Declan Bogue
Belfast Telegraph
Tue 28 Mar 2023 at 09:40
Despite Donegal being seen as the county in crisis, Down are refusing to take them for granted.
Along with Limerick footballers and Roscommon hurlers, Donegal became the latest team to lose their manager during the course of the season when Paddy Carr announced he was stepping down from the role last week.
While Aidan O’Rourke and Paddy Bradley took charge for the trip to Roscommon, they were unable to stop them falling to a nine-point defeat.
One thing is in their favour though, as they now have a four week lead-in to their Ulster Championship clash against Down. They also have been able to call on the services of former Donegal All-Ireland winning manager Jim McGuinness who Clarke admitted had been helping Down out.
On the other hand, O’Rourke knows the Down players from two spells acting as coach for the county, with the last spell being the disastrous season last year.
Speaking at the Lunch of the Ulster Championship at the Palace Demense in Armagh on Monday night, Down selector Marty Clarke stated that their focus as a team is now completely on Donegal.
“We’ve only just switched on to Donegal today,” he said.
“The National League was being played up until yesterday. We have a lot of things that we want to fix ourselves within Down.
He continued: “We understand that our team is deemed as being far from settled, we have too much on our plate to be worrying about what has happened and what is happening in any other team. It’s never nice to hear of a GAA manager leaving in the middle of a year.
“But those problems are something we cannot worry about or control. Less than two years ago, a lot of these players came to Newry and put 2-25 on the board against us in an Ulster Championship game, playing in Division One for a number of seasons, at a much higher level than our players have been and they are a proud county as well and are going to have a response.
“The little bits that I have saw of them, they are writing them off and questioning their mindset. Any team that has that, there is only one way to go. You have to grind your teeth and you have four full weeks to prepare.”
With the game being played in Newry, Down have a distinct advantage in that it is the venue they will be shifting their training to. In their home games in Pairc Esler this season, there has been a notable increase in the Down support.
For the Round Four game against Westmeath, Clarke admitted that it had been years since they had heard that kind of noise in Newry, stating that it took some players up to 40 minutes at the end to get back to the dressing room after being mobbed by young supporters.
“They certainly won’t be coming to Newry fearful of Down, and that’s understandable,” Clarke continued on Donegal.
“As I mentioned, we have enough to worry about between now and then to prepare and get it right because Donegal will be coming to take us down.
“I feel four weeks is a good lead in, and we were talking about this on the way home from Tullamore yesterday. We will give this our full focus.”
However their plans go, Clarke feels they will not include last year’s captain Caolan Mooney, who ruptured his cruciate playing club football last year.
“Caolan had a knee reconstruction in December, as far as I know,” he said.
“And I know that he has been very diligent in his recovery. This year might have come a bit early for him. We have kept in touch and I know Caolan myself from my time in Australia. He’s a player we would love to have on our hands, but I feel this year has come a bit too soon for him.”
Meanwhile, Cavan face Fermanagh in the Division Three League Final on Saturday evening in Croke Park.
While they face the winners of the Armagh against Antrim from the preliminary round, manager Mickey Graham concedes that the League final will give them another testing encounter before the Championship proper.
“The League Final is a great opportunity to get competitive game before the Championship against Ulster opposition and a local derby, you’d be hoping it will leave you in a good place before the Ulster Championship kicks off,” he said
However, the old GAA habit of having to stage a final for every League-structure is a pain for Graham and others.
“Look, with the way the season has gone now, you’d probably prefer not to play. Give you a bit of time to recuperate. But the flip is, it’s our last competitive game before the Championship.
“You can play challenge games but you won’t get the same edge you get in a League Final.”
