THERE'S no place on Earth to compare with Clones on Ulster final day, and Down manager Conor Deegan wants his players to savour the opportunity to be part of a unique occasion.
Their Ulster U20 Football Championship preliminary round tie against Antrim is the curtain-raiser to the main event between Donegal and Cavan on Sunday.
But lurking in the back of his mind is a painful reflection on last year’s semi-final at the same venue, a disastrous afternoon which saw the Mourne lads surrender a commanding ten points lead as they lost out to Derry.
“We have a wee bit of history from last year. We were doing very well against Derry and gave up a 10- or 11-point lead, and didn’t win. It hurt,” said Deegan.
“We have a few players still involved from last year, so they’re aware of the pitfalls as well.”
The slate has been wiped clean ahead of Sunday’s challenge, and the double All-Ireland winner is preaching a message of positivity ahead of the St Tiernach’s Park clash.
“It’s fantastic. For any young fella, it will give him a taste of what it’s like to be there on the big stage. They’ll drink it in and enjoy it, but there’s a match to be played and that’s more important.”
Antrim’s challenge will not be taken lightly, and there must be no complacency within a Down team that goes in as favourites to advance to the last four.
“Historically, Antrim haven’t been to the forefront, but this is the back-bone of a minor team that went and beat Donegal in the Championship two years ago.
“They have a talented squad of players, club football in Antrim is at a good level, so we’re not taking it lightly or for granted. No way could we or would we.”
Deegan is happy with the strength and quality of a squad that includes a handful of survivors from last year’s team, including skipper Shane Annett, Liam Middleton, Aaron Devlin and Liam Kerr.
Middleton and Ross Carr form a strong midfield axis, while Kerr’s finishing ability is a key asset.
“The good thing at this stage is that we have a great squad, it’s a deep squad. Unfortunately we have to pick a panel of 24 for the day, which is probably more difficult than picking the team, when you look at all the permutations that could or may happen. But we’re pretty settled.”
Down go into the game on the back of last weekend’s success in the Leo Murphy Cup, lifting the silverware named in honour of a Mourne legend, as they saw off Cavan in the final at the Athletic Grounds.
The U20 development leagues, in their inaugural season, have proven extremely beneficial to every county in terms of providing competitive games in the build-up to a sudden death championship which has no qualifier outlet for losing teams.
“For all counties at this grade, the league has been very helpful. It has given us a batch of competitive games that we’ve all been looking for. I know maybe from a club situation, it adds another headache to fixture congestion.
“The Leo Murphy connection is obviously important to us, he is one of our greats, and it was good for us to win that in the inaugural year.”
EirGrid Ulster U20 Football Championship
Preliminary round: Down v Antrim (June 23, Clones, 11.45am)
Quarter-finals
Fermanagh v Donegal (June 28, Brewster Park, 8pm)
Derry v Armagh (June 28, Owenbeg, 8pm)
Cavan v Monaghan (June 30, Kingspan Breffni, 4pm)
Tyrone v Down/Antrim (June 30, TBC)
Semi-finals: July 5-7
Final: July 13/14
