Down hurlers finish the league in style beating Kildare to the title

A brilliant second half comeback saw Down hurlers claim the Division 2 title with a seven-point victory over Kildare in Iniskeen.

Kildare had a strong wind at their back for the first half but they didn’t take full advantage, with a lot of misses and with Down scoring the last three points of the half, it was only a goal that had the Lilywhites in front 1-10 to 0-11 at the short whistle.

While Ronan Sheehan was happy to go into the break just trailing by two, disaster struck for Down at the start of the second half, when they conceded two quick-fire goals and a point to stretch Kildare’s lead to eight 3-11 to 0-12, and with the game reverting to tit-for-tat scoring it looked like Brian Dowling’s side were on their way.

But this Down team are made of much sterner stuff and they battled back superbly in the last quarter and with four goals of their own and 10 points to Kildare's six, to claim the league title – the icing on the cake as they move up to Division 1B next season along with their opponents.

Tim Prenter opened the scoring for Down but Rian Boran replied with a point and for the next 10 minutes it was end-to-end with the sides level at 0-5 each.

Danger man Jack Sheridan was inches shy of scoring a maximum for Kildare in the tenth minute when he got behind the Down defence and points from David Qualter and Cian Boran for Kildare and three from Eoghan Sands the Mournemen moved into a narrow 0-8 to 0-7 lead.

That was wiped out on 20 minutes however, as Sheridan's second close-range goal effort found the target with the sliothar slotted past Keith to the bottom left hand corner of the net.

Keith pulled off a terrific save moments later as Jack Higgins shot for goal and while Paul Dolan and James Burke stretche Kildare’s lead to five as half-time approached, there was no shaking Down who finished the half well with points from Tom McGrattan, and a brace from Pearse Og McCrickard to narrow that gap to two at the interval.

Despite the wind favouring Down in the second half, it was Kildare who came out of the changing room focussed on the task at hand, as Sheridan scored his second goal seconds from throw-in and after McGrattan responded with a point, Darragh Melville drilled into the net and Qualter converted a ‘65 to put daylight between the teams with Kildare now leading 3-11 to 0-12.

The Down response was immense however, as a goal from McGrattan was followed by four points from Chris Egan, Prenter and a couple of frees converted by McGrattan narrow the deficit to a point – 1-16 to 3-11.

Those four points were wiped out by Kildare who replied in kind with four of the next five scores, but in the fifty-third minute McGrattan raised a second green flag and Donal Hughes squared the match 2-18 to 3-15.

James Burke nudged Kildare in front with a terrific point as the game moved into the last 10 minutes but luck played a part in the final turning point of the game, when a long-range free taken by Marc Fisher bounced up awkwardly in front of the Kildare goal and finished in the net to put Down into a 3-18 to 2-16 lead.

That third goal gave Down the impetus to push on in the closing minutes and they scored four of the next six points with the finish line in sight.

Kildare tried desperately to nab another goal late on dropping the sliothar into the square twice from frees in stoppage time, but the Mourne defence held up on both occasions and after the second, Prenter raced down the field and put the game to bed with Down’s fourth goal to win the final 4-22 to 3-18.

MATCH STATS

Down: S Keith; M Conlan, J McManus, T Murray; M Fisher (1-0), C Taggart, L Savage; D Hughes (0-3), P Savage; C Egan (0-2), T Prenter (1-2), E Sands (0-5, 1f); T McGrattan (2-5, 1f), R Beatty, P Og McCrickard (0-5,2f)

Subs: F Turpin for P Savage (46), N McFarland for L Savage (46), P Sheehan for Egan (54), B Taggart for Fisher (64), S Pucci for Hughes (69)

Kildare: P McKenna; L O'Reilly, S Leacy, R Boran (0-1); D O'Meara, C Boran (0-2), P Dolan (0-2); D Guerin, C McCabe; J Burke (0-1), J Higgins (0-1), J Dolan; J Sheridan (2-0), D Melville (1-0), D Qualter (0-8, 5f, 1’65),

Subs: G Keegan (0-2) for J Dolan (H-T), M Curtin for Melville (44), J Travers for Sheridan (67)

Referee: Brian Keon (Galway)