Benny Coulter

For the remainder of his inter-county career, Down didn’t get as close to an All-Ireland again. Clarke went back to Australia and McCartan’s squad was beset by injuries and a few exits for the next couple of seasons.  Coulter pulled the curtain down on his own inter-county career when new boss Jim McCorry met him in the Canal Court Hotel and couldn’t guarantee him a starting berth in the team. “I went away and thought about it. I retired then. There was no fall-out with Jim. “I’ve total respect for him because he was the man that won us our first championship medal. He was class for Mayobridge. Only for that man; he started the whole thing off.” Coulter always loved coaching and took a couple of underage teams right through to minor at the 'Bridge before stepping up to the senior job himself with Francie Poland and inviting Ciaran McKeever in as coach.  “We were at loggerheads on the pitch," McKeever says, "and then one day Benny asked me to come and coach Mayobridge when he was the manager.  “I suppose our relationship progressed from there and we got to know each other a bit better. “These days we can have a pint together which is always good after a healthy rivalry down through the years.” Sitting in the hotel foyer, weighing in at 13st 3lbs, approaching his 41st birthday and still looking fit enough for 15 minutes should his old Down team-mate Conor Laverty need him against Donegal on the 23rd, Benny Coulter is an open book and as earthly as they come.  Brutally honest about the wrong turns he's taken during a playing career that yielded an Allstar, an All-Ireland minor title, eight club championships and the admiration of an entire nation, the Mayobridge man lit up so many Championship Sundays for a decade-and-a-half.  Still pulling on a jersey approaching his 41st birthday, you wonder did he really take that many wrong turns...

The Down legend's assistant Sean Cunningham says Coulter brings so much to the table as the Mourne side prepare to face Monaghan this weekend

ULSTER GAA stars are set to take to the skies in aid of raising funds for two worthwhile causes.

SHANE Mulholland has ruled himself out of the reckoning to succeed his former team-mate James McCartan as Down senior manager.

“WE were near beat before we ever took the pitch,” Benny Coulter admits with a hint of glumness almost a decade on.

JAMES McCartan doesn’t promise trophies, what he does promise Down supporters is “hard work and sweat and tears” at every stage of his second-coming as manager of their county.

FORMER Down forward Benny Coulter is delighted to see James McCartan return to the Mourne County hot seat – and hopes he will have the best players in the county to choose from as he pulls together a panel.

Down Senior Football Championship round of 16: Carryduff v Longstone (today, Newcastle, 4pm) CARRYDUFF, championship finalists for the first time in their history last year, take on a Longstone side that has already sprung a surprise in this season’s competition.

FORMER Down ace Benny Coulter says he is not surprised by the lack of candidates putting their hands up for the Mourne vacancy following Paddy Tally’s managerial exit last week.

DOWN’S relegation play-off against Laois carries greater importance from a development point of view than their Ulster Championship showdown with Donegal later this month, according to Benny Coulter.