By Niall McCoy

DOWN manager Paddy Tally has said that only a long-term investment will allow the Mourne county to take their place back among Ulster’s elite.

The five-time All-Ireland champions last annexed the Anglo Celt 27 years ago – far and away their longest wait since their inaugural provincial title in 1950.

They are also one game away from an instant return to Division Three with a relegation play-off against Clare, Cork, Laois or Kildare to come next month.

Not for the first time in recent years, the Down team that took to the field for Sunday’s demoralising defeat to Meath was minus some names that would be deemed good enough to participate, and Tally said that a full commitment was required within the county.

“If you look at the last couple of years, the amount of players that have had their opportunities.

“There has been massive change in the Down team over the last two or three seasons and that’s what you have at county level.

“What you’d love in Down is for boys to commit themselves to being county players for, say, 10 years, whereas players stick at it for two years or four years and are gone.

“There’s just a high turnover and if you look at the top teams in the country that doesn’t happen. Players (at the top level) can nearly guarantee that they’ll be there from they’re 19 to 29, so I think this is something Down and the players need to think about.”

Tally pointed to the midfield battle against Meath and how inexperienced they were in that sector compared to Bryan Menton who has been with the Royals since 2010.

“You look at Bryan Menton there and players like that, they’ve been round for a while and they’ve competed against the Dublins of this world.

“This is Ryan McEvoy’s first year as a senior county player and playing in the middle of the field against him and Johnny Flynn is really only in his second or third year and they’re competing against players who have been around the block for a while, so it’s going to take time. It’s hard, but that’s what you have to do and learn and push on.”

Tally also hinted that he may experiment in this weekend’s almost dead-rubber Division Two North fixture against Westmeath in Mullingar.

Both sides have already been consigned to the relegation play-offs, but a win will see Down finish third in their group ensuring that they will face the fourth-placed team from Division Two South in the fixture.

At the weekend, players like Paddy Branagan, Stephen McConville, Conor Gough, Conor McCrickard and Danny Savage were thrown on while Liam Middleton came in as a blood sub.

“The fourth game will decide your fate in the league,” Tally added, “and we have to make sure the players are fit and well. If it means resting certain players to give others game-time, that could be important.”