Tailteann Cup semi-final: Down v Sligo (Sunday, Croke Park, 4pm, RTÉ2)
Conor Laverty’s playing days were characterised by quick thinking and even quicker movement.
Even though the Kilcoo man was still wringing out the last days of his playing career when he took over as Down manager in late 2022, he has always been an astute student of the game.
Laverty is one of those sponge-like characters who is constantly absorbing information and pulling learning from every source he can.
Banking information is one thing, however, turning it into tangible thinking and actions is another.
Last Saturday, for example, during Down’s Tailteann Cup quarter-final win over Wicklow, James Guinness received a yellow card after 21 minutes. He was substituted three minutes later.
When Mickey Moran was Slaughtneil manager, he abhorred his players getting red cards. That unapologetic discipline clearly rubbed off on Laverty when Moran moved to Kilcoo and helped them deliver an All-Ireland title.
The Down boss was taking no chances. He learns from people and he learns from events.
Down have got themselves back to a Tailteann Cup semi-final again this year after finishing runners-up in the competition to Meath in 2023.
Last year, they narrowly missed out on promotion from Division Three, this year they secured it with some ease.
Going a step further in the second-tier competition is the next box to tick.
That they are vying for the same trophy again is due to their inability to beat Westmeath in the Division Three final. That was one of very few blots on their 2024 copy book.
This year has been a campaign very much informed by Laverty’s first year in charge in 2023.
The final defeat to Meath came about largely because the Royals smothered Down’s quick running game, packing the area around the square and stopping them scoring those characteristically Kilcoo goals.
Down had found the net eight times in their semi-final win over Laois last year, they barely got sniff in the final.
They haven’t totally abandoned that tactic in 2024 – goals have still flowed – but they have placed a greater emphasis on shooting from distance and the totals they have racked up in the Tailteann Cup bear this out.
It’s not just the amount of scores, but the manner of them. They are attempting scores from 35-40 metres out with a pretty decent success rate.
Against Wicklow, Pat Havern boomed over points from either wing, Ryan McEvoy made marauding runs from deep to take on shots and Shealan Johnston too showed an insatiable appetite for the posts.
Wrapping up Down’s running game is one way of blunting their attacking threat, but they have shown this season that their attacking game has developed beyond that.
Laverty remarked in the wake of the win over Wicklow: ““We’ve really emphasised that in training, we’ve gone after that very hard so I feel the boys’ striking is really good. Look at Shealan [Johnston] there today, I thought his connection of the ball was brilliant.
“We have the ability for lads to kick scores from 35, 40 metres. It’s just, once the pressure is on, just executing that.”
While McEvoy has proved an attacking threat for Down from full-back, he has also been a defensive rock.
His tussle with Sean Carrabine was a fascinating aspect of the Division Three clash with Down and Sligo in Newry in March, which the home side ultimately won comfortably.
The Sligo forward was at the forefront of their win over Limerick in last weekend’s quarter-final and he will carry the attacking threat for the Yeatsmen again today.
Ceilum Doherty’s running from deep and goal were key components of that win, but the Kilcoo man has struggled with injury in recent weeks.
He hasn’t started since the Ulster semi-final defeat to Armagh, but came off the bench against Wicklow and scored a point.
Sligo have had relatively smooth progress to the four. A draw against Antrim in a slugfest in Cavan allowed them to top their group and they easily swatted Limerick aside last weekend.
They showed that they can rise to the occasion when they came close to shocking Galway in the Connacht Championship, so Tony McEntee will have no worries about Down being competition favourites, in fact it’s something they’ll thrive on.