Down county hurling team

The Down county hurling team represents Down GAA, the County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association, in the Gaelic sport of hurling. The team competes in the Christy Ring Cup and the National Hurling League.

Down's home ground is Páirc Esler, Newry. The team's manager is Ronan Sheehan.

The team last won the Ulster Senior Championship in 1997, but has never won the All-Ireland Senior Championship or the National League.

History

Down played in the Leinster Minor Hurling Championship for three years in the 1970s, even playing Antrim in an unusual Leinster semi-final at Croke Park in 1979.

Although Down had not won the All-Ireland B championship in four final appearances, when the Ulster Senior Hurling Championship was revived, Down won titles in 1992, 1995 and 1997, losing the All-Ireland semi-finals by 14, 11 and 16 points.

Down defeated Kilkenny in a Division 1 match in 1993 by a scoreline of 1–12 to 1–11.

Down hurlers won the Christy Ring Cup for the first time in 2013, their greatest All-Ireland level success to date. This entitled them to enter the 2014 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship; however, Down opted to remain in the 2nd on this occasion.

In 2020, Down caused an upset in the Christy Ring Cup by knocking Offaly out in the semi-final. The team did so in a first ever inter-county hurling penalty shootout.[1][2] The final against Kildare was scheduled for the one hundredth anniversary of Bloody Sunday, with promotion to the 2021 Joe McDonagh Cup achieved by both finalists.[3]

South Down

In 2007, the GAA announced that a hurling team from "South Down" (i.e. excluding the Ards peninsula) would compete in parallel to the main Down team,[4] to encourage hurling in an area of growing population where the game had not been strong.[5] While players from all of Down were eligible for the main Down team, Ards players could not play for South Down. The new team competed in the 2008 National Hurling League, recording their first win by beating Cavan at Ballela, scoring 4–15 to Cavan's 0–9. South Down then competed in the 2008 Nicky Rackard Cup and in the Lory Meagher Cup until 2011.

Players

All Stars

Honours
All-Irelands (2)
Provincials (39)
Leagues (1)

References
  1. "Great Scenes In Newry As Down Shock Offaly In Christy Ring Semi-Final". Balls.ie. 15 November 2020.
  2. "Down hurlers pulled off shock of the year yesterday". Hogan Stand. 15 November 2020.
  3. "Down treasuring poignant Christy Ring Cup final date". RTÉ. 16 November 2020.
  4. Cummiskey, Gavin (17 May 2007). "Down, Dublin teams to compete in Rackard". The Irish Times. p. Sport, p.24. Retrieved 8 March 2009. The GAA confirmed yesterday that second teams from Down and Dublin would compete in the Nicky Rackard Cup in 2008 [...] non-Ards (Down) and Fingal (Dublin) sides will be entered "on a basis determined by the Central Competitions Control Committee".
  5. Archer, Kenny (28 May 2008). "Hitting the Target – Ulster Council decision not to be taken light(ly)". Irish News. p. 58. The footballers are 'the Mournemen' while the hurlers are 'the Ardsmen', even though there are many Down footballers from outside the Kingdom of Mourne and a few decent hurlers on 'the mainland'.
  6. "Christy Ring Cup final: late Magic for Down". Hogan Stand. 8 June 2013.
  7. "Loughlin leads the way as Westmeath join the big guns". Irish Independent. 15 August 2005.
  8. Report
  9. "Meath storm past Down to win Christy Ring Cup". Irish Examiner. 22 June 2019.
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