After making his Championship debut in 2006 against Sligo, Down ace Mark Poland announced his inter-county retirement earlier this month. He made 34 Championship appearances and scored 3-46. He lost an U21 All-Ireland final in 2005 and was runner-up at senior level in 2010, but the Longstone man came to realise that medals weren't everything. Brendan Crossan reports...
BC: Why did you retire?
MP: To be honest with you, everyone has always said to me: ‘You’ll know yourself when the time’s right’. I went to the [team] meeting fully intending to go back for another year and giving it another rattle to build on last year.
But I would have been going back and going through the motions. I don’t know why, but there were different things adding up. I just felt it was the right decision to make and I’ll stand by that decision. It wasn’t just one particular thing. The time was right to step aside and to start enjoying other things in life as well.
BC: Was lack of game-time in 2017 a big factor in stepping away from Down?
MP: I’ve never taken the Down jersey for granted. A lack of game-time was one of the factors. I felt I was performing well in training. The club [Longstone] got relegated as well and that was another bugbear of mine.
I felt I haven’t been about the club as much as I would have liked, with county commitments. There’s a new wave of players coming through in the club and they need guided... but the lack of game-time for Down did have a bearing.
I got the sense that if I went back this year I would have been used as a figurehead – somebody who was going to be there to lend experience to the other guys.
But it’s just far too much of a commitment to give for that [peripheral] role. I didn’t have any problem with that role last season. I took it on from the end of the League through to the Championship and I think the boys were appreciative of a wee word of encouragement.
But they need to step up themselves now and build on last year’s Championship run.
BC: What will you miss about the inter-county scene?
MP: I suppose the first thing is the craic and the general banter with the players. People who aren’t involved in county teams don’t realise the bonds you build with people and the friends you make.
I’ve been there 12 or 13 years. I played South Down U12 football with Aidan Carr [also retired] – both of us came through the ranks together, we played in every group, we sampled some good days and some bad days together and you do become close with people like that.
And it’s the same with all the other lads. The lads I started out with feels ages ago, and the 2010 lads I’ll always be close to them because of the experience we shared that summer.
The friendships are a big thing for me. And I’ll miss the buzz you get from the big days, parading around the pitch, wearing the county jersey, sampling the atmosphere and obviously getting a run out in Pairc Esler, Clones and Croke Park and these places.
It’s something I always wanted to do and I’ll never forget some of the games we played in. Playing in front of 82,000 people is something you’ll never forget. That’s what I want the younger Down lads to sample more of over the next couple of years.
BC: Games-wise, what was the pinnacle for you?
MP: To me, the Kildare [2010 All-Ireland semi-final] was the game. It was the football we played that day. It was a scorching day at Croke Park. The Hill was red, black and white with everybody mingling together.
The suspense at the end when Kalum [King] pushed the ball onto the bar - I wasn’t actually on the pitch at that point as I’d injured my AC joint and couldn’t lift my arm above me head.
[Kildare defender] Andrui MacLochlainn went everywhere with me. So the Kildare game sticks out and the Kerry game [2010 All-Ireland quarter-final] for different reasons and obviously scoring the goal.
People always ask me about the All-Ireland final [against Cork] but it was all a bit of a blur. It’s not a game I look back on, for obvious reasons.
Monaghan, in 2012 [Ulster semi-final], stands out. We were nine points down and came back and win it. I’ll never forget James’s [McCartan] team-talk at half-time and pulling that one out of the bag. That was special.
There were other games too – the Armagh NFL game on a Friday night when I scored the goal at The Athletic Grounds. But the Kildare game sticks out most of all because it was one of the best games I’ve ever played in.
BC: What did James say to the team at half-time against Monaghan in 2012 because you were gone at that stage?
MP: We were going well back then, we were competing with everyone. I couldn't repeat half of what James said. It was just his passion and we went back out onto the pitch with foam coming out of our mouths and we produced a really good second half performance to edge it.
BC: What will you not miss about the inter-county scene?
MP: The training at this time of the year and not being able to plan things around Christmas. To play inter-county football you have to make those sacrifices.
I was in a bubble for three, four or five years from 2010, whereas the past few years I wouldn’t say I haven’t given as much but I’ve probably looked at other things more carefully and maybe enjoyed myself a wee bit more during the National League.
So I definitely don’t miss the slog of running up and down a pitch at this time of year, which every team is doing. But I know there will come a time where I will miss it
BC: Has your inter-county career been fulfilling?
MP: Totally. In my head I always wanted to win an Ulster medal – not just for me but for the county because it’s been such a long time [1994]. If you had said to me before 2010 that I was going to do what I have done and play in some of the teams and captain my county, I would have snapped your hand off.
When I came out of minor I was maybe too small to make an impact. That just made more determined to get my opportunity.
I look back and regret losing an U21 All-Ireland final (2005) and an All-Ireland senior final (2010). Losing two Ulster finals (2012 and 2017) and being well beaten in both.
I went to the club’s AGM last week and I was really surprised by the amount of older men in the club coming up to me and thanking me for the memories and things like that.
That night I was thinking: do you know what, maybe medals don’t mean everything. Maybe it is the impact that you had.
When the older generation come up and say things like that to you I was a wee bit flabbergasted because you don’t normally think of those people whenever you come back from matches. To hear those things was pleasing, very humbling.
So many people paid their hard-earned money following the Down team, through barren spells. So, looking back, it probably makes it worthwhile, that they had some good days as well.
BC: You made your Championship debut (as a substitute) against Sligo in 2006 and then you went off the radar. Did you think you wouldn’t have an inter-county career?
MP: Looking back now, Paddy [O’Rourke] showed a tremendous amount of faith in me to throw me in for a game like that as I was probably nowhere near ready for it. The couple of years I did spend away from it I knuckled down and got stronger.
We had a very good club side at that time – we contested a few League and Championship finals and we won Kilmacud – and then naturally enough I wanted to go a wee bit further.
I knew it was going to be tough. I was captaining the club and I was only 22. I was probably an old head on young shoulders. Ambrose [Rogers jr] was going well with the county at that stage too and Mark Doran was on the county panel as well and I just wanted to join them.
When James came in it wasn’t easy either. I played a few National League games in 2010 but didn't play in the National League final against Armagh even though I thought I was doing reasonably well but I didn’t get a run out at Croke Park that day.
But come the first round of the Championship I was wearing the number 11 jersey and it took off from there.
BC: What were James’ strengths as a manager?
MP: James wasn’t the type of man who would have come to you and chatted. He would have had a word here and there with you. He wouldn’t be lifting the phone telling you that you’re playing.
I’m not sure if it was James or Paddy Tally or Brian McIver at that stage, who were new into the scene; they didn’t really have any connection with Down players.
Maybe they noticed a few things that I did in training. From 2010, James showed massive faith in me and he made me captain for a couple of years. I more or less wore the number 11 jersey in every game throughout his tenure.
There were times where he wasn’t afraid to pull me aside and I was taken off in a few games too. I wasn’t seen as one of these players that was indispensable.
Actually, the first game he made me captain – a National League game against Tyrone in Pairc Esler – he took me off in the same game. He had so much passion for Down and probably what he’s done in the game too.
I had the utmost respect for him and so did all the players. He was the manager at a time when I felt I was playing at the peak of my powers.
BC: Do you not think in 12 months’ time it will nag you that you walked away because you feel you could play for another season?
MP: Looking back now – not that I ever did until the last couple of months – I felt I was coming back in Jim’s [McCorry] year and then I got hit with the ball before the match [against Roscommon in NFL Division Two final] and that sort of knocked me back.
I was out for three or four weeks. Jim showed huge faith in me when we played Derry that year in the Championship. I was going well in a few challenge matches but they don’t prepare you for Championship and I wasn’t at the level required.
Even in the Ulster final this year, I was only on the pitch and I took a bang. It probably will nag me in time especially since some of the players rang me and said: ‘There’s another year or two in you.’
I just felt coming away from that meeting I was content that I was making the right decision. It felt right. I was speaking to Brendy McVeigh and people like that and they said you’ll miss it in summer time but in the winter time you won’t.
I’ll probably have that same feeling when they’re playing Antrim in the Ulster Championship but it is what it is. I’ve made my decision and I certainly won’t be going back on it.
I’ll be going to the matches and supporting the team because I know the commitment they make. Hopefully I’ll have a brother [Conor] on the panel this year. I think he’s one of the best midfielders in the county.
BC: Is GPS over-rated?
MP: I do. They’re a gripe of mine since they’ve been introduced in Down. It didn’t matter what you did at training – it was about how much running you did, the amount of metres you covered.
It’s absolutely crazy. They use these things to monitor wear and tear and players breaking down injured and who’s at high risk of injury.
A player will know himself if he’s feeling something. To me, a player trains to last 70 minutes of Championship football and to be taken aside 15 minutes in, I think it’s absolutely crazy.
I don’t understand why a player has to be sacrificed for GPS reasons. To me, they’re not needed in the GAA.
BC: Who was the best player you played with?
MP: Benny Coulter. The things he could do with the ball. I played with some good players but going back to that Kildare game and the point he scored in the first half with the outside of his right foot underneath the Hogan. And the goals he scored that he plucked out of nowhere.
He was just a skilful player and a man who was extremely determined. People probably didn’t see that side of him. He was one of Down’s best-ever players.
BC: Your toughest opponent?
MP: There have been a few. Lee Keegan, especially when Mayo started out on their crusade around the same time as us. Keegan was a tough competitor and a great footballer too.
BC: What’s the future hold for you?
MP: I still want to play a few years with the club and I want to get into coaching. I enjoy it massively. I don’t know if I’d go down the route of management. Who knows. I’d like to get involved with a couple of underage sides in Longstone. I just want to give something back to the club.
BC: Have you faith in this Down team to build on last season?
MP: Without a doubt. You saw some of the players who shone through last year. The big thing now is can they do it again?
Everyone is going to know who Connaire Harrison is this year; they’re going to know who Darragh O’Hanlon is.
There are boys there who didn’t get game-time and they can push on. They have a favourable Championship draw [Antrim] – it could have been tougher. They just can’t rely on last year.
They really need to build on it. From experience, it’s not the easiest thing to do. There are guys in their mid-20s and Kevin McKernan is still there and he can really push them on.
You look at some of the players Down had on the bench last year – scoring forwards – and if boys stay injury-free they definitely can do well.
Tyrone are ahead in Ulster but there’s a pack close by and I think Down are in it with Monaghan and Donegal. They should really be targetting Tyrone – forget about the Super 8s – because it’s too long since Down won an Ulster title.
