IN FOCUS/Down football: Seán Moran talks to new manager Paddy O'Rourke about changed times in Down football
Eleven and a half years ago but it seems like an eternity. Paddy O'Rourke lifted the Sam Maguire on September 15th, 1991, and opened the gates.
In the previous 23 years the football All-Ireland was rotated between Leinster and Munster but since that great Down victory, everything is more competitive and Ulster has been the most successful province with five All-Irelands in the last 12 years.
Last autumn O'Rourke returned to action, this time as manager and succeeded the long-serving Peter McGrath. There can't have been much familiar to the former captain. His county had fallen on hard times and only a handful of players survived from the good times - just one, James McCartan from the 1991 success.
From being the one Ulster county genuinely feared in the world at large Down found that they didn't frighten anyone anymore - not even Antrim who recorded a first championship win in 18 years at their humbled neighbours' expense in 2000.
O'Rourke won't talk extensively about what went wrong but gives pretty broad hints. "I'm not going to comment on that. It was a number of things. Players weren't really applying themselves and were happy to drift in and out of the panel rather than staying around and seeing it through."
Did he find the decline shocking? "It wasn't a shock because I'd been watching them play but it was very disappointing to see the county slip so low. The task now is to get players who really want to do it and put together a panel.
"My thoughts coming into it was that Down football isn't as far away as people might feel. Maybe players weren't working as hard as they could but there's no shortage of talent in the county. It's a matter of getting everyone working together.
"I wouldn't even talk about an Ulster title but I would be confident that we will compete quite quickly with the best. Through the National League we will get to know the players better and the team will become more settled. At the minute we're 25th in the GAA rankings and that's too low for Down and we're going to do something about it."
He finds the football much as he left it, in that Ulster again holds the All-Ireland and Down hope to build on a minor All-Ireland from 1999. But these are about the only similarities.
Levels of preparation have intensified over the years and no team demonstrated this more clearly than Armagh whereas Down lack the cadre of experienced, quality players - Greg Blaney, Mickey Linden, Ross Carr etc - that backboned the success of the 1990s.
"When Pete took over he had much more seasoned players and he'd say that himself. At his first meeting with the panel there were 12, 13 or 14 of us between the age of 26 and 31 and we'd been through the mill.
"Probably the difference I notice is the players' upper body strength. GAA's getting like rugby because that strength is essential to survive as an intercounty player.
"Teams also look far more carefully at diet and the players' way of life. That's a bit more professional. There wasn't the same level of advice 10 years ago."
Back then Down provided the lighthouse effect for the rest of the province and their first defence of the All-Ireland in 1992 was against Armagh. For O'Rourke and his players the roles have been reversed. They may be local rivals but the Down manager isn't underestimating the counties' proximity to each other.
"There's a big gap. Armagh are a very seasoned team with a great focus. They're ahead of most others as regards their panel of players and as All-Ireland champions will have additional confidence. Their success does give a wee bit of an incentive to other Ulster teams.
"When Dublin and Kerry win All-Irelands it's easy to think that they're special counties but when one of your own wins, you see lads that you mixed with at university and realise that hard work is the key to it."
