2013 Down football season

Down
2013 season
Manager James McCartan, Junior
Stadium Pairc Esler, Newry
NFL D1 8th (Relegated)
All Ireland SFC Round 2
Ulster Championship Semi-finals
Dr. McKenna Cup Semi-finals
2013 O'Fiaich Cup 3rd (Group Stage)
← 2012
2014 →

The following is a summary of Down GAA's 2013 Gaelic football season.

Kits

McKenna Cup and National League kits

Home
Away

Championship Kits

Home
Away

Competitions

      Win       Draw       Loss       Postponed/Cancelled

Dr. McKenna Cup

Down made a strong start to their 2013 campaign with McKenna Cup group victories over Cavan and neighbouring county Armagh. Queens University withdrew from the competition over a row regarding player availability and the fixture was simply written off. Down progressed into the latter stages of the McKenna Cup but fell sort of a place in the final at the hands of Monaghan.

Fixtures

Date Round Home Score Away Ground
6 Jan Group Cavan 0-12 v 1-11 Down Kingspan Breffni Park, Cavan
13 Jan Group Down Queens Páirc Esler, Newry
16 Jan Group Down 2-11 v 1-10 Armagh Páirc Esler, Newry
20 Jan Semi-final Down 0-13 v 1-12 Monaghan Athletic Grounds, Armagh

Queens withdraw from McKenna Cup over player availability row [1]

Table

      Qualified for next round

Team Pld W D L F A Diff Pts
Down 3 2 0 0 3–22 1-22 6 4
Cavan 3 1 0 1 3–21 2-22 2 2
Armagh 3 0 0 2 2–21 5-21 -8 0
Semi-finals Final
 Monaghan 1-12  
 Down 0-13      Monaghan 1-10
 Tyrone 2-09      Tyrone 4-11
 Fermanagh 0-07  

Results

6 January 2013
14:00
Group
Cavan 0-12 — 1-11 Down
M Dunne (0-9), G McKiernan (0-3) Report P McComiskey (1-0), C Harrison (0-3), R Kelly (0-2), L Doyle (0-2), B Coulter (0-2), R Boyle (0-1), D Savage (0-1)
Kingspan Breffni Park, Cavan
Referee: N Cullen

16 January 2013
19:30
Group
Down 2-11 — 1-10 Armagh
P McComiskey (1-5), C Laverty (0-2), C Harrison (0-2), B Coulter (0-1), L Doyle (0-1), K McKernan (1-0) Report S Forker (0-6), G McCooey (1-1), M Stevenson (0-2), C McKeever (0-1)
Pairc Esler, Newry
Referee: S Hurson

20 January 2013
14:00
Semi-finals
Monaghan 1-12 — 0-13 Down
Conor McManus 1-7, Darren Hughes 0-2, Dick Clerkin 0-1, Owen Duffy 0-1, Paul Finlay 0-1. Report Mark Poland 0-4, Donal O'Hare 0-3, Connaire Harrison 0-2, Ryan Mallon 0-1, Keith Quinn 0-1, Arthur McConville 0-1, Danny Savage 0-1.
Athletic Grounds, Armagh
Referee: Noel Mooney

National Football League Division 1

Down looked deserving relegation favourites in the National Football League Division 1, as they lost their first 3 games, two of which were at home. Down looked close to beating Cork at home but fell to a very late goal. A comeback looked on the cards as Down went out and beat Mayo at Pairc Esler, however defeats to Kerry and Dublin sealed Down's fate and relegation was a certainty despite an impressive 3-13 to 1-12 hammering of Kildare in Newry.

Fixtures

Date Round Home Score Away Ground
2 Feb Group Down 1-08 v 1-11 Tyrone Páirc Esler, Newry
9 Feb Group Donegal 0-12 v 0-07 Down MacCumhail Park, Ballybofey
3 Mar Group Down 1-17 v 3-12 Cork Páirc Esler, Newry
9 Mar Group Down 0-13 v 0-11 Mayo Páirc Esler, Newry
16 Mar Group Kerry 0-11 v 1-05 Down Austin Stack Park, Tralee
23 Mar Group Dublin 1-15 v 0-09 Down Croke Park, Dublin
7 Apr Group Down 3-13 v 1-12 Kildare Páirc Esler, Newry

Table

      NFL semi-final placing       Relegation Zone

Team Pld W D L F A Diff Pts
Dublin (Q) 7 5 1 1 8–105 5–73 41 11
Tyrone (Q) 7 5 0 2 6–87 4–75 18 10
Kildare (Q) 7 4 0 3 10–72 8–93 -15 8
Mayo (Q) 7 3 0 4 2–87 5–75 3 6
Cork 7 3 0 4 6–73 4–85 -6 6
Kerry 7 3 0 4 2–65 7–70 -20 6
Donegal (R) 7 2 1 4 3–78 4–74 1 5
Down (R) 7 2 0 5 6–81 7–84 -6 4

Results

Ulster Senior Football Championship

Fixtures

The draw for the 2013 Ulster Senior Football Championship took place on 4 October 2012.[2]

Having got to the 2012 Ulster final, Down started their Cup run away to Derry at Celtic Park. In what was regarded as one of the games of the summer, Down came out victors having been 5 points down at half time. The semi final paired last year's finalists again in what would be a closely fought affair. Donegal maintained a 2 point lead throughout the match and eventually won 12 points to 9.

Date Round Team 1 Score Team 2 Ground
2 June 2013 Quarter final Derry 1-15 v 2-17 Down Celtic Park, Derry
23 June 2013 Semi final Donegal 0-12 v 0-09 Down Breffni Park, Cavan

Rounds

Preliminary Round Quarter-finals Semi-finals Ulster final
 Cavan 1-15  
 Armagh 1-11      Cavan 0-13  
          Fermanagh 0-11  
            Cavan 0-12  
            Monaghan 1-10  
          Antrim 0-06  
          Monaghan 0-11  
            Monaghan 0-13
            Donegal 0-07
          Tyrone 0-10  
          Donegal 2-10  
            Donegal 0-12  
            Down 0-09  
          Derry 1-15       
          Down 2-17       
      

Results

2 June 2013
14:00
Quarter-Final
Derry 1-15 - 2-17 Down
J Kielt (0-5), M Lynch (1-1), E Bradley (0-4), B Heron (0-2), E Lynn (0-1), B McCallion (0-1), C Kielt (0-1) Report D O'Hare (1-4), K McKernan (0-4), M Poland (1-2), N Madine (0-3), J Johnston (0-1), A Rogers (0-1), K King (0-1), D Rooney (0-1)
Celtic Park, Derry
Attendance: 10,509
Referee: D Coldrick (Meath)

23 June 2013
14:00
Semi-Final
Donegal 0-12 - 0-09 Down
M Murphy (0-5), C McFadden (0-5), R Kavanagh (0-1), P McBrearty (0-1) Report D O'Hare (0-6), M Poland (0-1), J Johnston (0-1), D Savage (0-1)
Kingspan Breffni Park, Cavan
Attendance: 21,715
Referee: Eddie Kinsella (Laois)

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship

Down entered the 2013 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship in the round 2 qualifier stage. The draw for the second round took place on Monday 1 July 2013 and once again had Down travelling to Celtic Park, Derry. Down produced a poor display in this repeat fixture as they failed to score from open play in the entire second half and lost the game by 5 points.

Fixtures

Date Round Team 1 Score Team 2 Ground
6 July 2013 Round 2 Derry 0-13 v 1-05 Down Celtic Park, Derry

Results

6 July 2013
17:00
Round 2
Derry 0-13 - 1-05 Down
R Bell (0-6), J Kielt (0-2), E Bradley (0-2), E McGuckin (0-2), L Kennedy (0-1) Report D O'Hare (1-4), A Rogers (0-1)
Celtic Park, Derry
Referee: Cormac Reilly (Meath)

O'Fiaich Cup

On 27 November 2013, it was announced that the O'Fiaich Cup would return for the first time since late 1990s.[3]

Fixtures

Date Round Home Score Away Ground
5 Dec Group Armagh 2-15 v 1-17 Down Athletic Grounds, Armagh
8 Dec Group Down 1-10 v 1-11 Derry St. Oliver Plunkett Park, Crossmaglen
13 Dec Group Louth 0-10 v 4-21 Down Athletic Grounds, Armagh

Table

      Qualified for final

Team Pld W D L F A Diff Pts
Derry (Q) 3 3 0 0 8-38 5-33 14 6
Armagh (Q) 3 2 0 1 4-42 7-40 -7 4
Down 3 1 0 2 6-48 3-36 21 2
Louth 3 0 0 3 4-27 7-46 -28 0

References

  1. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/northern-ireland/20786395
  2. ↑ GMT (2012-10-04). "BBC Sport - Donegal to face Tyrone in 2013 Ulster SFC first round". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-10-13.
  3. ↑ http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/gaa/ofiaich-cups-return-ensures-busy-winter-period-29787727.html