When Tommy Sugrue blew his full-time whistle on 18 September, 1994, Down football had reached its zenith.
A two-point win over Dublin, the prodigious James McCartan with the crucial goal, ensured Sam was heading towards Newry, Downpatrick and Newcastle for a fifth time.
The men in red and black had come to Croke Park and conquered once again. Five finals, five wins. Only Limerick – 1887 and 1896 – and Donegal – 1992 – could also boast perfect final records at that time, but to do it five times and against Kerry (2), Dublin, Offaly and Meath? That was special.
The aristocrats of Ulster had become the aristocrats of Ireland and as the drizzle fell and DJ Kane – who named Sugrue as his favourite referee in an Irish Press player profile the day before the game - lifted Sam and told the crowd that the result proved 1991 wasn't a fluke, nobody could have envisioned that the county would endure a three-decade barren spell.
That’s pretty much the case though. The senior team’s roll of honour on 18 September, 1994 is identical to the roll of honour on 13 April, 2024 with the exception of a trio of pre-season McKenna Cups.
This evening, another attempt to end the wait will begin as their Ulster campaign gets up and running against Antrim at Páirc Esler.
Over those 30 years, no county has come from behind to overtake them in the All-Ireland roll of honour, although Meath, who had been level with them on five titles, have moved onto seven.
There have been notable changes in Ulster though. When the Mourne County won the '94 Anglo Celt Cup, they were five ahead of bitter rivals Armagh, they now trail by two. Tyrone had been further back, on six, but now sit four clear of Down. Donegal are closing in on them, having added five provincial crowns since the red and black streamers were attached to the cup.
Perhaps the signs were there all along.
The 1994 triumph came on the back of a winter of discontent with Pete McGrath’s criticisms after their 11-point hammering at the hands of Derry the year before, in what became known as ‘the massacre at the Marshes’, leading to Greg Blaney and James McCartan walking out.
McGrath, for his part, argued that all he said was that everyone involved owed the Down fans an apology – but the rift continued into the start of the next season before the duo returned to training one night in Hilltown.
From there, as they say, the rest is history but maybe while the damage could be patched up in the short term, there were longer-term scars.
It wasn’t a team fresh out of minor level either.
The late Eamonn Burns and star forward Mickey Linden, who would go on to play until 2003, were over the 30 barrier. Kane and goalkeeper Neil Collins were closing in on it. Blaney and Gary Mason would only last a few more seasons – two of their final three seasons ending in the Ulster preliminary round defeats to Donegal and Tyrone, after a replay, respectively.
The succession plan, on reflection, was pretty thin on detail. Down’s last Ulster minor title had arrived in 1987, seven years before the '94 final, and they have only won one since. It should be noted that they converted that into an All-Ireland crown in 1999, the team producing the likes of Benny Coulter, John Clarke, Ronan Sexton and Ronan Murtagh for the senior ranks.
Another Tom Markham Memorial Cup would arrive in 2005, through the backdoor, but that team’s impact on the senior squad was pretty minor, Marty Clarke and Paul McComiskey two obvious exceptions.
It was a similar story at Under-21 level. Their 1985 Ulster title wasn’t added to for another 20 years.
Even the club scene success dried up. The great Burren team of the ‘80s secured two All-Ireland titles and five Ulsters and would have its fingerprints all over the Down side of ‘91 and ‘94, and a fantastic RGU Downpatrick side would reach the 1993 provincial final where they fell to a Peter Canavan inspired Errigal Ciaran.
Downpatrick operate in Division 2 currently, while the other two towns mentioned earlier - Newry and Newcastle - have no top-tier league representation either. In fact, Newry clubs haven’t boasted a championship appearance since Damian Rafferty came off the bench in a 2011 qualifier win over Leitrim.
A number of coaches who have worked in different counties have stressed that there is a huge gap currently between the standard of club football in Down compared to Derry, Tyrone and Monaghan in particular.
It would be Kilcoo in 2019 when a Down side next lifted an Ulster title and given they have also an Andy Merrgian to their name, it's obvious that a great side has emerged in recent times, but on the whole it’s been hard lines.
Around the Millennium, Ulster club intermediate and junior competitions were added to the calendar and only three – Liatroim, Warrenpoint and Loughinisland – have won those, all at intermediate level.
One counter-argument is the near misses for Down, and there have been plenty of them. Convert some of those narrow losses into wins and the story is very different.
Since that 1994 All-Ireland win, and excluding pre-season competitions, Down have been in 12 finals yet failed to lift a single cup.
Their perfect All-Ireland final record came to an end with an agonising 2010 defeat to Cork while there have been a quintet of Ulster final losses, including a 2003 replay loss to eventual Sam Maguire winners Tyrone having led by nine points midway through the second half.
There were Division 2 final losses to Offaly (2004), Armagh (2010) and Roscommon (2015) and they lost out in Division 3 deciders to Tipperary (2009) as well as Westmeath two weeks ago.
Throw in last year’s Tailteann Cup loss to Meath and it’s been a tough run.
For some though, it’s a simple case of a county standing still while neighbouring counties moved ahead to the next level.
The very fabric of the GAA shifted as the new Millennium rang in. Teams like Armagh and Tyrone brought conditioning and preparations to a new level, with the likes of Kerry, Dublin and Mayo quickly catching up.
For others, Donegal the oft-cited example, the penny took a while to drop, but they got there eventually, requiring the appointment of Jim McGuinness in 2011 to finally rid the side of its party boy image.
Crucially, inspired by the exploits mainly of Tyrone, underage structures were rooted out and restructured across the land.
A sense still hung over the Mourne County, one of the famed ‘Down Way’ where style over substance would win out. Tradition over tinkering.
"There does be chat about the arrogance that existed, about how their way had worked and would continue to work, and to tell you the truth there probably was a lot of that," one former player told RTÉ Sport.
One aspect that can’t be overlooked is the loss of key GAA drivers in some big Down schools over the last number of years.
Ray Morgan and Pete McGrath departed St Colman’s, although they continued to succeed with former Down player Cathal Murray leading their charge. Barney McAleenan of St Mark’s, Warrenpoint and PJ Magee of St Malachy’s, Castlewellan both retired within a year of each other back in 2007/08. The Abbey said goodbye to Val Kane and Jim McCartan, two highly-driven GAA men, who stepped away.
The late Ray Carville was another staunch GAA man who drove the sport in St Columban's and had a steady hand on the development of a number of Celtic Cross winners.
These men were figureheads. Addicted to football and determined to mould. For some, the loss of meaningful games between schools in the Mourne County was a major blow with a greater focus instead going onto provincial and All-Ireland schools’ games.
In recent times, the eye seems to be back on the prize when it comes to school progression though.
Former Carlow coach Steven Poacher was convinced to join St Joseph’s, Newry as head of PE having worked with Armagh school Lismore Comprehensive previously and there is great ground being made in a school not traditionally noted for its GAA success despite being next door to St Colman’s.
St Mark’s are booming and looking forward to life in more A competitions with former Down attacking ace Donal O’Hare, Sean Featherstone, Gavin Treanor leading an enthusiastic band of coaches that have been racking up titles.
Last month, the Abbey, for the first time ever, advertised a GAA development officer role in their Newry school.
Former Mourne greats Kevin McKernan and current boss Conor Laverty have been in coaching with the Abbey and St Malachy’s respectively.
And it’s Laverty who is seen as the man with the key to unlock the puzzle as he preps his side for this evening’s Ulster opener against the Saffrons.
When the full-time whistle went in their recent Division 3 final loss to Westmeath, the big screen at Croke Park cut to him and lip readers wouldn’t have needed to work too hard to figure out what he was saying. His disgust was evident, because this is a manager who is determined to take Down back towards the upper echelons on the GAA, back towards meaningful silverware.
Laverty has been in this position before, but as a player at club level with Kilcoo.
When he first laced up boots in the Magpie dressing room back in 2002, the club had never won a Division One league title and their last Down championship title had come in 1937. Now he has a dozen of them to go along with two Ulsters and an All-Ireland.
The breakthrough honour was that league title in 2003 under the tutelage of former Down boss Jim McCorry.
That experience can only be helpful for Laverty and his aims for the coming years, he believes.
"It absolutely will help," McCorry told RTÉ Sport.
"Derry have come from Division 4 having gone down the ranks with that non-competitive edge, but still with a lot of good players.
"Then you see the whole change within Derry at club level, Slaughtneil and Glen. The whole county board, the backing of management 100%, working with clubs more. Derry are now in that top two, top three.
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"People talk about the Down swagger, that may have been OK in the ‘60s and with Pete later on. But it’s not about the swagger, it’s about that winning mentality in all you do.
"That experience Conor had in my time with Kilcoo and subsequently with Mickey (Moran) and Paul McIver. People write them off every year and they still come back and win. Should they be doing that? They have great talent but when you have that great talent plus that right attitude that’s what makes the difference.
"That maybe hasn’t been to the fore in Down in recent years and you might see that coming through now."
McCorry was the last Down boss to secure Division 1 football for the county having earned promotion in 2015, but even being at the coal-face, he finds it difficult to sum up their deficiencies over the last three decades into a couple of bullet points.
"I don’t think there is just one thing you can point the finger to say and say ‘this is why Down haven't won in so many years.’
"There are a number of different factors and at time I think there is too much interference at management level and [it’s about] trying to do the small political things right.
"Now, with Conor Laverty coming in – Conor Laverty is calling the shots and he is getting backed 100%.
"He has a very, very young team but there has been an awful lot of progress during that time. OK they haven’t won anything but he’s got promotion this year, beaten in the Tailteann Cup final, beaten in the league [Division 3] final. It’s a young team, that’s going to be good experience for them coming through.
"One of the bigger factors, and again this is where Conor Laverty will be to the fore, is the mentality factor.
"You can have the best of footballers, the fittest footballers with great physicality, but if the mentality isn’t right, not just within the team, but the management, the county overall, it won’t work.
"Conor used the example recently in a talk that he did as to why Kilcoo had been so successful and he referred to a mentality that is there with them. It's not just winning mentality, it’s all the things that go with a winning mentality.
"Within Down that’s been the factor that has been missing for so long. The glory years, the years when they were winning under Pete, it was there. Pete was a great manager too, he read the game well and had great players too.
"Over the years Down have had those great players, but they just have to get that mentality there.
"The great Down history, that’s all in the past. It needs to be recognised, it needs to be celebrated but focus on what’s there now.
"I think Conor’s doing that and has done in the time he has been there and will do in the years to come."
Whether Laverty changes that roll of honour or not remains to be seen, but his message will be clear; 30 years is too long.
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