2019 Down county football team season

Down county football team

2019 season
Manager	Paddy Tally
Stadium	Páirc Esler, Newry
NFL D3	3rd
All-Ireland SFC	Round 2 qualifier
Ulster SFC	Quarter-finalist
Dr McKenna Cup	Group stage (3rd)
←  2018 2020  →

The following is a summary of Down county football team's 2019 season. This season marked the 25th anniversary of Down's last All-Ireland SFC win in 1994, which is also the year they last won the Ulster SFC. On 24 August 2018, Paddy Tally was announced as the new Down manager following the resignation of Éamonn Burns. ^[1]

Kits

Home

Away

Competitions

  Win  Draw  Loss  Postponed/Cancelled

Dr McKenna Cup

The draw for the 2019 Dr McKenna Cup was made in December 2018. It was the first time in recent history that the competition would start in the previous calendar year as the regular season, with games starting in December 2018. ^[2] Down finished 3rd in the group following defeats to Cavan and Donegal.

Fixtures

Date	Round	Home	Score	Away	Ground	Ref
30 Dec 2018	Group	Cavan	0-13 v 1-09	Down	Breffni Park, Cavan	[3]
6 Jan 2019	Group	Down	0-10 v 1-17	Donegal	Pairc Esler, Newry	[4]
9 Jan 2019	Group	Down	4-18 v 1-05	Queens University	Pairc Esler, Newry	[5]

Table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PR	Pts	Qualification
1	Donegal	3	3	0	0	64	36	1.778	6	Advance to semi-final
2	Cavan	3	2	0	1	45	38	1.184	4
3	Down	3	1	0	2	52	41	1.268	2
4	Queen's University	3	0	0	3	22	68	0.324	0

Updated to match(es) played on 9 January 2019. Source: Ulster GAA

Reports

30 December 2018

14:00

Group Stage

Cavan	0-13 - 1-09	Down
Raymond Galligan (0-3, three 45s), Ciaran Brady (0-2), Niall Murray (0-1), Simon Cadden (0-1), Pierce Smith (0-1f), Stephen Smith (0-2, 1f), Conor Madden (0-2), Jack Brady (0-1)	Report	Rory Burns (0-1f), Aaron McClements (0-1), Pat Havern (1-3, 1-0 pen, 1f), Rory Mason (0-1f), Conor McGrady (0-2), Ciaran Harney (0-1)

Breffni Park, Cavan

Referee: M McNally

6 January 2019

14:00

Group Stage

Down	0-10 - 1-17	Donegal
R Johnston (0-1), J Johnston (0-1), P Havern (0-1), C Harney (0-1), C McGrady (0-2), P Devlin (0-3f), E McCabe (0-1)	Report	C McGonigle (1-1); H McFadden (0-1), M McElhinney (0-4); C Thompson (0-1), N O'Donnell (0-3, 2f), P Mogan (0-1); J Brennan (0-2), M Langan (0-2f), M O'Reilly (0-1), O Gallen (0-1)

Páirc Esler, Newry

Referee: Barry Cassidy (Derry)

9 January 2019

19:00

Group Stage

Down	4-18 - 1-05	Queens University
P Havern (2-3), P Devlin (0-5), K McClorey (0-1), D McClements (1-0), C Francis (0-2), R Burns (0-2), C McGrady (0-1), O McCabe (0-1), S Annett (1-0), C Quinn (0-2), J Johnston (0-1)	Report	K Hughes (0-2), R Treanor (0-2), C O'Neil (1-0), J Smith (0-1)

Páirc Esler, Newry

National Football League Division 3

Main article: 2019 National Football League (Ireland)

Down played in Division Three of the National Football League in 2019.

Fixtures and results

Fixtures for the 2019 National League were announced on 7 September 2018. ^[6]

Date	Round	Home	Score	Away	Ground	Ref
Saturday 26 January	Group	Down	1-12 v 2-15	Laois	Páirc Esler, Newry	[7]
Sunday 3 February	Group	Sligo	1-10 v 1-12	Down	Connolly Park, Collooney	[8]
Sunday 9 February	Group	Down	0-10 v 0-09	Westmeath	Páirc Esler, Newry	[9]
Sunday 24 February	Group	Longford	0-08 v 3-07	Down	Pearse Park, Longford	[10]
Sunday 2 March	Group	Down	2-12 v 0-10	Offaly	Páirc Esler, Newry	[11]
Saturday 16 March	Group	Carlow	1-11 v 0-15	Down	Netwatch Cullen Park, Carlow	[12]
Sunday 24 March	Group	Down	1-06 v 0-10	Louth	Páirc Esler, Newry	[13]

Results by matchday

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Ground	H	A	H	A	H	A	H
Result	L	W	W	W	W	W	L
Position	7	6	4	2	1	1	3

Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Westmeath	7	4	2	1	99	84	+15	10 [lower-alpha 1]	Advance to Division 3 Final
2	Laois	7	5	0	2	117	103	+14	10 [lower-alpha 1]
3	Down	7	5	0	2	98	85	+13	10 [lower-alpha 1]
4	Louth	7	4	1	2	108	88	+20	9
5	Longford	7	3	1	3	88	88	0	7
6	Offaly	7	2	1	4	89	99	−10	5
7	Carlow	7	2	1	4	90	94	−4	5	Relegation to Division 4
8	Sligo	7	0	0	7	92	140	−48	0

Updated to match(es) played on 1 April 2019. Source: GAA.ie
Rules for classification: 1) League points; 2) Where two teams only are involved – the outcome of the meeting of the two teams in the League; 3) Score difference – subtracting the total scores against from the scores for; 4) Highest total score for; 5) Highest total goals for; 6) A play-off.
Notes:

1. Westmeath, Laois and Down are ranked by score difference.

Reports

26 January 2019

19:00

Round 1

Down	1-12 - 2-15	Laois
C Francis (0-1), C McGrady (0-2, 1m), P Devlin (0-4f), P Havern (0-3, 2f), J Johnston (0-1m), D O'Hare (1-1)	Report	C Boyle (0-3), C Murphy (1-1, 0-1f), E O'Carroll (0-8, 5f, 1m), (0-3, 1f, 1m), P Cahillane (1-0)

Páirc Esler, Newry

Referee: M McNally (Monaghan)

3 February 2019

14:00

Round 2

Sligo	1-10 - 1-12	Down
P Hughes 1-2, L Gaughan 0-2, S Carribine 0-2, N Murphy 0-3, A Devaney 0-1	Report	P Devlin 0-2, P Havern 0-1, J Johnston 0-1, R Johnston 0-2, D O'Hare 0-4, C Mooney 1-2

Connolly Park, Collooney

Referee: P Hughes (Armagh)

9 February 2019

19:00

Round 3

Down	0-10 - 0-09	Westmeath
Conor Poland (0-01), Kevin McKernan (0-01), Ryan Johnston (0-03), Donal O'Hare (0-04, 0-03f), Jerome Johnstone (0-01, 0-01m)	Report	James Dolan (0-01), Boidu Sayeh (0-01), Sam Duncan (0-02), Ronan O'Toole (0-01), Luke Loughlin (0-01), Ger Egan (0-03, 0-03f)

Páirc Esler, Newry

Referee: David Gough (Meath)

24 February 2019

14:00

Round 4

Longford	0-08 - 3-07	Down
D Gallagher (0-4,2f, ‘14), L Connerton (0-2), C Berry (0-2,1f)	Report	G Collins (0-1), C Poland (0-1), D O'Hare (3-2,1f), D Guinness (0-1), J Johnston (0-2)

Pearse Park, Longford

Referee: J Molloy (Galway)

2 March 2019

19:00

Round 5

Down	2-12 v 0-10	Offaly
O'Hare 0-6, Quinn 2-0, Mooney 0-2, McKernan 0-1, O'Hagan 0-1, Johnston 0-1, R Burns 0-1	Report	Allen 0-6, Horan 0-2, Cunningham 0-1, McNamee 0-1

Páirc Esler, Newry

Referee: A Nolan (Wicklow)

16 March 2019

15:00

Round 6

Carlow	1-11 v 0-15	Down
Eoghan Ruth (1-00), Brendan Murphy (0-01), Jordan Morrissey (0-01), Darragh Foley (0-07fs), Diarmuid Walshe (0-02fs)	Report	Darren O'Hagan (0-01), Caolan Mooney (0-01); Daniel Guinness (0-01), Conor Poland (0-02), Donal O'Hare (0-05, 4fs), Ryan Johnston (0-1), Paul Devlin (0-4)

Dr Cullen Park, Carlow

Referee: J Bermingham (Cork)

23 March 2019

14:00

Round 7

Down	1-06 v 0-10	Louth
Darren O'Hagan (1-01), Caolan Mooney (0-01), Ryan Johnston (0-01), Conor Poland (0-01), Paul Devlin (0-01)	Report	Fergal Donohoe (0-01), Tommy Durnin (0-01), James Califf (0-02), Sam Mulroy (0-05, 0-05f), Declan Byrne (0-01)

Pairc Esler, Newry

Referee: M McNally (Monaghan)

Ulster Senior Football Championship

Main article: 2019 Ulster Senior Football Championship

The draw for the 2019 Ulster Senior Football Championship took place on 12 October 2018. ^[14]

Fixtures

Date	Round	Team 1	Score	Team 2	Ground	Ref
19 May 2019	Quarter Final	Down	3-13 v 2-17	Armagh	Pairc Esler, Newry	[15]

Bracket

	Preliminary round 12 May 2019					Quarter-finals 18, 19, 25, 26 May 2019					Semi-finals 2 & 8 June 2019					Final 23 June 2019
						Cavan		1-13
						Monaghan		0-12
											Cavan (R)		0-17 0-23
											Armagh (R)		1-14 0-17
						Down		3-13
						Armagh		2-17
																Cavan		2-16
																Donegal		1-24
						Fermanagh		0-09
						Donegal		0-15
											Donegal		1-16
											Tyrone		0-15
						Antrim		2-09
	Tyrone		1-19			Tyrone		2-23
	Derry		1-13

Reports

Down v Armagh

19 May 2019 (2019-05-19) 16:00 IST (UTC+1) Quarter-Final B

Report

Down	3-13 (22)–(23) 2-17 (a.e.t.)	Armagh
(HT: 1-05 – 0-07) (FT: 2-10 – 1-13)
Gls: Donal O'Hare, Paul Devlin, Pat Havern Pts: Donal O'Hare (2, 2f), Paul Devlin (2, 2f), Pat Havern, James Guinness (2), Jerome Johnston (2, f), Conor Poland, Conor Francis, Connaire Harrison, Barry O'Hagan		Gls: Mark Shields, Andrew Murnin Pts: Rian O'Neill (8, 4f), Jamie Clarke (2), Ryan Kennedy (2), Stefan Campbell (2), Aidan Nugent, James Morgan, Andrew Murnin

Páirc Esler , Newry Referee: Anthony Nolan (Wicklow) Attendance: 15,116

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship

Main article: 2019 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship

Down entered the 2019 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship in Round 1 of the qualifiers. Following a win over Tipperary in Round 1 Down progressed into the 2nd round of the All Ireland qualifiers where they were defeated by Mayo bringing an end to their 2019 campaign.

Fixtures

Date	Round	Team 1	Score	Team 2	Ground	Ref
9 June 2019	Round 1	Down	1-13 v 1-10	Tipperary	Pairc Esler. Newry	[16]
22 June 2019	Round 2	Down	1-11 v 1-16	Mayo	Pairc Esler. Newry	[17]

Reports

Down v Tipperary

9 June 2019Round 1	Down	1-13 – 1-10	Tipperary	Newry
14:00 IST (UTC+1)				Venue: Páirc Esler
	Gls: Donal O'Hare 1-0 Pts: Pat Havern and Cory Quinn 0-3 each, Connaire Harrison 0-2, Jerome Johnstone, Rory Burns (45), Barry O'Hagan, Paul Devlin and Darren O'Hagan 0-1 each	Report	Gls: Philip Austin 1-1 Pts: Conor Sweeney 0-4 (4fs), Liam McGrath 0-2, Michael Quinlavin, Jack Kennedy (45) and Liam Casey 0-1 each	Referee: F Kelly (Longford)

Down v Mayo

22 June 2019Round 2	Down	1-11 – 1-16	Mayo	Newry
19:00 IST (UTC+1)				Venue: Páirc Esler
	Gls: C Mooney (1-1) Pts: P Havern (0-1), D O'Hare (0-3, 2fs), C Harrison (0-2), C Quinn (0-2), J Johnston (0-1), O McCabe (0-1)	Report	Gls: C Loftus (1-4, 3fs) Pts: L Keegan (0-3), A Moran (0-2), F McDonagh (0-2), C Barrett (0-1), D O'Connor (0-1), A O’Shea (0-1), K McLoughlin (0-1), C Treacy (0-1)	Referee: F Kelly (Longford)

References

1. "Paddy Tally named as new Down boss". RTÉ.ie . 23 August 2018.
2. "Bank of Ireland Dr McKenna Cup Draw 2019 takes place". 7 December 2018.
3. Official Down GAA [@OfficialDownGAA] (30 December 2018). "Dr McKenna Cup 2019 Down 1.09 Cavan 0.13 Full time @bankofireland #BOIDrMcKennaCup" (Tweet). Retrieved 26 December 2020– via Twitter.
4. Official Down GAA [@OfficialDownGAA] (6 January 2019). "BOI Dr McKenna Cup 2019 Down 0:10(10) Donegal 1:17(20) Donegal win by 10 points Full Time #BOIDrMcKennaCup19 And Barry Cassidy sounds the long whistle and it's Donegal who prevail. Both teams with experimental teams out but Donegal having the stronger front six. QUB next" (Tweet). Retrieved 26 December 2020– via Twitter.
5. Official Down GAA [@OfficialDownGAA] (9 January 2019). "BOI Dr McKenna Cup Down 4:18(30) QUB 1:5(8) Full Time @ulstergaa #BOIDrMcKennaCup19 And that's time up here in Newry. We will be back here for the opening league game v Laois on Saturday 26 January at 7pm" (Tweet). Retrieved 26 December 2020– via Twitter.
6. "Revealed: The provisional 2019 football and hurling league fixtures as training-camp sanctions are avoided".
7. Official Down GAA [@OfficialDownGAA] (26 January 2019). "Allianz NFL Div 3 R1 DOWN 1:12 LAOIS 2:15 Full Time here in Pairc Esler and it's @CLGLaois who come out on top" (Tweet). Retrieved 26 December 2020– via Twitter.
8. "Sligo 1-10 1-12 Down".
9. Official Down GAA [@OfficialDownGAA] (9 February 2019). "Allianz Leagues Division 3 Down 0:10(10) Westmeath 0:9(9) Down win by 1 point Full Time #AllianzLeagues And a superb win for the 14 of Down who really duf this one out" (Tweet). Retrieved 26 December 2020– via Twitter.
10. Official Down GAA [@OfficialDownGAA] (24 February 2019). "Allianz League Div 3 Rd 4 Full time Down 3.07 Longford 0.08" (Tweet). Retrieved 26 December 2020– via Twitter.
11. Official Down GAA [@OfficialDownGAA] (2 March 2019). "NFL Div3 #Allianz DOWN 2:12(18) OFFALY 0:10(10) DOWN win by 8 points Full Time A great win and we go top this evening. Thanks for following and enjoy the rest of the weekend" (Tweet). Retrieved 26 December 2020– via Twitter.
12. Official Down GAA [@OfficialDownGAA] (16 March 2019). "Allianz Football League Div 3 Rd 6 Donal O'Hare free at the end saves the day! Full time Down 0.15 Carlow 1.11" (Tweet). Retrieved 26 December 2020– via Twitter.
13. Official Down GAA [@OfficialDownGAA] (24 March 2019). "NFL Div3 #Allianz Full time DOWN: 1-6(9) LOUTH: 0-10(10) Frees conceded t.co/av40qbq8zl" (Tweet). Retrieved 26 December 2020– via Twitter.
14. "Old rivalries to be renewed in 2019 Ulster Senior Football Championship". 12 October 2018.
15. Official Down GAA [@OfficialDownGAA] (19 May 2019). "Ulster SFC 1/4 Final #RivalryRenewed #Ulster19 Full time AN DÚN: 3-13(22) ARD MHACHA: 2-17(23) Ulster SFC 1/4 Final #RivalryRenewed #Ulster19. Score after 2nd half extra time: AN DÚN 3-13(22) ARD MHACHA 2-17(23)" (Tweet) (in Romanian). Retrieved 26 December 2020– via Twitter.
16. Official Down GAA [@OfficialDownGAA] (9 June 2019). "AI SFC QUAL. R1 #AnDúnAbú Full time AN DÚN: 1-13(16) TIOBRAID ÁRANN: 1-10(13) TIOBRAID ÁRANN shots t.co/f2rVJtt2iG" (Tweet) (in Welsh). Retrieved 26 December 2020– via Twitter.
17. Finnerty, Mike (22 June 2019). "Mayo do enough to see off Down challenge". RTÉ.ie .