Down taking the game-by-game approach says Mulvenna

By Shaun Casey

DOWN captain Clara Mulvenna says the Mourne ladies aren’t looking too far ahead and are taking on a game-by-game approach to the season rather than eyeing up promotion from Division Three.

Down got off to the perfect start with a two-point opening day win away to Limerick, 0-14 to 2-6, and will be keen to back that victory up with another when they entertain Cavan at Burren on Sunday.

Cavan also got up and running last weekend, beating Louth by two points, and will be travelling to the Mourne County full of belief and confidence. Having come up against the Breffni Blues before, Mulvenna knows her side are in for a tough afternoon.

“We played them last year and they were very good, they were a very physical side, but teams change every season, so we don’t have much knowledge of them to be honest but look Cavan are always a strong side,” said the Down skipper.

“We are definitely ready for the game, and we know they will be a really tough opposition. I think there’ll be a different type of team to Limerick, but we are ready for the challenge and we’re really looking forward to it.”

Getting three points on the board the first day out was the main thing and Down were delighted to achieve their first short-term goal.

“Even in pre-season, we didn’t look ahead too much. We just focused on that first game and trying to put in a good performance.

“We knew with the conditions and the storm last weekend, it was going to be a little bit trickier, but we came out with the win which is what we wanted overall.

“You always want to improve every game you play and week in, week out.

“We’re definitely going to learn from last week and build on it and hopefully come away with a win again this week but with the league, you just don’t know where it’s going to go. You don’t want to drop points early on because all the teams you’re playing are all great teams.

“We’re very much just taking it week in, week out, sort of thing. We’re really just looking at the short-term goals and trying to focus as much attention on the weekends as we can and not look too far ahead.”

Down are under new management as well with Colm Donnelly replacing joint-managers Peter Lynch and Caoibhe Sloan, so everyone has been trying to find their feet over the last couple of weeks.

“We’re familiar with Mark Poland, he’s been in with us now the last couple of years and then Colm came in for a short period last year, but he is new as a management role, so we’re all sort of getting used to him and he’s getting used to us I suppose,” she added.

“But the pre-season was really good, and the main thing was to get the win last week, so we’ll hopefully just keep going in the right direction.”