Down's bouncebackability pleases Laverty

By John Harrington

From the dizzying high of beating Donegal in the Ulster SFC quarter-final on April 26 to the awful low of being hammered by Armagh in the provincial semi-final exactly one week later, Down’s Ulster championship campaign was a precipitous fall from grace.

That defeat to Armagh combined with Westmeath’s win over Kildare on the same day meant the Mourne County would spend the rest of the championship summer contesting for the Tailteann rather than Sam Maguire Cup.

That must have been a bitter pill to swallow for a group of players who possibly felt they had outgrown a competition they won in 2024 at the third attempt.

So it says something about the character in the group that they dusted themselves down, reset their goals, and now find themselves in another Tailteann Cup Final this Saturday against Wicklow.

Team manager, Conor Laverty, is proud of the manner in which his players have responded to adversity.

“It was just the maddest week you could ever live where we went from the highest of the highs to the lowest of the lows,” he says of Down’s rollercoaster Ulster SFC campaign.

“From one Monday morning to the next Monday morning. And then to add in the fact that in Clones that day the result came through of the Westmeath and the Kildare match, so it was twofold.

“I've been delighted with the character of the lads since then. Particularly their attitude and their commitment over this past number of weeks to get back to the final and to give this competition the respect it deserves. I think that says a lot about them personally and individually and collectively.

“Maybe some teams would have felt well we were in the Sam Maguire last year and we should have been there and maybe have an attitude towards it (the Tailteann Cup).

“But I feel that this is a good bunch of players, a very down to earth bunch of players. We asked them to make a decision on it where they wanted to go in the competition.

“I gave them my opinion and we give them the management teams opinion on it. But, they inevitably had to make the decision. So, they said they were in.

“We did tailor our mindset and intensity at the start of this competition. But, I feel that we've given it the utmost respect. If we could get a result on Saturday I think it would be good for the lads and I think it would be standing them in a good stead moving forward into next season.”

Dropping back down to the Tailteann Cup in his fourth year in charge wasn’t part of Laverty’s plan for pulling Down football up by its bootstraps, but he still feels like the county is moving in the right direction and that this season’s experience might ultimately do them some good in the long-run.

“The one thing that has probably pleased me the most is knowing that over this past number of seasons that on any given day I feel we can compete with the best teams in the country,” he says.

“From Armagh, Galway and Louth last year to Donegal this year. So, that gives you good confidence.

“On the journey with the lads, I think one of the highlights for me is the bond and the camaraderie between the players. I think they've gelled together really well and they enjoy spending time together. County football now, that is a massive part of it because it takes up so much of your life.

“And then just the areas where they need to improve on is just that consistency. Can they put their games back to back for three or four games in a competition, i.e. an Ulster Championship, and produce that level of performance week in and week out?

“I think that comes from experience and that comes from being in those moments and being in those matches and the more regularly you're in them.

“This weekend is a final and it's a Croke Park and that's another string to their bow in experience. And if they could ever come out on the right end of that result, I think that would be another learning for them.”

Down go into Saturday’s Final as hot favourites to beat Wicklow, but Laverty is wary of a Garden County team that has shown they’re capable of playing some very good football.

“I think that Wicklow's performance against Offaly in the second half (of the Tailteann Cup semi-final) and their performance against Dublin in the Leinster Championship shows you the quality that they have,” he says.

“They have a manager (Oisín McConville) who has been a winner with his club and with his county and he has instilled serious belief in them.

“So they're going to come to Croke Park and they're going to be coming here to play football and they’ll have no fear of Down so they'll be very, very dangerous.

“The calibre of players from Mark Jackson in nets who's possibly one of the best goalkeepers in the country, to Dean Healy in the middle of the field, to Chris O'Brien who shot the lights out the last day, is very high.

“So, we understand the challenge that lies ahead of the quality of players that they have and the performances that they've put in over this season and going back to last season and the season before where they took a lot of big scalps in the Tailteann Cup over the years.

“They beat Westmeath last year in the Tailteann Cup so they're a very dangerous opposition.”

For Laverty the big prize on offer on Saturday is the opportunity to play in next year’s Sam Maguire Cup that winning this year’s Tailteann Cup would guarantee.

“What would the Wicklow players not give to be the second game (the All-Ireland SFC semi-final between Louth and Mayo) on Saturday evening?

“That is where we would all love to be playing but we are where we're at and I think we've given the competition the respect it deserves and I think we've applied ourselves really well but ultimately that is where a Mark Jackson, a Dean Healy, an Odhran Murdock, a Pierce Laverty, that's where them players would love to be playing.

“That the stadium isn't filling as your match is being played, that you are the pinnacle of the day.

“So, listen, that's the challenge for us all to get there. I think we got a taste of that last year and it's something that these players would crave to have again and I think that's what's at stake on Saturday and for Wicklow the same.

“Imagine what it would be like for Wicklow to have one of the top tier teams come in to play them at home in the San Maguire next year.

“That's why the stakes are so high on Saturday afternoon, because of the ticket into the Sam Maguire next year.”