Newry visit a “tough” day out for Down native Poacher

By Shaun Casey

SATURDAY evening was a difficult one for Newry native Steven Poacher. He brought his Leitrim side to Páirc Esler, plotting the downfall of his own county, Down.

Poacher was short a number of key men, namely Barry McNulty and Tom Prior, and while they were just four points adrift at half time of Saturday’s Tailteann Cup opener, their challenge fell to the way side in the second half.

Leitrim beat Sligo in the first round of the Connacht Championship for the first time in 16 years before pushing Galway all the way in the semi-final.

Down on the other hand entered the second tier competition off the back of a 28-point drumming in their last four meeting with Armagh two weeks ago.

“I said to Lav (Conor Laverty) before, I don’t think him or me wanted to be here,” Poacher said after the game. “It was a tough enough one to come in here, I know a lot of the lads.

“I’ve coached a lot of them actually at under age level. I spent 12 years with Down at every level, from development squad level right through to the minors and the U21s. I know a lot of them through the school structure.

“I know a lot of them through club football as well. There are a lot of really good lads on that Down team and last the two weeks, it was very, very difficult for them.

“That’s not an easy defeat, particularly against your neighbours Armagh. It’s probably been tough for them to lift it, but this will probably get them back on the road now.”

Despite defeat, Leitrim have been drawn at home in the next round of the Tailteann Cup and another familiar face is coming down the track for Poacher they take on Carlow, a county he coached under the management of Turlough O’Brien.

“It’s a short turnaround, and that’s the nature of the beast. It’s a condensed season and we found out too at our cost probably last week, when the games come thick and fast, you need a deep panel,” Poacher added.

“We’ve 34 really good lads in there that want to be in playing for Leitrim and we’ve spoken about that before. We’re just trying to change the mindset and the culture around it.

“I was actually chatting to Conor before and we were talking about when players leave us now at the end of the season, they have to continue their work, you’ve seen the difference.

“I said to the boys inside there, what Down have done over the last four years, credit to them, is they’ve got themselves in serious physical condition. They’re up there with what I would call Division One level conditioning,” Poacher added.

“It showed against Donegal and then you look at Armagh, and they’re another level above that. They’re maybe 10 years down the road so it does take time.

“What Conor said to me before, he’s right, it takes four or five years and that’s what we’re hoping to build with this group and keep them together.

“We had 16 men make their debut this year, I think 17 there last week with young Tom Plunkett. That’s players making their debuts, you need to try and keep it together. That’s the big thing.”