LAVERTY’S ON RIGHT ROAD BY DAY AND NIGHT
BY day he is the GAA development officer for Trinity College Dublin and by night he helps out as Kilcoo’s coaching officer and somewhere in between the commute and the coaching, Conor Laverty is trying to win a first Ulster club title.
As the saying goes, if you want something done then ask a busy man, and Laverty is certainly a busy man – but he’s not complaining.
“I don’t find the commute too bad and at Trinity we have stiff competition from the bigger colleges but we are striving to get to the top-table,” he says.
“We are making in-roads and getting our standards where they need to be.
“I love coaching the young ones at the club.
“A lot of people don’t enjoy coaching but I love it.
“It’s nice to go back to the U6s and U8s and do a bit of coaching, and I manage our minors as well.
“But nothing beats playing, absolutely nothing.
“The young boys all come to the training, bad nights and good nights, and when the seniors are training everyone else comes out to watch.
“When you’re playing you have a that buzz in the build-up and during the game and nothing compares to it.”
The Down champions take on durable Donegal champions Naomh Conaill – playing in their 11th game of the campaign – in today’s AIB Ulster club SFC decider in Healy Park, Omagh.
Having lost two previous Ulster final appearances in 2012 and 2017, they recruited Mickey Moran (inset) from Slaughtneil, a manager who knows how to get over the line on Ulster final day.
Conleith Gilligan, who won an All-ireland club title with Ballinderry in 2002, has come in as his assistant and despite his own pretty impressive coaching brain, Laverty is happy to leave that particular job to the Derry duo.
“They are their own men and I’m a player.
“They make the decisions and we do what they say. I just enjoy playing.
“Mickey has just brought a coolness and a calmness. His mannerism, he is an extremely nice man and it is a pleasure to play for him.
“A lot of young boys have come in to the team and have taken us to another level.
“It’s really pushing everybody and the competition for places in the squad has been unbelievable this year.”