By Shaun Casey

DOWN’S round three defeat to Monaghan means the Mourne men could possibly be playing three weeks on the bounce, if they reach the All-Ireland quarter-finals for the first time since 2012, but boss Conor Laverty doesn’t mind.

His side put in a solid shift and were leading heading into the final quarter against the Farney men, but the bit of big-game experience swung the tie in the favour of Gabriel Bannigan’s men and that sent Down through to the preliminary quarter-finals.

Laverty’s side will have home advantage on Sunday afternoon when they welcome last year’s beaten All-Ireland finalists Galway. He said that had they earned the week off, they’ve had probably have played an in-house game anyway.

“I didn’t plan to be playing this weekend,” said Laverty following their four-point defeat to Monaghan. “Everybody says about the six or seven-day turnaround, most teams would probably be playing an in-house match this weekend anyway.

“I know if we were training, we’d probably be training two nights and then an in-house match or a bit of football at the weekend. As players, I think the more games you play, it’s better. It could work both ways for some of the teams in the preliminary quarter-finals.

“People could say that it could hurt them playing three weeks in a row, but it could work for some team that they could pick up momentum. In football at the minute, I think momentum is a massive thing.

“I was involved in a team in 2010 who got momentum through the Qualifiers and got on a bit of a run (to the All-Ireland final), so that’s what we’ll be looking towards.

“We’ll be looking to use it, take our learnings from last week and use it to build momentum going into the game.”