Sliding doors moment in Down-Armagh rivalry not lost on Mourne skipper Pierce Laverty

Thursday 11th July 2024

The Ulster neighbours will both be in action in Croke Park on Saturday with Down contesting the final of the Tailteann Cup while Armagh take on Kerry in the All-Ireland SFC semi-final

By Paddy Tierney
belfastlive.co.uk
Sliding doors moment in Down-Armagh rivalry not lost on Mourne skipper Pierce Laverty  - Belfast Live

The rivalry between Down and Armagh is one that runs deep and it isn’t lost on the Mournemen that their season could have been very different had they pulled off a famous victory over the Orchard County in the Ulster SFC semi-final back in April.

On Saturday, both teams will be in action in Croke Park. Yet, Down will emerge from the Cusack Stand prior to their Tailteann Cup final meeting with Laois.

The game acts as the curtain-raiser for the main event of the evening. Armagh and Kerry will take to the hallowed turf from the Hogan Stand tunnel ahead of their All-Ireland SFC semi-final battle.

Yet, just one point separated Down and Armagh in Clones with Jason Duffy kicking an injury-time winner for Kieran McGeeney’s men.

That narrow loss condemned Down to the Tailteann Cup for a third consecutive season and they’ll be hoping to finally secure Sam Maguire football next season by beating Laois this weekend.

Down captain Pierce Laverty admits that defeat took its toll on the squad, but feels they are in a good place as they bid to go one better after losing out to Meath in last season’s Tailteann Cup final.

“The week after the Ulster Championship defeat, it was obviously a tough one to take,” said Laverty.

“You're maybe carrying it into the house and then to work and that, you're moping about the place a bit and you watch it back and you can be disappointed in that.

“I suppose the message from the boys when we got back to training was just to get back on the horse and get at it and get back to work.

“There's no point feeling sorry for ourselves and that and to just get back to work and that's the only way to look at it.

"We had another game to win in two or three weeks’ time (in the Tailteann Cup) and we said we'll not win it by sitting about here feeling sorry for ourselves so that was the driving factor.”

He added: “We are where we are and that's in the Tailteann Cup right now. There's no point in me saying we should be in the Sam Maguire last year or this year - we've had the opportunity to go and do that and we haven't done it yet. We're trying to maximise our performance to get over the line.”

Down defeated Laois by 22 points in last year’s Tailteann Cup semi-final but lost out to Meath in the final.

The Saval native hopes the hurt of last year’s defeat will help drive Down over the line this weekend.

“It’s an opportunity to win silverware on the national stage and to have that under your belt, even the loss last year and again Westmeath this year, to overcome them two defeats and then go and do it this time around, it'll be a massive learning curve and it'll be great to see some of the younger players especially. To have that under their belt now, to feed that into the games going forward is crucial.