We must make football fun for Coulters of tomorrow

There goes another one, a forward that used to light it up but has now conceded that the game itself more than father time has dulled and worn him down.

“For a forward, it is a nightmare to play in,” Benny Coulter would say last week about Ulster championship football upon retiring at 32. “I would say that (next) year (2015), all the Ulster teams are going to be very defensive in how they set up. Including Down. We will put a lot of bodies in defence and try and counter at pace. You have to play teams at their own game. If you go man to man against that system and try to push out, it just won’t work.”

Six years ago Brendan Devenney walked a similar path, singing a similar sombre song. When this column met him only about 18 months ago, he still knew the words by heart. “See going up to Clones? I’d be dreading going in the door.”