IT GIVES me no great pleasure to write this week’s column.
Down’s defeat to Wexford last weekend was shambolic. Unfortunately, I have to agree with the opinions of Dessie Dolan and Tomás Ó Sé, who expressed disbelief and shock when Down manager Jim McCorry said the height of ambition for the year was promotion to Division One and appeared to accept being beaten by a Division Four team in the Championship.
Is this now the measure of a Down team’s ambition, when promotion to Division One is seen as a significant achievement in comparison to two Championship matches, beaten on both occasions by Division Two and Division Four teams respectively?
I was surprised by Down achieving promotion, as were many other Down fans. I previously stated that I thought they overachieved. In a number of games, they should have been beaten, but showed character and determination in grinding out a result. I fear for them next year.
You can have no doubt that the guys on the panel will be feeling particularly disheartened this week. There is no doubt they have worked extremely hard since last October, only to be dumped out in June. Put simply, the players of Down have been let down and the county lacks leadership and direction.
The underfunding of development squads and the absence of former Down players in strategy and development coaching, have resulted in Down football sinking to its lowest ebb. How ironic is it that Pete McGrath is ushering in a new era in Fermanagh while the one county he truly loves falls even further behind the chasing pack?
James McCartan really extracted the best from a group of players who left an All-Ireland behind in Dublin in 2010. There is no doubt this management team was helped by Brian McIver and Paddy Tally and I always contended it was a huge mistake to let both men go in 2011.
You will hear the usual PR soundings of ‘The Down Way’ and transition in the coming months and, probably, years. I think most Down fans see through this for what it is.
When the job became available last year, a statement of intent was needed. Tony McEntee and Colm ONeill wanted the job, had a clear plan and direction which carried a certain price tag, had the medals to back up their pedigree in management, but were overlooked. I was aware of their plan, which involved managing the more experienced players in a way which extracted the very best from them come Championship time. A professional structure, it was not just confined to the senior team, with the footprint being replicated at all levels in the county.
Instead, they opted to appoint from within the club structures of the county. No club in Down has won an Ulster title since Burren in 1988. It makes sense, then, to suggest that club football in Down isn’t particularly strong.
Kilcoo may have won three county championships in recent years but, despite their best efforts, they never succeeded in Ulster. However, considering the size of the parish, they are an example of what can be achieved when structures are put in place at youth level. Kilcoo’s playing style was based around collective effort and counter-attacking.
Jim McCorry is a self-assured man and believes in his ability as a manager. There is nothing wrong with that, particularly when players can easily identify self-doubt and weakness in a changing room. But, unfortunately, trying to replicate a club team within a county set-up is an experiment which was doomed from the start.
Aidan Carr played very little football in the League, yet McCorry opted to start him at full-back in the Division Two final, a position Aidan has never played before. Conor Garvey could not buy a start in the League, or indeed the Ulster Championship game against Derry, yet he started the Qualifier in Wexford. Despite the clear assertion that Down are light up front and non-existent at midfield, these deficiencies were never addressed with a more physical presence.
They say, in many areas of life, that it’s not personal, it’s merely business. But now, when the season begins to separate the wheat from the chaff, if Down were a business, they would be in administration. Not one Championship win for any of the Down teams at minor, U21 or senior level in 2015 and you can see why recent results are a sad indictment for a county such as Down.
Then again, given the new ambitions of the county, the so-called Down Way will not be a factor for change in the county.
The only certainty is this.
If this result had occurred in the second or third year of a manager’s tenure, there would be little prospect of them surviving for another season. Then again, who would want the manager’s job, given the experience of McEntee and O'Neill?
In Down’s case, the problems only start at the manager’s door. In reality, you have to go much deeper and, with this, we can categorically state that ‘The Down Way’ is dead.
Prepare for the wake.
