Seánie McGrath: Undaunted Downey brothers have become pride of the Glen
BROTHERS IN ARMS: Glen Rovers duo Rob and Eoin Downey will anchor the Cork defence on Sunday.
Teddy Owens was onto me recently. Reminding me of his great spot. In fairness to Teddy, he wouldn't be shy in telling you he was right about something.
Teddy and I were Glen selectors under Richie Kelleher in 2018 and '19. The year previous, 2017, Rob Downey had been full-forward for the Cork minors. Hit 1-7 in a campaign that ended in All-Ireland final defeat. Decent clipping.
I was convinced that’s where Rob would make it. That he’d be your untypical yet massively effective inside forward, exactly the way Brian Hayes has been this summer.
Anyway, during our spell as Glen selectors, Teddy always maintained that Rob would make a fantastic centre-back.
He always said he had the height, athleticism, and most importantly the skillset for No.6. It was an early spot at a time when Rob was doing the business at the far end of the field.
I would have reluctantly said, ‘okay, yeah, bring him back sure and have a look’. But Ownesy was right. And Rob is flourishing there now.
This week above all weeks must be such a special one in the Downey household. It is hard enough get one fella on the Cork panel, so to have two brothers starting is something else altogether.
It must fill the family with ferocious pride.
The lads’ parents, Paul and Angela, are quintessentially decent people. They reared two fine lads and made sure there was a balance struck between sport and education.
21-year-old Eoin is three-and-a-half-years Rob’s junior. I actually worked with them both around the same time as I also did the Glen U16s in 2018.
In that year’s county semi-final, we were beaten by Sars up the Dyke in a cracker. We threw away a nine-point lead. The one bright spot on the night was Eoin.
He was 15, he was slight, but he was outstanding. Probably the first time I really took proper notice of him in the sense that you said to yourself, there’s something about this kid.
Working with underage teams, your job is to develop their hurling ability, their personality, and to try and make sure they continue on to adult level.
With Eoin, and without being able to say he is definitely going to play for Cork, you could tell he is a little different to the rest.
The brothers are calm and cool fellas by nature. Their uncle Brian O’Connell, or 'Bert' as we know him, was the very same. I played with Bert for years in the Glen. A centre-back the same as Rob. Bert too never got overly excited before a game.
Rob, especially, is horizontal as an individual. He’d be the envy of a lot of players in how relaxed he is before games. Nerves don't seem to get to him, irrespective of the game’s importance.
Now, the pair are brilliant characters and would feed into the spirit of the dressing-room, but above all else just very calm and laid back.
Rob, over the years, has had to deal with not starting and a bit of criticism from certain quarters. He’s so strong-minded, though, that none of that would knock a bit out of him.
Eoin’s lifting second half catch against Limerick? I first saw it below in the Glen several years ago. When messing about amongst themselves, him and teammates weren’t so much into the crossbar challenge or sideline cuts - instead one of them would go out the field and drive the sliotar sixty yards up into the air, and there’d be 10 lads standing underneath it trying to be the one to make the catch.
'Twas half dangerous carry on.
We might have an underage game the following Saturday and you'd be saying, take it handy there fellas. Hurleys would be flying about, but Eoin always had a superb catching technique. He was the one lad amid a forest of hurleys able to pluck a ball.
Neither of the brothers travelled a straight path to the No.3 and No.6 shirts they now own.
The full-back spot was Eoin’s throughout the 2023 League, and it was clear management wanted him for that role, but a red card against Kilkenny in the League semi-final sat him out for the first round of championship and he couldn’t get back in thereafter.
And don’t forget he didn’t start either the county’s championship opener this year.
As for Rob, he was full-back for the 2021 final, but if you go back to the start of that championship, he was an unused sub, and his subsequent promotion for the Clare qualifier owed to the injury-enforced absence of Damien Cahalane and Eoin Cadogan.
Injury again had a factor in him winding up where he currently is. Ciarán Joyce's hamstring saw Rob move from wing-back to centre-back for the county’s season-defining fixture against Limerick in mid-May.
And he was absolutely immense that night, particularly in the air.
Two years ago, Hoggie missed the county quarter-final against Newtownshandrum because of injury. They moved Eoin up centre-forward to try and counter Hoggie’s absence.
He was only 19 at the time. He hit six points from play. He took the fight to Newtown. Not a bother to him.
Hoggie is the marquee name down the Glen. The marquee forward - for us and for Cork. His story was predicted. The story and success of the Downey brothers was not as obvious. It is an achievement we are so proud of to say two brothers that came out of here are on the Cork hurling team.
Back to their uncle Bert. Bert is a bit of a showman. Big Robbie Williams fan back in the day. Was prone to a rendition of ‘Let me entertain you’ on a night out.
I’m not sure a full-back and centre-back set out to entertain, but you can be sure that Eoin and Rob, undaunted by the biggest day of all, won’t be letting Shane O’Donnell and company do too much entertaining.
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