‘We’re not going to lose the run of ourselves’ - Dermot Power
Gerry Buckley
Dermot Power's first year wearing the black and amber bainisteoir's bib in The Downs has gone extremely well so far, but he was adamant after last Sunday's surprisingly facile round robin win against St Loman's, Mullingar that it would be very premature to write off the champions and, indeed, some other potential county champions.
The winning manager stated at the outset: "It's 309 days since last year's final defeat (by St Loman's) and the defeat was very much in our minds today. Have no doubt about it. But today was just round three, there's nothing won.
"We would be unhappy with a number of things in the second half, for example poor passes and bad shot selection. These things happen, but later in the competition when St Loman's are back (in the knockout stages) and other teams are back, that's when you can't be doing those sort of things. So we're not going to lose the run of ourselves at all.
"Do I think St Loman's will be back? Of course, I do. They have players to come back. You see Tyrrellspass beating Athlone yesterday and that has opened things up again. There was always going to be a kick in Tyrrellspass, while Coralstown/Kinnegad were very good earlier today against Mullingar Shamrocks. Jack Cooney will have worked on his lads. They have a really strong forward line.
"We're certainly happy with the points today and the way we played in the first half, scoring three goals. It's nice to see certain things you are working on in training coming out on to the pitch. We're in the knockout stages, but it's still wide open. We're taking nothing for granted at all."
Understandably, Power was happy to see Charlie Drumm and Jonathan Lynam getting game time. "This was important. Johnny Lynam has had a really tough time with injuries and he has dedicated himself to doing serious rehab on his own, day in, day out. That's tough going, but it shows the type of resilience that's in a player like him. He's not a county midfielder for no reason. As regards Charlie, he played a certain amount of football in the States, but it's nice to have him back playing for ourselves," he concluded.
Outside the losers' dressing room, when it was put to the visibly disconsolate St Loman's, Mullingar manager Paddy Dowdall that 'it had been a disappointing day at the office for his charges', he responded by saying "that would be an understatement",
Dowdall continued: "That was a dominant display from The Downs, but not a true reflection of our lads. They were on top of us from the very start and we didn't get to grips with them at all. There were far too many turnovers and things that we don't associate with this team. It was just not a great day, in general. We'll have to look at the video and assess things."
He conceded that The Downs would have been motivated by their penalty shootout loss to Dowdall's charges in last year's county final. In this vein, he continued: "The Downs have been going well this year and are entitled to be favourites. They showed what a quality team they are there today and we were put to the sword. But I'm disappointed with our display and we fed into the momentum they were getting. John (Heslin) having to go off at half-time didn't help. It's never nice to see him going off the field.
"A few guys came on and made an impact, but ultimately I think the damage was done in the first half and it just carried on into the second. We have a few guys to come back and, hopefully, we'll have them back by the next day. Sam (McCartan) has been out for a little while and we'll know more in the next week or so about him and a couple of other guys."