Down's senior side crashed out of the Irish Junior Cup in Dublin last weekend.

The locals were simply outclassed by a Fingal side which included four Irish U-21 internationals in its line-up and five of the southern outfit's senior side.

Down have no excuses or complaints about their exit from the competition. They were out-played, out-gunned and out-thought on the day and never really got going.

Aaron Minnis was missed at the heart of the defence, but that is taking nothing away from James Erskine who stepped in to fill the breach and played well against a succession of Fingal players who were rotated throughout the 70 minutes.

Down were under the cosh from the start and Fingal carved out their first chance in the opening five minutes when a rasping shot was cleared by Down's 'keeper who minutes later blocked a flicked short corner shot.

At the other end, a raking cross from Stephen Ferguson just evaded Ashley Gibson and Chris Taylor also went close.

But it was the home side which opened the scoring in the 14th minute when a shot from one of their most dangerous players flew in at the far post by the unsighted 'keeper, who was grateful to his skipper minutes later who cleared a goal-bound short corner strike off the line.

Finglas pinged the ball about the pitch at lightning pace and their cleverly-worked triangles cut huge holes in the Down defence which was swamped at times. The onslaught was such that Sinclair White and Paul Tate spent more time defending than attacking in the first half.

A crazy 10 minute spell in the second period killed off any hope Down had of getting themselves back into the tie.

First the visitors gave away a needless free on their 25-yard line which resulted in Fingal taking a 2-0 lead and then Down's inability to clear their lines from a free hit on the left hand side saw the home side make it 3-0.

It was all one-way traffic at this stage and when Finglas made it 4-0 it was game over and the home supporters were waiting to see how many goals would be scored.

Fingal made it 5-0 from a short corner and to rub salt in the Down wounds, they made it 6-0 when a short corner strike struck Alasdair Duff's stick and flew into the net.

The home side made it 7-0 with five minutes to go and at the final whistle Down were quick to praise their opponents who were simply too hot and too good on the day.

Despite the tanking they handed out, the post-match hospitality provided by Finglas was superb and thanks to them for that and their sportsmanship.

This weekend Down return to Senior Two action when they face derby rivals, Crossgar, at Malone Park.