THE biggest surprise was that the screen on the tape-recorder read exactly 13 minutes at the end of the interview.
Thirteen minutes with Eamonn Burns. It broke all sorts of records. Just ask any GAA journalist.
The reason for this was probably something to do with the fact that it wasn’t a post-match interview.
Given the difficult run of form Down have experienced over the last two seasons, brevity was perhaps a prudent choice by the Bryansford man.
In his first season, the double All-Ireland winner couldn’t buy a win.
They were mauled in the Ulster Championhip by Monaghan and bowed out of the Qualifiers to modest Longford.
Now in his second season in charge of his native county, the Mournemen surprised everyone by preserving their NFL Division Two status with a gutsy draw in Cork on the last day of the campaign.
In those post-match interviews, where Down lost far more than they’ve won, you can get the wrong impression of Burns.
This interview took place at the Ulster Council’s launch of their Championships in the City Hotel, Derry a few weeks ago.
Flanked by defender Darren O’Hagan, Burns is in relaxed mood.
So how did he end up here?
After all, he never had any designs on becoming the manager of his county.
“It’s an honour to manage your county but it’s not something I craved or aspired to do,” he says. “Whenever I finished playing football with my club after my county career, we’d a young family at the time and I wasn’t really thinking of getting involved again.
“And then you get involved with your own club. I managed at minor level and U21 and we’d a great crop of young lads in Bryansford at the time. We managed to win a championship.
“I was involved in the senior team the same year… I didn’t realise I was taking steps but I was obviously taking steps.
“I got involved with James [McCartan, as selector] and one thing led to another.
“It wasn’t something I set out to do. I didn’t say: ‘At the end of this period I want to manage Down.’
“It wasn’t a target. It is just something that has evolved and I’m very proud to do it.
“Obviously it’s a massive job and there are great expectations because of Down’s history.”
But what a time to take over – one of the toughest periods in the county’s storied history.
After Jim McCorry walked away from the post after a fall-out with the county executive, Burns pulled the county out of a hole.
Nobody was knocking down the county chairman’s door to take the job.
The team was on a hiding to nothing – after McCorry had the temerity to get the team promoted to Division One – and they duly lost every game in the top flight and endured a short summer.
Many thought Burns would bow out and leave the fire-fighting to somebody else. But he expressed his desire to remain in the post.
“I was under no illusions when I took the job. The time when I played we were winning All-Irelands so the media attention was intense. You were schooled on that and you were used to the spotlight being on you and you were dealing with the press – not as much as the manager was but you were being subjected to it.
“So I’d a good understanding what was coming down the line.”
But the comments on social media were scathing of all connected to the Down senior football team.
“The social media can be hyped a lot,” Burns says.
“People believe everything what goes on these chat pages, Facebook and stuff like that. The big difference [to when I played] is news travels much quicker.
“Somebody could get hurt in Cork and before we have the players on the bus the news has travelled to New York via social media.
“The other thing is, the players and the manager are in a place of work and our positions in the GAA are not professional ones, but in the media it is treated as if you are a professional person. Some of it can be intense and can be over the top.
“Look, when you go in there, you know that’s going to happen. You just have to get yourself ready for it.”
Since taking the reins, a conversation he had with John Murphy during Down’s halcyons days keeps coming back to him.
“John would have been Pete’s [McGrath] wing man – and he said that management was three or four times the amount of work to that of a player.
“I remember going home in the car, thinking: ‘How does that man figure that he’s doing four times the work that we’re doing? It’s impossible.’ [laughing]
“As a player, you’re only worrying about yourself and the guys around you.
“The management are worrying about everybody. Where you’re going? Who you’re playing? Where you’re eating? How you’re getting home? What’s happening next week? It’s a different ball game altogether and you are the last port of call for everything.
“There is always a problem waiting for you at the end of a phone call or an email or a text message or when you arrive at training.
“The physios are coming at you...”
Burns adds: “When the team’s not going well, my friends say to me: ‘Why are you doing this?’
“You’re not going to win every game you play so you have to take the rough with the smooth. But I enjoy it. If you’re in there and you’re not enjoying it, it’s time to get out of it.”
With Armagh on the horizon in the Ulster Championship, Burns insists his players aren’t burdened by the county’s illustrious history.
“It doesn’t weigh heavily on us at all,” he says.
“The boys play because they want to play for Down. There are a lot of lads who probably weren’t even born in ’94 so I don’t think it weighs on them too heavily at all…
“I played football for Down at a high level and I know these lads here would like to get back to that level. It’s a hard road. It wasn’t an easy path for us to travel. We’d plenty of hard days too.
“Whether we’re in Division Two and Armagh are in Division Three counts for nothing. It’s a level playing field because both these teams are very evenly matched. I don’t know what the betting is – I’m not a betting man – but I’m sure it’s close odds.
“The other end of the spectrum is, it’s a home draw for us – the first in 19 years or something – but that will not faze Armagh. They’ll come down the road looking to win and so we will.
“It’s a mouthwatering tie, it’s probably the pick of the first round games. We’re looking forward to it and I’m sure Kieran McGeeney’s men are looking forward to it as well.”
