Allianz League
Division 3
Down 3-07 Longford 0-08
Report by Sean Forsythe.
Three goals from Donal O’Hare and a penalty save from Rory Burns for the second game in a row saw Down emerge victorious in Longford.
The result is Down’s third win in a row in the league and now sees them join top of the league with their rivals from across Carlingford Lough, Louth.
It was the home side Longford who got on the board first as Darren Gallagher converted a free to put Longford a point to the good within the first 5 minutes.
Down responded 5 minutes later as Donal O’Hare got his first goal of the afternoon following a fine pass from Caolan Mooney.
It took 15 minutes for the crowd to see the first point from play which was delivered by Liam Connerton for the hosts to bring the sides level.
Down began to pull away from the hosts who appeared nervous in the first half an hour as points from Poland, Collins and 2 from Donal O’Hare made the score 1-04 to 0-03 at half time.
Down landed a killer blow just after half-time as danger man Donal O’Hare got his second goal of the day just over a minute into the second half.
O’Hare wouldn’t have to wait long for his Hat-Trick which he secured 15 minutes later following a pass from Daniel Guinness from a Jerome Johnston mark.
Longford now faced a uphill battle to get anything out of the game with the scores sitting at 3-04 to 0-04 with 20 minutes of the match to go.
While Donal O’Hare was starring in front of goal, the man in goal for Down, Rory Burns, was equally impressive as he made four great saves in the match twice denying Longford’s most dangerous player.
However, following his heroics for Westmeath’s penalty two weeks ago, he produced similar heroics again in the midlands this time denying Michael Quinn.
Like against Westmeath, Burns got down low but on this occasion to his left to stop the goal bound shot.
Both sides exchanged points in the closing moments and the score-line at full time read 3-07 to 0-08 at full time for the visitors.
The result is Downs third win in a row but by far this was their most impressive performance to date which will no doubt please manager Paddy Tally following hard fought victories over Sligo and Westmeath in recent weeks.
Down return to Pairc Esler this Saturday to face the men from the Faithful County, Offaly.
Should Down put in a performance of the same level on Saturday, it would be awfully hard not to see them come away with a fourth win in a row leaving them very much on track for a welcome promotion.
