7 days ago
'East Coast Football' rising ahead of first ever Louth, Down Championship tie
'East Coast Football' was one of the more bizarre quotes of recent times.
It really meant Dublin when Jim Gavin coined it first, but with the rise of Louth - and Meath on a roll - it seems more apt than ever now.
Could Down be the next 'East Coast' county to make their mark as they face Louth at Pairc Esler on Saturday evening in a crucial Round 2 All-Ireland encounter?
Astonishingly, it will be the first ever meeting of the sides who share a border along the M1 motorway.
Carlingford Lough splits the counties. The popular tourist village is the Dundalk/Newry Riviera, a weekend and summer playground for locals on both sides of the border.
Down are the historical power here, and carried the Sam Maguire through Louth five times on their way home from Croke Park, but the playing field has leveled off.
In this year's Division 2 campaign, they both finished on six points with Louth surviving thanks to a final round win over Meath.
In the group stages, Louth edged Down out by 2-17 to 0-22 at Ardee.
But, in the meantime, Ger Brennan's reds landed a first Leinster senior title since 1957, while the Wee County are riding the crest of a wave at underage level.
Their senior breakthrough may have played a factor in Louth's paltry tally of eight points - they also shot four goals - against Monaghan's 1-23 in last weekend's All-Ireland opener, while a week earlier Down thumped Clare by 3-27 to 1-16.
It appears to be Louth's time, but they have just seven days to get the show back on the road again, presenting a major opportunity to Down - one they've had to be patient for.
Down, the aristocrats of Ulster football, the first side from the six counties to take the Sam Maguire across the border (1960), the mighty Mourne men, the red and black devils have been in the wilderness for over three decades now.
They've had to look on as Tyrone (4), Armagh (2) and Donegal (1) have claimed All-Ireland titles since their last triumph, back in 1994.
Very much the unloved child of Ulster football in recent years, all the talk has been of Tyrone, Donegal, Derry and Armagh.
And, the side they could meet in the final round of this year's All-Ireland round robin, with a coveted last eight place on the line, Monaghan, are starting to make waves too.
Conor Laverty's first Championship game in charge of Down was in April 2023, a 2-13 to 1-11 victory over Donegal.
Almost 10,000 fans turned up in Newry, but it was a Donegal side in chaos after the resignation of manager Paddy Carr during the National League.
It seemed though that the Laverty factor might lead to instant success, or at least fasttrack it.
As a player Laverty had won 10 Down Championships, two Ulster clubs and one All-Ireland (as joint-captain).
Of far more relevance though were/are, his Ulster Under-20 title wins as Down manager in 2021 and 2023.
In fact, he's the only manager to prevent Tyrone winning the Ulster under-20 title since Mickey Donnelly (Derry) in 2018, with Tyrone native Donnelly now part of Laverty's Down set-up.
Armagh delivered a dose of reality on Down's next big day out after the Donegal win, hitting them for four goals in a 10 point Ulster semi-final win.
Down had come off a Division 3 campaign. Next year, three seasons on from that, they'll play Division 3 football again, after being relegated a few weeks ago.
Progress hasn't been linear. It's been steady rather than monumental, but that's not all that surprising given the low base Down are coming from.
No Ulster title since 1994 is only the half of it. But, they've stayed patient and stayed working.
Along the way, Laverty added Ciaran Meenagh to his coaching ticket, after he left Derry following the departure of Rory Gallagher - and the county's last gasp 2023 All-Ireland semi-final defeat by Kerry.
Landing Meenagh, with his attention to detail and experience from his time with Derry, was a real sign of intent.
That promise has yet to be fulfilled with a huge turnover of players
Laverty has gone with youth and rebuilt his side. Just six players who started the Donegal 2023 game started against Clare 12 days ago: Pierce Laverty, Danny Magill, Daniel Guinness, Ceilum Doherty, Ryan McEvoy and Pat Havern.
There are signs that they're getting there. It went largely unnoticed last year that Down pushed Armagh to one point in the Ulster semi-final.
But for big displays from Aidan Forker and Rian O'Neill, McGeeney's All-Ireland champions in waiting would have been beaten.
That defeat represented an eight point improvement on the year before against Armagh, although in 2024 they scored just 2-6 and played 15 men behind the ball for most of the game.
This year Down were fortunate to defeat Fermanagh in the Ulster quarter-final, showing great resilience to hit two late goals in a 2-19 to 0-23 victory.
Ulster Championship games are for winning. In the semi-final they fell to a six point defeat by Donegal, 1-19 to 0-16. They had a safety net though.
Down are a great advertisement for the Tailteann Cup.
They wouldn't be in the All-Ireland this year, or in with a serious chance of topping their group and going straight through to claim one of the four automatic All-Ireland quarter-final places on offer, if they hadn't won it last season.
While some counties have struggled with buy-in, it reflects well on Laverty and co that they got enough player commitment to win the second tier championship.
It was the first final they'd won after 12 decider defeats on the bounce, going all the way back to the 1994 All-Ireland Final, including the 2010 All-Ireland decider.
Laverty and Down needed that victory badly as they'd lost the Division 3 Final at Croke Park a few months earlier and the Tailteann Cup decider the year before against Meath.
It was a serious monkey off the back for Down football, as this group eyes up a first All-Ireland quarter-final since 2010 against a Louth side who made thier first ever quarter-final last year.
'East Coast Football' abu.
