By Damien O'Reilly
The footballers of Down have made it through to meet Monaghan in three weeks' time with a deserved four-point win over Cavan in front of a crowd of 15,000 at the new look Páirc Esler in Newry.
In a scrappy Ulster SFC replay, Down finished the way they began, much stronger than Cavan, who went a full half hour before they got their first score from play.
Down led by 0-03 to 0-00 after 21 minutes thanks to two James McGovern points and one from Ronan Murtagh. Cavan made a switch at that stage, introducing Seanie Johnston instead of Gerald Pierson.
It was at this stage that they finally got on the scoreboard and by the 32nd minute they had gone 0-04 to 0-03 ahead, two from Dermot McCabe, one from Larry Reilly and a class point from substitute Johnston.
Down didn't panic however, and the half finished level at 0-05 apiece.
The second half began with both sides exchanging points before Cavan's Michael Lyng got his marching orders for a second yellow card.
But the game still hung in the balance and with eight minutes left the tie was level at 10 points apiece. It was anyone's game.
Then with just six minutes left, Down stepped up a couple of gears with five slick points in a row, two from Paul McComiskey and Daniel Hughes and one from a Kevin McGuigan free.
Cavan were buried and all they could offer in reply was a Seanie Johnston point in injury time.
