Nothing beats being there: The buzz of a packed championship venue

There are two plum Ulster semi-finals this weekend. After Down’s electrifying win over Donegal, the Gaels of Ulster can taste another dose of action. Former Monaghan Karl O’Connell helps explain why. Michael McMullan writes…

There were so many turning points in Down’s win over Donegal, it’s impossible to know where to dig the spade into first.

Sunday in Letterkenny’s O’Donnell Park was one of those days to be remembered.

Donegal will have the sick feeling of knowing their three-in-a-row bubble had burst.

If Down go on to win silverware, it will always be a point of reference.

For the neutral, it will be another instalment in how the footballing landscape is changing. Favourites no longer have the comfort blanket.

With that comes a level of hope and quiet confidence from any plucky underdog.

Among the handshakes and the backslaps after Sunday’s blockbuster, everyone had a moment they felt the game hinged on.

In post-game interviews, Conor Laverty, Ceilum Doherty and Micéal Rooney gave their two cents. All three referenced Caolan Mooney’s buzzer beater to put Down one point up at half-time.

It wasn’t the winning of the game but it was a statement. It was a deserved lead, for the ambition, bravery, excitement and sheer directness with how they played.

As the players trotted towards the mouth of the Jim McDaid stand, the Down fans – in their minority – were on their feet again. There was an electricity in the air no radio or television coverage will have done justice to. As the saying goes – nothing beats being here.

PACKED HOUSE…Down manager Conor Laverty pictured along the sideline during Down’s win over Donegal on Sunday in Letterkenny

Micéal Rooney nailed it. When you have scooped the ball, literally out of the net, to help your club win an All-Ireland, you know what big moments look like. Rooney was that man on Kilcoo’s biggest day.

“I loved it, I thought it was brilliant,” he said when asked of the impact of playing in front of last Sunday’s packed O’Donnell Park.

“We were outnumbered by Donegal, probably just with the venue and the size of the crowd. At half-time, when Moons (Mooney) scored with the outside of the right, the Down supporters got a real extra voice after that.”

The fact that Rooney, seconds after the whistle, was able to accurately describe how Mooney wrapped his right foot around the shot, frames the level of its importance.

“I just felt the energy and the reaction that we got off that was brilliant,” Rooney continued. “At half-time, Lav (Conor Laverty) was brilliant.

“The lads were brilliant in what they spoke about and how Lav spoke this week. We came here today with full belief that we were going to win. That’s the truth. It never crossed my mind once that we were going to get beat today.”

Laverty used every available angle to gain an edge. Finding out on the previous Thursday that Michael Langan was out. That Odhrán Murdock being tracked by Caolan McGonagle would give Down a chance to unlock the middle.

From the now famed RTÉ graphic that already had Donegal into the final to the 10 consecutive days in each other’s company, they did it all. Every box was ticked as they morphed from a disappointed dressing room after winning the league final to last Sunday’s beautiful mayhem.

While recovery was the important word in Letterkenny and the window to prepare for Clones on Sunday getting ever smaller, Laverty had another important piece of business.

Knowing the Down Supporters’ Club were heading for sustenance in Peter Canavan’s hostelry on the way home, he made sure to stop in and thank them personally for their backing. This day and all the days before that.

Regardless of the venue, there will be a busload of Down fans on the road – hail, rain or shine. Win or lose.

There have been plenty of dark days. This was one of the brightest and Laverty made sure the loyal core of fans knew the importance of their backing.

In an era of increased food and fuel costs, tickets still have to be bought and their prices are often a bone of contention.

Long before Down shot into their 0-8 to 0-4 lead on Sunday, the Down fans in the Jim McDaid Stand were giving it socks. They sensed it was going to be one of those days.

With Tony McEntee the man on the Down sideline in the first half, Laverty was at the back of the stand, just in front of the media box, giving it absolute socks too.

A manager always has a better view from higher up. Jack O’Connor always watches the first half from the stand.

On Sunday, Laverty’s voice in the vicinity of the fans certainly did no harm to ramp up the sense of, one in, all in.

With Armagh fans having their “turn Clones orange” call out early, Sunday’s semi-final looks like being another one of those days when nothing beats being there.

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Former Monaghan flyer Karl O’Connell knows all about playing in a packed house when the championship heat was at its whitest.

Since calling time on a decorated career during the autumn, Saturday’s semi-final showdown with be just the second championship game he will be watching from outside the team bubble.

As a guest on this week’s Gaelic Lives podcast, the Tyholland man was chewing the fat ahead of a bumper semi-final weekend in Ulster.

What’s it like running out at a packed Clones? That moment when you jog out of a cramped dressing room, take a turn at the end of the corner and hit the wall of noise that every young kid dreams of.

“I probably have that different feeling of being from Monaghan, obviously, because of where Clones is, but it’s absolutely unbelievable,” O’Connell said.

Having being involved in three consecutive Ulster finals, 2013 and 2015 brought silver and joy with the pain of defeat wedged in between.

“You just see the pitch straight away and as soon as the first person’s out of the tunnel, the crowd are just on their feet,” O’Connell said, while also commenting how talking about the magical Sundays reopened a door on the emotive memories.

CELEBRATION TIME…Rory Beggan, Ryan Wylie and Karl O’Connell celebrate winning the 2015 Ulster title in Clones

“It’s a magnificent stadium. It’s been a great home for Ulster football and hopefully it may continue like that.”

Down’s turning of the tables has ramped up the interest ahead of this weekend’s semi-finals. Derry have eyes on another Ulster final. His former Monaghan teammates will be thinking the same.

Armagh still crave that elusive Ulster win after all their years on the championship tightrope. Then you have Down and their 32-year Ulster famine. Add in how close Down ran McGeeney’s men two years ago.

Whoever is left standing by Sunday evening will pack Clones later this month for the final. Looking back on his own career, O’Connell can still taste the 2013 final and beating All-Ireland champions Donegal.

“I remember us coming out from the tunnel and the warm up,” he said. “The place was just on its feet, from both sets of fans.”

After the solace of being in the dressing room the outside world can be chaos. A newcomer can either shrink or grow.

Monaghan had won the minor title beforehand and it added to the occasion with Malachy O’Rourke’s side racing into an early position of strength. Kieran Hughes made a point for older brother Darren and they were on the pig’s back.

“You honestly feel like people are going to fall on top of you,” O’Connell said, “because of just the noise that they’re making.

“It’s just that sea of blue. I remember Tommy Freeman coming on, the roar and he got a point.”

With the final whistle approaching, O’Connell can still picture people trying to battle the fence to get a vantage point for the pitch invasion that just engulfed the pitch. Lush green became a heaving sea of blue in a matter of seconds.

That term comes back again. A day not to be forgotten. Emotion and experience to be bottled and stowed away.

The value of the crowd is about so much more than celebration. When the chips are down, a roar of approval can inspire.

“There’s a time that you need, probably just that roar from an interception or a big score,” O’Connell said.

“Players do react to that as well and it’s a big part. You want to play in the best stadiums, you want to play in them packed out as much as possible and, obviously, you want to win these games as well.”

Back to Sunday in Letterkenny. O’Connell is glued to the telly as the action unfolds. As someone who has walked the walk, he knows the heat a footballing pressure cooker can generate.

When Jason McGee lands a two-pointer, the sides are level at 1-15 each and the Donegal crowd gets behind them.

A turning point? Possibly. Down got their kick-out away razor sharp leading to Odhrán Murdock’s disputed point.

Asked after the game if McGee’s score was Donegal’s second bite at winning the game, Jim McGuinness disagreed.

“There was energy at that stage but not enough,” McGuinness said. “There just wasn’t enough energy to win the game. We would have stolen it in some respects.”

The Donegal boss felt Down deserved credit for how they took out their spade and kept on digging. Their fans were helping carry away whatever it was they were shovelling away from the front line. The minority voices were again the loudest.

CLONES CAULDRON…Derry fan Mícheál Murray is down the street on Ulster final day 2022

O’Connell also points to Caolan McGonagle’s goal as Down’s four-point lead evaporated. Another reason why favourites always find a way out of a dark corner.

“I’d say everyone’s natural reaction, Donegal were not playing well but they got a goal, there’s a good chance they’re going to go on and win,” O’Connell remembers thinking.

A Mogan two-pointer was another rib tickler when the fat was in the fire again. It made the score 2-19 to 1-19 with five to play, almost wiping out Rooney’s first goal from seconds earlier.

“You’re just thinking, right, maybe Donegal will push on here, but they didn’t,” O’Connell felt.

Ronan Burns was getting joy from their kick-outs and Down were backing, what O’Connell called, their “speed demons” to inflict the incessant damage.

“The Down crowd were just getting on top of them straight away,” he added.

Another side of the fanbase debate is the day when the stadium isn’t packed. Maybe not even half-full. There can be an edginess.

“That’s probably the beauty of these new rules, that it allows probably a bit more excitement,” O’Connell also pointed out.

“There’s an awful lot more kicking now, there’s an awful lot more space to run into, and, again, that allows people to be a bit more direct.”

He compares it to what a sparsely attended game sounded like under the old rules, thinking back to their 2024 defeat at the hands of Cavan.

“The teams had two tough league campaigns and it was a real edgy game,” O’Connell recalls.

“It was probably the first time in my playing career, I could just feel the crowd getting a wee bit edgy with the players.

“It wasn’t because of the crowd or anything like that, but it was just coming in off two tough league campaigns.

“Both teams were just waiting to see who would strike first and, in the end, it didn’t go our way.

“I don’t think the crowd played a big part of it, but there are times when the crowd does give you a roar that a player on the field does get that lift from, that spark.”

Karl O’Connell will be hoping the Monaghan players and fans can combine to create chemistry on Saturday evening in Armagh.

Derry will cross their fingers and pray it’s not enough to pull them from the long grass and back into another final.

The Down supporters will filter into Clones on Sunday with a new friend – belief. They’ll need it against what will be a sea of orange.

Last Sunday in Letterkenny was a day that will stand the test of time. Another reason why there will be always be a louder voice to champion the Ulster Championship, than the one that wants it to diffuse into the background.

It’s time to buckle up. Nothing beats being here.