This Down team promises much to the county's senior hopes in the next few years, and the game was effectively over a contest at half time when the Ulster county led by an eight-point margin.

The game ebbed and flowed for the first quarter with the teams exchanging points. Ryan Kelly, playing at full forward, pointed the pick of the opening scores when he floated over from an acute angle on the right touchline. But the Westerners were beaten men by the 17th minute when Ronan O'Boyle pointed their final score of the first half from a free.

The Mourne Boys took hold of the game after that, scoring seven points without reply before the interval interrupted their momentum. The pick of those scores came when the electric 16-year-old Ciaran Brannigan fed Peter Fitzpatrick, and the midfielder dropped the ball over from all of 50 metres out, courtesy of a bounce on the crossbar.

With eight points between the sides, as the crowd of around 35,000 went for tea, and Down didn't appear to be in danger of being caught after the restart. But Mourne manager Mark Turley must have had some worries when Mayo scored two unanswered within two minutes of play resuming.

The notorious blanket defending of Northern counties became apparent as Down hounded the Mayo attack and broke their rhythm before a comeback could be born.

Despite having more possession in the second period the Mayo forward line was short on ideas and held ball for too long on numerous occasions. And while Pierce Hanley's switch from midfield to full forward yielded a greater
physical presence as he held possession, his comrades were unable to profit from his work.

It wasn't so much that Down were brilliant, more that the gulf in talent made them appear brilliant. Indeed, the defining point of the game came four minutes into the second half when Mayo's mini revolution was quashed by a Paul McCumiskey goal.

After three hand-passes the ball found the left corner forward who dispatched from his palm over goalkeeper Shane Nallen's head and into the Mayo net. Had Nallen not got a touch on the ball the score would surely have
been disallowed as the ball was illegally hand-passed into the goal.

Unfortunately for Nallen, he collided with the upright in his game effort to save, and was immediately substituted with Kieran Barnicle coming on in his place.

McCumiskey would have been man-of-the-match, with his intelligent runs behind the full back line and pin-point accuracy, but centre forward Martin Clarke provided an infinite supply to the attack. He repeatedly collected
ball in his own back line before issuing incisive passes to his attackers.

The game continued in the same vein as Down introduced all their allotted substitutions in the final quarter. It finished with a 10-point margin between the sides, an accurate reflection of what transpired on the field.

And so, as in 1999, Down were triumphant as captain James Colgan walked up the steps of the Hogan Stand to collect the Tommy Markham Cup.

SCORERS:
Down - P McCumiskey 1-3, R Kelly 0-5 (3f), M Clarke 0-2(1f), K Duffin, P Fitzpatrick, D Lavery, C Brannigan, C Clerkin 0-1 each.
Mayo - A Campbell 0-4 (3fs), C Barrett, D O'Connor, P O'Connor, R O'Boyle (1f), J Noone 0-1 each.