YOU can see disappointment and determination burning in Finn McElroy’s eyes as he stands on the Clones pitch in the aftermath of the one-point loss to Armagh. So near and yet so far, but defeat isn’t the end, said the versatile Down defender, it’s just the beginning for the improving Mournemen.
Having been hammered last year, Down returned to the same venue, at the same stage against the same opposition and came close to taking a very notable scalp before Armagh’s bench strength and finishing quality saw them squeeze over the line by a point.
Longstone clubman McElroy is a mobile and reliable ball-winner and his solid display helped the Down defence shut out Armagh’s entire starting forward unit from open play. Quality attackers like Stefan Campbell, Conor Turbitt and Andrew Murnin were crowded out and Rory Grugan, with five frees, was the only Orchard forward to get on the scoreboard.
“We just came up short,” said a disappointed McElroy.
“Compared to last year it was some improvement but it’s just disappointing because we thought we had them – two points up with five to go…
“It’s a learning curve for us, they had a lot more experience than we had on the pitch but it was definitely there for the taking. It’s progress, that’s one way of looking at it and we’ve a few days off now before we come back and get ready for the Tailteann Cup.
“Then we’ll give Division Two a rattle next year because we’re definitely going in the right direction.”
For Down’s well-worked and carefully-devised gameplan to pay off, they had to capitalise on the hard work of their defensive unit by taking a high percentage of the chances that came their way. Despite their two goals – scrappy finishes on the end of flowing moves - they didn’t do that.
Frees and marks drifted wide of the target and the shot-shy Mournemen also missed chances from open play.
McElroy says harsh lessons learned from days like Saturday will help his county to improve as they turn their attention to the Tailteann Cup competition.
“It was uncharacteristic for us – missing free-kicks and stuff like that,” he said.
“But we’ll learn from that, we’ll come back stronger and we’re improving, that’s the main thing.
“Days like this will bring us on. You can only do so much on the training field, you need to come out and actually do it on the pitch on the big days and you learn from it and you move on.
“As I say, we’re disappointed, we nearly had them, but we’ll be back stronger next year.”
Whether it was by one point or last year’s 10, defeat to their neighbours always hurts, especially when an Ulster final appearance – and the possibility of Sam Maguire football – was also in the pot.
“This will drive us on,” added McElroy.
“We’ll use this as a platform for the rest of the year and going into Division Two next year. We have to keep going on an upward trajectory – we stay positive, it was a bad result but we move on.”
