REACTION DOWN:THINGS MIGHT get a little confusing here. We're talking to the losers of the All-Ireland football final, to Down manager James McCartan, and he appears to be expressing some delight and actually admitting Down wouldn't really have deserved a draw.

“Maybe a draw would have been an unfair result,” says McCartan, showing no visible disappointment. “Though it would have been one we’d have taken. Maybe on the balance on the two halves, it would have been fair enough, but certainly on the second half, Cork were deserving winners. And we hold our hands up.

“Cork obviously felt the pain we’re feeling now. And have come back from it, to reach the Holy Grail. So I have to pay tribute to them. I felt the spirit of the match was very good, and even at the end there we tried to ensure we showed proper appreciation for their win, and tried to lose graciously.

“Because I do feel Cork were deserving winners on the day. We’ve no qualms about that at all.

“But we toiled away. With 10 minutes to go it looked like Cork might pull away, comfortably. I’m just delighted that our guys dug in, showed a wee bit of spirit, and dragged it back to one point.”

“I know Cork have been criticised,” he adds, “and as I said to them there in the dressingroom, they’ll probably still get criticised, because they only beat Down.”

So the experience of losing should help them go one better next year?

“Getting back to Croke Park next year seems like a million miles away, at the minute. Obviously that will be the target we’ll be setting for next year, and we did make some good progress this year. It just doesn’t really feel like it at the minute.

“Maybe on reflection. Because we were beaten in All-Ireland final, and we’re not happy with it.”

Down’s record of winning all five previous All-Ireland finals was flagged as one of the influencing factors on the game, for better or for worse, but again McCartan is not so sure.

“No, I don’t think so. It was never about winning six out of six, but on a personal level, it was to try pay tribute to the 1950s and 1960s team. Obviously I have strong family ties to those teams. That was a wee personal thing in my head, but Down losing an All-Ireland final, for the first, was irrelevant to the players.”

So where did they lose it? McCartan points to a few troubled areas, but mostly midfield – and suggests the decision not to move Dan Gordon in there a lot sooner may have ultimately cost them.

“Ah, jeepers, Dan was in there for the last few minutes. We didn’t want to do it, and maybe we should have done it earlier. I hold my hands up to that. We did have problems. So maybe we should have moved Dan, and slotted Brendan McArdle in there.

“Yeah, we did feel midfield was a bit of a problem area. Obviously Ambrose Rogers wasn’t available. We felt maybe we were putting some hands in the dyke there, but we felt they were the best men for the job. And we were living on scraps in the first half, and Cork had more primary possession.

“But at the same time when our chances came, we seemed to take them. We missed two or three as well, so I probably would have liked to have been a wee bit further in front. The start we had, when Cork could have bagged a goal, we certainly seemed very shaky. But at half-time we felt we were in a good place.

“The third quarter was a problem, again, trying to win primary possession. We would let them win the ball, and try to take it off them. That worked for some periods of time, but I’d have to be dissatisfied with the amount of clean catches they got. But midfield was a problem, but our options were limited.”

For forward Danny Hughes there was no immediate consolation in the fact Down had made considerable progress in 2010.

“Well, none of us want to be one-hit wonders. There are a lot of young lads that came in this year, and there is a great development squad coming through.

“But we know these days don’t happen every year, making All-Ireland finals. Hopefully this will make them hungrier, going forward into next year.”