PERHAPS IT’S ALL the stuff he has on, but Conor Laverty doesn’t always want to do the media stuff around his position as Down manager.
You can hardly blame him. A father of six boys (yes), and stuck in the throes of lambing season, he’s not always available for the launch circuit, the chicken goujons and egg and onion and yarns by the half hour.
By and large, he sends his capable selector Mickey Donnelly to do the glad-handling stuff.
When he does talk, it’s always engaging and imbued with someone who just lives it. For the last three weeks, he had a screenshot on his mobile phone of an RTÉ graphic illustrating the Ulster championship draw, stating that it would be Donegal against the winners of Tyrone/Armagh.
At that point, he takes out his phone and shows the journalists grouped around him.
“I saved that on my phone three weeks and I’ve looked at it every day and it’s been pretty tough, tough nights doing video,” he said.
“It’s been a tough few weeks but I showed them that last night and I said them on Thursday night, I said ‘I don’t think you’re just fully with me in the belief just yet.’
“I said before Sunday morning, ‘We’re going to believe the same way that this management team believe in you.’ And I said them at half time, I said, ‘Do you fully believe me now? Do you fully believe what this management team believe?’
“And you could see it bouncing in their eyes. you could see that they were ready.”
He believed they could do it. He knew they could do it. They have spent more time together this year and have fostered something special whereby the players lap up the gameplans, the strategy and the extras that make a team a proper unit.
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He screamed at the players before they went onto the pitch that they had to believe. When they came back in at the break a point up, he asked them if they believed.
By then, there was no question.
Sometimes things just amount up against teams.
The news spread around Donegal on Sunday morning that Michael Langan had suffered a nasty ankle injury. Reports then had it that he tried to fly to London for a second opinion towards the end of the week but had missed his appointment, and will be going again at the start of this week.
Down had been watching this game from a long, long way out.
They are good at that.
Cast your mind back to 2024 and when they met Armagh in Clones. They ran them to a 2-6 to 0-13 scoreline.
They have poured a huge amount of themselves into this game. Last weekend, they caught a flight to Kerry and played a mix-match of two games against the All-Ireland champions. In the first game they ran them to a point or two and concentrated heavily on their defensive shape.
Once that bit of business was taken care of, they were back in the air by Saturday afternoon. It’s hard to conceive of too many county squads doing such an undertaking the week before a championship game.
Laverty is his own man. The last ten days, he was working towards this game.
Once upon a time, Jim McGuinness was with this group of Down players. He kept a very low profile in 2023, training them in Ballykinler but never once appearing on their sideline. When Down beat Donegal in that year’s championship, he was wired up to a member of the Down management team, advising tactical tweaks.
And here, Laverty showed all his learning. Tactically, match-up wise and in bringing his players to the boil, he schooled McGuinness.
They forced Donegal into seven first half wides. They went in at the break ahead due to a sensational sliced point from Caolan Mooney that was in flight during the half time buzzer and kicked from an outrageous angle.
The 0-11 to 1-7 lead would have been greater only for the good fortune Donegal enjoyed. A shot from Conor O’Donnell was dropping short when the ball broke to Caolan McGonigle, and he hit a rare goal from the rebound.
Down were content to keep a bit of protection and allow Eoghan Bán Gallagher pick up four short kickouts in the first half, figuring that it would be taxing on Donegal to work the ball up through the hands on a close day.
They are not a team that look comfortable building slow attacks. Instead, they were getting ahead of the ball, playing forward passes all the time, going straight at defenders.
Down looked like a team that weren’t afraid to make a mistake. They played the game on their terms. They were exciting and intoxicating.
“These boys are so invested in this now,” said Laverty.
“They love that. I’ve never come across a bunch of boys that love the gameplan side of things, love how we’re going to break down the opposition, love what we want to do on the ball, how we’re going to break Donegal down – they really enjoy that.
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“They enjoy spending time together, they’re actually very, very close, we’ve been away an awful lot this year because just with our with our league fixtures being down the country, we had maybe three away fixtures, we were away together last weekend… it’s not a chore to these lads any more.
Adam Crimmins signs autographs after the game. Lorcan Doherty / INPHO
Lorcan Doherty / INPHO / INPHO
“I think they start to see maybe there’s light at the end of the tunnel here, and that was the biggest challenge – to make these lads believe that they could come here today and get over the line.”
And on they go, while Donegal, well, they might have to go away to a provincial winner when they get a second chance at this thing.
The summer has arrived. Get yourself an ice cream. Diet starts on Monday.
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'You could see it bouncing in their eyes': Down boss on their shock win over Donegal
PERHAPS IT’S ALL the stuff he has on, but Conor Laverty doesn’t always want to do the media stuff around his position as Down manager.
You can hardly blame him. A father of six boys (yes), and stuck in the throes of lambing season, he’s not always available for the launch circuit, the chicken goujons and egg and onion and yarns by the half hour.
By and large, he sends his capable selector Mickey Donnelly to do the glad-handling stuff.
When he does talk, it’s always engaging and imbued with someone who just lives it. For the last three weeks, he had a screenshot on his mobile phone of an RTÉ graphic illustrating the Ulster championship draw, stating that it would be Donegal against the winners of Tyrone/Armagh.
At that point, he takes out his phone and shows the journalists grouped around him.
“I saved that on my phone three weeks and I’ve looked at it every day and it’s been pretty tough, tough nights doing video,” he said.
“It’s been a tough few weeks but I showed them that last night and I said them on Thursday night, I said ‘I don’t think you’re just fully with me in the belief just yet.’
“And you could see it bouncing in their eyes. you could see that they were ready.”
He believed they could do it. He knew they could do it. They have spent more time together this year and have fostered something special whereby the players lap up the gameplans, the strategy and the extras that make a team a proper unit.
He screamed at the players before they went onto the pitch that they had to believe. When they came back in at the break a point up, he asked them if they believed.
By then, there was no question.
Sometimes things just amount up against teams.
The news spread around Donegal on Sunday morning that Michael Langan had suffered a nasty ankle injury. Reports then had it that he tried to fly to London for a second opinion towards the end of the week but had missed his appointment, and will be going again at the start of this week.
Down had been watching this game from a long, long way out.
They are good at that.
Cast your mind back to 2024 and when they met Armagh in Clones. They ran them to a 2-6 to 0-13 scoreline.
They have poured a huge amount of themselves into this game. Last weekend, they caught a flight to Kerry and played a mix-match of two games against the All-Ireland champions. In the first game they ran them to a point or two and concentrated heavily on their defensive shape.
Once that bit of business was taken care of, they were back in the air by Saturday afternoon. It’s hard to conceive of too many county squads doing such an undertaking the week before a championship game.
Laverty is his own man. The last ten days, he was working towards this game.
Once upon a time, Jim McGuinness was with this group of Down players. He kept a very low profile in 2023, training them in Ballykinler but never once appearing on their sideline. When Down beat Donegal in that year’s championship, he was wired up to a member of the Down management team, advising tactical tweaks.
And here, Laverty showed all his learning. Tactically, match-up wise and in bringing his players to the boil, he schooled McGuinness.
They forced Donegal into seven first half wides. They went in at the break ahead due to a sensational sliced point from Caolan Mooney that was in flight during the half time buzzer and kicked from an outrageous angle.
The 0-11 to 1-7 lead would have been greater only for the good fortune Donegal enjoyed. A shot from Conor O’Donnell was dropping short when the ball broke to Caolan McGonigle, and he hit a rare goal from the rebound.
Down were content to keep a bit of protection and allow Eoghan Bán Gallagher pick up four short kickouts in the first half, figuring that it would be taxing on Donegal to work the ball up through the hands on a close day.
In the second half, Down were like scalded cats.
They are not a team that look comfortable building slow attacks. Instead, they were getting ahead of the ball, playing forward passes all the time, going straight at defenders.
Down looked like a team that weren’t afraid to make a mistake. They played the game on their terms. They were exciting and intoxicating.
“These boys are so invested in this now,” said Laverty.
“They love that. I’ve never come across a bunch of boys that love the gameplan side of things, love how we’re going to break down the opposition, love what we want to do on the ball, how we’re going to break Donegal down – they really enjoy that.
“They enjoy spending time together, they’re actually very, very close, we’ve been away an awful lot this year because just with our with our league fixtures being down the country, we had maybe three away fixtures, we were away together last weekend… it’s not a chore to these lads any more.
“I think they start to see maybe there’s light at the end of the tunnel here, and that was the biggest challenge – to make these lads believe that they could come here today and get over the line.”
And on they go, while Donegal, well, they might have to go away to a provincial winner when they get a second chance at this thing.
The summer has arrived. Get yourself an ice cream. Diet starts on Monday.
****
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