Magill eager to return to the red and black

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.