Harrison confident that Down are going up

DOWN defender Danielle Harrison believes the time is right for the county to try their hand at the top level.

On Saturday, the side ended a 22-year wait for the All-Ireland Intermediate title with a 4-16 to 2-10 win over Antrim, and the Longstone native is ready to see if they can pit their wits against the top teams in the country.

Despite winning the tier-two competition, the option to re-grade lies with Down as the Camogie Association have suspended automatic promotion and relegation during this Covid-hit season. Harrison, however, hopes that they avail of the opportunity.

“You have your more experienced players there like Fionnuala Carr, Catherine McGourty, Sara-Louise (Graffin).

“Then you have young players like Lauren Clarke. She is a dark horse. She gave so much this year. Even Clara Cowan there, she is another example of the great young talent there.

“There is a lot of talent in the squad, a lot the girls who beat Armagh in the Junior. If you can keep those girls all together then there is a lot of potential.

“I’d love to see Down moving up into the senior. We’ve been there or thereabouts at intermediate over the last few years.

“Next year in the senior would be great. The management team, Derek Dunne, Marty Mallon, Philly (Byers), all of them, they have given this team an extra edge.

“Westmeath won it last year and went up and have done well, so it would be nice to try and do likewise and see how we get on.”

Harrison opened up on the difficulties of the match, and how no matter what she tried, it took a while for the nerves to disappear.

“We went in with nerves. I know myself that for the first 20 minutes I couldn’t get myself settled,” she admitted.

“That first Antrim goal, when that went in I thought ‘Oh my goodness, is this only going to go one way?’

“We went in at the first water break and we had a chat about calming it down and to get back to playing our game. We regrouped again at half time and things went better.

“Everybody kept saying to me before the match ‘just go and play your game.’ That’s what I kept hearing ‘just go and play your game.’

“You go out and all you want to do is play well, but when the butterflies are in the tummy it’s hard to overcome it.

“This is my second proper year with Down so getting to the All-Ireland final was massive.

“It would have been great to have it in Croke Park but I think, even for some of the younger ones, playing there would have been an extra challenge in itself.

“The dream is always about getting to Croke Park but a lot of us wouldn’t have the experience of Fionnuala or McGourty. Breffni maybe suited some of us.

“By the second half we were well settled and I think when Niamh (Mallon) got the third goal we were a lot more composed and were able to win.”

The celebrations were different, but the fact that the restrictions in the south had been lowered previous to the all-Ulster clash meant that the two finalists could stop off in the Carrickdale – the Mourne county hitting Laceys and Antrim pitching up in the Bernish suite.

“It was great that we were able to have that time together,” said Harrison. “The only thing that was hard was that you’re family and that obviously weren’t allowed in. They were standing outside and greeted us as we went in.

“It was a bonus to have that time with the team though because if the south hadn’t lifted the restrictions we wouldn’t have been able to do anything. We have to be very thankful.

“We all had to travel separately in cars so we didn’t get up the road together, so to have that time was great.”

Harrison also said it was great to see the Intermediate and Premier Junior finals receiving so much attention in the media, locally and nationally. She also had special praise for Mayobridge photographer Brendan Monaghan who has assisted a number of female county teams in recent months in supplying top class pictures for publication.