2015 Down county football team season

Down county football team

2015 season
Manager	Jim McCorry
Stadium	Páirc Esler, Newry
NFL D2	1st (runner-up)
All-Ireland SFC	Round 1 qualifier
Ulster SFC	Quarter-finalist
Dr McKenna Cup	Group stage (2nd)
←  2014 2016  →

The following is a summary of Down county football team's 2015 season. It was the first and last season for newly appointed Down manager Jim McCorry in charge.

Kits

McKenna Cup and National League Kits

Home

Away

Competitions

  Win  Draw  Loss  Postponed/Cancelled

Dr McKenna Cup

The draw for the 2015 Dr McKenna Cup took place on 5 November 2014. ^{[1] [2]}

Fixtures

Date	Round	Home	Score	Away	Ground
4 Jan	Group	Down	1-09 v 2-11	Cavan	Páirc Esler, Newry
11 Jan	Group	Monaghan	0-11 v 1-12	Down	St. Tiernach's Park, Clones
14 Jan	Group	Down	1-13 v 1-07	UUJ	Páirc Esler, Newry

Table

  Qualification for next round

Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
Cavan	3	2	0	1	3-34	2-30	7	4
Down	3	2	0	1	3-34	3-29	5	4
Monaghan	3	1	0	2	0-44	4-35	-3	2
UUJ	3	1	0	2	4-25	1-43	-9	2

Results

4 January 2015

14:00

Group

Down	1-09 — 2-11	Cavan
C Laverty (1-1), P Devlin (0-4, 1f, 1 '45'), G Collins (0-1), C McKay (0-1), A McConville (0-1), D O'Hare (0-1, f)	Report	M Reilly (2-1, one pen, 1 '45'), G McKiernan (0-3), B Reilly (0-3, 2f), D McVeety (0-1), J Brady (0-2, 1f), T Hayes (0-1)

Páirc Esler, Newry

Referee: Barry Cassidy (Derry)

11 January 2015

14:00

Group

Monaghan	0-11 — 1-12	Down
D McKenna (0-3, 2f), D Hughes (0-2), P Finlay (0-2, 1f), P Kierans (0-1), N McAdam (0-1), T Connolly (0-1), P Meegan (0-1)	Report	D O'Hare (1-2, 0-1f), P Devlin (0-3, 1f, 1'45), K McKernan (0-2), N Madine (0-1), P Downey (0-1), A McConville (0-1), C Garvey (0-1), K Anderson (0-1)

St Tiernach's Park, Clones

Referee: Barry Cassidy (Derry)

14 January 2015

20:00

Group

Down	1-13 — 1-07	University of Ulster GAA
C Laverty (1-1), D O'Hare (0-4, 2f), P Devlin (0-2f), D McKay (0-1); N Madine (0-1), P Fitzpatrick (0-1), C Maginn (0-1), A McConville (0-1), C Crilly (0-1)	Report	N McKeever (1-1), C O'Connor (0-3f), P McBrearty (0-2), C Mooney (0-1)

Páirc Esler, Newry

Referee: S Laverty

National Football League Division 2

Main article: 2015 National Football League (Ireland)

Down played in Division Two of the National Football League in 2015. The fixtures were announced on 18 September 2014. ^[3]

Fixtures

Date	Round	Home	Score	Away	Ground
1 Feb	Group	Kildare	1-15 v 3-13	Down	St. Conleth's Park, Newbridge
7 Feb	Group	Down	1-11 v 1-15	Roscommon	Páirc Esler, Newry
28 Feb	Group	Cavan	0-08 v 1-09	Down	Kingspan Breffni Park, Cavan
8 Mar	Group	Down	1-17 v 1-16	Galway	Páirc Esler, Newry
15 Mar	Group	Westmeath	0-10 v 2-17	Down	Cusack Park, Mullingar
28 Mar	Group	Down	0-10 v 2-11	Meath	Páirc Esler, Newry
5 Apr	Group	Down	3-18 v 1-15	Laois	Páirc Esler, Newry
26 Apr	Final	Down	0-15 v 1-17	Roscommon	Croke Park, Dublin

Table

  Compete in Division 2 final and automatic promotion to Division 1
  Automatic relegation to Division 3

Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
Down	7	5	0	2	11-89	6-90	14	10
Roscommon	7	4	1	2	7-99	6-94	8	9
Meath	7	4	1	2	7-87	4-80	16	9
Galway	7	4	0	3	9-88	8-85	6	8
Cavan	7	3	1	3	1-85	7-66	1	7
Laois	7	2	1	4	8-80	5-92	-3	5
Westmeath	7	2	0	5	4-75	11-83	-29	4
Kildare	7	2	0	5	7-87	7-100	-13	4

¹Roscommon are placed ahead of Meath because they won the head-to-head game between the teams (2-10 to 0-14).

²Westmeath are placed ahead of Kildare because they won the head-to-head game between the teams (0-15 to 0-12).

Results

Kildare v Down

1 February 2015Round 1	Kildare	1-15 — 3-13	Down	St Conleth's Park, Newbridge
14:00	N Kelly (1-1), E O’Flaherty (0-4, 3f); D Mulhall (0-4, 2f), F Dowling (0-4), P Fogarty (0-2)	Report	D O'Hare (1-6, 0-4f), P Devlin (0-6, 2f), D O'Hagan (0-1), C Mooney (1-0), A McConville (1-0)	Referee: A Nolan

Down v Roscommon

7 February 2015Round 2	Down	1-11 — 1-15	Roscommon	Páirc Esler, Newry
19:00	A McConville (1-1), D O'Hare (0-3, 1f), J Johnston (0-3), P Devlin (0-2, 1'45, 1f), P Fitzpatrick (0-1); C Maginn (0-1)	Report	D Murtagh (1-4, 0-2f), C Cregg (0-3), C Murtagh (0-2), N Daly (0-1), C Cafferky (0-1), M Nally (0-1), D Shine (0-1f), S Kilbride (0-1), D Smith (0-1)	Referee: Barry Cassidy (Derry)

Cavan v Down

28 February 2015Round 3	Cavan	0-08 — 1-09	Down	Kingspan Breffni Park, Cavan
19:00	J McLoughlin (0-1), M Reilly (0-2f), M Dunne (0-1), N McDermott (0-4f)	Report	D O'Hare (1-3, 0-2f), K McKernan (0-2), L Howard (0-1), D Turley (0-1), C McGovern (0-1), J Johnston (0-1)	Referee: P Hughes

Down v Galway

8 March 2015Round 4	Down	1-17 — 1-16	Galway	Páirc Esler, Newry
14:00	D O'Hare (1-5, 0-3f), P Devlin (0-4, 2f, 1'45), C Laverty (0-3, 1f), M Poland (0-2), R McGarry (0-1), K McKernan (0-1), D O'Hanlon, C Mooney (0-1)	Report	M Martin (0-5, 4f), D Cummins (0-4, 2f), A Varley (0-2), S Denvir (0-2), G Bradshaw (0-1), P Sweeney (1-0), D Comer (0-1), P Conroy (0-1)	Referee: Paddy Neilan (Roscommon)

Westmeath v Down

15 March 2015Round 5	Westmeath	0-10 — 2-17	Down	Cusack Park, Mullingar
14:00	R Connellan (0-1f); C McCormack (0-2, 1'45), J Heslin (0-4, 3f, 1sl), S Dempsey (0-3)	Report	D O'Hare (1-4, 0-1f), A McConville (1-2), C Laverty (0-4), M Poland (0-3), D O'Hanlon (0-2), P Devlin (0-1f), K McKernan (0-1)	Referee: J Hickey

Down v Meath

28 March 2015Round 6	Down	0-10 — 2-11	Meath	Páirc Esler, Newry
19:00	P Devlin (0-3, 2f), K McKernan (0-2), D O'Hare (0-2f), D O'Hanlon (0-1), C Mooney (0-1), J Johnston (0-1)	Report	B Menton (1-2), P Harnan (1-1), M O'Sullivan (0-3f), P O'Rourke (0-1'45), C Gillespie (0-1), J McEntee; E Wallace (0-1), S O'Rourke (0-1), J Wallace (0-1)	Referee: Barry Cassidy (Derry)

Down v Laois

6 April 2015Round 7	Down	3-12 — 1-15	Laois	Páirc Esler, Newry
15:00	P Devlin (1-2, 0-2f), C Laverty (1-1), G Collins (0-1), C McGovern (0-2), C Maginn (0-2), C Mooney (0-2), D O'Hare (0-1f), A McConville (1-0), M Poland (0-1)	Report	R Munnelly (1-4, 1-0pen, 0-3f), E O'Carroll (0-7, 5f, 2'45), D Strong (0-1), R Kehoe (0-1), J O'Loughlin (0-1), N Donoher (0-1	Referee: R Hickey

Down v Roscommon

26 April 2015Final	Down	0-15 — 1-17	Roscommon	Croke Park, Dublin
14:00	D O'Hare (0-5, 3f), K McKernan (0-2), B McArdle (0-1), P Devlin (0-1); C Maginn (0-1), C Laverty (0-1), C Mooney (0-1), P Fitzpatrick (0-1), R Johnston (0-1), J Johnston (0-1f)	Report	C Murtagh (1-2, 0-1f), C Connolly (0-5, 4f), S Kilbride (0-4), C Cregg (0-1), D Murtagh (0-1), U Harney (0-1), D Shine (0-1f), Cafferkey (0-1), D Smith (0-1)	Referee: Maurice Deegan (Laois)

Ulster Senior Football Championship

Main article: 2015 Ulster Senior Football Championship

The draw for the 2015 Ulster Senior Football Championship took place on 9 October 2014. ^[4]

Fixtures

Date	Round	Team 1	Score	Team 2	Ground
7 June 2015	Quarter Final	Derry	0-12 v 0-11	Down	Celtic Park, Derry

Bracket

	Preliminary round					Quarter-finals					Semi-finals					Final
						Cavan		0-15
						Monaghan		0-16
											Monaghan		1-20
											Fermanagh		0-13
						Fermanagh		1-13
						Antrim		0-08
																Monaghan		0-11
																Donegal		0-10
						Derry		0-12
						Down		0-11
											Derry		0-10
											Donegal		1-09
						Armagh		0-08
	Donegal		1-13			Donegal		2-11
	Tyrone		1-10

Results

7 June 2015

14:00

Quarter-Final

Derry	0-12 - 0-11	Down
	Report

Celtic Park, Derry

Attendance: 10,541

Referee: Eddie Kinsella (Laois)

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship

Main article: 2015 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship

Following defeat to Derry in the Ulster Championship quarter-finals, Down entered the All-Ireland in Round 1 of the qualifiers.

Fixtures

Date	Round	Team 1	Score	Team 2	Ground
27 June 2015	Round 1B	Wexford	2-16 v 2-11	Down	Wexford Park, Wexford

Notable events

• On Saturday 19 September 2014, Kilcoo manager Jim McCorry was named as the new Down boss on a three-year deal. ^[5]
• On Monday 24 November 2014, former Down All Star Benny Coulter retired from inter-county football following a 15-year career. ^[6]
• On 20 August 2015, Jim McCorry resigned as Down manager. ^[7]

References

1. "Gaelic Games - BBC Sport". BBC Sport.
2. "Bank of Ireland Dr McKenna Cup 2015".
3. "GAA | Latest Gaelic Games News, Results & Fixtures | RTÉ Sport". RTÉ.ie . 18 September 2014.
4. GMT (9 October 2014). "BBC Sport - Donegal to face Tyrone in Ulster SFC preliminary round". BBC.co.uk. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
5. "McCorry named as new Down manager". BBC Sport.
6. "Down star Coulter retires from inter-county action". 24 November 2014 – via www.rte.ie.
7. "McCorry quits as Down manager". BBC Sport.