Familiarity won't matter to Down u-21s

Down's Ross McGarry could be a key player in the u-21 semi-finals

AS the saying goes, familiarity breeds contempt, so this Ulster u-21 championship fixture should be wrought with aggression as these two counties have met numerous times, and at different codes, over the last year.

In last year’s MacRory Cup final St Colman’s players met St Patrick’s Dungannon, then in the 2011 u-21 championship it took three games to separate Tyrone and Down, and earlier this year Omagh beat Mayobridge in the Creggan Ulster u-21 championship tournament.

Tyrone won the Ulster u-21 encounter last time out, but Down joint boss Stephen Poacher was adamant that all those meetings won’t have a bearing on the result.

“I don’t see it as a matter of revenge. We have lost a lot of players from last year. It is a different panel. Yes, a lot of these players would know each other, but I would say that there is a huge respect, rather than a rivalry,” Poacher said.

The full story can be read in the current issue of Gaelic Life, published March 29. To get your copy, click the subscribe button on this page, or buy one in your local newsagent now!