By Shaun Casey

SATURDAY’S trip to Kingspan Breffni is a hugely important one for Down and their target of staying in Division Two, says former full-forward John Clarke. As things stand, Down currently sit in one of the two relegation spots.

The Mourne men earned promotion from Division Three last season and are determined to stay in the second tier. But results don’t lie, and Conor Laverty’s side have only picked up one win in four outings.

Clarke has been impressed with how Down have operated so far but insisted only a win will do this weekend. After the Cavan clash, Down have two more league fixtures against Westmeath and Monaghan.

“Down have been very competitive in their four games to date and probably unlucky to have only picked up one win, against Cork in the home game a couple of weeks ago,” said Clarke on this week’s Gaelic Lives podcast.

“Last Sunday’s defeat to Louth, it was down as a big game as well and unfortunately, they just came out on the wrong side of it. That has put pressure on Down going into this Saturday evening’s game in Breffni Park.

“I don’t think anybody in the Down camp, or the Down support, will hide away from the fact that this is a must win. If they lose on Saturday, then it’s going to be a real tough battle to survive in Division Two.

“On the other hand, a win on Saturday and suddenly Down are heading into the Westmeath game the following round at home, thinking that a win could keep them safe so it’s very fine margins and it’s such a competitive division.”

While Down sit on just two points, Clarke hopes that they can learn from their recent defeats to Meath and Louth and that will hold them in good stead this weekend and kickstart a roll of important wins.

“Most of the results so far have been a point or two either way so Down will have taken plenty of positives from their campaign to date. They’ll be ultimately frustrated that they only have one win, but they’ll certainly be eyeing up a big performance this weekend.

“They’ll hope to learn from some of the mistakes from last week and obviously the Meath defeat a couple of weeks ago as well. They are more than capable of getting a result but Cavan, their tales will be up after their win over Westmeath.”