NORMALLY a trip to Aughrim would represent a step into the unknown for Down – but it will be quite the opposite when the Mournemen face Wicklow in their first League outing on Sunday, according to coach Mickey Donnelly.
Former Armagh star Oisin McConville, who has links to the Burren club through nephew Donal O’Hare, is in his second year in charge of the Garden County, while a backroom shake-up has seen ex-Down coach Mark Doran come onboard.
Longstone man Doran was part of Paddy Tally’s backroom team, and worked with several of the players still involved under Conor Laverty.
As a result, the Wicklow players will be well drilled about what to expect when the Division Three action gets under way.
“It definitely Ulsterises it anyway,” said Tyrone man Donnelly.
“The Wicklow scenario was never going to be easy but when you add in the Oisin factor, the Mark Doran factor… with Oisin’s knowledge of Ulster football, Mark’s knowledge of Down football, it’s going to be very difficult to spring a surprise.
“Sometimes you can with counties down the country, with a lad who has had a brilliant club campaign that they know nothing about, but we won’t have that on Sunday.
“So it really is about getting our house in order, being as prepared and organised as we possibly can. Wicklow will come with a plan to try and put out our fires, so we have to be at our best.
“We have prepared and given Wicklow plenty of respect.”
And lessons have been learnt from their first year under Laverty.
Twelve months ago, Down came flying out of the blocks after a heavy workload through the winter months, breezing beyond Monaghan and Donegal on the way to a narrow McKenna Cup semi-final defeat to Derry.
Jim McGuinness, now back in charge of his native Tir Chonaill, was part of the coaching set-up as the year wore on, with ex-Derry manager Ciaran Meenagh since added to Laverty’s backroom as they bid to build on 2023.
“Probably in hindsight, we’ve tried to tweak things a wee bit,” added Donnelly.
“We were very conscious that, for the whole culture of everything, we wanted to start early and get a bit of belief, a bit of momentum behind the squad, so that’s why we went after the McKenna Cup the way we did.
“We returned to grass a wee bit later this year, probably with a view to being ready for the League. We got a great rise out of the McKenna Cup last year but maybe didn’t carry that into the League, so that was something we took into account.”
And, having just missed out on promotion to Division Two before coming up short against Meath in the Tailteann Cup final, the Mournemen are determined to ensure there are no near misses this time around.
“The carrot remains to get into the All-Ireland series, in whatever capacity we can do that.
“It’s like buying tickets for the lottery, and the first chance we have is the National League. We want to get into the top two positions, we’re very aware that’s difficult, as last year showed.
“While we won all our games in Newry, a lot of those games were battles. Then we lost in Cavan and Ederney [against Fermanagh], another game that came down to the wire. So these games can be an arm wrestle.
“That’s the pressure that comes with the job. We want to get out of Division Three, it’s not a case of people expecting, but there’s a massive desire.”
