By Michael McMullan

TO say Conor Laverty was disappointed after last weekend’s Tailteann Cup final defeat to Wicklow would be a massive understatement.

The Down manager’s crestfallen facial expression and tone of voice said more than any words in his post-game interview could convey.

It wasn’t the time to remember beating Donegal in Ulster, achieving promotion back to Division Two or for talking anything from Wicklow’s historic day in the sun.

Indeed, he used the words “total disaster” to frame their second-half performance.

“It is still the same areas we are falling down on,” Laverty said when asked what can be taken from 2026.

“For all the positives, there are still problems that are being frequently being revisited in periods in games.

“We try to work on them on the training pitch and off the pitch.”

Down were 100 per cent on their own kick-out in the first-half, a figure that dropped to 92 overall by the final whistle.

Despite Wicklow’s shooting efficiency improving over the course of the game, Ronan Burns more often than not found a Down jersey with his kick-out.

“We were over our target on what was wanted to achieve on our kick-out but we felt we didn’t want to go into contact,” Laverty pointed out.

“We knew (referee) Barry Tierney has a trend that he is hard on steps.

“We knew that coming into the game and we spoke about that. We (lacked) that bit of composure in the final third to keep that scoreboard ticking.

“We knew they (Wicklow) were always going to come; they did the same against Offaly but I still think we had chances.

“I would understand if we had got penned in on kick-outs and couldn’t get our hands on the ball. We were 92 per cent on kick-outs and got our hands on the ball, that tells its own story.”