Down are a joke like Donegal in the Noughties

THERE was a time when the Ulster Council would never approve two Championship games on the one weekend.

But the new shortened calendar forced their hand. So we have both Monaghan v Down and Tyrone v Derry to look forward to.

That’s pushing it, to be honest. The latter is a tie to savour, I’m not so sure about the former.

This is the tougher side of the draw and will challenge the All-Ireland champions.

They’ve never won Ulster from the preliminary round and that route can really take it out of you.

If Tyrone are to come out of the province again, they will be the worthiest of champions.

It’s still hard to believe what has happened to Down football. To go from winning two All-Irelands in four years at the start of the 1990s to not even winning an Ulster title since 1994 ... it’s mad.

I think Down are a joke. From top to bottom, they remind me of Donegal in the noughties.

You’d get a county jersey, and figure you’d made it — even though you never did anything on the pitch to respect that jersey. As for off the pitch ...

Any oul’ clown can pull on a county jersey. What you do when you wear it is what separates real footballers from the posers.

Cringe

I cringe when I think back to the times that plenty of us treated the Donegal shirt with total disrespect.

There was plenty of drinking and many think that was the issue, but I’ve always felt that was just a symptom.

Going on benders was a symptom of the losers mentality we had. Not all of us, but enough to damage the team.

There were too many of us with a weak mentality. That cost us games, that cost us medals.

It also cost us the right to say that we were respecting the jersey and leaving it in a good place.

To me, it looks as if Down are just going through the motions.

James McCartan is one of the greatest football men in their history. He was a fantastic player and, in his first spell in charge of the county, pulled off a minor miracle in pushing them to within a whisker of claiming Sam Maguire.

There was talk of him leaving after some players had a breach of discipline during a recent training camp in Dublin.

Dirty linen was washed in public, and I felt for McCartan.

He loves Down football too much to walk away on the eve of the Championship, but he must wonder what has happened to his beloved county. Today, Down face a Monaghan team that are their polar opposites. If you pull on a Monaghan jersey, certain things are demanded of you.

Honesty of effort is a phrase John Giles loves to use, and there’s a lot to be said for it being a guiding principle with any team.

Monaghan make mistakes. Players don’t always make the right calls. There have been a fair few days when they just haven’t been good enough.

But there’s a peace in knowing you gave everything you had, that your effort was totally honest.

You were honest with yourself and to your team-mates.

Tyrone are the same as Monaghan, in this regard. They are two teams I went to war with and we had a huge rivalry with, but I respect them totally. To them, it’s not just about pulling on a jersey, it’s doing justice to what the jersey represents.

Studying

I’m looking forward to studying two of the goalkeepers in this weekend’s semi-finals —

Rory Beggan of Monaghan and Tyrone’s Niall Morgan.

They aren’t carbon copies of each other, by any means, but they both add a huge amount to what their teams are about.

Beggan’s distribution i s excellent and he is a genuine outlet as he is really comfortable on the ball.

Remember his point from play against Tyrone in the League? With some goalkeepers, your heart is in your mouth when they come out the field. Not with Beggan.

His kick-outs are a massive weapon too. The length he gets on h is l ong r estarts i s astonishing.

Morgan is more of a sweeperkeeper. He is so quick on his feet. Watch Tyrone play and not how often he swoops to cut out a ball that has been played inside.

They won’t take a feather out of Monaghan in Clones

Like Beggan, Morgan is excellent on the ball and, while his distribution isn’t on the Monaghan man’s level, he can still deliver with accuracy. The two of them have learned from Stephen Cluxton and picked up the baton from him. They are setting the standard for so many other goalkeepers.

Does that mean that other teams should suddenly try and mould their own version of a Beggan or a Morgan? The reality is that you can only do so if you have the raw material. You can’t just create a sweeper-keeper or one who can drive 40 yards with the ball or kick frees or contest kick-outs.

Dynamic

Morgan has great positional sense and reads the game well but part of the reason why he’s so dynamic is that he’s a good outfield player — something he often shows with his club. There was a trend where some teams were trying to find their own modern goalkeeper and it didn’t work out for very many of them. Ethan Rafferty is in goal now for Armagh and he used to play at centre-forward for them.

Maybe Kieran McGeeney’s thinking was that would help to give him the skill set to be their version of a Morgan or a Beggan. But I watched Rafferty closely in Ballybofey last Sunday, and it was hard to see why he was converted into a goalkeeper. When he received the ball in front of the Donegal defensive line, he wasn’t picking a pass to try and unlock the home team. Rafferty was just taking a solo and moving the ball on.

It wasn’t fair on him either to try and work out Donegal’s press. All his outfield players were offering was the simple overload. I’ll watch Morgan and Beggan closely because there’s plenty to be learned from how they go about their business. As for the games themselves, I can’t see a shock in either one. Derry will trouble Tyrone for spells but just don’t have enough to get past them over 70 plus minutes.

Down won’t take a feather out of Monaghan. They’ll win with plenty to spare to set up a semifinal with Tyrone — now that will be one to savour.

FALLING DOWN: It’s still hard to believe what has happened to Down football