Dangerous Down almost ready to mark their territory

Down have made unarguable progress under manager Conor Laverty while Galway, All-Ireland finalists in two of the last three seasons,  haven’t settled into this championship since their successful Connacht run

MARQUEE MAN: Pat Havern of Down in action against Monaghan during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Round 3 match at BOX-IT Athletic Grounds in Armagh. Photo by Thomas Flinkow/Sportsfile

THE soon to be dormant, if not extinct, All-Ireland group stages have generally followed the rule of law. Table-toppers generally beat preliminary quarter-final winners - six out of eight times - and the two All-Ireland winners under the system, Dublin and Armagh, have topped their group.

In a format not above criticism, the layered reward for where you finish in your group generally holds true.

If there is one anomaly, and something that provides hope to a quartet of teams this weekend, it’s that in the eight preliminary quarter-finals played, the third-placed team has travelled to the home of their rivals and won on four of seven occasions, while Monaghan also edged out Kildare in neutral Tullamore in 2023 with Newbridge out of action.

Last Monday’s preliminary quarter-final draw, containing more heavyweights than anticipated, resulted in three lop-sided pairings and one tie that just carries a whiff of, well if not cordite, enough propellant to provide a potentially combustible situation for Galway’s All-Ireland hopes.

Donegal v Louth, Kerry v Cavan and Dublin v Cork all look like foregone conclusions no matter how it’s spun – and maybe the shock will come in amongst those – but Galway travel to Newry to face a Down team that seem best placed to upset the odds.

That’s true for two reasons. Firstly, Down have made unarguable progress under manager Conor Laverty while Galway, All-Ireland finalists in two of the last three seasons, just haven’t settled into this championship since their successful Connacht run – although they will hope that their stirring second-half comeback against Armagh will offer the spark. Sunday in the Marshes will tell us more.

Reigning Tailteann Cup champions Down are preparing for their biggest home match since the visit of Mayo in 2019. There have been Ulster clashes since, but nothing to match the level of excitement in the border town this week – or parts of it anyway.

Back in 1994, Armagh’s pre-season started prior to the All-Ireland final between Down and Dublin meaning that some of their players made the trips to training via a red and black bedecked Newry, seething inside as they passed every good luck flag and piece of bunting.

They stayed up for months as Down raised Sam for a fifth time, but 31 years later there hasn’t been as much as an Ulster title. Last year’s Tailteann Cup was as much about ending a long wait for silverware as the trophy itself.

Drive through Newry today and it’s the orange and white bunting hanging from lampposts, a hangover from Armagh’s All-Ireland triumph 12 months ago. The car flags driving in and out of a city that will always be referred to as ‘town’ by locals, are Orchard County ones. Except McCoy’s Bar on the way to the ground and Páirc Esler itself, Down haven’t braved marking their territory – yet.

But there is belief, genuine belief, that they are ascending. Results are results but relegation to Division 3 this year was undeserved, subsequent championship displays have reinforced that feeling that they can compete with the best.

When Laverty was appointed manager in August 2022, he took on a county in disarray.

James McCartan oversaw a winless season beforehand and had been close to stepping down after a serious breach of discipline by players at a training camp in Dublin before being convinced to see the campaign out.

“Players have accepted responsibility and have rectified the situation," Down secretary Sean Óg McAteer told Ulster publication Gaelic Life at the time.

Five players, including NFL player Charlie Smyth and current panellist Caolan Mooney, departed the panel before the Tailteann Cup with the latter lashing out at McCartan in an interview with the Smaller Fish podcast. Sources close to the camp suggested that the training block for the Tailteann Cup was the most enjoyable of the year while there was considerable anger that a Mourne legend like McCartan had been treated so poorly.

Three seasons on, and of the 20 players who featured in Down’s 2022 Tailteann Cup loss to Cavan, McCartan’s last game in charge, only Peter Fegan, Ryan Magill, Daniel Guinness, Odhrán Murdock, Pierce Laverty and Patrick McCarthy were on the field against Monaghan last week.

McCarthy, Magill and Murdock all won a pair of Ulster U20 crowns under Conor Laverty, Pierce Laverty was a long-time captain and Daniel Guinness has been Down’s most consistent player over the last five years. Burren corner-back Fegan comes highly rated.

Kilcoo man Laverty has 13 county medals in his pocket – and an All-Ireland too – from playing with the Magpies. He has crafted a Down team that shares so many of their attributes. Physically smaller than many opponents – as Down will be against Galway – they have an extraordinary handle on the basics and operate a running game that is maybe only bettered by Donegal currently. It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, after all.

He’s also managed to rub out one of the black marks that had been hanging over the side – the lack of a marquee forward.

On Sunday, barring any unfortunate injury, Pat Havern will move from 0-99 for the season to over the 100-point mark. Shane Walsh may have edged him out in the National League as the two-point king, but Havern is now the current heir to the throne with 21 to Walsh’s 18 – although the latter did miss the Connacht championship.

Havern, who looked destined to be one of Ulster’s top handballers before giving it up at a young age, has previously been accused of not doing it against the top teams. Such notions have been swept away this season, Galway be warned.

The men and red and black aren’t back just yet, but a visit to the last eight of the All-Ireland for the first time since 2012, and at the expense of one of the favourites for Sam, and that Down bunting will start to be unfurled.