Down's Ryan Magill: Tailteann Cup 'definitely not beneath us'
Ryan Magill of Down in attendance for the launch of the Tailteann Cup at Croke Park. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
Down's Ryan Magill has insisted that they won't feel like the Tailteann Cup is 'beneath us' after riding so high in Ulster.
Down pulled off the shock of the Championship so far when they defeated Ulster title favourites Donegal.
The 2024 Tailteann Cup winners, and 2023 finalists, dreamed of pushing on in both Ulster and the All-Ireland series after that landmark win over Jim McGuinness' side.
But they were brought crashing back to earth last Sunday when they caved in after a bright start against Armagh and coughed up 3-33 in their provincial semi-final.
Magill played in both of those games across just eight days before being dispatched to the launch of the Tailteann Cup, a tournament they are now strong favourites to win.
"No, it's definitely not beneath us," said Burren man Magill of the tier two competition. "We are where we are. We've been in it maybe four years out of my five years playing inter-county senior football. It was great to be in the Sam Maguire last year and we feel like we can test ourselves against the best teams.
"We were probably disappointed not to beat Monaghan or Galway last year but no, it's definitely not below us. We see it as any team here is able to win it. We're all on similar levels. Everyone thinks they could win, and winning the Tailteann Cup, as we've seen two years ago, guaranteed us a spot in the All-Ireland last year so it's a huge incentive."
The Tailteann Cup will throw-in this weekend with two Round 1 games on Saturday, followed by five more on Sunday.
Down, after their late exit from the provincial championship, have been afforded an extra week off before taking on a Leitrim side managed by Down native and former Down underage coach Steven Poacher.
Magill acknowledged that it is predominantly a mental battle for Down now to be ready for the start of the tournament, as opposed to a physical one.
"It's reframing the mindset," he said. "It's been a tough 48 hours after the Armagh game. But we need to box it off and move on. There's a competition that we are going to try and win. It gets us a free ticket into Sam Maguire next year, if we can do it. But there's loads of decent teams in this competition as well, that we've played week in, week out in Division 3. The likes of Wexford who, in the League final, probably could have pipped us at the end."
Magill conceded that the 28-point shellacking from Armagh did hurt though.
"It's heartbreaking," he said. "It's gut-wrenching how bad it went near the end."
That defeat, allied to Westmeath's qualification for the Leinster final, edged Division 3 winners Down out of the Sam Maguire Cup race.
"Fair play to Westmeath," said Magill. "They were probably disappointed themselves not to be promoted but they bounced back from that and were able to beat Meath, which was a huge game for them, and they had another huge game beating Kildare. We might just have to take stuff from them, like how did they bounce back, to be able to go on and do really well in the Championship?"
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