Down 1-14
Longford 1-10

Down held off another plucky performance from Longford this evening to book their place into the next round of the All-Ireland SFC qualifiers.

In the heavy Newry rain, the hosts did just enough to see off their Leinster counterparts for whom Francis McGee impressed with 1-6, as a second-half penalty from Martin Clarke proved a crucial moment in this scrappy encounter.

McGee opened the scoring for Longford three minutes in as it took Down - who started with Dan Gordon at full-back - a while to get settled in.

However, when they did the Mourne men threatened to run away with it as Mark Poland, Benny Coulter and John Clarke pushed them into a three-point lead.

A second McGee free put the scores at 0-4 to 0-2, but the Ulster side put their foot on the throttle again.

First, Martin Clarke struck a simple free before he backed up the effort with a sweet score from play. The impressive Danny Hughes registered his first score of the evening on the eve of the half-hour mark, as Down flexed their muscle.

Longford could only respond through another McGee free, with another brace of Down points to come before the interval.

A placed ball from Poland soon cancelled that out, before Down had a chance of goal brilliantly parried by Damien Sheridan in the Longford goal.

Instead James McCartan's side had to settle for a Martin Clarke point which put the scores at 0-9 to 0-3 at half-time.

A Noel Farrell free pointed the midlanders in the right direction for the second-half as the floodlights were switched on to brighten up the dull and wet conditions at Pairc Esler.

Hughes responded with a placed ball of his own, but a superbly executed sideline from Paul Barden - who had hardly touched the ball during the opening 35 minutes - kept Longford right in the hunt.

The hosts were playing the better football though and it showed when some slick passing released corner-back Declan Rooney through for an over.

The deadly accurate McGee cancelled out the Mourne defender's effort, but then came the turning point.

With just over ten minutes to go Down were awarded a dubious penalty which Martin Clarke expertly converted to open up an eight-point gap.

That sunk Longford and even the combination of a McGee goal and a sending-off for Kalum King wasn't enough as time was against them and Down had the ability in their attack to keep them at bay.

Martin Clarke and McGee swapped more frees as time elapsed for Glenn Ryan's men and not even the latter completing his impressive tally for the day would so, as Hughes struck the insurance point in injury-time to make sure Longford's fairytale was over and that Down take their place in round three of the qualifiers. Tweet

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