Hi °C | Lo °C Ambrose Rodgers and Declan Rooney have both sampled the ups and downs of sporting fortune recently.
No stranger to injury, Rodgers is only now beginning to make an impact in the Down side again while former county skipper Rooney, having conceded the full-back berth to Gary McArdle, is currently making an impression at wing-back.
Yet it's the level of overall versatility within his side that gives manager Ross Carr cause for optimism as the Mournemen prepare to face Leitrim in an important Division Three tie in Carrick-on-Shannon on Sunday (2.30).
Down simply cannot afford to lose ground if they are to stay in the hunt for promotion and with skipper Dan Gordon now at full-forward and Benny Coulter listeed in a corner-forward berth, the team selected to do duty against Limerick for what proved to be an aborted game last week-end certainly had a rather strange look.
But Carr is confident that the ability of players to fulfil different roles could ultimately prove a major factor in taking his side forward.
Leitrim's lowly position in the Division Three table will certainly not engender any element of complacency within the Down squad.
With pacesetters Wexford and Fermanagh still to come, Down know that the slightest lapse could prove fatal. Ronan Murtagh, Liam Doyle, Ronan Sexton and Daniel Hughes are other key players in their side who can help provide the impetus for what should be an eighth win in nine outings overall.
