Caught between the Banner and the Royals

Divided loyalties. Michael 'Mickey' Downes is bound to have a few when Saturday's All-Ireland SFC qualifier gets underway in Cusack Park, Ennis at 6pm. Meath or Clare? He wore the colours of both counties, experienced some low points with the Banner and the Royals. Reached some high points too. Memorable days.

He played in all about 10 years for Clare. He also turned out for Meath for four or five years in the early 1980s - and during his time in the green and gold he achieved a unique distinction. He was the first player to captain Meath to victory in a provincial competition during Sean Boylan's spell as manager - the O'Byrne Cup.

It was 1983 and the Dunboyne herbalist, more noted for his exploits as a hurler, had just taken over as manager of the Meath football team. It was to be a short-term arrangement, a few months perhaps, until the Co Board got someone else.

The county was in the doldrums, nobody wanted the job. Winning the O'Byrne Cup was seen as something of a breakthrough for a county going through bad times - and Downes, who then played for Navan O'Mahonys, ended up captain more by accident than by any lofty design.

"The only reason I was captain for a couple of games was because Joe Cassells, who was the regular Meath captain at time, was unable to play, he was suspended," recalled Downes last week when he spoke to the Meath Chronicle from Portugal where he was enjoying the heat.

"O'Mahonys were the county champions and myself and Benny Tansey were on the panel and Finian Murtagh was a young player just making his mark too.

"I thought that Benny would take the captaincy but he wasn't having it under any circumstances so it was handed to me. That's how I became associated with been Boylan's first winning captain. It was just a very fortunate series of circumstances for me."

Downes grew up in Carrigaholt located at the mouth of the Shannon. It's a fishing/farming area where they have good reason to be proud of their GAA tradition. The local club - O'Currys - was founded in 1884, the same year as the old Association itself. It's football country.

Downes studied to be a teacher and graduated onto the Clare senior football team, a talented forward with the ability to ransack defences.

Clare football, was very much under the shadow of Cork, and particularly Kerry, at the time. The Banner were among the minnows, cannonfodder for the big guns.

In the 1979 Munster SFC that reality was painfully underlined in the way Kerry defeated the Banner by 9-21 to 1-9. It was as lop-sided as a shipwreck, a game that became known ever after as the 'massacre of Milltown-Malbay.'

It was little consolation to Downes and his colleagues that they faced that day one of the great teams in the history of the GAA. There was, however, one little consolation for Downes. He scored three points off Paidi O Se - and redemption of sorts wasn't all that far away either.

By '79 Downes had moved to live in Navan where he had landed his first teaching job in Scoil Mhuire. He had also, by that stage, joined O'Mahonys and was involved in creating something of a golden tapestry of success for the Hoops. He was eventually to win seven Keegan Cups with them between 1979 and 1990.

"It was certainly a low point for Clare football that day in Milltown Malbay but things subsequently improved," he recalled.

"I think the first game after that defeat to Kerry was against Meath at Pairc Tailteann in the league that Autumn. I was with O'Mahonys at the time and still playing with Clare. We were due to play the county final against Summerhill the week after that Meath, Clare game. I remember Joe Cassells was playing for Meath but I'm not sure any of the Summerhill players turned out for the county in that game. We beat Meath by a point and that got us back on track.

"Against Cork and Kerry, Clare were on a hiding to nothing but we had great times in the league. I always looked forward to playing in the league with Clare because we were playing against teams you felt you had a chance against and Meath were regular opponents. I played four times against Meath and most of the games were tight affairs. We only won once but the other games were close.

"We took on teams like Laois and Offaly and played very well at times. The Clare team had some exceptionally talented players such as Noel Roche, Tommy Tubridy, father of the current Clare player, David Tubridy. There was Martin Murphy, Seanie Moloney, the late, great George Fitzpatrick, a terrific footballer. They were quality players, the problem was we just didn't have enough of them."

Tired of travelling down to Clare for games Downes switched allegiance to Meath in the early 1980s. He would never be accused of glory hunting. Meath were then deep in the doldrums, a defeat to Longford in the 1982 Leinster SFC highlighting that harsh reality. Downes recalls that summer's day in Tullamore with no great joy. That September Boylan was appointed Meath manager. Change was afoot.

With O'Mahonys, Downes had established a reputation as a strong, skilful player. He caught the attention of the county selectors - and became an integral part of Boylan's early teams.

Downes was part of a revolution as Boylan took his players to run on the beach in Bettystown and Hill of Tara. The Clareman could see the culture changing in the Meath camp; a radical upping in standards as regards fitness and preparation. That was reflected in results.

Winning a piece of silverware like the O'Byrne Cup was celebrated like it was the Sam Maguire itself. There were other forward steps.

"Dublin beat us in a replay of the Leinster final in 1983, we were good enough to win it both days but our luck ran out and I missed a penalty which didn't help matters, but it was great experience for me at the time. We didn't get a chance to play much serious championship football with Clare. If you were lucky enough to defeat a team like Limerick, Waterford or Tipperary in the first round Cork or Kerry were waiting."

Downes's job brought him to a new school in Blanchardstown, where he eventually became principal, and he drifted away from the Meath set-up. He did return to manage O'Mahonys for a few years, brought them to two county finals, although they lost both.

Married to Eileen with four children, Mickey Downes settled in Dublin where he lived and worked until he retired from teaching "six or seven" years ago. His son Aidan clearly inherited some of his footballing genes and played for Dublin in the 2003 All-Ireland MFC final.

So what about those divided loyalties when Meath and Clare meet? You sense that deep down Downes would want Clare to win and that's very understandable. After all home is where the heart is. His original home. Real home. He certainly feels Clare have grounds for optimism.

"I think Clare have a very good chance with the match in Ennis. They have a lot of really good players. It's no longer of case of Clare having 10, 12 good quality players. They now have a panel of 22 all of whom can do a job for Clare. The manager Colm Collins has also done a phenomenal job over the past decade."

Diplomatically as ever Downes adds that "Meath are also capable of going to Ennis and winning." Yet Clare football has clearly a special place in his heart. You suspect that if his native county wins on Saturday he won't be too downhearted.