By Niall McCoy

DOWN attacker Paul Devlin has said that the prospect of facing Mayo in the National League excites rather than frightens him.

Division Two is set to be a real battleground when it does eventually begin this year, most likely in March.

With only three games before a potential relegation play-off, teams must be sharp from the off. The threat is even stronger when you consider that the sides that do go down will play in the Taitleann Cup unless they make a provincial final later in the season.

Paddy Tally’s side are set to be in Division Two North alongside Meath, Westmeath and last year’s All-Ireland finalists.

The presence of Mayo is a surprise given that Kildare and Laois are both geographically closer, but Devlin can’t wait to test himself against the Connacht kingpins.
“It’s like championship football the way the league is going to pan out,” said the Kilcoo man.

“You play county football to play against the best, you want to test yourself to see how far you’ve come and maybe see if you’re not actually that far away from the top level.

“Mayo play Dublin and Kerry and these teams regularly so you want to see how you can compete with sides like that.

“It’s going to make you a better player because you’re coming up against some of the best forwards and defenders in the country.

“Whenever we play against a top team, I feel it’s an opportunity for me to prove to people how good I can be and it’s a chance to show off my ability and skills on a big stage.”

Devlin scored three points for Down in last year’s Ulster semi-final against Cavan, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the Mourne county from throwing away a 10-point lead to lose by the minimum.

Devlin said that it was a very difficult game to get over, but one he is hopeful the players have learned from.

“Against Cavan, I thought we were outstanding in the first 35, 40 minutes and completely in control.

“Listen it’s a young squad and that game was a big, big learning curve for the players coming through.

“Then you see Cavan going on and winning it and it just shows how open Ulster football is.

“I just feel that the young ones coming through for us are very confident, they’re pacy and they have that will to win.

“They’re buying into what Paddy wants and hopefully we can show that.”

As revealed by Gaelic Life, Gerard McGovern, Pat Havern, Josh Conney, Finn McElroy and Conor Gough are among those set to be added to the Mourne county preliminary panel.

A knee injury could keep Donal O’Hare out for the season though as he requires an operation and he will see how the timing works out.