By Shaun Casey

DOWNPATRICK have been dealt a difficult draw in round three of the championship, but manager Kevin Duffin says his side will “give it our best shot” as they hope to advance to the next round.

Duffin’s men tasted defeat in the very first round, losing to Loughinisland by five points before bouncing back to produce the goods last weekend as they knocked Mayobridge out of the competition with a 4-14 to 1-15 win.

Clonduff got their campaign off to a winning start, beating Liatroim in round one, but came up short against reigning champions Kilcoo at Páirc Esler on Monday night, with just four points the difference in the end.

“Clonduff would probably be the strongest team that’s remaining in the qualifiers,” suggested Duffin. “They ran Kilcoo relatively close on Monday night, so it was probably the toughest draw that was available to us.

“You would potentially have been looking at two or three other teams there in the draw, Glenn and Drumgath are Division Two and Division Three whereas Hilltown are an established Division One team, so we definitely got the hardest draw on paper anyway, but we’ll just have to give it our best shot.”

Both teams head into the encounter in different circumstances, with Downpatrick winning their last outing and Clonduff experiencing defeat, but with everything on the line, Duffin doesn’t expect that to have an impact.

“Clonduff got a difficult draw themselves in round two obviously against Kilcoo, so they go into the game off the back of a defeat while we’re coming off a better performance last Saturday.

“It’s just that time of year, it’s all about winning and digging out performances. Some teams will be on the crest of a wave and full of confidence while playing well and other teams can just be plodding along hoping to get a bit of momentum.

“If you’re looking at it from our perspective, we had a good performance last Saturday thankfully and we came through a difficult test against Mayobridge and I’m hoping that’ll stand us in good stead.

“Clonduff have huge experience and a good, strong panel, a strong team and they have been in the latter stages of the championship for the last five or ten years, so they’ll be fit to deal with the disappointment of the Kilcoo loss.”

It’s a tough turnaround for both teams, but that’s the name of the game at this time of year.

“You just have to be ready to go. If you haven’t had the luxury of winning your first two games then you don’t have that rest period and everything comes into consideration now, weather conditions, heavy pitches, recovery, injuries, training facilities.

“It’s week on week and it’s survival of the fitness now. You need that wee bit of luck as well to keep everybody fit and if you pick up an injury, it’s a tight turnaround and the chances of being fit for the following weekend are slim so you have to be ready.”