Down county football team
The Down county football team represents Down GAA, the county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association, in the Gaelic sport of football. The team competes in three major annual inter-county competitions; the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the Ulster Senior Football Championship and the National Football League.
Sport: | Football | ||
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Irish: | An Dún | ||
Nickname(s): | The Mournemen | ||
County board: | Down GAA | ||
Manager: | Conor Laverty | ||
Captain: | Pierce Laverty | ||
Home venue(s): | Páirc Esler, Newry | ||
Recent competitive record | |||
Current All-Ireland status: | Ulster (SF) in 2023 | ||
Last championship title: | 1994 | ||
Current NFL Division: | 2 (Runners-up in Division 3 in 2024) | ||
Last league title: | 1983 | ||
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Down's home ground is Páirc Esler, Newry. The team's manager is Conor Laverty.
The team last won the Ulster Senior Championship in 1994, the All-Ireland Senior Championship in 1994 and the National League in 1983.
With just one loss in six appearances in All-Ireland SFC finals, Down has a reputation for rising to the big occasion. Kitted out in distinctive red and black, the team's massive fan base has been responsible for some of the largest match attendances in GAA history. Although, since the last decade of the twentieth century, the team has had a barren patch at senior level, despite various successes at underage level, in 2010 Down showed signs of improving by gaining promotion to the National Football League Division One and reaching the All-Ireland Senior Football final — narrowly losing by one point to Cork.