Pierce Laverty of Down in attendance during the Tailteann Cup Semi-Finals media event at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile.
By John Harrington
If all goes to plan, the Down footballers could look back on the 2023 Tailteann Cup as an important milestone in a journey that leads to some memorable destinations.
Year one under new manager Conor Laverty has been hugely encouraging thus far. A solid League campaign, a fine win over Donegal in the Ulster SFC and now an impressive run in the Tailteann Cup that has led to Sunday’s semi-final against Laois.
All this has been achieved with a youthful group of players with the potential to track an upward curve in the coming years.
“We're a very young team, the average age is about 23/24,” says Down captain Pierce Laverty. “So I think competitions like this are crucial to the development of a young team like us.
“On the journey we want to go on, this competition is perfect. We're young and inexperienced so playing big games like this is all part of your development as you try to get to the top tier in terms of national league football and championship football.
“Conor obviously coached a lot of the current panel at U-20 level and he's looking to build a young team for the future, and that's not writing off the boys who are older, their experience really helps the younger boys.
“But Conor is definitely trying to build a youthful team and you could see that in the teams he's picked over the last number of months mixed with that wee bit of experience.”
It’s clear from the way the Down captain talks about his namesake that Laverty has already won the unquestioned loyalty of this group of players.
Down football manager, Conor Laverty.
He has united a county team previously fractured by club rivalries, and impressed the players with his coaching acumen.
“He's a great communicator,” says Laverty of the Down manager. “He's very hands on in training and his knowledge of the game is second to none. He knows the game inside out. He has every trick in the book, he's brilliant in that sense.
“He's very hands on in his coaching and he's a great man-manager too. Even something like releasing some boys to play club football at the weekends when they’re not part of the county match-day panel was smart.
“The boys are getting to play with their clubs when they're not part of a match-day panel and that helps them to stay sharp and to show some form.
“I've been part of Down teams where I didn't make the panel for three or four games in a row and you have to do a running session on a Saturday with no footballs involved, and looking back you would have much preferred to be released to play with the club instead of doing some awful running session where you're boking your ring up after it.
“It's about keeping everybody happy and that's tough when you have 40 boys, but Conor is definitely going about it the right way.”
Contesting a national final in Croke Park would likely further accelerate the development of this Down team, but Laverty is taking nothing for granted.
Most people have made them warm favourites to get the better of Laois on Sunday, but the Down skipper isn’t buying that line.
“I don't see us as favourites in any shape or form,” he says. “Most of our boys including myself have never played in Croke Park whereas I'd say most of the Laois boys are pretty experienced in this field.
“They're a bit older than us too and that experience can go a long way so we definitely wouldn't view ourselves as favourites. They have some massive players that could give us bother. We played them a couple of years ago in the National League and with forwards like Evan O'Carroll and Mark Barry and Kieran Lillis in midfield, they have some serious players.
“They like to kick the ball, they're brilliant at it, and in a big pitch like Croke Park that's a great asset because you're not going to be fit to run the ball all the time.
“In an ideal world this match would be a massive stepping stone for us in terms of the journey we want to go on, but we have to be wary of it, especially the Croke Park factor. Boys could play the occasion rather than to play the game.
“There's no point saying it won't come into play, it will. You arrive and you're looking around you and it's a wee bit of a distraction before. It's about staying focused, I suppose, on the day.”
