By Shaun Casey

WHOEVER comes out on top of Saturday’s meeting between Down and Laois will be in pole position to challenge for a spot in the Joe McDonagh Cup final, but Caolan Taggart hopes that pressure won’t get to his side.

Ronan Sheehan’s men head to Portlaoise off the back of a three-point loss to Carlow, who are currently top of the pile having won three from three.

Laois also lost to their Leinster foes back in the opening round of the competition but have since bounced back to put Antrim and Westmeath to the sword.

Down began their campaign with back-to-back victories over Antrim and London, meaning both sides are locked on four points each heading into the penultimate round of fixtures.

“You can’t let it dictate how you prepare,” said Down skipper Taggart on the pressure that comes with it being more or less a knockout championship game.

“I don’t think you can really prepare any differently than you do for any other game. At the end of the day, the format of this championship means that every game is important.

“It’s important right up to the last day and even if Laois were to beat us on Saturday, if things still go our way, you could still get into the final in the last week, and I’m sure Westmeath are probably saying the same thing.

“If they keep winning, they could end up in the final so I don’t think you can change your preparation. You just have to keep doing what you’re doing and hopefully it’ll be enough to see us over the line.”

The Carlow game was one that Down felt they could, and possibly should, have got something from, especially on their home turf at Ballycran.

They conceded a goal just before half-time and another at the start of the second half, leaving them behind by ten points, but they battled back with two second-half goals of their own to make a real game of it, just coming up short in the end to lose 2-17 to 3-17.

“I thought we did very well in the first half, they got that goal just before half-time but I think we were comfortable because we had the big wind in the second half,” the Portaferry clubman reflected.

“We were two or three up at one stage when they got their third goal and it was probably questionable whether it was a square ball or not, but these things happen.

“They just got the last two or three scores then when we were chasing it and we probably shouldn’t have been in that position.

“I think Carlow put six or seven goals past us one year in the Joe McDonagh so last week definitely shows that we’ve taken a step up in standard and we deserve to be contending for the Joe McDonagh Cup.”