October next National League date for Down

October next National League date for Down

1 July 2020

IT has been over 17 weeks now since Down last played a league game — against Offaly on March 1.

The next league game is due to take place against Leitrim on Saturday, October 17, or the following day, if the Covid-19 virus continues to fizzle out. That will be a total of 33 weeks between both games.

The last game against Offaly was Down’s best Allianz League performance of the year and resulted in a 0-17 to 0-8 victory.

James Guinness made his first full appearance in the league due to Darren O`Hagan being injured and he scored three points from play.

James had missed the first couple of games due to injury, but came on as a substitute against Longford and scored the vital goal to win the game and keep Down on the promotion track.

He made his championship debut last year, coming on as a sub against Armagh, and in a short space of time he had the ball over the bar twice.

Since taking over in 2019, manager Paddy Tally has introduced some great young talent, including Celium Doherty, Shane Annett, Corry Quinn, Pierce Laverty, Patrick Murdock, Liam Kerr, Peter Fegan, Liam Middleton, Eoin McCabe, James Guinness and Daniel Guinness.

The Guinness brothers are not the first brothers to play for Down with those first names. Back in the late 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, there was James and Dan McCartan.

In the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s, there were the next generation also called James and Daniel McCartan. Now we are into a new decade, we have another James and Daniel.

The race for the top Down scorer in the Allianz league is very close this year. Corry Quinn leads the way with 2-7, followed by Donal O`Hare with 0-13 and Barry O`Hagan with 0-12.   

All the divisional finals have been scrapped. Cork have ten points on the table and are almost certain to lift the Division 3 title, whilst Down and Longford have seven points each.

Longford’s two remaining games are against Derry (away) and Cork (at home). Down’s final two league games are against Leitrim (at home) and Louth (away). They are in the best position to get promoted. Down and Leitrim have only met twice in the Allianz league in the last 30 years and Leitrim won both games in Carrick-on-Shannon.

In 1995 Down were leading 1-4 to 0-6 going into the last quarter and Leitrim hit back with seven points to win by 0-13 to 1-4 to end Down’s chances of reaching the league quarter-finals.

In 2008, Down met Leitrim again in Carrick-on-Shannon and Benny Coulter scored a goal after eight minutes to set Down on the way. Leitrim came back into the game and the scores were tied at 1-7 each;

Then a high ball came into the square and the Down defence failed to cope with it and the ball ended up in the net. The final score was Leitrim 2-7 Down 1-9 and their chances of promotion from Division 3 were over for another year.

Down missed out on promotion last year when they finished in third position on 10 points. They were pipped on score difference behind Laois and Westmeath.

Since the leagues were restructured in 2007, Down have been in Division 1 for four years, Division 2 for five years and Division 3 for four years. Division 3 is not where Down supporters want to be.