When Down lost to Meath last Saturday, it set up an intriguing prospect for New York’s Tiernan Mathers.
A native of Queens, Mathers’ mother, Stephanie, hails from Longstone, where he spent many summers taking part in Cul Camps in the local club.
With Down finishing runners-up in their group, they became one of four potential opponents that New York could play in this weekend’s Tailteann Cup preliminary quarter-finals though, alas, they were paired with Carlow instead.
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His father, Colin, is from Killeavy in Armagh, though his ties to the Mourne County are stronger.
Indeed, when the two counties played in the Ulster semi-final, the game which consigned Down to the Tailteann Cup, there were no doubts as to where Mathers’ loyalties lay.
“I’d be more of a Down man,” he smiles. “It was funny watching it in the house, there’s a split when it comes to those sort of matches, mom was shouting for Down and dad was sitting quietly in his Armagh jersey. He didn’t have to do much talking with the scoreline.
“We would’ve spent a lot more time in Down when we were younger, and I have a lot of friends in Longstone. I gravitate a lot more towards them than the Armagh team.”
With the way the draw has panned out, a meeting with Down is now unlikely for this year at least, as both teams would have to progress to the semi-final stages now for it to become a possibility again.
“The conversation came up a few times in the house, I do think it would be funny because there’s a few Longstone fellas in the Down team now – Finn [McElroy], Conor [Poland] and Michael Ireland, so it would be good craic if we ended up playing them.”
Mathers is one of an increasing number of US-born players in the New York squad that finally recorded a first Championship victory when beating Leitrim on penalties in April though they were subsequently well beaten by Sligo in the Connacht semi-final.
But, having travelled to Ireland twice with the senior and junior sides last year, he is enjoying the much greater level of exposure to games that they are now getting.
“It is massive because last year was the first year we ended up having two matches. Normally you'd be preparing from January and you'd only have the one match to look forward to. If you lose that is it, you're done until next year.
“Last year after the Sligo match we knew we had another game, we were obviously preparing for that.
"The more game time we get the stronger we will grow as a team. This year to have three matches, it is an even bigger deal.”
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