Down senior football team
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| Irish: | An Dún | ||
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| Province: | Ulster | ||
| Nickname(s): | The Mournemen (football) The Ardsmen (hurling) |
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| County colours: | Red & Black | ||
| Ground(s): | Páirc Esler, Newry | ||
| Dominant sport: | Gaelic football | ||
| Competitions | |||
| NFL: | Division 2 | ||
| NHL: | Division 2B | ||
| Football Championship: | Sam Maguire Cup | ||
| Hurling Championship: | Christy Ring Cup | ||
| Ladies' Gaelic football: | Brendan Martin Cup | ||
| Camogie: | Kay Mills Cup | ||
| Standard kit | |||
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The Down County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) (Irish: Cumann Lúthchleas Gael Coiste Chontae An Dún) or Down GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for the administration of Gaelic games in County Down.
The county board is also responsible for preparing the Down inter-county teams in the various Gaelic sporting codes; Football, hurling, camogie and handball.
Down was the first of the six counties in Northern Ireland, and the second in Ulster after Cavan to win the All-Ireland football championship, in 1960; the feat was not matched by another team until the 1993 victory of Derry. Down share with Cavan the Ulster record for most All-Ireland victories at 5.
As such, Down is regarded historically as a strong footballing county, and football is widely regarded as the dominant Gaelic sport within the county.
The Ards peninsula, however, is a hurling stronghold within the county, and while the county hurling team are not among the very strongest on the island, competing in the second tier Christy Ring Cup, the 'Ardsmen' (as opposed to the nickname of the football team, the 'Mourne men') have won a number of Ulster Senior and Minor Hurling Championships despite the historical provincial dominance in that sport of Antrim.
In 2013, victory in the Christy Ring Cup final entitled Down to elect, if they chose, to become the second Ulster county in the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship for 2014.
The oldest registered club in Down is St Patrick's Mayobridge which was affiliated into the GAA on the 30th April 1888.
With just one loss in six appearances in All Ireland finals, Down have got a reputation for rising to the big occasion. Kitted out in their distinctive red and black, their massive fan base has been responsible for some of the largest match attendances in GAA history. Although in the last twenty years they have been going through a very barren patch at senior level, despite various successes at underage level, in 2010 Down showed signs of improving by gaining promotion to the National Football League Division One and reaching the All Ireland Senior Football final - narrowly losing by 1 point to Cork.
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