Down cut loose after break to win by 17 in London

A ruthless second-half performance from Down saw them brush London aside by 17 points in west London.

London were looking lively and eager to land the first punch in this contest and that's exactly what they did when Ciaran Diver opened the scoring in the opening stages.

That score woke their northern opponents up and Down hit back straight away, thanks to Daniel Guinness.

London native Shay Rafter would briefly put the hosts back in front.

Both sides struggled for a period to convert relatively easy chances into scores as they both kicked their share of wides.

The Mournemen were the ones to snap out of the poor finishing first and took the game by the scruff of the neck for a good period where they kicked four scores without reply. After equalising, Patrick Havern then nailed a free between the posts to put his county ahead for the first time.

Guinness and teammate Miceal Rooney were only too happy to oblige when they were given the space to do the needful and suddenly London found themselves needing to stop the flow of Down scores fast.

That’s exactly what they did, courtesy of scores from Driver and Ruari Rafferty, but they were pushed back to four points behind when Havern and Gareth McKibben raised white flags.

However, London would go into half-time well in the game when Diiver reduced the deficit to just three on the stroke of the referee’s whistle.

The shape and composure London had shown to go toe to toe with Down in the first half were absent in the second.

Down had reeled off four points in a row without reply from the hosts before they eased further ahead when Odhran Murdock dispatched his penalty to edge their lead into double-digits.

London could only register four scores in the second set of 35 minutes thanks to