Down driven by past hurt, says O’Hanlon
SHARP-SHOOTING Darragh O’Hanlon insisted that Down’s shock win over Monaghan last night had been fuelled by ‘hurt.’
Down have defied media critics by reaching a first Ulster final in five years just months after they were dismissed as one of the worst teams in the country, after enduring 14 straight defeats in a row.
But O’Hanlon, who scored 1-5 from placed balls including a match-defining third-quarter penalty, insisted that the players never doubted themselves.
‘Maybe that performance was because we got wrote off all year,’ insisted O’Hanlon.
‘The boys were hurt. We stayed up in Division 2 and no one gave us a hope and we went to Cork and got a result. Nobody gave us a chance against Armagh and we won and again no one gave us a chance tonight. We proved a lot of people wrong.
‘There were a few pundits who said live on television last weekend that Tyrone would not get it as easy against Monaghan in the final as they had against Donegal, well I have news for them, Down is in the Ulster final.
‘We know we have a bunch of good players here even if the start of the League was ropey. We just built towards Armagh and we knew that we would get the job done and that is what we did.
‘It is down to belief. Everyone was hurt. You are reading stuff in the papers what people are saying about you. We were giving it everything at training and boys were saying bad things about us. We just put in the work and thankfully it paid off,’ said O’Hanlon, who was adamant that his team will not be fazed by the prospect of taking on Tyrone on July 16.
‘We know that everyone is going to write us off again and that we will be massive underdogs but that’s fine with us. We believe in ourselves and that’s what matters,’ O’Hanlon added.