The 16th Man

SUNDAY’S VICTORY initially left so many people in Down speechless, including it seems, some of the Down players.
“I don’t know what to say. Brilliant!” was the only way that Benny Coulter could react to Down’s victory when he initially greeted the press.

The Mayobridge man eventually got his head around the enormity of Down’s victory and offered his insight into those final few minutes of mayhem.

“I was just thinking ‘We can’t lose it now, we can’t lose it now.’ When they had that free-kick I think (referee) Pat (McEnaney) was saying it was the last kick so they had to go for goal and we worked so hard all year we weren’t going to throw it away in the last ten seconds.  Big Kalum got a touch on it. We definitely weren’t letting that ball go into the net.  They definitely weren’t going through. Then that was it over. Fantastic!”

Dan Gordon admitted that it was incredibly hairy in the Down defence for those last few seconds. He said,
“It was panic stations. One ball came down on top of me and I just pulled down on it. That free kick at the end, wee things happened and we’re just happy with the victory.”

One man who watched from the side-lines with more reason than most to hope that the Down goal would not be breached for a second time was Ambrose Rodgers. The Down captain was hoping for a chance to play in the All-Ireland final having been ruled out of Sunday’s game through injury.

“It was hands over the eyes stuff. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t worried at some stages but I suppose I never really doubted that we would win because we were the better team and maybe we didn’t push on in the second half. At the end of the day all you have to do is win by a point and winning today was the most important thing.”
The Longstone man did admit that he makes a better footballer than spectator. He said,

“It’s never easy standing on the side-lines for any game, never-mind it being the most important game of all our careers.  It was really hard. It’s all a question of it being a team effort so I just pushed them as much as I could from the stands.”

Having defeated Kildare the players’ thoughts invariably are turning to the All-Ireland final clash with Cork and Dan Gordon admits Down face an almighty challenge to bring Sam back to Down for a sixth time.

“Cork were All-Ireland favourites from the start of the year, they’re last year’s All-Ireland finalists. They’re hurting from that defeat. I know they haven’t clicked maybe as they’d have hoped all year but they’re capable of clicking in the All-Ireland final. This year everything’s going well but it’s a fine line between winning and losing,” he said.

Ambrose Rodgers concurs and concedes that a game against Cork will provide the ultimate litmus test for Down this year. He said,

“That’s just going to be a totally different task to anything we’ve faced this year. Right throughout the year they’ve been the favourites and they’ve gone through without a fuss. There’s a massive game in Cork and we have to concentrate on playing our own game and hopefully come out with the right result.”

Already much is being made of Down’s 100 per cent record in All-Ireland finals but the players are keen to stress that this squad are completely different to any of their predecessors.

“What happened in the 60s has nothing to do with us.  A lot of people are comparing us with the team of the 60s but I wasn’t there. The team from the 60s and the 90s were great teams but we’re just trying to do what we can for ourselves,” was Dan Gordon’s assessment of the situation.

Ambrose Rodgers holds a similar perspective.

“It’s the same thing as the Down/Kerry thing. A Down team had never lost to Kerry. Those things come into things after a game. This is a totally different team and we just want to try to make our own bit of history. It would be fantastic to keep that history going but we’re just trying to live it for the moment as it is and not worry about the past.”

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