EVERY county player in Ulster must have watched on with a tinge of envy as Tyrone swept to an unexpected All-Ireland title last September. Barry O’Hagan was no different.
Back at the start of the summer, the Clonduff ace turned in probably his best performance in county colours, bagging five from play and eight in total against a fancied Donegal outfit. Eoghan ‘Ban’ Gallagher is a class act, but O’Hagan had him on toast.
Ultimately, though, it mattered for nothing.
In spite of O’Hagan’s heroics, particularly in the first half, the Tir Chonaill advanced to an Ulster quarter-final with 16 points to spare, the game over well before the long whistle finally put Down out of their misery in Newry.
As the Mournemen prepare to commence a new campaign with Friday night’s McKenna Cup opener against Donegal, they do so with a new manager at the helm in the returning James McCartan.
Few counties outside of the top four or five in Ireland are readily able to call upon the best players year on year, and O’Hagan admits it has been a constant source of frustration given the talent within Down.
Now 27, and with brother Darren 31, they would love nothing more than to land some silverware. But every year the gap seems to widen that little bit more.
“The top counties are playing with the best they have,” said O’Hagan, first brought into the Down fold under Jim McCorry in 2015.
“In Tyrone, it’s the case that if you’re asked into the panel, players would nearly bite the manager’s hand off to get in.
“There’s no point telling you a lie, the best club players in Down aren’t playing for Down at this moment in time. That has been the case since I’ve been there, and until that happens, it’s hard to do a whole lot.
“I always relate back to somebody like Kevin McManamon – that man would’ve started for any other county in Ireland in his prime, but he was happy enough to come and make his impact, play his part. Unfortunately for Down, boys who don’t start who think they should start, they throw the head up too quickly.
“It’s about much more than the starting 15 players now, you need everybody driving the thing on. Look at Derry, for instance - they have everyone available to them now and they’re starting to go places. In two or three years, they’ll be a team to be reckoned with.
“I was happy with my performance that day against Donegal, but I’d rather see Down win and me score a point. I’m 27 now and I’ve yet to win a trophy for county or club, so I’m at the stage where I really want to start doing something.”
Derry – against whom the Mournemen open their National League campaign on January 29 -have benefitted from having a central hub in Owenbeg and, while the Mourne County are awaiting the start of work on the proposed Ballykinlar centre of excellence, it is unlikely to be available for some time.
That, O’Hagan believes, is among the reasons Down have slipped off the pace from some of their Ulster rivals.
“If you look at our physique in terms of strength and conditioning, the likes of Tyrone are light years ahead. We don’t have a hub – Ballykinlar probably won’t happen in my time playing for Down, but it is badly needed.
“A centre or a hub where players go to the gym, go to train, instead of maybe training in Burren one night, Mayobridge the next… Tyrone have had Garvaghey for years. Derry have Owenbeg. Most top counties have a centre of excellence, and that’s what Down need.
“Those counties are probably sitting at 70 or 80 per cent of their panel being in the best possible shape, where Down would’ve been probably 50 or 55. You look at every one of the Tyrone players, their chest is ripping out of their jersey and, in terms of fitness, they are at a different level.”
O’Hagan has enjoyed working with new boss McCartan and assistant Aidan O’Rourke since they took up the reins but, having only been appointed in November, it left the Mournemen “playing catch-up” heading into the 2022 campaign.
“We’re training away - obviously we started later than a lot of other counties.
“By the time the whole thing was settled and we got somebody in, we’re probably playing catch-up a wee bit.
“We have been going for the past number of weeks but, in fairness to the lads, they’re trying to trial boys too.”
An appointment process that ending up running from July until November was far from ideal, with McCartan returning to the role after an attempted swoop for Jim McGuinness - as part of a management team alongside Conor Laverty and Marty Clarke - fell by the wayside.
And O’Hagan is glad to have men of such standing in place at the end of a difficult process.
“I’d be friendly enough with Mark Poland and Benny McArdle who were on the selection committee, and they wanted to get the best they possibly could for Down.
“It was frustrating in a way, but I knew those men weren’t just sitting back smoking cigars, they were trying their best. It sounds as though Jim McGuinness was a done deal, maybe he got cold feet towards the end, but fair play to James and Aidan – at that stage I don’t think there were too many men had their hands up for it.
“They could easily have said ‘you know what, we’re happy enough where we are’ but they stepped up. They’ve done everything in their capability so far.
“James and Aidan are men who have done it before, they have their All-Ireland medals, they know what it takes to win, they have that experience and I’m delighted to learn off men like that.
“Everybody else is probably a couple of weeks ahead of us in terms of strength and conditioning, and on the pitch, but at the minute it seems to be going well – boys are committed, boys are happy.”
