Christy O'Connor: Big ticket games the top prize, but Down hurling wants silverware too

When Down scored their second goal with eight minutes remaining, they led by five points. Cork had only scored 0-6 by then. A famous Down victory looked on the cards until a goal from Eoin Murphy and late points from Kieran Murphy, Joe Deane and Cathal Naughton saw Cork scrape home.

Had Down turned a corner? No. In their next two matches, Waterford and Wexford reminded them of where they really stood, hammering them by margins of 29 and 34 points respectively. Down limped out of Division 1 and haven’t been back since.

They are now, even if it’s Division 1B next year after gaining promotion from Division 2. And it’s been a long road back.

In the five seasons after 2007, Down lost 20 of their 30 league games. When the league was restructured in 2012, Down finished bottom of Division 2A and slipped into the fourth league tier for 2013.

It was only a matter of time before Down were expected to get out of that division but the pathway back wasn’t as linear as expected. One season suddenly turned into six.

The frustration was all the greater again because Down's form was good. They just couldn’t close out their business. Having topped Division 2B in 2014, 2016 and 2018, Down lost the promotion final in each of those years to Wicklow, Armagh and Mayo.

It took Down until 2020 to finally get out of the fourth tier. That season, they finished second in the table to Derry but beat them in the promotion final.

Down could finally train their sights on climbing higher again. They were playing with more confidence again against the higher ranked teams. Down finished top of Division 2A in 2022. Yet once more, they lost the promotion final, this time to Westmeath.

After having beaten Westmeath earlier in the campaign, the hammering Down took in that league final was a huge setback. Over the following two and a half years, Down won just six of 25 games in the league and Joe McDonagh Cup. All that saved them from slipping back into the fourth league tier for 2024 was a draw with Derry (their only result of that 2023 campaign) and a better scoring difference.

After so many disappointments, the sweetest part of finally getting promoted back into Division 1 again, even if it’s only the second league tier, is having games to look forward to next spring against teams like Clare, Wexford and Dublin.

That is the real prize. However, having topped their division again this time around, as they had on four previous occasions in the last ten years, Down know the other side of the coin too, having lost the final each time. And having already beaten Kildare, can they close out business this time around in Saturday's Division 2 final against Kildare in Inniskeen?

The road has been too long and arduous for Down not to go all out and try and finally secure that league silverware.

Kerry’s numbers gradually adding up 

Was it a surprise that Kerry shot the lights out in their last two matches? With the threat of relegation looming, no. With their level of talent and firepower, absolutely not.

It wasn’t as if Kerry weren’t clocking decent scores anyway, having averaged 2-16 in the first five rounds. Yet Kerry would have still expected, and demanded, more. And more was bound to follow once the heat came on and relegation to Division 2 was a real possibility.

Kerry’s average has shot up to 2-24 in their last two matches, an increase of 0-8. It’s easy to see why. The weather has been better. The FRC’s changing of the rule where a team must now have at least four players in their half of the field was bound to lead to more kicking, which has suited Kerry.

Jack O’Connor’s side have been securing more possession through winning more kickouts and forcing more turnovers. They have also reduced their own turnover numbers. More possessions means more shots. And with Kerry’s shooting percentage as high as it’s been in the last two games, their scoring totals were bound to go through the roof.

Everything is slowly adding up. A fresher David Clifford, who is getting sharper with more game-time, means at least 2-3 more shots a game to Kerry. Gavin White’s return probably amounts to another 2-3 shots a game. White’s goal threat and penetration from deep was on show last week against Galway when he raised another green flag.

Click, click. Kerry’s numbers are gradually adding up.

Are Roscommon timing their run?

When Roscommon last played Monaghan in the league in mid-February, it was fitting that the last action of the game in Dr Hyde Park belonged to Diarmuid Murtagh. It nearly felt more apt again that there was some theatre around that action, because so much of that afternoon belonged to Murtagh.

A free had been awarded just before the hooter sounded so supporters had to be ushered back off the pitch to allow Murtagh take the kick. When he did, it was his fourth two-pointer of the match, which took Murtagh’s tally to 0-12.

That haul increased his then total score with the county to 19-333, which was enough to see Murtagh edge past the legendary Dermot Earley to become the all-time highest scorer in Roscommon history.

After only three rounds, Murtagh had already kicked 0-25. A week later though, Murtagh was held scoreless when Roscommon were turned over by Meath in Navan. There was clearly something in that for the opposition - and for Roscommon’s future prospects in their hunt for promotion.

Murtagh didn’t start against Cavan in Round 6, only coming on, when Roscommon were turned over again. Murtagh did score a goal last Sunday against Westmeath but it was his only score of the match. He was taken off with 20 minutes remaining as Roscommon faded out of the game and almost blew promotion.

Murtagh and Roscommon’s form has tailed off in the last few weeks, but could they keep their foot pressed to the accelerator either? Did they want to? Did they need to?

After Roscommon beat Tyrone in last year’s preliminary All-Ireland quarter-final, Murtagh spoke about how much Roscommon had learned from the previous season. After a really solid league campaign, when Roscommon finished third and just missed out on a Division One league final spot, they beat Mayo in the opening round of the championship, before narrowly losing to Galway and then drawing with Dublin in Croke Park in their opening round robin match.

They qualified for the preliminary quarter-final against Cork. And then? “We kinda fell off the cliff a small bit coming into the Cork match because we put so much into the games previous to that,” said Murtagh after Roscommon beat Tyrone in last year’s preliminary quarter-final in Omagh.

There was no comparison to Roscommon’s form graph last June compared to the same juncture of their 2023 season. After racking up 3-20 against Cavan in their final round robin game last year, and then beating Tyrone for the first time in Roscommon’s history, Roscommon gave Armagh a right run for their money in the All-Ireland quarter-final, despite being reduced to 14 men in the first half.

It appeared as if their season only really began in mid-June. “We always knew we needed to be peaking at this time of the year,” said Murtagh after that Tyrone game last year.

There’s a big difference between operating out of Division One (where Roscommon were last year) and Division Two now, but it is still a constant challenge for a team with Roscommon’s profile and status to make up that ground against the top teams when it really matters during the summer.

Connacht is coming fast around the corner. A provincial title would be a massive achievement. Subconsciously backing off in recent games and aiming to be fresher for later in the summer may have been a factor in Roscommon’s reduced form line in recent weeks.

Yet now that they are in Croke Park for a league final, summer will feel like it’s already here. For now anyway.