Sports

Donegal 1-21 Down 3-21: ‘I was roaring at them’ – Conor Laverty joyous as Mournemen stun Ulster holders

Published

3 months ago

April 27, 2026

Toppling Donegal, of course, took meticulous preparation. Laverty had planned for the holders’ influential forward Michael Langan’s absence – which the Down camp got wind of during the week – and drilled his players on how to stop the Donegal attack.

“We looked at Donegal and we worked on it and we studied them in great detail, particularly their forward play,” explained Laverty.

“But we concentrated on ourselves an awful lot. I think we approached this game in a different manner than we approached last year and how we approached Armagh in the previous campaign, albeit it’s a different game now.

“We probably felt last year we came with a more frustration game to Donegal and trying to bring them down the straight. But the plan today was to get up and to get at it nice and early and really test them and express ourselves. The word we’ve used all week is belief.”

To steel his players for a top-level championship test, Laverty took them as far as Killarney for a challenge game against Kerry.

As Laverty explained, the Kingdom “don’t play too many challenge matches”, but when the opportunity arose, he was keen to thrust his players into a tussle with a championship juggernaut.

“It worked for the [Down under] 20s in my first year. We played Kerry, we played Dublin, we played the best teams in the country,” he said.

“If we’re going to play Donegal today, and I can say to these lads, after 35 or odd minutes in a game, that we’re doing and executing things that we want to do.

“I understand people want to say Donegal and Kerry played different kind of styles, but for pressure on kick-outs and for zonal presses on kick-outs, it was a great workout.”

Written off in many quarters, Down needn’t have looked far for motivation, but Laverty also revealed he saved a graphic of the Ulster Championship draw that had Donegal facing either Tyrone or Armagh in the semi-finals as his phone screensaver as a reminder of how his team had been overlooked.

“Three weeks, and I’ve looked at it every day,” he said, adding that he showed it to his players on Thursday.

Sports

'Good signs' for Man Utd as Mbeumo scores in encouraging draw with PSG

Published

1 minute ago

August 9, 2026

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Bryan Mbeumo earned Man Utd a 1-1 draw with Paris St-Germain in Gothenburg, a pre-season friendly which left boss Michael Carrick encouraged by the “good signs” from his side.

Sports

'Took him off both his feet!' | Stevie McKenna with HUGE first-round KO

Published

8 minutes ago

August 9, 2026

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Stevie McKenna stopped Owen O’Neill with a devastating right hand in the opening round of their contest at Zuffa Boxing 10.

Sports

Callum Walsh comes through cuts and knockdown to drop Denny and take battling decision victory in Dublin contest | Boxing News

Published

14 minutes ago

August 9, 2026

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Callum Walsh maintained his unbeaten record and top contender status with a unanimous decision victory over Tyler Denny.

Denny, a former European champion, is a tough veteran and proved a test for the Irish middleweight at Dublin’s 3Arena.

Walsh prevailed on points, winning 98-91 twice and 96-90.

The bout didn’t progress without its pitfalls as Denny gave him hard rounds.

The first round suddenly went south for Walsh. Awkwardly positioned in front of Denny, he found himself bending low. Denny attacked and Walsh took a shot before slipping to a knee. The referee ruled that a knockdown.

Walsh found the perfect riposte in the second round. As Denny came after him, Walsh launched a lovely arching left cross to the point of the Englishman’s chin, dropping him heavily to the canvas.

Denny, brave as ever, rose and fought on. But Walsh popped up from beneath an attack to land a fine right hook and he finished the round slugging Denny into the ropes.

The Briton shook off the effects of that round and advanced. By the end of the fourth round, Walsh was backing up, letting his southpaw opponent come on but picking out accurate punches to catch Denny.

Walsh maintained his control, moving, hitting and letting Denny work to try to pin him down.

The Briton kept scrapping forward and managed to land solidly in the sixth round.

Denny trudged on swinging wildly, but Walsh manoeuvred well. The Irishman caught Denny to the head with a left-right combination. Denny felt those shots but remained doggedly determined. He cleaved away with uppercuts in close.

The referee took a point off Walsh for holding, before evening up it by taking a point off Denny for hitting behind the head.

Walsh exploded forward with a savage sequence of punches to the head, leaving Denny stranded, standing still on the end of them.

But Walsh emerged from a clash with a cut over his left eye. It bled badly at once. Denny was leaning into him in scrappy collisions and Walsh looked frustrated after picking an additional nick on his cheek.

In the 10th round Walsh landed a great lead right uppercut. Denny got after him with hooks, catching the Irishman with his southpaw left and right.

Another hard left from Walsh though snagged Denny. He couldn’t put the Englishman down a second time but made sure he finished the fight in the ascendancy.

‘I think he broke my orbital bone’

Walsh told Sky Sports: “It was a lot harder than I thought. In the second round we clashed heads. I think he broke my orbital bone. It was crunching the whole time.

“It was very tough. I’m very critical of myself. I should have been a lot better. I wish I could have been better.

“He’s tough, awkward and tricky, but we’ll go again.”

Watch Aaron McKenna and Etinosa Oliha fight for the IBF world middleweight title in Dublin on Saturday, live on Sky Sports. Get Sky Sports or stream boxing with no contract.