ALL-IRELAND SFC FINAL:THERE'S AN honesty about Benny Coulter which has always defined him as a footballer, and which helps explain why Down, against all expectations, are contesting next Sunday's All-Ireland final.
How many players, after all, would not only admit he was inside the square for the crucial goal in their semi-final win over Kildare, but would also admit on seeing the replay, couldn’t believe just how far inside he actually was.
“Well I didn’t know at the time I was inside, no,” says Coulter. “I was just backing in, backing in, and looking up at the ball. Because I had to go for it. I couldn’t pull out of it. It’s just an instinct I have. Okay, then when I did see the replay, I couldn’t believe how far I was inside the square. I thought maybe one of me feet, maybe. But I didn’t think I was that far inside. But I was, yeah. Although I was on for abandoning the square ball, which came to congress. I always thought the ’keepers have maybe too much protection.
“But it was a very important score, because we’d stumbled the first 10 or 15 minutes. It didn’t look like we were going anywhere, and we were getting very uptight. The goal came, and then Kevin McKernan got a couple of points. So it really did give us a lift when we needed it. It came at the right time, and really did push us on.”
Them’s the breaks, as they say in Ulster football – and Coulter had endured enough hard breaks and heartbreaks to take the lucky breaks when they come. But of course that goal alone doesn’t explain why Down are now one victory away from a first All-Ireland since 1994; for Coulter, the defeat to Tyrone in the Ulster semi-final actually explains it. Right then, he was mad as hell, and he was not going to take it anymore.
“I firmly believe that was the big turning point for us, losing to Tyrone. But it also goes back to last year. Losing in Wicklow was a disastrous defeat. Same old story with Down football. We didn’t even look like getting to the latter stages of the All-Ireland.
“We just didn’t seem to have the team, the players, anything. We didn’t have the belief. And that journey home from Aughrim was devastation. Pure devastation. Maybe not so much for younger lads, but for myself, Danny Hughes, Brendan McVeigh, it was devastation. This year things changed. First of all we had a consistent run in the league. That’s something we haven’t had the last 10 or 11 years, not since I’ve been here. We’d win two or three league games, and then get beaten in the rest. This year we were winning games, and performing.
“Then we came through the few qualifiers, got back to Croke Park, against Kerry. Over the past number of years we got there and hadnt performed. When wanted to change things there again. Our last game there before this year was Wexford, and that was one of the worst moments of football I’ve ever played. So to get back twice now and perform has been a real bonus. It proves to us as well that we can perform there.”
Coulter’s honesty on and off the field made him the natural replacement for the captaincy, after Ambrose Rogers sustained the dreaded cruciate knee injury. He spoke frankly about Down’s chances next Sunday, about their need, and desire, to win. “I know some people are saying this is Down’s first year on the run, and they don’t have much of a chance to win it, only one year under James McCartan. And that we’d never even got to the All-Ireland quarter-finals before, since they’ve been introduced.
“The way I look it, we won our first county title with Mayobridge in 1999. That was our first title in something like 60 years. That was the year I thought we should also have won Ulster, or the All-Ireland. But that’s as far away now as it’s ever been. So looking back now, 1999 was probably our best year to go on and win an Ulster title with the club. So you do have to the grasp the moment. Go for it.
“Even when you looked at the four teams left in the semi-finals, only Cork were outright favourites to win the title. But we’re really looking forward to it. I haven’t been down for an All-Ireland final since 1999, the one I played in, as a minor. I just wasn’t interested. All the boys have been very relaxed these past two weeks. I really can’t believe how relaxed they are. That’s a wee bit of James rubbing off again.”
Benny Coulter
Age: 28
Club: Mayobridge
Position: Corner forward
Occupation: GAA coach.
Honours: 1 All-Ireland minor, 1999; 8 Down County football titles; Irish International Rules team 2003, '04, '05, '06, '08.
