Down manager Conor Laverty said their eight-goal demolition of Laois in the Tailteann Cup semi-finals was fuelled by a desire to be competing at Croke Park on "bigger days".
Laverty's side produced a ruthless attacking display, hitting four goals in the opening 17 minutes to quickly put the game to bed, and they added another four majors in the second half as focus shifted to a final date with Meath on 15 July.
The majority of the Down players were making their Croke Park debuts, with the exception of their Kilcoo contingent and a few senior players, but they looked unfazed by their new surroundings while taking Laois to the cleaners.
Down manager Conor Laverty was happy with his side's composure in front of goal as they raised eight green flags against Laois to set up a #TailteannCup rematch against Meath in the final #GAA pic.twitter.com/Sgmzc0VgxW
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"That's everybody’s dream, to play at Croke Park, and hopefully some lads fulfilled it," Laverty told RTÉ Sport.
"We’re under no illusions, we want to be here on bigger days. We would swap anything to be coming here next weekend to be playing in the All-Ireland quarter-finals.
"But we know where we’re at. We’re just looking forward to the final ahead."
Down captain Pierce Laverty said they had their homework done on Laois and shut down their opponents’ kicking game, while their ball movement and finishing was a cut above.
"We knew Laois like to kick the ball and tried to put pressure on them out the field to eliminate that factor, and we did that to the letter of the law," he said.
"They kicked a couple of marks inside but the more pressure we put on, the more the kicks didn’t come in, and that’s where they’re really dangerous.
"Our athleticism and ability to break at pace really shone through there."
Down's hat-trick hero and man of the match Liam Kerr is looking forward to the renewal of a historic rivalry with Meath in the #TailteannCup final #GAA pic.twitter.com/VIbkT04Zcy
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Down suffered a two-point defeat against Meath in the final round of the group stages, a result which saw them miss out on automatic qualification for the quarter-finals.
The Royals registered another two-point win in Sunday’s first semi-final at Headquarters as they saw off Down’s neighbours, Antrim.
"Meath are a very strong team," said Conor Laverty. "They’ve a lot of experience and under their new management they’re playing a bit of a different system compared to earlier in the year.
"They’re going to be hard and break down and it’ll be a very physical battle."
Danny Magill with his second goal and Down's EIGHTH
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) June 25, 2023
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Laois came into Sunday’s semi-final on the back of impressive away victories against Fermanagh and Limerick, but they were blown away by Down’s rip-roaring start and never recovered.
Laois manager Billy Sheehan shouldered the blame for his side’s performance.
"The boys deserve a lot better than that," he said. "They put in a huge effort over the last year and especially in the last couple of weeks, we got huge momentum. What happened today, we’re so disappointed for them.
"We targeted certain areas Down were going to bring. Unfortunately those areas came to fruition. The scoreline probably flatters us, they had numerous goalscoring chances.
"We were rattled at the start, four goals in 17 minutes, and two in the first six. That seemed to rattle our boys a small bit. They’ll learn from it, 100%."
Sheehan concluded: "The manager is the one who puts in the game plan, who prepares the team. It’s not the fault of the players, it’s the fault of the manager."