Conor Laverty was immensely proud of his Down players after their stunning Ulster SFC quarter-final victory over Donegal.

The Allianz League Division 3 champions pulled off a famous 3-21 to 1-21 win in O’Donnell Park to set up a mouth-watering local derby against Armagh next Sunday in Clones.

"This Down team has been very close over the past few years to a marquee win, and today was that,” the Mourne County boss enthused.

“After the Division 3 final win, there was hardly a word. The goal was to get out of Division 3, but we met right away on the Tuesday night and got stuck into preparing for Donegal. 

“We got the heads down, got stuck into a gameplan that we felt could be executed against Donegal. 

“We studied them in great detail, particularly their forward play. But we also concentrated on ourselves and what we bring to the table. 

“The plan today was to get at them early and test them. The word we used all week was ‘belief’”. 

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