FEATURE: Donnan and Austin recall Down’s underage success of the late 1970s

By Niall Gartland

THESE days, former Down goalkeeper Pat Donnan lives in Macclesfield – not, to borrow a legendary line from Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh, a GAA stronghold.

The casual acquaintance from across the water has little idea about his considerable sporting accomplishments – chief among them his place on the Down panel that landed a historic All-Ireland title in 1991.

By that late stage of his career, he was the dependable ‘sub goalie’ deputising for Neil Collins, but he played plenty of football for Down in a long and eventful career. Indeed, he completed the clean sweep of All-Ireland titles at minor, U21 and senior level.

In 1977 he won an All-Ireland minor title under the tutelage of the legendary Sean O’Neill, and he was back two years later as the Mourne County annexed the All-Ireland U21 title with victory over Cork. All the while, he was part of Down’s senior set-up, and by 1981 he was first-choice goalkeeper as they won the Ulster Senior Championship.

That 1977 minor team included the likes of Paddy O’Rourke, the man who captained Down to their 1991 All-Ireland SFC win, the late Ambrose Rodgers and John McCartan. Individual talent alone wasn’t enough though, and Sean O’Neill’s influence on their surge to national honours was seismic.

Donnan said: “He was a really interesting, different sort of manager. He was a real inspiration. He was great at lifting us all. His backroom team was a great wee team too – Tony Hadden, Paul Lambe, Sean McManus and Sean Laverty. They were just great at getting the best out of us.

“Sean used to have a set routine that we always did. You almost felt bored at times, but you knew exactly what you were doing fitness-wise every night, and he’d time us.

“Coming into the final, about three or four weeks beforehand, he said: ‘Right, usually I’d be shouting and pushing you on the whole way round. But at this stage, if I need to shout to inspire you boys to keep going and you’re in an All-Ireland final – then there’s something wrong.’

“I think we took about 20 per cent off the time without him even opening his mouth. He had us all so hyped up.”

Donnan originally hails from Atticall, a small club whose chief accomplishment in Donnan’s day was a Junior Championship won in 1979. Schools football was the shop window for Donnan.

“I was lucky too. I was one of those people who fell on my feet. I got into a team that was doing well all the way through.

“We had boys like John McCartan and Mickey McDonald at St Colman’s. We won the Corn na nÓg, the Rannafast, three MacRory Cups and a Hogan Cup. I captained a MacRory team one year, which was unusual for a goalkeeper.

“That’s what got me into the county panel really. I came from Atticall, a small third division club, and because of the school you got noticed. If you’re just with a club team, you never really get noticed as much.

“The schools football definitely helped a lot, and after winning the All-Ireland minor title, I moved into the senior final later that year.”

In 1979, Down surged to All-Ireland honours at U21 level. Captained by Ned King, they could also call upon perhaps the pre-eminent playmaker of his generation, Greg Blayney. Donnan says their fitness levels were through the roof that year.

“We won a couple of Ulster U21 titles but 1979 was the big year. That team was another great group of lads.

“Val Kane from the Abbey did all the physical work for us. We played Cork in the final, and at that stage I felt we could have played Cork and then got the next best team in Ireland out after them and we’d have beaten them as well.

“I don’t think any of us were ever as fit in our lives. Val had us unbelievably fit and strong.”

Success at senior level wasn’t immediately forthcoming, at least on the national stage. Yes they won the 1981 Ulster title, but Donnan says their eighties story was ultimately one of underachievement.

“We just didn’t come through as a group. I don’t understand why, but we didn’t. Some boys dropped off, others got injured and things like that.

We did well enough, we did okay, but we just couldn’t go that final bit. It was almost as if there was a hoodoo about Croke Park in those days – once we got there, we didn’t know what to do with ourselves.”

Next year will mark the 50th anniversary of their All-Ireland Minor winning success of 1977. Donnan doesn’t get all misty-eyed about those days, but they’re lovely memories to have.

“I’ve one or two pictures around the house. Visitors come in from time to time and look at them and ask what they’re about.

“One of them is from the minors in ’77. It was taken out on the pitch. There was a woman who was a young photographer at the time and she took a photo of me after the game with the crowd behind me. She entered it into some sports photography competition and won something for it. She sent me a copy afterwards. It’s just nice to have.

“A lot of the younger lads here [in Macclesfield] are United or City fans and talk about the crowds at Old Trafford or the Etihad. They can’t believe I played in front of 60,000 people in Croke Park.”

Donnan resisted the temptation to hang up the boots in the immediate aftermath of their All-Ireland win of 1991. By that stage Down could also call upon a batch of players who starred in the county’s run to the All-Ireland Minor success in 1987. Donnan was your classic elder statesman and eventually called it quits in 1993.

“I was sub goalkeeper at the end of my career. I’d been there since ’77 – 14 or 15 years at that stage. I had a really long career, I stayed until ’93.

“It was funny because Austy [Liam Austin] was always a publicity hound! He always knew when to talk to the press. He told me one night at training that he was going to retire, and I said: ‘That’s good to know.’

“The press were there to say goodbye to Austy and take photos and all that sort of thing. I walked behind Pete McGrath, leaned over his shoulder and said: ‘I’m off as well – bye,’ and walked out the door. Nobody noticed.

“I quietly disappeared. I told a couple of the boys – Neil [Collins] and some of the lads I was close to – and that was it. I didn’t make a fuss. I just walked away.”

That man Liam Austin had soldiered alongside Donnan for many, many years. He was part of the All-Ireland U21 winning side of 1979, but times were different then, and he’d already been playing at senior intercounty level for a number of years.

The influence of his father, also called Liam, can’t be overstated.

“As a young fella, I was very, very fortunate. It’s a unique story really because my father was very closely associated with the Down team of 1968. We lived in Belfast before moving to Rostrevor and he used to take the lads from Trench House Training College –Colm McAlarney, Peter Rooney and those boys – to training.

“He was an avid supporter and trainer with Down, and I used to go along with him. I’d collect balls at training in Newcastle, giving the ball back to the players after they were taking shots. So I got an insight into senior county football from a very young age, and I was very fortunate to be around in those days.”

Indeed, Liam’s father was team manager in 1976 when Rostrevor won their inaugural Down Senior Championship title. Liam’s life revolved around football at that stage – club, colleges and county football – and in a peculiar sort of way, the All-Ireland U21 title of 1979 wasn’t really a massive deal.

“Cork were a very good team, but so were we, and we were very confident going into that final. We had a very, very strong side.

“U21 football back then didn’t have the same prestige or publicity that it has nowadays. I’m not saying it wasn’t important – it absolutely was and it was still great to win – but it was viewed more as another championship that had to be played.

“Today there’s far greater importance attached to it.”

He presents an important caveat though – the Croke Park factor.

“To experience Croke Park at that young age was absolutely tremendous.

“I honestly think the game has suffered from losing some of that sense of occasion. Talking to players from my era, they’d absolutely agree with that.”

Austin believes that the bonds forged at underage level carried through to senior intercounty and can’t be downplayed as a factor in their later success in the nineties.

“The boys you played with at minor and U21 level were the same lads you ended up playing senior football with, so naturally we became very close. That togetherness was a huge strength for us. We looked out for each other.”

Down blazed a trail but internally the camp felt they were in the last-chance saloon.

“When 1991 came around, there was an Armagh-Down match in the first round of Ulster – knockout football, no second chances. I remember people saying very clearly after we played in Newry that you couldn’t make a decent team out of the two counties put together.

“But it’s amazing what can happen once you get a run going, especially in knockout football.

“For a lot of us, it was coming near the end of our careers. I remember a lot of very forthright conversations about it: ‘This is it, fellas. We’ve had ten years of county football. It’s going to end soon, and this may be our only opportunity, so we’ve got to take it.’

“That became a huge driving force for us. I remember being at a meeting in a hotel in Dublin – I think Dermot Earley was speaking – and he said that his one great regret in football was that he never played on All-Ireland final day. That was a very powerful thing to hear.”

So Liam got his day in the sun. He came on for the final quarter of their historic 1991 showdown against Meath – backs against the wall time after racking up a considerable lead. They held on though to win a first All-Ireland for the county (and for Ulster) since the legendary Down team of the sixties. Making it extra special was the presence of his younger brother Jarlath on the team.

“I was very honoured to get onto the field in an All-Ireland final. After 17 years involved with Down football, for it all to finish that way, at that level, you couldn’t really ask for anything better.”