The 16th Man

DANNY HUGHES could not hide the disappointment of All-Ireland defeat. It was written all over his face.

Having worked tirelessly for years for Down’s cause the fall at the final hurdle on Sunday changed his normally upbeat and positive demeanour into an understandably subdued and bitterly disappointed one.
And yet that positivity remained in tact beneath the huge disappointment as he echoed the sentiments expressed earlier by his manager - not to let this year’s escapades in the championship become a one-off for this Down team.
“I think James said it, none of us want to be one hit wonders. The likes of myself, Benny, Brendy McVeigh and Dee Rafferty have been around a while but there’s other young lads have come in and they’re chomping at the bit to get into the team and get into the panel as well,” he said.
“These boys are very hungry and you’ll have to tell them in the next couple of months that these things don’t happen every year, as we found out. It’s a great experience for them and I’m sure they’ll learn from it and it’ll make them hungrier going forward for the next couple of years,” he added.
In the here and the now though Hughes is hurting. As always this year, the half-forward acquitted himself superbly and fisted Down’s last point over the bar when he admitted a goal was probably necessary.
“I didn’t really think about that one. I just tried to get a fist on it. Obviously, I don’t have the height of anyone like Dan Gordon so I was just hoping it would skid into the net but it went over.”
Hughes admitted that pinpointing where it went wrong for Down is hard in the minutes after the game and even harder to discover during the midst of the action.
“When you’re playing in it, it’s hard to see what’s going on in the field. You’re trying to look after your own performance and trying to do your job but at half-time we were up and just didn’t get enough breaks in the middle of the field. That’s where I have to take personal responsibility on that but it’s hard to analyse where it went wrong in the second half,” said the Saval clubman.
It certainly had nothing to do with the preparations for the game which he acknowledged were perfect. He said,
“That’s down to James and the team he has with him, Paddy and Jerome and Brian McIver and all the backroom team, physios and everybody. They had us fully prepared for the game, we were very focussed on it.”
Hughes said that while history was changed with Down’s first All-Ireland final defeat the previous record was certainly not a noose around the players’ necks.
“I wouldn’t say that it added any extra pressure. There’s pressure that comes from an All-Ireland final anyway regardless.
“I didn’t have any family ties but I didn’t want to break the mould or break the tradition of being the first Down team to be beaten in an All-Ireland final. That was a thing but I wouldn’t say it weighed any more heavily than any other pressure game.”
Hughes may not have won an All-Ireland winners medal yet but he is sure to come under consideration for an All-star given the superb performances he has delivered this season.
One thing is certain. Hughes’ positivity will return and the confidence he and his team-mates can garner from this experience is bound to stand them in good stead as they aim to go one better than they were able to this year.

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