Down coach Marty Clarke reports the Mournemen to be in rude health ahead of next weekend’s Tailteann Cup decider against Meath.
Given the one-sided nature of their semi-final win over Laois last month, Down had the unexpected luxury of being able to take players off who were carrying knocks and give much-needed game time to other squad members.
Mourne skipper Pearse Laverty was replaced at half-time with Down leading 4-10 to 0-4 while fellow defender Ceilum Doherty was taken off early in the second half after taking a knock to the head.
However, both substitutions were precautionary and, aside from Barry O’Hagan, James Guinness and Owen McCabe (all cruciate), Down will have close to a full squad to pick from.
“The squad is good - thankfully, we got through the Laois game without any injuries to report,” said Clarke.
“We had a lighter week last week in terms of physical load on the players and we’ve one or two long-termers who are perking up now we are in a final! Overall, we are in really good shape.”
“It was a unique situation to be in against Laois. Even the most pessimistic coach would have to admit the game was over at half-time.
“We did want to get game time into a lot of boys and were able to do that.
“With Ceilum Doherty coming off with a head injury, we were actually able to get six players onto the field in the second half. Every minute counts in Croke Park, particularly at this time of the year because we have such an even squad.
“It is very difficult - there’s not a clear best 20. There’s a very even spread between the tenth ranked player to the 30th.
“It was brilliant to get 21 players on the ground throughout that game.”
Not in Down’s wildest dreams could they have imagined such a start to the contest as they hit four goals to effectively finish the game after just 17 minutes against the O’Moore County.
They hit for more in the second half to win by 22 points in what proved to be Billy Sheehan’s last game in charge of Laois.
Liam Kerr scored a hat-trick while Danny Magill (two), Odhran Murdock, Pat Havern and Rorty Mason also found the net, but Clarke warned goal chances won’t be as easy to engineer against Meath.
“Look, it is no secret, we do like hunting goals when we can. We’ve got the speed and the skill in the team to do that,” stated Clarke.
“The boys are well aware that it was a freak event, I’m not sure how many times eight goals have been hit in a senior Championship game in Croke Park.
"We are fully aware that Meath are going to be looking at that - once you score eight goals, they’ve eight opportunities to see how we did it. "They’ve a lot of material to look at how they can stop us and we know they’ve smart coaches.
“We are under no illusions that those opportunities might not be there and we’ll have to find a different way to score and win, but these boys are very versatile.”
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