Down boss Gerard Monan is confident that his side can win Sunday's Allianz Hurling League Division 2A relegation battle against Wicklow in Trim.

The Ardsmen endured a torrid Division 2A campaign during which they picked up just one point - against this weekend's opponents - but Monan insists that the results didn't reflect their performances.

"The performances over the league have been a lot better than the results suggest. To be bottom is disappointing, but there were some good showings," he said in the Irish News.

"We have brought a lot of young players in this year. The plan was to give them a few games and get a few results, the performances were there but the results weren't.

"But the attitude is very good, the training has been good. It would be a major setback to go down, but we'll try our best. Dropping down a division wouldn't be good for players like Paul Braniff or the young boys on the squad, so we'll be doing our best to stay up." Tweet

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