Marty Clarke insists Jim McGuinness has not been around the Down camp much this year despite much interest in his role behind the scenes.
Any possible influence Donegal’s 2012 All-Ireland winning manager has wielded in Down this year is a fascinating sub-plot ahead of Sunday’s Ulster Championship clash against his own county.
McGuinness confirmed last November that he would not be joining Conor Laverty and Clarke’s Mourne management team.
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Rookie boss Laverty and assistant Clarke have put the buzz back in Down football this season, with McGuinness providing a helping hand from a distance.
“He (McGuinness) had been in prior to Christmas,” said Clarke.
“Conor and him have a great relationship and I know Conor leans on him from time to time.
“But we haven’t seen him about the place all that often.
“He’s someone Conor would bounce a lot of ideas off.
“It’s great to have access to a man like that with his knowledge of the game but he hasn’t been about the place very often at all.”
Despite failing to get out of Division Three this season, there are positive noises coming out of Down.
Laverty and Clarke are leading a happy, united ship and a vibrant Under-20 side that will take on Derry in the Ulster final next week.
An Ulster Championship win in front of a big home crowd in Pairc Esler could ignite the county.
“We went to a league game last year against Clare and there was 90 people at it,” said Clarke.
“I was at it myself and Down people were disappointed with that.
“When Conor spoke to me about coming on board, it was something I thought, ‘you know what, we can try and influence and get the energy back’ to help the players understand if you work hard, you get results.
“You can drag the next generation along too - that’s why it’s no surprise how Tyrone, Donegal and Monaghan have successful underage teams because their senior teams have been at the top table for so long.
“We understand there is a long way to go but it’s important to try and play an attractive brand of football and get the crowd involved.
“We want to give players something to aspire towards, because we do feel we have the players there but they just haven’t showcased it for whatever reason.”
Former All Star Clarke, who also had two spells with AFL side Collingwood, has swapped his role as a pundit with BBC Sport NI for the sideline.
It has been a steep learning curve and it’s full-on, but he is loving it.
“I was saying to my wife even in the dark evenings in January, February when you’re going out the door wrecked from a day’s work or with the kids and stuff, I was coming in energised.
“That is a good sign that what you’re doing is something you’re enjoying.
“The response from the players has been brilliant and Conor is a great character and keeps things interesting in training, so it’s a nice environment to be involved in.
“As a management group there is so much to do in the week in terms of helping the lads recover, preparing for the next opposition and reviewing the game before and taking the learnings from it.
“It is certainly a heavy workload but I do like the games coming thick and fast and the players feel the same.”
He reckons 34 or 35 players got game-time in the league and while he admits promotion “was most definitely our goal” the bigger picture is they are learning how they want to play when they have the ball and when they don’t.
“We understand that our team is deemed as being far from settled and it’s less than two years since a lot of these Donegal players came to Newry and put 2-25 on the board against us in an Ulster Championship game.”
Donegal have had four weeks to regroup since relegation from Division One and the dramatic departure of Paddy Carr as manager.
Clarke remains wary of opponents who have a lot more recent pedigree in Ulster than Down, having dominated the competition reaching 10 of the last 12 finals.
Clarke claims Donegal as “clear favourites” to win on Sunday.
“They are playing at a much higher level than our players for a number of years and they are a proud county as well, and are going to have a response.
“People are writing them off and questioning their mindset and any team that has that, there’s only one way to go.
“They certainly won’t be coming to Newry fearful of Down, that is understandable.
“We are under no illusions Donegal will be coming to take us down.”
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