2014 Down county football team season

Down county football team
2014 season
Manager	James McCartan Jnr
Stadium	Pairc Esler, Newry
NFL D2	4th
All-Ireland SFC	Round 2B qualifier
Ulster SFC	Preliminary round
Dr McKenna Cup	Group stage (3rd)
	← 2013 2015 →

The following is a summary of Down county football team's 2014 season. This season marked the 20th anniversary of Down's last All-Ireland SFC win in 1994, which is also the year they last won the Ulster SFC.

Kits

McKenna Cup and National League Kits

Home	Away

Competitions

Win Draw Loss Postponed/Cancelled

Dr McKenna Cup

The draw for the 2014 Dr McKenna Cup took place on 12 November 2013.^[1]

The final McKenna Cup tie for UUJ vs Cavan was cancelled due to UUJ withdrawing from the competition.^[2]

Fixtures

Date	Round	Home	Score	Away	Ground
5 Jan	Group	Down	1-15 v 0-07	UUJ	Páirc Esler, Newry
12 Jan	Group	Cavan	1-09 v 0-05	Down	O'Raghallaigh Park, Kingscourt
15 Jan	Group	Down	0-10 v 1-12	Antrim	Páirc Esler, Newry

Table

Qualified for next round

Team	Pld	W	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
Cavan	3	3	0	4-21	0-17	16	6
Antrim	3	2	1	2-41	5-30	2	4
Down	3	1	2	1-30	2-28	-1	2
UUJ	3	0	3	2-15	2-32	-17	0

15/01/14 Cavan vs UUJ – UUJ concede fixture due to inability to field team.^[3]

Results

5 January 2014

14:00

Group

Down	1-15 — 0-07	UUJ
M Poland (0-5), C O Hare (0-3), P Fitzpatrick (1-0), E Mc Cartan (0-1), D Mc Cartan (0-1), Liam Devlin (0-1), K King (0-1), C Harrison (0-1), N Madine (0-1), G Mc Ardle (0-1)	Report	D Savage (0-3), D Mc Kay(0-1), C O Boyle (0-1), P Mc Polin (0-1), N Mc Keever (0-1)

Páirc Esler, Newry

Referee: Joe McQuillan (Cavan)

12 January 2014

14:00

Group

Cavan	1-09 — 0-05	Down
E Keating (0-3), K Tierney (1-0), T Mooney (0-2), D Givney (0-2), P Tinnelly (0-1), N Murray (0-1)	Report	N Madine (0-2), D O'Hanlon (0-1), R Boyle (0-1), B Coulter (0-1)

O'Raghallaigh Park, Kingscourt

Referee: Sean Hurson (Tyrone)

15 January 2014

19:00

Group

Down	0-10 — 1-12	Antrim
N Madine (0-4), D O'Hanlon (0-3), L Doyle (0-2), A Carr (0-1)	Report	P Cunningham (1-3), P Maguire (0-2), M Sweeney (0-1), M McCann (0-1), P Kelly (0-1), C Duffin (0-1), M Pollock (0-1, B Neeson (0-1), CJ McGourty (0-1)

Páirc Esler, Newry

Referee: S McNamee

National Football League Division 2

Fixtures

Date	Round	Home	Score	Away	Ground
1 Feb	Group	Down		Monaghan	Páirc Esler, Newry
2 Feb	Group	Down	1-11 v 0-14	Monaghan	Páirc Esler, Newry
7 Feb	Group	Armagh	2-05 v 2-07	Down	Athletic Grounds, Armagh
1 Mar	Group	Down	4-16 v 0-09	Louth	Páirc Esler, Newry
9 Mar	Group	Galway	1-12 v 0-08	Down	St Jarlath's Park, Tuam
16 Mar	Group	Down	1-09 v 0-10	Donegal	Páirc Esler, Newry
29 Mar	Group	Meath	1-14 v 1-11	Down	Páirc Tailteann, Navan
6 Apr	Group	Laois	1-16 v 2-10	Down	O'Moore Park, Portlaoise

01/02/14 Down vs Monaghan – Postponed due to waterlogged pitch^[4]

Table

Compete in Division 2 final
Automatic relegation to Division 3

Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
Donegal	7	5	1	1	9-97	7-67	36	11
Monaghan	7	5	1	1	3-107	3-78	29	11
Meath	7	4	1	2	9-87	8-95	-5	9
Down	7	3	1	3	11-72	5-80	10	7
Laois	7	3	0	4	7-89	6-100	-8	6
Galway	7	2	1	4	7-84	8-97	-16	5
Armagh	7	2	1	4	7-86	10-86	-9	5
Louth	7	0	2	5	6-76	12-95	-37	2

¹Donegal are placed ahead of Monaghan because they won the head-to-head game between the teams (2-11 to 0-10).

²Galway are placed ahead of Armagh because they won the head-to-head game between the teams (2-14 to 1-13).

Results

2 February 2014 Round 1	Down	1-11 — 0-14	Monaghan	Páirc Esler, Newry
14:00	D O'Hare (0-4), J Johnston (0-2), R Boyle (0-1), C Garvey (0-1), D O'Hanlon (0-1), C Maginn (1-0), R Johnston (0-1), E McCartan (0-1)	Report	J McCarron (0-7), T Kerr (0-2), C McManus (0-2), C McGuinness (0-1), R Beggan (0-1), P Finlay (0-1)	Referee: C Reilly

7 February 2014 Round 2	Armagh	2-05 — 2-07	Down	Athletic Grounds, Armagh
19:00	K Dyas (1-0), S Harold (1-0), C Rafferty (0-1), S Campbell (0-1), J Clarke (0-1), T Kernan (0-1), R Tasker (0-1)	Report	M Poland (2-0), K McKernan (0-2), D O'Hare (0-2), N Madine (0-1), C Maginn (0-1), E McCartan (0-1)	Attendance: 5,557 Referee: David Coldrick (Meath)

1 March 2014 Round 3	Down	4-16 — 0-09	Louth	Páirc Esler, Newry
19:00	D O Hare (1-10), B Coulter (2-00), C Maginn (1-00), N Madine (0-02), K McKernan (0-01), J Johnston (0-01), M Poland (0-01), P Fitzpatrick (0-01)	Report	D Byrne (0-03), C Judge (0-02), D Clarke (0-02), B White (0-01), K Rodgers (0-01)	Referee: M Higgins

9 March 2014 Round 4	Galway	1-12 — 0-08	Down	St Jarlath's Park, Tuam
14:00	M Martin (0-3), E Hoare (0-3), J Kavanagh (0-2), P Varley (0-1), T Flynn (0-1), S Armstrong (0-1), G Sice (0-1), D Cummins (1-0)	Report	D O'Hare (0-6), K McKernan (0-2)	Referee: D O Mahoney

16 March 2014 Round 5	Down	1-09 — 0-10	Donegal	Páirc Esler, Newry
14:00	N Madine (1-1), M Poland (0-2), D O'Hare (0-2), C Garvey (0-2), K McKernan (0-1), C Laverty (0-1)	Report	M Murphy (0-3), C McFadden (0-2), D Molloy (0-2), L McLoone (0-1), M McElhinney (0-1), N Gallagher (0-1)	Referee: C O'Hagan

29 March 2014 Round 6	Meath	1-14 — 1-11	Down	Páirc Tailteann, Navan
19:00	Graham Reilly 1-2; Stephen Bray 0-3; Shane O'Rourke 0-2, Andrew Tormey 0-2, Damien Carroll 0-2; Michael Newman 0-1, Seamus Kenny 0-1, Bryan Menton 0-1.	Report	Donal O'Hare 0-6; Ambrose Rodgers 1-0; Daniel McCartan 0-1, Mark Polan 0-1, Niall Madine 0-1, Jerome Johnston 0-1, Paul Devlin 0-1	Referee: C O'Sullivan

6 April 2014 Round 7	Laois	1-16 — 2-10	Down	O'Moore Park, Portlaoise
15:00	R Munnelly (0-6), J O'Loughlin (1-2), D Kingston (0-3), D Conway (0-3) D Strong (0-1), C Meredith (0-1)	Report	O'Hare (0-4), Carr (1-0), Maginn (1-0), J Johnston (0-2), C Garvey (0-1), M Poland (0-1), N Madine (0-1), C Laverty (0-1)	Referee: Conor Lane (Cork)

Ulster Senior Football Championship

Fixtures

The draw for the 2014 Ulster Senior Football Championship took place on 3 October 2013.^[5]

Date	Round	Team 1	Score	Team 2	Ground
18 May 2014	Preliminary Round	Tyrone	2-11 v 3-08	Down	Healy Park, Omagh,
24 May 2014	Preliminary Round Replay	Down	0-12 v 3-11	Tyrone	Pairc Esler, Newry,

Bracket

Preliminary round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

Tyrone
(R)

2-11
3-11

Down
(R)

3-08
0-12

Tyrone

0-14

Monaghan

1-12

Monaghan
(R)

0-14
1-18

Armagh
(R)

0-14
1-13

Armagh

1-12

Cavan

0-09

Monaghan

1-09

Donegal

0-15

Fermanagh

3-13

Antrim

2-18

Antrim

0-12

Donegal

3-16

Derry

0-11

Donegal

1-11

Results

Sunday 18 May 2014

16:00

Preliminary Round

Tyrone	2-11 v 3-08	Down
D McCurry (1-2), Cavanagh (0-5), P Harte (1-0), K Coney (0-3). N Morgan (0-1)	Report	D O'Hare (1-2), A Carr (1-0), C Maginn (1-0), C Garvey (0-1), A Rogers (0-1), M Poland (0-1), N Madine (0-1), C Laverty (0-1), B Coulter (0-1)

Healy Park, Omagh

Attendance: 13,266

Referee: David Coldrick (Meath)

Saturday 24 May 2014

18:30

Preliminary Round Replay

Down	0-12 v 3-11	Tyrone
D O'Hare (0-6), C Laverty (0-2), C Garvey (0-1), D Gordon (0-1), C Maginn (0-1), B Coulter (0-1)	Report	C McGinley (2-1), P Harte (1-1), N Morgan (0-3), D McCurry (0-2), M Donnelly (0-1), R O'Neill (0-1), N McKenna (0-1), C McAliskey (0-1)

Páirc Esler, Newry

Referee: C Reilly

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship

2014 saw the introduction of a new qualifiers set up with the fixtures being split into two sections A and B.

Down entered the All-Ireland series in Round 1B of the qualifiers. The draw for Round 1B took place on Monday 9 June and paired Down with Leitrim in Pairc Esler on Sunday 29 June at 2pm. Down were favourites to win and they hammered Leitrim 4-18 to 0-09 on the day to progress to Round 2B. The draw for Round 2B took place at 8:30am on Monday 30 June live on Morning Ireland, with Down being paired with Leinster side Kildare.

Down exited the 2014 All-Ireland series with a poor performance against Kildare, scoring only 3 points in the first half, only one of which was from open play. In the second half Down staged a comeback but eventually lost when Kildare hit 1-06 without reply.

Fixtures

Date	Round	Team 1	Score	Team 2	Ground
29 June 2014	Round 1B	Down	4-18 v 0-09	Leitrim	Pairc Esler, Newry
13 July 2014	Round 2B	Down	0-11 v 1-18	Kildare	Pairc Esler, Newry

Results

29 June 2014

14:00

Round 1B

Down	4-18 v 0-09	Leitrim
C Laverty (2-4), D O'Hare (0-4), L Doyle (0-2), B Coulter (0-2), M Poland (0-2), D Turley (1-0), K McKernan (0-1), D Gordon (0-1), C Maginn (0-1), N Madine (1-0)	Report	E Mulligan (0-5), G Reynolds (0-1), S McWeeney (0-1), R Lowe (0-1), N Moore (0-1)

Páirc Esler, Newry

Referee: A Nolan

13 July 2014

14:00

Round 2B

Down	0-11 v 1-18	Kildare
B Coulter (0-4), D O'Hare (0-3), D Rooney (0-1), D O'Hagan (0-1), C Maginn (0-1), C Laverty (0-1)	Report	P Fogarty (0-4), T Moolick (1-0), A Smith (0-3), P O'Neill (0-3), C McNally (0-2), N Kelly (0-2), E Bolton (0-1), G White (0-1), E Callaghan (0-1), E O'Flaherty (0-1)

Páirc Esler, Newry

Attendance: 6,375

Referee: David Coldrick (Meath)

Notable events

On Saturday 26 July, James McCartan Jnr stepped down as Down manager after five full seasons in charge.
On Wednesday 8 August, former All Star goalkeeper Brendan McVeigh announced his retirement from inter-county football.
On Saturday 19 September, Kilcoo manager Jim McCorry was named as the new Down boss on a three-year deal.^[6]

References

^ "McKenna Cup 2014". ulster.gaa.ie. Archived from the original on 12 November 2013.
^ "UUJ forfeit final McKenna Cup game" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
^ "Cavan into semi-finals as UUJ concede fixture". gaa.ie. 14 January 2014. Archived from the original on 23 February 2014.
^ https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/gaelic-games/25925406 | Football League: Down clash with Monaghan postponed to Sunday
^ GMT (4 October 2013). "BBC Sport - Tyrone to face Down in Ulster SFC preliminary round tie". BBC.co.uk. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
^ "McCorry named as new Down manager" – via www.bbc.co.uk.

[1] "McKenna Cup 2014". ulster.gaa.ie. Archived from the original on 12 November 2013.

[2] "UUJ forfeit final McKenna Cup game" – via www.bbc.co.uk.

[3] "Cavan into semi-finals as UUJ concede fixture". gaa.ie. 14 January 2014. Archived from the original on 23 February 2014.

[4] ttps://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/gaelic-games/25925406 | Football League: Down clash with Monaghan postponed to Sunday

[5] GMT (4 October 2013). "BBC Sport - Tyrone to face Down in Ulster SFC preliminary round tie". BBC.co.uk. Retrieved 13 October 2013.

[6] "McCorry named as new Down manager" – via www.bbc.co.uk.

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