Advertisement League of Ireland Horse Racing TV Listings GAA Fixtures The Video Review Sport meets news, current affairs, society & pop culture Rugby Weekly Extra Dive into all the news and analysis 3 times a week The Football Family Weekly insights from the week’s big talking points Advertisement More Stories Old acquaintances: Jim McGuinness and Conor Laverty. Enemy lines A season on the inside: How Jim McGuinness helped Down beat Donegal in 2023 Donegal manager’s time helping to coach the Down footballers is shrouded in secrecy but he played a key role. 6.01am, 26 Apr 2025 Share options Declan Bogue AS THEY FACE each other on the Clones sideline this Sunday in the Ulster semi-final, Down manager Conor Laverty and his Donegal counterpart Jim McGuinness will be reminded of the time they spent together in a curious pairing. McGuinness’ time in the Down set-up was minimised and played-down, but he spent the 2023 season in Laverty’s backroom team that took in a massive Ulster championship win for the Mournemen over Donegal in Newry. Laverty was appointed the Down senior football manager in August 2022, but he might have had the job a year earlier. After club delegates did not pass a motion to extend Paddy Tally’s time in charge, the position became available. Laverty was interested. He met with a number of prominent Down GAA people for something of an informal interview as summer turned to autumn. Laverty told those gathered that McGuinness was coming into his backroom team. Naturally, that got people excited. Having delivered success already at U20 level, Down wanted Laverty. Down manager Conor Laverty with coach Ciaran Meenagh (left).Tom Maher / INPHO Tom Maher / INPHO / INPHO Soon after, he pulled out. One of his issues was that McGuinness was proving hard to contact. At that point, McGuinness had not been involved in soccer coaching since he had a spell just short of six months in charge of Charlotte Independence that brought one win in 14 games and, ultimately, dismissal. Advertisement At the time, McGuinness spoke to The Irish Times, with whom he had a regular column, and denied involvement with Down. In the meantime, he had popped up doing a training session with Galway footballers, a season with Naomh Máirtín in Louth, and later helped his native club Naomh Conaill in their preparations to defeat St Eunan’s in the 2022 Donegal county final. Earlier that year, in July, he was pictured among a number of coaches on an FAI course attending a Champions League early qualifier between Shamrock Rovers and Hibernians at Tallaght Stadium. Jim McGuinness among a delegation of coaches at a Shamrock Rovers game in 2022.Ryan Byrne / INPHO Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO With options whittling away, Down turned to James McCartan, a man with a solid track record in keeping Down competitive and bringing them to the 2010 All-Ireland final. Laverty was able to give full attention to Kilcoo and it helped as they went on to win the All-Ireland club title, beating Kilmacud Crokes in the final. When the year didn’t work out for Down or McCartan, Laverty came back into the frame once more as manager. He accepted the role in August 2022 and built a backroom team including Marty Clarke, Mickey Donnelly and Declan Morgan. After they won a league game away to Tipperary the following January, it was reported that McGuinness had joined the backroom team. This is something that Laverty denied, stating that McGuinness, “Will not be involved in the Down senior management.” After that, it’s all about semantics. McGuinness was present once a week at training sessions to start with. That increased as the evenings got longer. Some of the McGuinness peccadillos remained. One evening at a training session in Ballykinlar, he refused to start it while someone from the club remained on the premises, fearing his methods might become known to a wider audience. When it came to match days, he wasn’t seen whatsoever. He was however, hooked up and communicating with the Down management, including for that Ulster championship 2-13 to 1-11 win for Down against Donegal. By then, Paddy Carr had already been and gone as Donegal manager, leaving after relegation from Division 1 was confirmed. The selectors Aidan O’Rourke and Paddy Bradley held the post until the end of the season. Once their business was concluded, a delegation of Donegal players approached McGuinness to come back as manager. His involvement with Down came to a close. It was one of the more curious developments in the criss-crossing of county boundaries that happens among the coaching fraternity. It began with a false start, was revived a year later, but at every turn, each party downplayed the involvement or minimised it altogether. But in Ulster, this kind of cross-pollination is nothing unusual. Down have plenty of it. As well as Mickey Donnelly, a former manager of the Tyrone minors and a Hogan Cup winning manager with St Ronan’s of Lurgan, they made a move for Ciaran Meenagh when his involvement with Derry ended after the 2023 season. Meenagh played underage football with Tyrone and a promising career was destroyed by injury. In his coaching career, he had assisted with Derry since the days of Damien McErlain’s management, with his day job as a teacher in Ballinascreen. When Armagh face Tyrone this weekend, quite apart from the usual statistical analysis that teams have on their opposition, selector Conleith Gilligan is intimately familiar with Tyrone football. The Ballinderry man has coached or managed with Derrytresk, Coalisland and Edendork, three clubs all in a triangle just under four miles apart. He has managed Paudie Hampsey, Michael McKernan, Niall Morgan, Darren McCurry and Conn Kilpatrick at club level. The Armagh backroom has another splash of cosmopolitan colour with Kieran Donaghy there. Had things panned out differently, he might have been in the Tyrone corner this Saturday in some fashion, his late father Oliver being a Beragh man. Related Reads 'No doubt teams are targeting us but we have a few targets ourselves' - Ethan Rafferty Dáire Ó Baoill the scoring star as Donegal cruise past Derry in Ulster Poll: Who will win the Ulster football championship? Tyrone have a varied management team. Manager Malachy O’Rourke is from Fermanagh, but has lived in Tyrone for 33 years. He had local man Leo McBride with him in Fermanagh and Monaghan, adding Ryan Porter to the latter post. Donegal buck the trend somewhat. While McGuinness recruited Rory Gallagher as his assistant in his first spell in charge, this time it is different. He has brother-in-law Colm McFadden along with Neil McGee and Luke Barrett as selectors, while a number of close associates from his club Naomh Conaill are helping out in various roles. For a set-up that go to extreme levels to guard their methods, none of this is surprising. In November, it was reported that the highly active band of Donegal supporters club in London were footing the bill of €55,000 to erect an eight-foot high fence around one of the training pitches in Convoy, the Donegal training base. When Donegal training sessions are ongoing, a number of stewards are stationed around the perimeter of the pitch and are swift at moving on anyone that attempts to glance in the direction of the pitch. Little wonder that McGuinness’ year with Down was downplayed so much. Check out the latest episode of The42′s GAA Weekly podcast here Declan Bogue Viewcomments Send Tip or Correction Embed this post To embed this post, copy the code below on your site Email “A season on the inside: How Jim McGuinness helped Down beat Donegal in 2023”. Recipient's Email Feedback on “A season on the inside: How Jim McGuinness helped Down beat Donegal in 2023”. Your Feedback Your Email (optional) Report a Comment Please select the reason for reporting this comment. Please give full details of the problem with the comment... This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy before taking part. 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