Down captain Darren O’Hagan feels football in the county is “on the up” as they head into 2020.

Paddy Tally’s charges begin their new campaign tomorrow when they take on Fermanagh in Enniskillen (throw-in 2pm) and O’Hagan is full of optimism for the year ahead.

"Paddy has come in, he has taken a lot of youth in, blooded a lot. They are really good young lads with a great attitude and it seems like Down football is on the up," he told the Belfast Telegraph.

"Even with Kilcoo winning (the Ulster club SFC title), it will do Down football the world of good. It's a Down team winning in Ulster again which hasn't happened in over 30 years.

"Somebody was saying to me the Under 16 competitions, the minor competitions, when you go through them, Down teams are dominating them now, so it is a good sign that the youth is coming through."

On the Mourne men’s early outings in the National League, he added: "(It's a) tough start, we are away to Tipperary in the first game then up to Derry and away to Cork. It is a really, really tough start and it will define whether you are going for promotion or looking down the table to the other side of things, which could happen quite quickly.”

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