By Niall Gartland

DOWN coach Mickey Donnelly makes no bones about it – coaxing the players to move on from a humbling Ulster Championship defeat to Armagh took much more than a simple pat on the back.

The prospect of Tailteann Cup football was sickening in the circumstances, and the manner of their second-round defeat to Offaly told its own story (the final scoreline read 3-22 to 1-20).

But they’re back in business at this stage. They eased past Longford and Laois on back-to-back weekends and now have a date with Fermanagh at Croke Park this Saturday. Two more wins is all they need to secure All-Ireland football in 2027.

Reflecting on their 2-23 to 0-15 win over Laois last Saturday, Mickey Donnelly said: “First and foremost, we played really, really well. We were very wary of Laois, to be honest. We felt they had a really good forward line who scored heavily. Across 13 games they only conceded seven goals – under the new rules, that’s a phenomenal return.

“There aren’t too many teams nationally with a record like that, so we knew it was going to be a real challenge. Thankfully, we did produce a good level of performance. It’s nice to get another day out. This is our third game in three weeks, so that’s another huge challenge in itself.

Highlighting his side’s resilience, Donnelly added: “I’ve been on record over the last month saying how challenging it’s been post-Armagh, and that hasn’t changed. But listen, the lads have shown a real sense of resilience and an ability to bounce back, and thankfully that was definitely reflected in the performance on Saturday.”

Donnelly is mindful that the Mournemen have been pushed to the brink in their recent outings with Fermanagh. They won by three points in their league meeting back in the spring, while their most recent championship encounter was a real hum-dinger – in last year’s Ulster Championship, Down produced a stunning fightback, coming from seven points down in the closing eight minutes to book their spot in the semi-finals. Forewarned is forearmed.

Donnelly said: “The last number of years, it’s been a fairly settled Fermanagh GAA team – they’re similar to the team we played last year. Ultan Kelm is back on board after a really long injury, and Mattie McDermott has come into the team.

“They’re a side that have caused us huge problems in the past, and you could argue they’re even more of a threat up front than they were in those games. You’ve got Garvan Jones, Darragh McGurn, and now Ultan Kelm and Mattie McDermott. We’re under no illusions – this is a very good team we’re playing.”

Donnelly also praised the immense contribution in recent Tailteann Cup outings from Eamon Brown, a player who is growing in stature with every game.

“He was on the U20 team in 2021 – I think they were beaten by Roscommon in the All-Ireland semi-final. Eamon was a key member of that team. He’s been around the panel. He was also on the Jordanstown team that won the Sigerson Cup with Darragh and Ruairí Canavan.

“So look, it’s not that he hasn’t been around. He got his chance at the weekend and took it, which is brilliant. Now there’ll be a certain amount of focus on Eamon, and it’s up to him to try to repeat that level of performance.”