Down's emerging young footballers ended a 20 year barren period for their county when they captured the Under 21 provincial crown at Clones when they beat Cavan in a thrilling tie after extra-time. Down 2-14 Cavan 2-12 The Mournemen were on fire early on with goals by Jason Brown and James McGovern catapulting them into a 2-6 to 1-5 interval lead. Anthony Gaynor netted for Cavan in the 21st minute but two minutes later star attacker Micheal Lyng was forced to retire injured. Cavan improved as the game progressed though and it took a point from Down sub. Marcus Miskelly four minutes from the end of normal time to force the game into overtime, 1-11 to 2-8. Paddy O'Rourke's would-be champions kept their best wine 'till last though and succeeded in keeping their opponents scoreless in the first half of extra-time while tagging on five crucial points themselves. Down's greater strength in depth was exemplified by the performance of 18 year old sub. Joseph Ireland who fired over two vital points in that period. Cavan played catch-up for most of the match but showed a lot of character to keep in touch with sub Paul Brady's opportunist goal 40 seconds into the second half of extra-time putting added pressure on the red and blacks. Down refused to panic though and despite a Sean Johnston point for Cavan, Aidan Carr held his nerve to convert a pressure free five minutes from the close of play to give the Breffni county the blues. Cavan - Patrick Galligan; Damien McInerney, Padraic Cahill, Gearoid Collins; Padraic O'Reilly, Anthony Gaynor (1-0), Dermot Sheridan; Patrick Brady, Lorcan Mulvey (0-1); Mark McKeever (0-4, three frees), Shane Cole (0-1), Ciaran Galligan (0-1); Damien McInerney, Peter Monaghan (0-1), Sean Johnston (0-4, one free). Subs - Alan Clarke for Micheal Lyng (23mins, inj); Niall Madden for Sean Johnston (48); Sean Johnston for Shane Cole (61); Paul Brady (1-0) for Anthony Gaynor (63); Mark Lynch for Gearoid Collins (69); Ciaran Fitzpatrick for Paul Brady (78); Kevin Donohoe for Damian McInerney (inj, 79) Red Card; A Gaynor (48mins) Down - Declan Alder; Eoin Henry, Mark Rooney, Niall McEvoy; Darragh Neeson, Gareth Dobbin, Darren Cunningham; Ambrose Rogers (0-2), Martin McClean; Conor Laverty (0-2), Aidan Carr (0-1, free), Niall McArdle (0-1, free); Mark Poland (0-2, one free), James McGovern (1-2), Jason Brown (1-1, one free). Subs - James Colgan for Gareth Dobbin (36mins); Joseph Ireland (0-2) for Martin McClean (52); Marcus Miskelly (0-1) for Niall McArdle (56); Daniel McCabe for Jason Brown (79) Red cards; M Rooney (39mins); N McEvoy (77) Referee - Seamus McGonigle (Donegal) Tweet

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