Advertisement
Coulter, left, goes up against Alan O'Connor of Cork during the defeat in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. ©INPHO/Cathal Noonan
D-Day

Falling Down: No room for complacency at the final hurdle, warns Coulter

“It’s just one of those years where any team can beat any team,” Down’s Benny Coulter warns ahead of their meeting with Laois.

IT’S BEEN A topsy-turvy league campaign for the Down footballers, with enough low points littered among the uplifting highs to remind Benny Coulter that their work is not quite done yet.

Only a relegation-threatened Laois stand between the Mournemen and a place in the Division 1 semi-finals tomorrow, but the peculiarity of permutations means that a defeat on Sunday could send Down plummeting back to Division 2.

It’s a scenario that looked all too likely for Coulter and his team-mates after the opening three rounds of games. A gruelling win against Donegal was followed by toothless displays against both Cork and Kerry; this was the disappointing Down of 2011 rather than the All-Ireland finalists of 2010.

But something sparked a change of fortunes and since then, wins against fellow semi-final contenders Dublin and Mayo have not only dragged them firmly back into the mix but left them with the strongest hand as well.

“It’s all in our own hands still at the minute,” Coulter tells TheScore.ie.

If you told us at the start of the year that we’d have to beat Laois to qualify for the semis, we would’ve taken that so we’re happy enough with the way things have been so far.

Such a scenario seemed even more real after the 13-point defeat in Páirc Uí Chaoimh and the lifeless display a few weeks later when they rolled over to Kerry in Newry. Then players found fitness and a campaign-changing turn of form, toppling counties who will surely have their eye on Sam Maguire come September.

Despite the flaws and the narrow defeat against Armagh last time out, the lift in performances and in intensity has gone a long way to reassuring manager James McCartan that they’re not facing into another lost summer.

“James had a few harsh words, especially after the Kerry game,” Coulter says. “We didn’t perform well, we didn’t play well.

“The last three games we’ve beaten Mayo, beaten Dublin and then Armagh beat us. Four points out of six wouldn’t have been too bad, and I think James will be happy enough with the way things have gone in the last few weeks.”

The optimists on the road to Portlaoise tomorrow will be looking up rather than down, trying to piece together the semi-final pairings as scores filter in, but Coulter is fully aware of what lies beneath. At the end of a season in which sides have taken points off each other with relish, a win against Laois — especially in their perilous state — is far from guaranteed.

We beat the Dubs, the Dubs hammered Armagh, and Armagh beat us. It’s just one of those years where any team can beat any team, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a lot more mishaps in the last game. It’s not as straightforward as people think.

Down football for the last few years has been in Division 3, Division 2 so to make the semis in Division 1 would be a big thing for us. On the other hand, if results didn’t go our way and we didn’t beat Laois, we could still get relegated so we have to think about that too and go into the game looking to win it.

The challenge of facing a Kerry or a Cork in the semis would give Down a chance to build up to championship intensity ahead of their Ulster opener against Fermanagh. Though Coulter has played the impact sub role of late, springing from the bench, McCartan has reassured his All-Star forward that he still commands a place in his plans for the summer. Before that, Coulter wants a shot at the Munster men to remind them that Down are no pushovers.

“If we do get into the semis and we’re playing against the Kerrys and Corks, we need to just go at them. I think we’ve shown too much respect to the Corks and Kerrys of this world.

“Over the last number of years, we’ve failed to beat Cork and I think that some of players go out and change the way they’re playing when they play Cork. I don’t know what it is. We just need to go at them from the start like we did against the Dubs.”