IAN O'RIORDANtalks to Danny Hughes about the aim to go where no Down team has gone before – into the quarter- finals via the qualifiers

IN THE uncertain world of the All-Ireland football qualifiers, Down are among the few certainties. After a decade of the so-called back door, which they’ve gone through every year, we know Down will more often lose than win. Of the 17 qualifier games they’ve played to date, they’ve won eight, and lost nine.

It’s a sadly unenviable record for a team that won the All-Ireland in the decade before. Especially considering half of those qualifier wins have actually been in the last two years – including the victories over Longford and Offaly in recent weeks.

They’ve never made the All-Ireland quarter-finals, and among their conquerors over the years have been Longford, Sligo, Wexford and Wicklow. The sort of teams Down might once have brushed aside without much fuss in their pomp.

So this evening in Breffni Park, they’ll look to go where no Down team has gone before; win a third successive All-Ireland qualifier in the same year, and in the process book that elusive place in the All-Ireland quarter-finals. Standing in their way are a Sligo team that just six days ago lost a Connacht football final they were highly fancied to win. It remains to be seen what Sligo’s spirits are like, but Down – and pardon the pun – are definitely up for it.

There is ample evidence of this in the attitude of forward Danny Hughes, who is prepared to play with a fractured bone in his foot to help Down’s cause. He admits their qualifier record to date has not been pretty. It’s time to correct that.

Down have two things in their favour here: they’ve had the bad experience of losing a provincial final and being out in the qualifiers just a week later (in 2003, when they lost the Ulster final replay to Tyrone, before losing their qualifier to Donegal); and they’ve also played Sligo in the qualifiers before (in 2006, when they lost 1-7 to 0-4).

So what of Sligo’s task of trying to turn defeat into victory in six days? “They got to a Connacht final, and they were beaten by a kick of the ball. It could have gone either way. I’m sure Sligo were confident going into it, so it’s something they’ll be determined to bounce back from. They will still be very confident. The hurt is not going to get any better if it’s six or 16 days. So I’m sure they’ll be very focused on us.

“We were in that position in 2003. Unfortunately, we haven’t even had that dilemma since. I was only after coming on the panel, and we played Tyrone in the replay of an Ulster final, got thumped. Six days later we played Donegal in a qualifier and they beat us. So I would say this is a great opportunity for Sligo to bounce back and show it was only a blip,” said Hughes.

“I’ve watched Sligo beat Mayo and I’ve watched them beat Galway, and they are a very, very good team. They have a great work ethic, a good manager in Kevin Walsh, and you know when you go to play Sligo they are going to play total football against you. They are going to attack you. Really go at you, so I would expect nothing else from them. We just have to bring the intensity to the game that will match theirs.”

Down will definitely want to be a lot more intense than they were in the first round qualifier meeting of 2006, when Sligo have them a football lesson.

“Yeah, I was there,” recalls Hughes. “I don’t know if I can honestly say I played, but I was there. . . . It was a real low point for myself, and some of the senior players now. We were well and truly beaten by a better team on the day. We had no complaints. We weren’t good enough.”

Should teams beaten in their provincial championship, particularly the final, get more than a week to recover before going into the qualifiers? Hughes is not so sure.

“It’s hard to know. How do you change the championship? People say take away the provincial games, but I think the provincial games are fine. The likes of Sligo, and the likes of us, if we won in Ulster, it would be a big boost. The back door is the back door: everybody knows what to expect from day one. You don’t like playing week on week. But you’ll put up with it. Injuries are about the only upset, and suspensions.”

Talking of injuries, Hughes was diagnosed with a stress fracture in the metatarsal bone of his foot shortly after their opening qualifier win over Longford.

He was expected to miss last weekend’s third round against Offaly, but when Down found themselves in trouble, Hughes was sprung from the bench 10 minutes into the second half, and helped swing the result in Down’s favour. He has been named to start in Breffni Park this evening.

“It happened some time during the Longford match. I’m not sure how it happened. I knew it was sore at half-time, but it’s not something I want to think about. I just want to get through it. Look, it’s one of those metatarsal injuries, all the great players have had them. Wayne Rooney. David Beckham had one as well. So I wanted to get myself one!

“I’ve been lucky, touch wood, with injuries over the years. Hopefully this will not be serious. . . If we had been more convincing last week, then I wouldn’t have played, no. It’s not too bad, to be honest. I have it well strapped during the day and hopefully I’ll be okay.”

Despite the apparent setback in Ulster, Down are a much improved team this year – the return of Martin Clarke from Australia adding considerable weight to their attack alongside his brother John, and Benny Coulter. If anything, they’ve become a purer football side, perhaps better suited to the back door system this year, and away from the likes of Tyrone, who beat them in the Ulster semi-final.

“Maybe,” he says. “But the funny thing about Tyrone is it’s not any one thing they do in a game. The first 20 minutes against Tyrone we were flying. It’s not any one tactical manoeuvre they make. It’s a series of things they do on the line and on the field that strangle you to death. It’s a slow death.

“Sligo are going to go out and they are going to play football. That’s something we look forward to. Everyone has their own opinion on Ulster football, and maybe we are a wee bit different. We like to play football, maybe a bit too much over the years. But results dictate how well a team does, so I guess we really have to make sure we get that balance between attacking and defending right. If we can get that balance, then I think we can do well.

“We need to keep the house in order at the back to make that happen. A lot of people say our Achilles’ heel has been our defence over the last few years. But when you look at our statistics, our defence was one of the best in the second division this year. We are defending as a team all over the field these days. But hopefully we can still bring a wee bit of traditional Down football to it and attack.”

Down have learnt enough lessons about the qualifiers over the last decade – and nearly got another one last Saturday when their team bus arrived in Cusack Park, Mullingar, instead of O’Connor Park, Tullamore. Only after a mad 25-mile dash did they make the throw-in on time.

“Our bus driver’s been sacked, don’t worry,” says Hughes. “There’s a job up north going for a bus driver.”