ALL HANDS TO PUMP

DARREN O’HAGAN has already marked some of the top forwards in Ulster in this year’s championship in Jamie Clarke and Conor Mccarthy.

Yet no matter which Tyrone forward he picks up in tomorrow’s final, O’hagan (right) knows it’ll be a collective effort by the Red Hands attack.

“They have no marquee forwards but they have six or seven players who will finish with three or four points a game each, which is amazing,” says the Mourne defender.

“Their display against Donegal was the performance of the year and the way they play it could be Peter Harte, Mattie Donnelly, anyone in the full-forward line.

“You don’t know what

Mickey (Harte) will throw at us.

“They can all play anywhere and just fit into the system and that’s what we have to be ready for.”

Down have been in five

Ulster finals since last winning in ‘94, drawing one and losing four - including deciders to Tyrone in 1996 and 2003.

They have the pedigree and the form to come from obscurity to become champions but the miserable run of the last two years was a new low, losing 14 straight league and championship games until they steadied the ship in the spring.

O’hagan, 26, was involved in Down’s surprise run to the All-ireland final in 2010 as a rookie teenager and never thought things could get so bad, but his commitment never wavered. “The last two or three years have been tough, no doubt about it. The losing streak we went on wasn’t nice but I’m still a proud Down man, still proud to pull on the jersey.”