New Down football manager Ross Carr has included county hurlers Gareth Johnson and Brendan McGourty in his McKenna Cup squad. Carr makes his bow as an inter-county senior manager against Antrim in Downpatrick on Sunday, and both Johnson and McGourty are expected to feature at some stage. "Brendan McGourty and Gareth Johnson are coming from a hurling background and their first allegiance is hurling," Carr acknowledged. "I've already spoken to Gerard Coulter and we both understand that the hurlers will have first call on them. In the meantime, the fellas are happy enough to train with us when they can." Carr has taken a major gamble by resting many of his big names for the campaign, including Benny Coulter, Michael Walsh, Alan Molloy, Dan Gordon, Liam Doyle, Ronan Sexton and Ronan Murtagh. Down (McKenna Cup squad): B Connell, A Burns, A Carville, M Cole, D Cunningham, B Doran, K Gracey, C Gribben, E Henry, S Kearney, B Loughran, J Lynch, P Matthews, R McArdle, M McClean, M McVeigh, C McCrickard, B McGourty, F McGreevy, K McGuigan, C Murtagh, B Rodgers, B Sweeney, P Telford, S Toners, K Duffin, D Rooney, P Turley (Downpartrick), P Turley (Saval), G Johnson. Tweet

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