DOWN ON OUR LUCK

Mourne legend Carr says the county is in a ‘bad place’

DOWN football is in a bad place and Ross Carr doesn’t hold out any hope of his native county upsetting the odds against Monaghan at Clones on Saturday.

Not even mention of Cavan’s 2020 triumph stirs the optimist in the two-time All-ireland winner, despite the similarity of the Breffni men suffering relegation to Division Three before that season’s Championship.

“Down against Monaghan this weekend - it is a mismatch going on current form,” stated Carr.

“I mean, you could have one of those performances and, yes, upsets do happen. It would be a huge shock, probably the biggest shock of the Championship.

“You are talking of something on the scale of, and I mean this with all due respect, Cork beating Kerry.

“Does anyone think that is going to happen with the form of those teams this season?

“We’ve lost a couple of players I thought performed well in the League. Liam Kerr and Finn Mcelroy are away. One played at centreforward, the other at full-back two crucial positions to fill.

“When the result comes through on Saturday, the awful thing is people won’t be devastated because the disappointment has already set in. We’re in a bad place. The powers that be have a serious responsibility to fix this. “Unless it is fixed, we might be in Division Four before we are back in Division Two.”

James Mccartan (left) succeeded Carr as Down boss at the end of the 2009 season and led the Mournemen to the All-ireland final in his first year, but they lost out to Cork.

Mccartan’s second spell as Down boss began last November following a protracted search to find Paddy Tally’s replacement and Down were always going to be starting the 2022 season behind the eight ball, especially with Kilcoo pursuing All-ireland glory during the early part of the year.

Yet, while Carr feels his former team-mate isn’t totally blameless, he says Down’s current standing in Gaelic football has been a long time coming.

“None of us are naive enough to think that, if things don’t go well, none of it is our fault. James is too clued in to let throw-away remarks bother him,” said Carr.

“It wouldn’t have mattered, in my opinion, who the manager of Down was.

“The fact that it was James probably galvanised the fellas for as long as it was possible. But this has been happening in Down for a while.”