Martin savours second senior football title in three years

For Ian Martin, joint captain of The Downs alongside Luke Loughlin, Sunday’s county final victory over Coralstown/Kinnegad meant everything. Speaking after his side's rain-soaked victory on Sunday, 4-12 to 1-15, the talented forward reflected on the satisfaction of lifting the Paddy Flanagan Cup once more and the significance of the manner in which it was achieved.

“It means the world. It was pretty tough out there, especially with the weather conditions and all that. It’s not really about who wants it more because Kinnegad obviously wanted it too, but a little bit of luck and getting the goals were key. They were important scores and we probably got them at the right times.”

Those goals were indeed decisive, and Martin had a hand, albeit inadvertently, in the first after, a score that came after their opponents had made arguably the better start.

“It was actually my shot! It was a terrible shot to take,” he admitted with a laugh. “Luke was outside me and just lucky it broke inside and Kevin O’Sullivan got a hand to the ball to finish it to the net. Dean Egerton had a great finish for his goal, Jonathan Lynam’s finish was brilliant as well, and I think I snuck one in there too. It was great to get four goals.

“We were quite good at getting goals earlier in the championship and it probably dried up a little bit against Mullingar Shamrocks the first day and then again the last day as well. So it’s nice to get goals. When the game opens up a little bit, it kind of suits us; we can get our running power going.”

The Downs played with the breeze in the first half, but Martin revealed that he and Loughlin had deliberately opted to face into it initially.

"It was tricky for forwards in the conditions. Myself and Luke went in with the intention of playing against the breeze because the game opens up a little bit in the second half and we feel that’s when it suits us,” he explained. “It’s hard to start fast, and you see the importance of the two-point kicks; they’re a bit easier when the game opens up. We just tried to take the best option and the best scores available.

“We probably could have kicked a couple more and then we conceded a bit of a soft penalty; it was probably avoidable. But we just came in at half-time and made sure that didn’t change what we were going to do. We knew we had to knuckle down in the second half and work hard right to the end.”

Victory means The Downs have now claimed two senior titles in four years, a feat that Martin feels reflects both the talent and the potential within the squad.

“It means the world. This is two in the last four years; it was 17 years before that. We know the talent in the group. You see some of the footballers there: Kevin O’Sullivan, Charlie Drumm, Joe Moran, and Conor Coughlan coming off the bench: he’s an inter-county standard footballer.

“But it’s on us now as a group to realise that potential and try to put in a couple more of these. There’s no point looking back at our careers with regret. I don’t think two is enough for this group, so we’ll keep going.”

Attention now turns to the Leinster Club Championship against Offaly champions Tullamore, and while the celebrations will take precedence this week, Martin insists the players are determined to enjoy every moment of what’s to come.

“We will look forward to it. We’ll try and get through this week now in one piece. I’d say Dermot (Power) might have to cancel training this week,” he laughed. “But we’ll get back on the wagon then.

“It’s bonus territory — this is what we set out to do. We’ll enjoy training because there’s not too many other teams training at this time of year. We’re not going to take it for granted. It’s been a long year, but it’s finishing well. And it’s not finished yet.”

There were memorable scenes in the The Downs dressing room afterwards as they savoured a special victory and it meant even more coming one year after they suffered defeat in a penalty shootout in the 2024 decider.