- By Niall McCoy
- IF Guinness really does give you strength then Down will be needing Daniel to be on top form against Donegal at Páirc Esler on Sunday afternoon.
- The versatile Carryduff man is part of a new wave of players that has caught manager Paddy Tally’s eye. Now in his third season, Guinness’s work-rate and direct running are conducive to the style of football the Mourne county are attempting to play under their current coaching team.
- Liam Kerr, Caolan Mooney and Guinness are three of the main line-breakers on the side and it helps that they can all take a point too.
- Most importantly of all, they hold a firm belief that they can upset Donegal in their Ulster Championship opener this weekend.
- “The one thing we are definitely not here to do is to make up the numbers,” said 22-year-old Guinness. “We’ve been looking forward to this game since the draw was made.
- “Obviously they have some quality players and we’re going to do our homework on them, but we firmly believe that we have the pace and power to trouble most teams.
- “Yes, we’ll focus on them and get the match-ups right but at the same time we will play our own game and try and cause them a few problems.
- “I enjoy the role I play, it’s demanding but that’s what we do. We play a high energy game.
- “Mooney, Kerr, Pierce Laverty in the half-back line, there are a lot of good legs in there.”
- Despite how their respective league seasons played out, the form guide ahead of the game is a bit of a paradox.
- Donegal may have made the Division One semi-finals, but they are now three games without a win. Down, by contrast, found themselves in a relegation scrap in Division Two but have now racked up back-to-back wins over Westmeath and Laois.
- Guinness took a lot from those two victories, especially the latter as a few hundred fans were allowed into Newry for the 2-19 to 2-12 win over Laois.
- “I saw people calling it (the Westmeath game) a dead-rubber but we definitely didn’t see it as a dead-rubber at all,” said Guinness, whose older brother James featured in all four league games this year.
- “The draw ended up making a massive difference. Westmeath had to go away to Cork. We were down there last year so we know just how tough a place Páirc Uí Chaoimh is to go to.
- “Our win over Westmeath secured a home game too, our first of the year, and that was a big advantage.
- “A few fans in really makes a big difference and to even have a few hundred here for the Laois play-off was great.
- “They gave you a wee lift here and there and I think all the boys recognised that. It lifted us in different parts of that Laois game. It felt like there was a lot more than 500.”
- There is no doubt that Tally was brought in to oversee a transition period in Down football. It is, at times, one of the most thankless management jobs out there but the Tyrone man has stuck to his guns and has balanced it well with decent progress.
- Guinness will always have a soft spot for the man who gave him his first chance at senior intercounty level, and he adds that it has been a great dressing room to be a part of.
- “The way we set up is the way we like to play football, that’s the style of football I like playing too. There’s energy, a lot of running up and down and players playing multi positions.
- “Boys are able to cover each other all over the pitch as opposed to having six defenders and six forwards. There are boys who can change between attack and defence.
- “The likes of Darren (O’Hagan), Kevy (McKernan) and even Benny McArdle, they have been a great help to the younger lads. Mooney has a lot of experience at this level too so they have made a massive impact on the group.
- “It’s not even all about what they do on the pitch, you watch them and see how they handle themselves off the pitch too. They’ve had a massive influence.”