Sport

Down scrape a draw

Down had to dig deep to earn a draw against Clare, with substitute Ciaran McCabe coming to their rescue by scoring the equaliser…

Mon Nov 15 1999 - 00:00

Down had to dig deep to earn a draw against Clare, with substitute Ciaran McCabe coming to their rescue by scoring the equaliser three minutes into injury time at Kilmihil yesterday.

This was a game which the home side controlled for much of the first half, but a combination of missed chances and a five-minute Down scoring spree ensured that matters were all square, 1-6 each, at the break.

Down's goal came when quick thinking full forward Glen McMahon pounced on a ball coming down off the crossbar following a poorly taken free by Gregory McCartan.

Clare's goal was a much more elegant score with midfielder Ger Quinlan drilling past Down goalkeeper Michael McVeigh following a perfectly timed hand pass from Brian McMahon.

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Down upped their performance considerably in the second half and but for the heroics of Clare centre back Brendan Rouine, the Ulster team would surely have pulled away. Rouine and others kept their nerve and going into injury time they led by 1-10 to 1-9. But a typical sweeping movement by Down three minutes into injury time led to the equaliser. It was started by Down goalkeeper McVeigh who made a short clearance and then his team-mates put together a succession of hand passes in a superb upfield movement which resulted in McCabe's equaliser.

The result gives both sides their first point of the league so far, and the draw was fitting in what was a superbly contested game of football played in excellent conditions.

CLARE: J Hanrahan; G O'Leary, B Considine, D O'Driscoll; C Nagle, B Rouine; O O'Dwyer (0-2, one free); D O'Sullivan, G Quinlan (1-0); P McMahon, P Hehir (0-1, one free), M O'Connell; M O'Shea (0-1), M Daly (0-4, two free), B McMa- hon (0-2). Subs: C Whelan for C Nagle, M Shanahan for P Hehir, D Russell for D O'Sullivan.

DOWN: M McVeigh; F Caulfield, C Deegan P Higgins; M McGill, C Byrne, M McMurray (0-1); S Mulholland (0-1, one free), E Woods; R Carr (0- 1, free), G McCartan (0-2), G Cunningham (0-3, one free); A O'Prey, G McMahon (1-0), S Ward (0-1). Subs: A Molloy for G McMahon, P McGrath for A O'Prey, C McCabe for G McCartan (0-1), P Matthews for C Deegan, L Parr for P McGrath.

Referee: P Lyons (Kerry).