They needed a controversial goal to get them going but Down come alive in Croke Park and they’ll fancy their chances of going all the way now, writes Ciaran Whelan in his latest exclusive column for JOE.ie.
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It’s been a great year for football and it continued with another fantastic occasion at Croke Park on Sunday. For a few years now we’ve had disappointing summers with just a handful of memorable games. Think back to last year, and possibly just the Tyrone-Kildare and Tyrone-Cork games really came up to scratch. In contrast, this year has been a revelation, with great games virtually every weekend. We’ve had two fine contests in both All-Ireland semi-finals, so hopefully a great year will finish on a high when Cork take on Down next month.
The minor game between Cork and Galway helped to make yesterday’s whole occasion extra special. It was a joy to watch from the first minute to the last, with some exceptional players on show, brilliant scores and skill.
And if that was the curtain-raiser, it got the main event it deserved with the senior game that followed. Kildare can count themselves unlucky with a couple of decisions by the match officials and moments when the ball didn’t bounce their way, including with the last kick of the game. On the whole, though, Down were the better side and fully deserved to win the game.
It’s a pity that probably the most significant moment of the game was a wrong call by the match officials, but Benny Coulter’s goal was a huge turning point, even after just 12 minutes. Kildare had started well and should have been further in front but how referee Pat McEnaney or his umpires didn’t spot the square ball I don’t know. It was one of those things – as soon as it happened, long before you needed to see a replay, you just knew it was a square ball. The goal stood, and it was a moment that really turned the game on its head. The most telling period of the game was the final 25 minutes of the first half, when Down outscored Kildare by 1-9 to 0-4, and Coulter’s controversial goal played a vital part in that.
With Eamonn Callaghan’s effort hitting the post in the second half, McEnaney possibly taking the easy option when it looked like he could have given Kildare a penalty in the last few minutes and Robbie Kelly’s free coming back off the bar with the last kick of the game, Kildare can feel entitled to be more than rueful. They showed great character by coming back from seven points down with less than quarter of an hour remaining and they could easily have snatched it at the death.
In truth, however, I felt they didn’t really do enough to deserve the win. Apart from the first few minutes, they never really enjoyed a period of dominance in the whole game, when they might have put four or five points on the board. They did well enough out the field, with Emmet Bolton, Hugh Lynch and Morgan O’Flaherty all putting in good performances, but their forward line struggled as a whole. Only three of their starting six forwards scored from play and even after Callaghan’s goal, when the momentum would have swung in their direction if they could have clipped over another point or two, it was Down who got the next two scores.
With captain Ambrose Rogers ruled out by injury, there was a big burden on midfielders Kalum King and Peter Fitzpatrick but they delivered, winning the majority of the clean possession on the day and providing the platform for Down’s victory. The half backs and half forwards played a massive part, with people like Daniel Hughes picking up a lot of breaks and Kevin McKernan having a huge game at centre back.
Someone like Hughes is typical of all that’s good about this Down team. They play a defensive style but it’s a very effective one, with players attacking from deep. All their players are ultra-comfortable on the ball. You have to wonder where Dublin would be if they had a player like Hughes in the half-forward line, capable of doing all the hard work to forage for possession and still getting forward to provide regular scores when the chances present themselves.
Main man Marty
While Hughes, McKernan and Benny Coulter, who kicked 1-2 on the day, may have been contenders for Man of the Match honours, Marty Clarke was head and shoulders the most important player on the field. I’ve been watching him since the National League, when he kicked a few great frees in the final against Armagh but wasn’t overly impressive apart from that. His all-round play has developed a huge amount since then. He makes Down tick – he scored one from play and kicked a couple of frees but more than that, he ran the show with his array of passing.
It’s easy to say that if you stop Clarke, or greatly limit his influence, then you’re a long way down the road to stopping Down, but he’s a very difficult player to counteract. It’s hard to see how he could really be man-marked, because he just comes out and takes the ball off whatever team-mate might be in possession. This is often between the 45-metre line and halfway so there’s always going to be a bit of space for him to turn into, and he’s just a superb passer of the ball. He’s getting better and better with every game and he’s still only 22, so he could be a real superstar of the game for years to come provided he isn’t enticed back to Australia.
Clarke is one of eight or nine players on show for Down on Sunday who won minor All-Irelands in either 1999 or 2005. While it’s a young team, and one at an early stage of its development, they’re probably more experienced than Kildare. The minor championship is more high-profile than the U-21, so any time players get to Croke Park on All-Ireland semi-final or final day is always going to be a major boost to them, giving them the experience of the big occasion and the desire to get back there again.
Down enjoy such a positive relationship with Croke Park, at both minor and senior level. While some other counties might struggle when they get there, Down football and Croke Park seem to go hand in hand. They rise to the occasion every time so with that in mind you just couldn’t bet against them in the All-Ireland final next month.
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