Conor Laverty's men were relegated to Division Three and face a battle to avoid the Tailteann Cup after some impressive showings in the Sam Maguire Cup last season
Down face a battle to avoid a return to the Tailteann Cup in 2026 and Danny Magill hopes the Mouremen will be back in the All-Ireland series when he returns to fitness. Relegation from Division Two last term preceded a stellar Championship campaign when they were knocked out of Ulster by Donegal before qualifying out of Group Three, beating both Louth and Clare.
They exited the Championship following a gripping 2-26 to 3-21 loss to Galway in front of a bumper crowd at Newry’s Páirc Esler, but Down continue to trend upwards under Conor Laverty. They have been handed a tough Championship draw away to Ulster holders Donegal in April and will hope to gain promotion to give themselves a fighting chance of making the top 16. Unfortunately for Magill, he is set to miss their 2026 seasonal debut tonight at the Box-It Athletic Grounds when they face Armagh in the Dr McKenna Cup. Indeed, he’ll miss the entire League campaign too as he continues to recover from a torn ACL while playing for Burren back in August. Nevertheless, he is adamant that there were more positives than negatives to be taken from 2025 from Down’s perspective. “Absolutely. I feel like as a group, we know what we're capable of. We know how good we can be on our day, as long as we have the house in order,” said Magill. “We know within the group how hard we train and we pride ourselves on that. I feel like with the Down team every line is strong, as well as the bench. We have a great squad there. “We went down to Clare and not every team goes down to Clare and wins by that margin. We took the Leinster champions to Newry and beat them and then obviously it was a complete shootout between Monaghan and could have gone either way. It was probably unfortunate it didn't go our way. “You take Galway then, back to back All-Ireland finalists, and you're only beaten by a handful of points. Maybe on a different day you win that game. “No, there's definitely something brewing there. That's not through luck. That's through hard work and determination. We know what we're capable of so hopefully we get another crack to showcase that this year.” Magill is also excited to work with former Armagh star Tony McEntee. The Crossmaglen native, who managed Sligo for five years, has joined Laverty’s management team after Ciaran Meenagh departed to take over as Derry boss. “Obviously Tony’s won All-Irelands with Crossmaglen and had a great few years with Sligo. Tony's come in and bonded very well with the group. He's a great man and a great man-manager and he's a great coach. “Every year we're trying to push it on. If it's one per cent better than last year, we'll be in a good place. We feel like we're in a good place at the minute so long may it continue.” Tonight’s Group A clash was moved to Burren from Páirc Esler, but has now been switched to the Box-It Athletic Grounds. That means Armagh will have two home games, after they lost to Tyrone last Friday night, while the Mournemen will have two away games as they face the Red Hands in Pomeroy on Sunday . Click here to sign up to our sport newsletter, bringing you the latest sports news, headlines and top stories
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