Donnelly proud of Down’s resilience

By Shaun Casey

DOWN bounced back from their crushing Ulster Championship exit with a comfortable victory over Leitrim in the opening round of the Tailteann Cup, and selector Mickey Donnelly was proud of the “resilience” the Mourne men showed.

From the highs of beating Division One league champions Donegal in Letterkenny to the unthinkable lows of a 28-point defeat at the hands of eventual provincial champions Armagh, it was a tough two weeks for Down.

They faced a Leitrim side that were buoyed by a first championship win over Sligo in 16 years and had given Galway their fill of it in the Connacht semi-final, but Steven Poacher’s men travelled to Newry without their two best players in Barry McNulty and Tom Prior.

Still, Down could only focus on what they could do in their own changing room. Despite only being four points in front at half time, they pushed on in the second half to cruise to victory.

Down let loose against Leitrim in Tailteann Cup opener

“I would say one of the big things, one of the words we’ve used massively over the last 13 days has been resilience,” Donnelly said after their 1-27 to 0-16 triumph.

“What message do you send to your own children or your own families or your own wives, girlfriends, partners, whatever the way you want to word it? If you just lay down in the corner and you just pack up and go home, it’s not the way to live your life.

“So, you want these lads to be role models in everything they do. You saw in the last couple of minutes, Odhrán Murdock sliding in to win a break ball, when other players would have thought this game is over and would have checked out.

“He hadn’t checked out. I suppose in that snapshot, there was an element of resilience in that, and I suppose that’s what maybe we aspire to in life, and we’ll certainly aspire to on the football field.”

That sets up an away day trip to Offaly this weekend in Round 2A and they’ll be off to Glenisk O’Connor Park, Tullamore as part of a double header with their U20 team who take on Sligo in the All-Ireland B final.