Benny Coulter says he will forever regret not winning any major honours during his 15 years as a Down senior footballer.

The brilliant Mayobridge forward, who announced his inter-county retirement last Monday, won an All-Ireland medal as a minor in 1999, but failed to replicate that at senior level. The closest he came was in 2010 when the Mournemen were pipped by Cork in the All-Ireland final.

"That's the worst thing about this retirement," Coulter said on RTE Radio today.

"I can't look back and say that I won anything with Down. Beaten in a few Ulster finals, beaten in an All-Ireland final. It's been a long 20 years since Down won the All-Ireland in 1994, and we haven't been successful since that.

"Down footballers and Down supporters have been through a barren spell, and it's just unfortunate that I was part of that time.

"It's probably devastating that we lost that All-Ireland final 2010, against Cork. We missed out big-time that year."

Coulter does, however, take consolation from the fact that he got to experience what it was like to play in an All-Ireland final.

"We didn't win it, but there are players, the likes of [Kildare's] Johnny Doyle, who didn't get the experience to play in an All-Ireland final, whereas we got the whole experience.

"I ended up captaining the team that day because Ambrose [Rogers] was injured. And the three weeks before it was amazing; the buzz around Down was just unheard of.

"I was only a young fella in 1994, so that was the first time I experienced it. A lot of other young fellas, young children about Down, that was their first experience of Down being in an All-Ireland final.

"Those memories will live with me forever. It's just very, very unfortunate that we didn't win the title."

Tweet

Most Read Stories