It was a gripping contest with both sides throwing the kitchen sink at each other but Down, with the benefit of an extra man from the 61st minute onwards, turned things around superbly late on.
They looked in big trouble when Canice Mulligan’s goal put Sligo four points ahead after 56 minutes, 2-11 to 0-13, but they dug deep with defenders Ryan McEvoy and Pierce Laverty really coming up trumps when it mattered.
Ultimately, it was Odhran Murdock’s extra-time penalty that proved the match-winner but the groundwork was laid long before that, and Laverty expects his side to flourish having scratched their Croke Park itch.
“I’m just delighted about the character that this young Down team showed. I’m really proud of this group because they are a very young group and they’ve suffered some poor defeats here,” he said.
“With Meath last year [Tailteann Cup final] and Westmeath this year [Division 3 league final] and whenever games were going against us, we probably felt that we didn’t show the character that we needed to get ourselves back into it.
“People questioned this Down team, about why they weren’t able to do that but everybody knows that you can’t buy experience and you can’t buy them situations, you just have to be in them time after time. You probably learn more from defeats but you take something away from it every time that you come here.
“It’s really valuable learning over the past three times that we’ve been here and I think that had an effect coming down the home straight.”
While Sligo had bodies creaking as the game went on, Down had energy all over the pitch – and Laverty puts that down to some “gruesome” training sessions that paid dividends at GAA HQ.
“Everything that we’ve asked of them to do, all the tough sessions, they are always ready to go and there’s no questions asked. They’ve never questioned us once as a management team,” he said.
“I said to them before we went out for extra-time that all of them moments and all the dark places that they’ve went to in training, this is where it counts and it got us over the line.
“A lot of Tollymore [forest] sessions and sand dunes in Ballykinler and places like that. A lot of tough nights, long, dark evenings and when you’re coming down the straight, there’s no better feeling as a player when you know that you have it in your legs.
“It gives you great confidence to know that you’ve went to the well many times in training and then you’re able to do it in the game.”
His opposite number Tony McEntee was clearly disappointed not to see it out but the Yeats boss had little interest in dwelling on any decisions that didn’t go their way.
The straight red card shown to Nathan Mullen for a foul on Oisín Savage, which saw the Down forward carried off on a stretcher after a six-minute break in play, looked a harsh call by Derek O’Mahoney.
Similarly, the late penalty awarded to Down for a foul on McEvoy was six of one and half a dozen of another, but McEntee was gracious in defeat.
“I don’t want to be critical of anything that happened here, it’s over and that’s it. I’m not looking at decisions, things happen on the field and we lost. We put up a good display and equipped ourselves really well,” McEntee said.
Sligo had themselves in a great position on the half-hour mark as Patrick O’Connor’s brilliant goal helped them open up a 1-6 to 0-6 lead but Down made a crucial burst either side of the break.
Four points in quick succession had them ahead but it was nip and tuck in the third quarter before Mulligan palmed a brilliant Sligo team move to the net to put them four ahead.
Pierce Laverty and sub Caolan Mooney came up with huge scores to keep Down in touch with the line in sight, though, while a 14-man Sligo just about hung in there before McEvoy levelled it at the end of normal time, 2-12 to 0-18.
The sides were level again after the first half of extra time, 2-13 to 0-19, before Murdock coolly slotted home a penalty in the 84th minute that ultimately proved the difference and booked their final place against Laois on July 13.
SCORERS – Down: P Havern 0-7 (4f); O Murdock 1-0 pen; L Kerr 0-3; R McEvoy, P Laverty 0-2 each; S Johnston, D Magill, M Rooney, J McGovern, D Guinness, C Mooney 0-1 each. Sligo: S Carrabine 0-4 (2f); P O’Connor 1-1; C Mulligan 1-0; N Murphy 0-3 (2f); L Deignan, D Cummins 0-2 each; N Mullen, M Walsh, P Spillane 0-1 each.
DOWN: J O’Hare 6; P Fegan 8, R McEvoy 8, P Laverty 8; M Rooney 7, D Guinness 8, S Johnston 7; F McElroy 6, O Murdock 7; D Magill 6, P McCarthy 6, R Johnston 6; C Doherty 6, P Havern 7, J McGovern 6. Subs: L Kerr 8 for McElroy (h-t), O Savage N/A for R Johnston (54), C McCrickard 6 for McGovern (58), R Magill 6 for D Magill (65), E Brown 6 for Savage temp (66), C Mooney 7 for Havern (70+3), Havern for R Magill (start of e-t), S Annett 6 for Brown (start of e-t), R Johnston for S Johnston (75), D Magill for Havern (83), Brown for Doherty (87).
SLIGO: A Devaney 9; P McNamara 7, E Lyons 7, E McGuinness 8; B Cox 6, N Mullen 7, D Cummins 8; P Kilcoyne 6, C Lally 7; C Mulligan 7, A McLoughlin 6, L Deignan 7; S Carrabine 7, P O’Connor 7, N Murphy 6. Subs: M Walsh 7 for O’Connor (66), E Smith 6 for McLoughlin (69), M Gordon 6 for McNamara (69), D Conlon 6 for Lally (70+7), L Casserly 6 for Deignan (start of extra-time), D Quinn 6 for Carrabine (76), O’Connor for Kilcoyne (80), P Spillane N/A for Mulligan (86).
REF: D O’Mahoney (Tipperary).
