By Cian O’Connell

Something is stirring in Down once again. Two of the last three EirGrid Ulster U20 titles have been captured, while Conor Laverty’s senior team are busy preparing for Saturday’s Croke Park Tailteann Cup decider against Meath.

Ultimately it means equal measures of hope and expectation are attached to an emerging crop of footballers. Conor Deegan won two All-Ireland SFC medals with Down in the 90s and acknowledges that progress is being made.

“It is definitely much more buoyant than it has been,” Deegan says. “We are talking about a final in Croke Park, that is a big step from where we have been in recent years.

“We've had a couple of Ulster title wins with the U20s, the league didn't maybe go as the county would have liked or expected, but certainly getting to the Tailteann Cup Final, I think, is a really big step for the county.

“As the players are quite young, the experience they will get from this will be a major benefit to them. It is being embraced which is great. In the county the flags are out, kids are walking around in Down jerseys again. So there is a lot of positives to take from it.”

That feel good factor matters deeply to Down enthusiasts. Football peppers the conversations and there is a sense that the future is bright.

“I think so, I believe if you get used to losing, you just get used to it, so it is the exact same if you get used to winning games,” Deegan responds.

“They've done very well, the match against Cavan was a very good performance. Obviously they scored quite heavily against Laois, so they have good momentum carrying into this game.”

Down did reach an All-Ireland final in 2010, but Deegan is delighted that people, both young and old in the county, are embarking on a journey.

“It is lifting a lot of people at the moment, that is a good thing,” he adds. “There is a bit of notoriety, which they never would have had before, from a positive point of view. That builds confidence and belief, all those things that are needed. We have been starved of any sort of success.

“The fact I'm sitting here, guys on this panel, their Dads played the last time Down won something. It tells you all, we have struggled. We've had some fleeting glimpses, obviously with James in 2010, but it hasn't been very often. So this is great, it is a very positive thing for us all.”

Down won three All-Irelands in the 1960s and two more three decades later. So a deep tradition exists. Does that heritage matter? “I don't know, if you go back to a very long time ago when I was playing, definitely tradition was there,” Deegan responds.

“All I ever heard about growing up was the great team of the 60s, that is a very long time ago obviously. That was embedded within you. It was talked about, it was there, it was part of us as GAA people.

“As time has gone by I think that maybe in some ways that has been lost. There has almost been a push against times gone by because maybe it is a reflection that maybe we have struggled, at times.

“It has been a long time since there has been positivity. You have the young fellas coming off a couple of the U20 campaigns, they are pushing the whole thing along. When you are bringing in boys that age - the pace, enthusiasm, the drive that they are going to have. They are eating it up at the moment, that lifts an awful lot of fellas around you.

“When I played football, it is black and white now it is that long ago. That is part of our problem, our last success was a very, very long time ago.”

Now, though, Down supporters are believing in their flagship team once more. Further improvements can be made in the coming weeks, months, and years.

“The great thing at the moment is people - you see grandparents taking kids to the final - they haven't been at games in years,” Deegan says.

“That is starting again. That is a joyous thing to watch, the children in the jerseys, it is brilliant. When you played, you didn't see any of this really. You were so engrossed in what you were doing, you didn't get to enjoy it.

“You are looking at it now, I genuinely believe, if they come out the right side of it, this will give a lot of the players great belief and confidence. It could be a really strong starting point for them. Yes, they will be back in Division Three next year, but if they come through this, you'd imagine they will just kick on from that.”

A solid foundation has been established by Laverty. “The big thing is people want to play again,” Deegan adds. “There was a time when people were flitting in and flitting back out again, they didn't overly commit.

“It is a settled group, they haven't been away for the summer or haven't lined up to go away which is great - they have stayed at home and we have benefited from that.”

The recent evidence suggests that Laverty can continue to make an impact with Down. There is emerging talent in Down that can flourish on the senior inter-county stage according to Deegan.

“I genuinely believe, we will have other kids coming through in the next year or two, all that is going to do is continue to strengthen,” Deegan says. “Down need to be in Division Two and Division One, that is where they need to be in order to play more consistently against better teams.

“Then everything improves. You have to play against the best if you want to go up there again. They most certainly need to do that. It isn't going to be easy.

“They are going into the game as favourites, I believe anyway. If they can come out the far side of that, I think you will see them kick on a bit. The kids will want to keep playing, they will all get more experience.

“They are quite a young squad in many ways, there is plenty of good kids on the two U20 panels that will kick on again. So you'd imagine this will be the starting point for things to slowly improve and become much more consistent.”