If the 1960s were a heyday for Down football with three All-Ireland titles in that decades, the early '90s were a return to those halcyon days as the county took hold of Sam Maguire in 1991 and 1994.
Conor Deegan and James McCartan were key men in those latter triumphs and tonight on Off The Ball, the duo joined us to reminisce about the making of those glory years.
Starting with the period leading up to a classic All-Ireland final of 1991, McCartan also touched on the aftermath and the reaction they got from a fearsome but beaten Meath side.
"They were used to playing their bitter rivals, Cork. They were used to coming into the receptions after All-Ireland finals and not shaking hands with their opposite numbers because they had such rivalries. But they had no grudge against us when we'd come and maybe stole it from out underneath them. But to be honest, they all came in and shook our hands and said 'look, it's actually pleasant to be able to have a drink and a chat with the team that we played with in the final for a change," he remembered.
Moving onto the fallow years before they won again in 1994, Deegan touched on the darker points: "You could accept '92, but '93 was a bitter pill to take and there were a lot of recriminations and Pete [McGrath] wasn't too happy with us."
Deegan added that it almost got to a point of no-return with manager McGrath after a heavy Ulster quarter-final loss to Derry in '93, admitting: "There was discontent. I know there was at one stage, players were looking for Pete out but it didn't materialise."
Listen to the full interview with Conor and James via the podcast:
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