Mickey Linden discusses state of Down football and still playing at 55

Linden won two All-Ireland titles with Down

Two-time All-Ireland winner with Down Mickey Linden is still producing the goods at the ripe old age of 55.

The 1994 Footballer of the Year recently kicked a score for Mayobridge in the Down Premier Reserve Championship, with the footage going viral.

"I only came on for about 15 minutes towards the end of that game," he laughed. "The game was effectively over. The fellas had all done the hard work.

"I haven't really stopped training or playing. I don't play as much obviously but when it comes around to the reserve championship these last couple of years. I had sort of quit playing and one of the managers approached me because they were short players two years ago and said, 'Listen, would you come back? We're struggling. Only have 14 or 15 players for this championship match, would you come back and play?'

The 1991 Down team were honoured in 2016, 25 years after their All-Ireland triumph

"That got me roped back in. Then I got the feel of it, enjoyed it again, stayed on. Played on through that championship. I've done the same since. Just came in for championship and joined the lads, enjoyed the craic."

The corner-forward was a revered scorer in his day, terrorising defences throughout the country in what was a golden period for Down, and indeed Ulster football.

When he sees the way the game is played now, Linden counts his lucky stars there were no blanket defences in his time.

"I do honestly count my blessings that I played in the era I played in because we didn't have two or three defenders to beat," he said. "Most of the time you had one-on-ones. You might have got teamed up with two players but generally, you were getting the ball in more direct, you had more opportunities to go past your man, be more direct. Now fellas I feel are more in the habit of turning back because there are so many defenders.

"Unless you have the big open spaces of Croke Park which is hard to nullify. It can be hard for a corner-forward now to express himself, show his skills the way we could back in the '90s."

Linden retired from intercounty football in 2003

As Linden reminisces upon when Gaelic football was a more attractive spectacle, he also longs to see his own county reach the top once again.

"Certainly in Down we didn't think it would be 25 years since we won an Ulster final," he added.

"We have been close, particularly in 2010. But we just don't seem to be getting the same quality coming through to senior level.

"Having said all that, we had a good U20 team last year. There are five or six lads who you'd say will come through to senior level. And we haven't had that for four or five years. Hopefully they will come through and make a difference."

The appointment of Paddy Tally brings a renewed wave of optimism.

"I was delighted with it," Linden said. "I think we needed to go that way [bring in an outsider]. We've nearly expended anybody with in the county who could do the job. Maybe it is time yes to bring in someone like Paddy who will give a fresh look to it."

Linden will be inducted into the Gaelic Writers Association (GWA) Hall of Fame on Friday night at a gala dinner in Dublin's Woolen Mills, where a number of current and former players will be honoured.

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