2023 Down county football team season

Down county football team

2023 season
Manager	Conor Laverty
Stadium	Páirc Esler, Newry
NFL D3	3rd
Tailteann Cup	Runner-up
Ulster SFC	Semi-finalist
Dr McKenna Cup	Semi-finalist
←  2022 2024  →

The following is a summary of Down county football team's 2023 season, which was its 120th year. On 9 August 2022, Conor Laverty was appointed Down manager. ^[1]

Competitions

Down will compete in the pre-season McKenna Cup tournament, with the main season consisting of the National Football League Division 3, the Ulster Championship and the Tailteann Cup.

Dr McKenna Cup

Main article: 2023 Dr McKenna Cup

The McKenna Cup group draw took place on 15 December 2021. ^[2]

Table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PR	Pts	Qualification
1	Down	2	2	0	0	36	25	1.440	4	Advance to semi-final
2	Monaghan	2	1	0	1	27	29	0.931	2
3	Donegal	2	0	0	2	26	35	0.743	0

Source: Ulster GAA

Fixtures

Monaghan v Down

4 January 2023 (2023-01-04)Group Stage	Monaghan	0-12 – 2-10	Down	Castleblayney
19:30 GMT (UTC)				Venue: St Mary's Park
		Report

Down v Donegal

8 January 2023 (2023-01-08)Group Stage	Down	2-14 – 1-10	Donegal	Newry
13:30 GMT (UTC)				Venue: Páirc Esler
		Report

Down v Derry

15 January 2023 (2023-01-15)Semi-Finals	Down	3-09 – 1-15 (2–3 pen)	Derry	Newry
13:30 GMT (UTC)				Venue: Páirc Esler
		Report
		Penalty shootout

National Football League Division 3

Main article: 2023 National Football League (Ireland)

Down will compete in Division Three of the National League in 2023. The GAA released the fixtures for the league season on 8 December 2022. ^{[3] [4] [5]}

Fixtures

  Win  Draw  Loss  Postponed/Cancelled

Date	Round	Home	Score	Away	Ground	Ref
Saturday 28 January	Group	Tipperary	1-11 v 2-11	Down	Semple Stadium, Thurles	[6]
Saturday 4 February	Group	Down	2-18 v 2-17	Antrim	Páirc Esler, Newry	[7]
Sunday 19 February	Group	Fermanagh	2-14 v 3-10	Down	Brewster Park, Enniskillen	[8]
Saturday 25 February	Group	Down	1-10 v 0-11	Westmeath	Páirc Esler, Newry	[9]
Sunday 5 March	Group	Cavan	2-14 v 1-10	Down	Breffni Park, Cavan	[10]
Sunday 18 March	Group	Down	1-19 v 1-14	Longford	Páirc Esler, Newry	[11]
Sunday 26 March	Group	Offaly	0-09 v 1-18	Down	O'Connor Park, Tullamore	[12]

Table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Fermanagh	7	6	0	1	114	94	+20	12	Advance to NFL Division 3 Final and promotion to 2024 NFL Division 2
2	Cavan	7	5	0	2	130	94	+36	10
3	Down	7	5	0	2	129	114	+15	10
4	Westmeath	7	4	0	3	135	79	+56	8
5	Offaly	7	4	0	3	105	115	−10	8
6	Antrim	7	2	0	5	124	158	−34	4
7	Longford	7	1	1	5	104	142	−38	3	Relegation to 2024 NFL Division 4
8	Tipperary	7	0	1	6	83	128	−45	1

Source: GAA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Reports

28 January 2023

18:00

Round 1

Tipperary	1-11 - 2-11	Down
C Sweeney (0-4, 3fs), T Doyle (1-00), M Russell (0-02), D Leahy (0-02), J Kennedy (0-01f), (0-01), S O’Connor (0-01f)	Report	P Havern (1-04, 0-01f, 0-01m), C Francis (1-00), A Gilmore (0-03, 2fs), E Brown (0-02), O Murdock (0-01), B O’Hagan (0-01f)

Semple Stadium, Thurles

Referee: C Maguire (Clare)

4 February 2023

18:00

Round 2

Down	2-18 - 2-17	Antrim
Andrew Gilmore (1-04, 0-02f), Conor Poland (1-00), Odhran Murdock (0-03), Liam Kerr (0-03), Barry O’Hagan (0-03, 0-01f), Pat Havern (0-02), Eamon Brown (0-01), Shay Miller (0-01), Niall Kane (0-01)	Report	Ruairí McCann (2-01), Conor Stewart (0-03), Dominic McEnhill (0-03), Michael Byrne (0-02, 0-01f), Patrick Finnegan (0-02), Ryan Murray (0-02, 0-01f), James McAuley (0-01), Joseph Finnegan (0-01), Adam Loughran (0-01), Ruairí McCann (0-01, 0-01f)

Pairc Esler, Newry

Referee: B Tiernan (Dublin)

19 February 2023

14:00

Round 3

Fermanagh	2-14 - 3-10	Down
Darragh McGurn (0-05,1f), Conor McGee (1-0), Sean Quigley (1-00), Ryan Lyons (0-02f), Ultan Kelm (0-02), Aidan Breen (0-01), Ronan McCaffrey (0-01), Shane McGullion (0-01), Ryan Jones (0-01), Conor McShea (0-01)	Report	Pat Havern (0-5,2f), Odhran Murdock (1-00 pen), Pierce Laverty (1-00), Conor Francis (1-00), Niall Kane (0-01), Shane Annett (0-01), Liam Kerr (0-01f), Shay Millar (0-01), Andrew Gilmore (0-01)

Brewster Park, Enniskillen

Referee: C Dourneen (Cavan)

25 February 2023

18:00

Round 4

Down	1-10 - 0-11	Westmeath
Andrew Gilmore (0-04, 0-01f), Pat Havern (0-03, 0-03f), Odhran Murdock (1-00, 1-00pen), Ceilum Doherty (0-02), Eamon Brown (0-01)	Report	John Heslin (0-06, 0-04f), Senan Baker (0-02), Sam McCartan (0-01), David Lynch (0-01), Conor McCormack (0-01)

Pairc Esler, Newry

Referee: D Gough (Meath)

5 March 2023

14:00

Round 5

Cavan	2-14 - 1-10	Down
Paddy Lynch (2-05, 4f), Gearoid McKiernan (0-02, 1m), Dara McVeety (0-02, 1m), Cian Madden (0-02), Brandon Boylan (0-01), Raymond Galligan (0-1f), James Smith (0-01)	Report	Pat Havern (0-05, 3f), Micheál Rooney (1-0), Andrew Gilmore (0-03f), Donnacha McAleese (0-01m), Ryan McEvoy (0-01f)

Pairc Esler, Newry

Referee: P Neilan (Roscommon)

19 March 2023

19:00

Round 6

Down	1-19 - 1-14	Longford
Liam Kerr (1-05, 1-00pen, 0-03fs), Pat Havern (0-05, 0-02fs), Ryan Johnston (0-02), Miceál Rooney (0-02), Jerome Johnston (0-01), Michael Ireland (0-01), Conor McCrickard (0-01), Niall Kane (0-01, 0-01 '45), Eamon Brown (0-01)	Report	Dylan Farrell (0-05, 0-03fs), Dessie Reynolds (1-01), Michael Quinn (0-01), Jack Macken (0-01), Darren Gallagher (0-01), Daniel Mimnagh (0-01), Oran Kenny (0-01), Keelin McGann (0-01), D O’Brien (0-01), F Sheridan (0-01)

Pairc Esler, Newry

Referee: S Laverty (Antrim)

26 March 2023

14:00

Round 7

Offaly	0-09 - 1-18	Down
Nigel Dunne (0-3, 3f), Bernard Allen (0-2), Cian Donohoe (0-1), Anton Sullivan (0-1), Jack Bryant (0-1), Cian Farrell (0-1, f)	Report	Liam Kerr (1-0), Conor McRickard (0-3), Eugene Branagan (0-3), Ryan Johnston (0-2), Danny Magill (0-2), Pat Havern (0-2), Rory Mason (0-2, 1f), Antony Morgan (0-1), Niall Kane (0-1,f), Ryan McEvoy (0-1), Miceal Rooney (0-1)

O'Connor Park, Tullamore

Referee: S Mulhare (Laois)

Ulster Senior Football Championship

Main article: 2023 Ulster Senior Football Championship

The draw for the 2023 Ulster Championship was made on 15 October 2022. ^{[13] [14]}

Fixtures

23 April 2023

14:00

Quarter Final

Down	2-13 - 1-11	Donegal
P Havern (1-03, 1-0 pen, 3f), R Johnston (0-03, 2m), L Kerr (1-00), D Guinness (0-02), A Gilmore (0-02, 1f), D Magill (0-01), E Brannigan (0-01), C Poland (0-01)	Report	J McGee (1-01), D O Baoill (0-03), C Thompson (0-02, 2f), C O’Donnell (0-02), O Gallen (0-01), S Patton (0-01, ’45), C Ward (0-01)

Pairc Esler, Newry

Referee: B Cawley (Kildare)

30 April 2023

16:00

Semi Final

Down	0-12 - 4-10	Armagh
Pat Havern (0-6), Ryan McEvoy (0-02), Ryan Johnston (0-01), Liam Kerr (0-01), Patrick Branagan (0-01), Andrew Gilmore (0-01)	Report	Ciaran Mackin (1-00), Shane McPartlan (1-00), Rian O’Neill (1-00), Andrew Murnin (1-00), Jason Duffy (0-02), Conor O’Neill (0-01), Aidan Forker (0-01), Jemar Hall (0-01), Rory Grugan (0-02), Stefan Campbell (0-01), Aidan Nugent (0-01), Callum Cumiskey (0-01)

St Tiernach's Park, Clones

Referee: C Lane (Cork)

Bracket

Preliminary round v t e

Quarter-Finals

Semi-Finals

Final

Fermanagh

2–8

Derry

3–17

Derry

1–21

Monaghan

2–10

Tyrone

1–18

Monaghan

2–17

Derry

1–15 (3)

Armagh

0–18 (1)

Down

2–13

Donegal

1–11

Down

0–12

Armagh

4–10

Cavan

0–12

Armagh

0–20

Armagh

1–14

Antrim

1–8

Tailteann Cup

Main article: 2023 Tailteann Cup

Due to their National League ranking and because they never progressed to the Ulster Championship final, Down will enter the Tailteann Cup in 2023 for the 2nd time. The draw for the 2023 competition was made on 2 May with Down being drawn into Group B with Meath, Waterford and Tipperary. ^[15]

Group 2

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Meath	3	3	0	0	62	40	+22	6	Advance to quarter-final
2	Down	3	2	0	1	56	29	+27	4	Advance to preliminary quarter-final
3	Tipperary	3	1	0	2	34	62	−28	2
4	Waterford	3	0	0	3	42	63	−21	0

Source: GAA

Knockout stage

Preliminary quarter-finals

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

Cavan

0–15

Down

1–20

Down

1–17

Longford

1–12

Down

8–16

Laois

2–12

Limerick

0–14

Fermanagh

1–9

Laois

1–14

Laois

1–11

Down

0–14

Meath

2–13

Meath

2–23

Offaly

2–14

Wexford

0–12

Wexford

1–22

Meath

2–16

Antrim

2–14

Antrim

1–19

Carlow

0–15

Carlow

1–15

New York

0–10

Fixtures

13 May 2023

18:00

Round 1

Down	2–14 – 1–6	Waterford
Pat Havern 0–5 (0–2f, 0–1m), Andrew Gilmore 0–4 (0–2f), Eamon Brown 1–0, Odhran Murdock 1–0, Donagh McAleenan 0–2, Anthony Morgan 0–1, Shealan Johnston 0–1, Eugene Branagan 0–1	Report	Conor Murray 1–0, Jason Curry 0–2 (0–2f), Darragh Corcoran 0–2, Jason Gleeson 0–1 (0–1f), Dermot Ryan 0–1

Pairc Esler, Newry

Referee: Barry Cassidy (Derry)

21 May 2023

13:45

Round 2

Tipperary	0-06 - 2-18	Down
Jack Kennedy, 0-4 (01f), Sean O’Connor 0-2	Report	Pat Havern 0-6 (0-5f), Shealan Johnston 1-1, Danny Magill 0-3, Odhran Murdock 1-0, Ceilum Doherty 0-2, Eamon Brown 0-2 (0-2f), Conor Francis 0-1, Ryan Johnston 0-1, Andrew Gilmore 0-1, Ross Carr 0-1

Semple Stadium, Thurles

Referee: Thomas Murphy (Galway)

3 June 2023

13:00

Round 3

Meath	1–11 – 1–9	Down
Jordan Morris 1–3 (1–0 pen, 0–1m), Daithi McGowan 0–2 (0–1f, 0–1 '45), James McEntee 0–2, Jack Flynn 0–1 (0–1f), Donal Lenihan 0–1 (0–1f), Jack O'Connor 0–1, Matthew Costello 0–1	Report	Pat Havern 0–5 (0–5f), Odhran Murdock 1–0, Liam Kerr 0–2 (0–1f), Niall Kane 0–1 (0–1 '45), Daniel Guinness 0–1

Parnell Park, Dublin

Referee: Fergal Kelly (Longford)

10 June 2023

19:00

Preliminary Quarter-final

Down	1-20 - 1-12	Longford
Pat Havern 0-6 (0-2f), Andrew Gilmore 0-3, (0-1f), Danny Magill 1-0, Rory Mason 0-3 (0-2f), Eugene Branagan 0-2, Ross Carr 0-2 (0-1m), Patrick McCarthy 0-1, Liam Kerr 0-1, Ceilum Doherty 0-1, Donach McAleenan 0-1	Report	Joe Hagan 1-3, Keelin McGann 0-2, Dylan Farrell 0-2, (0-1 45’, 0-1f), Darragh Doherty 0-2 (0-1f), Patrick Fox 0-1, Ryan Moffett 0-1, Dessie Reynolds 0-1

Pairc Esler, Newry

Referee: Anthony Nolan (Wicklow)

17 June 2023

17:15

Quarter-final

Cavan	0-15 - 1-17	Down
Oisin Brady 0–8 (0–4f, 0–2m), Padraig Faulkner 0–2, Gearóid McKiernan 0–1 (0–1f), Oisín Kiernan 0–1, Cian Madden 0–1, Tiarnan Madden 0–1, Brandon Boylan 0–1	Report	Pat Havern 0–5 (0–2f, 0–1m), Rory Mason 0–4 (0–1f), Liam Kerr 0–4, Danny Magill 1–1, Patrick McCarthy 0–1, Ryan Johnston 0–1, Shane Annett 0–1

Breffni Park, Cavan

Referee: Seamus Mulhare (Laois)

25 June 2023

16:00

Semi-final

Down	8–16 – 2–12	Laois
Liam Kerr 3–2, Danny Magill 2–0, Pat Havern 1–3, Rory Mason 1–1 (0-1f), Odhrán Murdock 1–1, Eugene Branagan 0–3, Ceilum Doherty 0–2 (0-1m), Patrick Branagan 0-2, Niall Kane 0–1, Ryan Johnston 0–1	Report	Mark Barry 1–6 (1–0 pen, 4f, 1m), Kevin Swayne 1-0, Eoin Lowry 0–2 (0-1m), Paul Kingston 0–1, Evan O'Carroll 0–1, Killian Roche 0–1, Dylan Kavanagh 0-1

Croke Park, Dublin

Referee: Barry Tiernan (Dublin)

Main article: 2023 Tailteann Cup final

15 July 2023

15:00

Final

Down	0–14 – 2–13	Meath
Pat Havern 0–4 (0–3f), Niall Kane 0–2 (0–1f, 0–1 '45), Liam Kerr 0–2, Ryan Johnston 0–2, Ceilum Doherty 0–1, Odhran Murdock 0–1, Shealan Johnston 0–1, Andrew Gilmore 0–1	Report	Jack O'Connor 1–2, Jack Flynn 0–4, Ronan Jones 1–1, Matthew Costello 0–3 (0–2f), Cathal Hickey 0–2, Jordan Morris 0–1

Croke Park, Dublin

Referee: Noel Mooney (Cavan)

References

1. "Conor Laverty announced as new Down senior football manager". Sky Sports. 9 August 2022.
2. "2023 Dr McKenna Cup draw throws up intriguing early-season fixtures". Belfast Live. 14 December 2022.
3. "GAA publish Master Fixtures Schedule for 2023". GAA.ie. 8 December 2021.
4. "GAA announces 2023 fixture schedule for all competitions with later dates for All-Ireland finals". Irish Independent. 8 December 2021.
5. "All-Ireland finals pushed back one week as GAA Master Fixtures Plan for 2023 announced". Sky Sports. 9 December 2022.
6. "Down regain winning feeling after edging past Tipperary in Division 3 opener". RTE. 28 January 2023.
7. "Antrim come unstuck by Down's frenzied finish". RTE. 4 February 2023.
8. "Sean Quigley strikes late as Fermanagh edge Down in thriller". RTE. 19 February 2023.
9. "Second-half surge from Down sees them defeat Westmeath". RTE. 25 February 2023.
10. "Cavan recover from slow start to defeat Down and edge closer to promotion". RTE. 5 March 2023.
11. "Longford relegated as Down pull away late on". RTE. 19 March 2023.
12. "Second-half domination sees Down sign off in style away to Offaly". RTE. 28 March 2023.
13. "2023 Ulster Senior Football Championship Draw". Ulster GAA. 15 October 2022. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
14. "2023 All-Ireland SFC draws RECAP as Ulster champions Derry are pitted against Fermanagh". Belfast Live. 15 October 2022. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
15. "All-Ireland draw: Mayo and Cork in tough-looking Group 1". RTE. 2 May 2023.