Shaun Casey assesses the Mourne County’s hopes for the road ahead DIVISION Three isn’t exactly the scene Conor Laverty and Down wanted to experience again any time soon, but that’s where they find themselves as the 2026 National League approaches. The Mourne men competed exceptionally well in Division Two last season, picking up six-points in […]
By Shaun Casey IT’S probably the hardest way possible to kickstart the season, with ties against Armagh and Tyrone coming up in early January, but Down are looking forward to those battles, says coach Mickey Donnelly. The Mourne men haven’t won the McKenna Cup since 2008. This season, they get things up and running against […]
Mourne men on the rise RONAN Sheehan has done an absolutely fantastic job with Down hurlers, and while the championship didn’t go to plan for them, 2025 was still a year they will reflect on fondly. Next season, they will compete against the elite of hurling as they earned promotion to Division 1B, having won […]
By Shaun Casey ROAMING Kilcoo defender Micéal Rooney says Ciarán Meenagh’s involvement with Loughmacrory offers “a strange dynamic” after the Tyrone native spent two seasons as Down coach under Conor Laverty. Meenagh has been appointed as Derry manager for the upcoming season but has a good insight into the Kilcoo changing room having coached Rooney […]
By Shaun Casey NEW Orleans Saints’ kicker and former Down shot-stopper Charlie Smyth doesn’t see a return to the red and black jersey happening anytime soon as he targets a starting spot as an American football placekicker. Smyth, who signed a three-year contract with the Saints in March 2024, kicked two field goals for his […]
By Shaun Casey ROSSMAGLEN pair Tony McEntee and Aaron Kernan are on the move and former club and county teammate Johnny Murtagh believes that Down and Meath will benefit massively from their expertise. As exclusively revealed by Gaelic Life, McEntee is making the short trip across the border to take up a role in Conor […]
THERE are three things certain here in this life – death, taxes and pundits getting predictions wrong. Over the last few weeks, it has been next to impossible to predict some of the championship games so great credit must go to the Football Review Committee because this is exactly what we have been looking for. […]
By Shaun Casey DOWN’S round three defeat to Monaghan means the Mourne men could possibly be playing three weeks on the bounce, if they reach the All-Ireland quarter-finals for the first time since 2012, but boss Conor Laverty doesn’t mind. His side put in a solid shift and were leading heading into the final quarter […]
By Shaun Casey CHAMPIONSHIP clashes between Down and Galway are few and far between. In fact, Sunday’s encounter will be the first since the All-Ireland semi-final in 1971, when Galway won by seven points. Aidan Carr never faced the Tribesmen in the championship during his years in the red and black shirt, but he did […]
WHILE Conor Laverty and his Down team believed they would see out the group stages with three wins from three, they can taking plenty of learnings from their hectic tie with Ulster rivals Monaghan, which ended in a narrow defeat. Midway through the second period, the Mourne men were four-points ahead and looked like the […]
