore to hit three successive points as the Kerry onslaught showed no signs of abating. Down were handed a life-line when a Kerry goal was disallowed by referee Joe McQuillan for an apparent illegal hand-pass in the build-up to the goal.

It stirred Down back into life and points from the increasingly influential Martin Clarke and Mark Poland meant that they headed for the break 1-07 to 0-04 up.
James McCartan’s charges re-emerged with plenty of attacking swagger as Martin Clarke pointed almost immediately from the restart.  Kerry huffed and puffed but their reliance on Cooper’s accuracy from the dead ball was proving to be an inherent weakness in Kerry’s play. The absence of Paul Galvin and Tomas O’Se was becoming increasingly apparent.

Down nullified the attacking threat and even when Kieran Donaghy was able to get two goal-bound shots away from close range Brendan McVeigh, in the Down goal, saved heroically on both occasions.

Kerry must have known the gods were not smiling on them when Donnacha Walsh was dismissed for a second yellow card. From there Down dominated and points from the talismanic Benny Coulter and Martin Clarke put down firmly in the driving seat.
Just as Kerry had been denied a goal by the referee’s whistle in the first half so too were Down in the second. It mattered little that McComiskey’s seemingly legitimate goal was disallowed. Down were rampant. Three of the four Down subs were able to point when called upon and when Ambrose Rodgers pointed on 70 minutes Down led 1-16 to 0-10.

Kerry were awarded a generous penalty in injury time. David Moran dispatched with aplomb but it was scant consolation. Kerry had been well beaten. The final whistle blew and the sizeable contingent of Down fans at Croke Park erupted in ecstasy. They had done it and not even the most fervent Kerry fans could deny that they deserved it.
The Championship now takes on a very different complexion. Change is afoot as perennial competitors, Kerry, bow out at the quarter-final stage. Change will happen but by beating Kerry for the fifth time in Championship history Down maintain a proud record and they will enjoy pointing out that however much things may change, some things always remain the same. 

DOWN: Brendan McVeigh, Daniel McCartan, Dan Gordon, Damien Rafferty, Declan Rooney, Kevin McKernan, Conor Garvey, Ambrose Rodgers (0-02), Kalum King, Daniel Hughes, Mark Poland (1-02), Paul McComiskey (0-02), Brendan Coulter (0-03),  John Clarke, Martin Clarke (0-04) (Subs) Ronan Murtagh (0-01), Conor Maginn (0-01) Ronan Sexton, Peter Fitzpatrick (0-01)

KERRY: Brendan Kealy, Marc O’Se, Tommy Griffin, Tom O’Sullivan, Aidan O’Mahony, Mike McCarthy, Killian Young, Seamus Scanlon, Micheal Quirke, Darran O’Sullivan, Declan O’Sullivan, Donnacha Walsh, Colm Cooper (0-07), Kieran Donaghy, Bryan Sheehan (0-03) (Subs) David Moran (1-00), Barry John Keane, Daniel Bohane, Kieran O’Leary, Anthony Maher

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