By Shaun Casey

IT’S 14 years since Down and Clare clashed in the championship, and both will be hoping to kickstart the All-Ireland series with a win this weekend. Back then, Down had just competed in the All-Ireland final the year before and narrowly missed out against Cork.

Now, the Mourne men are glad to be back in the race for Sam Maguire after a few seasons in the Tailteann Cup and having won the second tier competition last season, they’ll want to remain in the All-Ireland series for as long as possible.

There are no easy games in the group stages, but it’s certainly not as difficult as it could have been. Conor Laverty’s men will face Clare (away), Division Two winners Monaghan (neutral) and Leinster champions Louth (at home) over the next few weeks.

“It’s took Down two years to get back in the All-Ireland series and since Conor Laverty and his team came in, their aim was to get back competing for Sam Maguire,” said former Down attacker John Clarke, who played in that 2010 All-Ireland final.

“They’ll really be looking forward to this challenge coming up. Obviously, there’s the disappointment of the Ulster semi-final, but they showed plenty of good stuff in that game against Donegal.

“Ultimately, it’s a group where Down can definitely make progress and hopefully get out of the group and get to at least a preliminary quarter-final. Down will take huge confidence from that draw.

“Every team in that group will be feeling the same, it’s very winnable and very doable for each of the teams to qualify. It’s a very evenly matched group and Down will be looking to get up and running on Sunday with a win.”

Clarke, who took over the reins at Teconnaught this season, was involved in the Down set up under James McCartan the last time the Mourne men travelled to Ennis for a championship clash back in 2011.

McCartan’s side progressed to the next round of the qualifiers that season and beat the Banner County with the minimum of margins to spare. Clarke believes that the men in red and black are in for another tricky day.

“I think it was Conor Laverty who actually cleared the ball off the line in the last couple of minutes of that game to save Down from what would have been an embarrassing defeat at that stage, so Conor will know it’s going to be a tough, tough test for them.

“If Down play the way they did for the last 10 minutes against Fermanagh and in patches against Donegal, I think they will get the win,” Clarke added of Down’s chances this weekend. “But Ennis is a tough place to go.

“Down and Clare don’t have a huge history in championship or league football, and they’ve been pretty evenly matched any time they have met. Down will be under no illusions that Ennis is a difficult place to go and get a result, particularly in championship football.

“I’m sure there’ll be a right bit of Down support that will head down to the game as well and try to get the lads up and running. This is where Down want to be competing and they’ll be looking to grasp this opportunity.”

Down showed in their Ulster semi-final clash with Donegal that they are able to compete with the top teams in the country. Ultimately Jim McGuinness’ side had too much and earned a six-point win on their way to retaining the Anglo Celt Cup.

But Clarke feels the performance that day out in Clones will benefit Laverty and his crew as they look towards the All-Ireland series. “They will have taken confidence having ran Donegal so close,” Clarke continued.

“Ultimately, they were very disappointed they didn’t get over the line because I think the belief in the camp was that they could have got a result that day and their game plan was pretty much set up to do that.

“The execution of a couple of big chances, that was the difference in the game. Donegal took their goal chance and Down squandered a couple of theirs, so it was probably that wee bit of craft and wee bit of experience in the final third that got Donegal over the line.

“That’ll be something that Down will really be trying to work on. T they have been good under Conor in recent years at taking those goal chances so on Sunday, if they get two or three goal chances, they’re going to have to take them.

“They will take big belief from that performance against Donegal, that they can really have an impact in this All-Ireland series.”