Pulling on the red and black of Down was always an ambition for Danny Magill.
With his father, Miceal, an All-Ireland winner in 1994, football was in the blood and in the 2023 Ulster Senior Football Championship quarter-final, Magill made his debut in the competition, scoring a point in the win over Donegal.
The 24-year-old won't play this Sunday when the teams meet in Letterkenny [15:00 BST]. A cruciate injury sustained in the first round of the Down SFC for Burren against Castlewellan has left him on the outside looking in throughout 2026 as he continues his recovery.
"I'm getting there, close," he says of his current status, but the desire to return to county colours mirrors his early ambitions as he seeks to get back on the pitch for Conor Laverty's side.
The initial pain, both physical and psychological has subsided with Magill "at one with it now" as he continues to work towards a return and has taken inspiration from some of Gaelic football's biggest names like Colm Cooper, Bernard Brogan and Ciaran Kilkenny who suffered the same fate but thrived upon their return.
"If you don't know me, know me personally, I've become sort of a psychopath with it all," Magill says of his recovery.
"I'm at one with it in terms of I know what to do every day and if I do that every day I sleep a wee bit better at night and I know how to attack the next day.
"I'm working out twice a day, four days a week and the other three days I'm hitting something else. I'm either on grass or in the gym for upper body. I'm at one with it in terms of I can't change it. The only thing I can affect is how I come back and the plan is to come back bigger, better, faster, stronger.
"I'm at one with it in terms of everyone knows where I want to get to and everyone's pushing me towards that goal."
'I have a fear of being average'
There have been "plenty of dark nights" as he worked on his own programme while his team-mates pushed themselves out on the training pitch.
It's all to reach one goal: to be the best version of themselves and bring the glory days back to the Mourne County.
"I think the group itself and the boys that I go to training with every day are completely obsessed with wanting to play for Down and I think that I am obsessed with playing for Down," he continued.
"I'm playing at the highest level. I have a fear of being average. I don't like the word average.
"I want myself and I want the boys and the group to play at the top level and to take on the likes of Donegal and the likes of Kerry and the likes of Galway, because I don't see why do you play football to go play, just to be a nobody. You want to be remembered.
"You want to leave your own legacy. Playing for Down, there's a proud history there. You've won five All-Irelands but you don't want to be a nobody playing for Down.
"We want to leave our own mark and I suppose I have the drive to get back there for myself personally and to be back playing for Down on a regular basis and to play at the top level on a regular basis."
'Our dream is to put Down back at the top'
They aren't quite there yet, but promotion to Division Two was secured earlier this year which gives them realistic hope of playing in this year's race for Sam Maguire.
Last year, Down enjoyed a positive championship campaign, bowing out at the hands of Galway after a thriller in Newry and these are the games and occasions they crave.
On Sunday, they take on back-to-back Ulster champions Donegal, exactly the type of test this group of Down players crave.
"I felt like we gave a really good record of ourselves last year and I felt like we were in a really good spot because we were disappointed we didn't beat Galway and that's the truth," Magill, a GAA coaching officer in St Louis, Kilkeel says.
"Every player here wants to be playing Sam Maguire football. Everyone wants it down at the top table. Everyone wants to play a Donegal, to bring a Kerry or a Dublin to Newry.
"You get big crowds and that's what the fans want. That's what the fans deserve and that's all the Down fans know is playing at the top level and challenging at the top level. So, it is a dream and an aspiration for us to get back there."
Of course, following in his father's footsteps with an All-Ireland title is the overall ambition.
Down did win the 2024 Tailteann Cup, but in a county with such a rich tradition, 32 years without Ulster or Sam Maguire success is an eternity.
"My dad still slags me, he's won an All-Ireland and I've none, so he still goes on about that," Magill says.
"It's always good craic with that, but I want to write my own history with this Down team."
