Down hurlers have been making their Marc

Down will hurl in Division One next season. Marc Fisher looks forward to it, having battled his way in their promotion charge. He spoke with Michael McMullan

HURLING has been everywhere for Marc Fisher. He remembers a March Sunday in 2007 when Cork came to a snowy Ballygalget.

The Rebels needed a Cathal Naughton point to pull through. Fisher remembers it all. His first Down memory. Joe Deane, an icon of hurling, there in the flesh.

Sunday was always hurling in Ballygalget. In the days of senior and reserve double-headers, he’d look on as Gareth ‘Magic’ Johnston and Stephen Clarke whizzed the sliotar around.

“Going up and constantly hurling, constantly going to the club. We’d stay to watch the senior training after our own training,” Fisher said of those early impressionable years.

His mother is Doran from Portaferry. Padraig Doran a first cousin. In the early says, Fisher nearly threw his lot in with Portaferry until Peter ‘Growler’ McGrattan had his say.

“My father was the one that got me involved in hurling,” Fisher said. “He would have worked with ‘Growler’ who would have been heavily involved with Ballygalget. He told my dad to bring me along to the hurling and that was it.”

Just out the door of u-16, he made his senior debut on Shea Casey against Loughgiel in 2014, a year after Ballygalget were crowned Down champions. In at the deep end.

At county level, Fisher can barely remember a year when current senior manager Ronan Sheehan wasn’t coaching him. If ever.

In the days before the Celtic Challenge, Down didn’t set the world alight. They were Ulster Minor champions in 2012. Fisher came in the following season.

During their years with development squads, they trained twice a week with a game at the weekend. There are memories of games at St Colman’s College and a final in Páirc Esler against this weekend’s opponents Carlow. Gerard Hughes and Liam Savage were among those hurling with him on that Down side.

When his county senior career began, Fisher was called into a training panel ahead of the league under manager Michael Johnston.

As they finalised their league preparations, they had a game against Ballyhale Shamrocks who were eyeing a tilt at the All-Ireland Club series.

“We went to the Armagh City Hotel before to get the breakfast,” Fisher recalls.

Johnston beckoned Fisher, Savage and Jordan Doran into a meeting room. The three young bucks. They were issued with three pieces of paper with a paragraph summary of the strengths that warranted a county trial.

At the bottom of the piece of paper was a question. What did they want to get out of the day?

At the time, Henry Shefflin, James ‘Cha’ Fitzpatrick and TJ Reid were the leading Ballyhale lights.

The three Down gasáns took out their pens. Savage said he wanted to mark Shefflin. Fisher remembers saying he wanted to mix it with the big boys. They scrolled a few words and thought nothing off it. Surely, they’d not get a minute of action.

At half-time in the game, Johnston told them he’d read their goals. Fisher was put on Reid, Savage on Shefflin with Doran paired up on Fitzpatrick. It was time to put their big boy pants on. The welcome of welcomes to senior county hurling.

“He didn’t care what way the result went,” Fisher remembers. “He put us on three of the biggest hurlers in Ireland.

“At half-time he put us all on, as a 17-year-old kid, coming on and playing them boys, that’s almost like a dream come true before you can start playing for your county.”

For Fisher, it was back to club action. His competitive senior career would have to wait but he’d made a start.

***

By hook or by crook, Down failed to pull themselves out of Division 2B. Fisher remembers all the near misses. All quality games but Down always fell short.

Wicklow edged them in a final in Navan despite topping the group in 2014. There was a midtable finish the following year. In 2016, again after finishing top, they lost a final to Armagh.

Meath and Wicklow finished above them the year after that. Mayo beat them in the 2018 decider in Cavan.

“They just ran us ragged,” he said of Mayo. “They were by far the better team that day. So, I would never say it was our bad doing that just couldn’t get out of 2B.

“Some of the games were very competitive and very tight, Wicklow especially. I remember going down to Aughrim a couple of times and they were hard games to get a win.”

Ronan Sheehan and the Down players just kept on trucking. Sheehan, the king of facilitators, would never take a penny of expenses. It was all about Down hurling.

He’d attract Diarmuid O’Sullivan and Ryan O’Dwyer to help with the coaching. More recently, it has been Trevor Fletcher who has been hands on polishing their game.

An eighth-minute Richie Mullan goal won the game for Derry in January 2020, before the Covid lockdown. Another Down promotion failure?

Not this time. When the country opened up again, they navigated their way back to the decider and Down turned the tables on Derry in the league final. A commanding win. Bye bye Division 2B.

There was a mid-table finish in 2A before they made it through to the 2022 final only to be crushed by Westmeath.

Down’s core of players stuck together and they picked up young blood from talent coming in with Mageean Cup experience. Add in games in the u-20 B All-Ireland. More cogs. With nobody dropping off, Sheehan was able to keep on building.

On top of the hurling coaching, performance company Bia came on board to look after the players’ conditioning. They met in pods to get the work done.

Between power, pace and a sharpness in the wrist, Down’s overall package began to grow. It was their passport to pushing to the next level. To Division One hurling.

Sheehan equipped them with the same building blocks Carlow, Offaly and Laois had.

“From 2B to where we are now, I would say the massive thing was a big attitude change,” Fisher said.

No longer were they trying to squeeze a club game into the county schedule like in the past. It was about recovery and preparation. A professional mindset.

At its core, players who’ve been pushing their shoulder to the collective wheel for seven years. For Down. For the group. For the cause.

That’s why their 5-19 to 1-17 league final defeat to Westmeath two years ago hurt. After topping the group, they didn’t do themselves justice. Another crossroads.

“I would say after that league final, there was a massive attitude change,” Fisher adds.

They were close but hadn’t delivered. The following year, they survived relegation on score difference thanks to a draw with Derry on the final game of the campaign in Ballycran.

WE DID IT…Down celebrate winning the Division Two title back in March

Down did what stood to them in the Division 2B crusade. They dusted themselves down, picked up the pieces and went at it again.

Defeats to Carlow and Laois led them to mid-table again. They saw an opportunity this season and went at it. An opening round win over Kildare laid the foundations on a campaign that delivered promotion with a game to spare.

Beating the Lilywhites in the league final was the icing on the cake. Silverware. Reward for their crusade as they mixed with their friends and family in the middle of the Inniskeen pitch.

Their success is everyone’s success. Many of the players are sons of former players. Fisher hails the efforts of men like Diarmuid O’Sullivan and his Cork experience. The input of Ryan O’Dwyer.

“It all comes from the players, alongside the people that have come in,” he said.

“Trevor’s (Fletcher) been involved many different teams and he’s as professional as they come.

“It’s probably a mix between the players own attitudes and then having them boys.”

Add in goalkeeper coach Brendan McLaughlin and you soon get a picture of all the pieces.

There is the strength in depth. Players to come in and make a difference. In a county picking from a small – albeit it’s growing – number of clubs.

Fisher used the example of goalkeeper Stephen Keith, their oldest player, to emphasise the point that nobody leaves the circle.

“He has a couple of kids at home but he stays on,” he said. “Whether he really stays on for himself or for the team, he’s a prime example of how Down have got back to Division One.”

Big saves in big moments. Fisher uses “freak” to describe his talent. From saving penalties in a shootout win over Offaly to making two blocks to close off Kildare’s pathway into the recent league final.

“A lot of the players we’ve known each other for years,” he added.

“Much of the team is around the age of 30 to 25 where we’ve played together on various teams.”

They’ll fight to the death for each other. There will be bite between them at club level, but when the Down jersey goes on, they are all in it together.

“As Paul Sheehan said a couple of weeks ago on a (The Smaller Fish) podcast, we’re all just so close,” Fisher continues.

“There are no enemies in the team, everybody is friends. Maybe that does add to it too, I don’t know.

“Maybe we look into it too much but if you are going to trust the boy who is beside you or coming behind you, it all falls into place.”

The cement is Ronan Sheehan. He brings everything together. Fisher could ask him for or to do anything. It’s vice-versa.

“I’m sure every single player looks at Ronan the same way,” said Fisher of the man who took him under his wing as an underage Down player.

“He’s a facilitator like he brings in the right coaches. We wouldn’t have been out of Division 2B if it wasn’t for Ronan and we also wouldn’t be out of Division Two if it wasn’t for Ronan.

“He’s been there for seven or eight years and we’ve got ourselves the Division One, so he must be doing something right.”

***

Down face Carlow this weekend. It’s the start of the Joe McDonagh Cup. They’ve yet to win it. They’ve yet to reach a final.

Is this the year? Who can tell. One thing is certain. Down are playing Division One hurling next season. They’ll face Wexford and Clare. Dublin are there too. There will be an Ulster derby with Antrim.

“You look at every single kid that picks up a hurling stick, that’s their dream, to play Division One hurling,” Fisher said.

“At the age of 28 I’m content that my dream has come true. I’m sure every other player on our team has thought the exact same thing.

“We’re going to be playing against Lee Chin, Tony Kelly and Shane O’Donnell next year. They’re just they’re so excited to get going.”

It’s like a kid thinking about Christmas during the summer holidays. Their dreams are not immediate.

“There’s an awful lot of work to do before that happens and Carlow is the next step,” Fisher said as he wraps up his emotions on their successful 2025 to date.

“It’s unreal. The buzz that there is around the country. You’d be walking into the coffee shop and people are telling you “Well done”. People that you might not even know.”

When you knocked on the Division 2B door as many times as Fisher and Down have, you are entitled to savour the good times.

“You’re excited to be going to training now,” he said. “You’re buzzing to be getting there and getting the work done knowing we have the big boys coming to town next year.”

Paul Sheehan’s podcast interview crops up again and how he told host Colm Parkinson about hurling being a religion in their neck of the woods.

“He was 100 per cent correct,” Fisher concluded. “Everybody you meet is talking about hurling or going to hurling or bringing their kids to hurling.

It’s fantastic and our win will only boost it more.”

When Fisher and Daithi Sands took the cup to Ballygalget Primary School, they could see the smiling faces. Excitement. Kids with heroes to follow.

“It makes you take a wee step back and I thought it was how I looked at Paul Braniff or ‘Magic’ Johnson and these boys. It’s brilliant and it makes you feel proud to play.”

Down hurling has risen. There have been a number of factors. From the day he picked up TJ Reid for his first taste of life as senior hurler, Fisher has left his mark. Himself and many others. It’s a story of persistence.