Honesty, commitment and work ethic were conspicuously present, but for Antrim the harsh reality of yesterday's defeat in Newry is that for the 18th consecutive season they failed to win a match in the Ulster football championship.

It is a millstone that threatens to drown the footballers of the county and in fairness to their efforts yesterday, they remained doggedly resilient to the end.

However, the margin of defeat flatters them somewhat. They managed just five points from play, benefiting hugely from referee Bob Doheny's largesse. The Louth official penalised Down repeatedly, and even if they were the more frequent transgressors, the disparity in terms of frees awarded in favour of Antrim beggared belief.

Doheny rarely penalised the first offence, thereby frustrating the players who at times favoured meting out their own justice, although this was not a dirty match.

Down can have no complaints however, about the sending-off of Micheal Magill in the 64th minute for a foot trip. Doheny was correct to dismiss the Warrenpoint man, who had already been given a yellow card.

Magill's absence from the Down defence allowed Antrim to tack on a couple of points in the closing exchanges through Gearoid Adams and Kevin Madden, from a free. Madden scored from six frees in his total of seven points.

Madden, along with fellow corner forward Declan Gallagher and substitute John McManus, gave the Down full-back line several awkward moments, a fact that will trouble Down manager Pete McGrath, who, while crediting his team with taking some good scores, was critical as well.

"We lost our way a bit in the last 15 minutes of the match. We stopped doing the right things, didn't look to release the ball early and allowed Antrim to come back at us.

"I suppose we were in a no-win situation: we were expected to win and the media had been full of Antrim not winning a championship match for 17 years. That created a little bit of anxiety. We fell apart a bit after the sending off but fortunately the hard work had been done by then.

He intimated that Gregory McCartan might be fit in three weeks time after a seven-month layoff.

The Down manager singled out the contributions of corner forwards Mickey Linden and Shane Ward. Linden may be just a couple of weeks shy of his 36th birthday but he still possesses the quality, vision and intelligence that has marked him as one of the outstanding footballers of his generation.

Antrim corner back Anto Finnegan did reasonably well on Linden for long periods but the Down man still managed to score 12 and when provided with the right service created opportunities for those around him. His goal came on seven minutes and had a settling effect on a Down team that had appeared a bit skittish.

A quickly-taken free from Ciaran McCabe eluded Shane Ward and Antrim captain Martin Mulholland, and Linden cleverly swept around the back of the duo, collecting the ball before racing past goalkeeper Donard Shannon and hammering the ball into the net.

Ward was equally effective, kicking five points from play and offering a constant menace to the Antrim defence.

Ciaran McCabe was also a significant contributor. Although named at full forward he operated largely at midfield and offered a good link between defence and attack. Gerard Deegan, Shane Mulholland and James McCartan worked hard but too often found themselves at the wrong end of the pitch.

Antrim's midfield pairing of Joe Quinn, prior to his injury, and Paul McErlean enjoyed an edge at midfield for long periods, especially when Antrim crowded the centre of the pitch by pushing in hard-working half backs Gearoid Adams and Peter McCann. Provided with a greater share of possession after the break, Antrim's forwards undermined the hard work by shooting six wides - they had 11 over the 75 minutes played.

McGrath will have plenty to ponder, not least the trials suffered by corner backs Finbar Caulfield and Paudie Matthews, both of whom had trouble containing their men. Down's occasional penchant for cluttering their own defence with too many players left them susceptible to over elaboration in moving the ball out of defence.

The match was effectively over at half-time with Down leading by 1-9 to 0-6, a margin they managed to increase to seven points by the 61st minute. Magill's dismissal coincided with some excellent football from Antrim in the closing stages and three unanswered points narrowed the margin.

McManus was put clean through with only Down goalkeeper Michael McVeigh to beat - but he carelessly pulled the ball wide of the left-hand upright.