Having left Co Down for the United States almost 30 years ago, Noel Morgan might have been forgiven for allowing himself to drift away from events at home. Far from it, and he'll be anxiously following events at Croke Park as his fellow Mournemen attempt to derail favourites Cork and lift a sixth All-Ireland title. He spoke to Hogan Stand. 

There's something about the old sod. It gets in the bloodstream, and it won't quit. For the hundreds of thousands of Irish men and women who've been compelled to leave their homeland, the pull of home remains as strong as tungsten. Noel Morgan, from Bryansford in Co Down, is one of their number. He left for the United States in 1981 - "shortly after I finished my apprenticeship," he says - and has been working in the construction business in New York ever since.

Noel is now Project Manager with Carrickmore Properties, owned by Patrick Donaghy Jnr, son of Patrick Snr and nephew of Sal, the Tyrone brothers who established Carrickmore following their own emigration long before Morgan touched down in the land of hope and glory.

So, almost 30 years after he took the decision to leave Ireland to build a new life in the US, does Noel miss life at home? "I miss parts of it," he says, "but other parts I don't! I'm settled here now, but in any case I get back home fairly often - usually twice a year."

Should those trips back across the Atlantic coincide with games involving the Down team, Noel makes it his business to get along. To offer his support. To see how things are progressing. To maintain those lifelong links with the game - the way of life - which first gripped him during his time with the Bryansford juveniles in the 1970s.

"I played until I was U16," recalls Noel, continuing with a chuckle: "Like a lot of people, I wasn't good enough!"

When he landed in the States, the first port of call, as it has been for so many Irish emigrants, was that little bit of home on foreign soil, Gaelic Park. He fell in with a fellow Co Down man, Jim Greene, who was involved with the Donegal club, and so it was that the green and gold earned his support. "We would go to Gaelic Park every Sunday to support the Donegal club. Working with Carrickmore, there was always plenty of banter. Not all the lads working there down the years would have been Irish but a good few of them would, and there was always great slagging between fellas from Down or Tyrone or wherever."

Things have been going well for Carrickmore, which started out as a small construction company specialising in small one-off housing projects. "There was a time when we did one or two houses a year," recalls Noel, "but these days Carrickmore is a big construction management company looking after multiple housing projects and commercial ventures such as apartments, restaurants, anything. We're lucky enough. Things are going well, we're very busy at the moment. A year ago there was little or nothing for anyone involved in construction - you were running around doing anything you could get - but things have picked up a lot now."

With a loyal staff of 10, Carrickmore Properties deploys several sub-contractors on an ongoing basis and, says Noel, can have anything from 15 to 20 projects on stream at any one time. While the company is based in Rockland County, work can take Carrickmore throughout the state. "Literally, from day to day we can be anywhere," says Noel, "from Connecticut to Westchester to upstate New York and New Jersey."

With several of his workmates coming from a Tyrone leaning, as a Down man Noel has had to watch from afar as his colleagues celebrated their county side's dominance over the past decade. The 2010 championship, however, has seen Down come from the shadows to establish themselves once again as a team of great quality, and one which will attempt to claim a sixth All-Ireland football title when they take on Cork on Sunday, September 19th.

"I was at home at the time of the 2003 All-Ireland final and I managed to make it to the game to see Tyrone beat Armagh," says Noel. "Down used to always have the edge but Tyrone have come on very strong over the last ten years or so. You wouldn't have thought it at the start of the year, but the way it's gone over the last few months, you never know, Down might be getting back on top again."

A lot of plaudits, he says, must go to James McCartan, a legendary figure during his playing days who has transformed the team from Division 2 also-rans to one of the top sides in the country in his first year in charge.

"It's been a big learning curve for the Down team this year but you have to give credit to James McCartan. He's managed to instil a real belief into the team again, and that's a massive achievement with the cards he was dealt at the start of the year. He's made some great changes during the year too, so hats off to him. The way the year has gone, it's a similar scenario to '91 and '94. The team scraped through some of the earlier rounds and has just got stronger and stronger with every game.

"They were very good against Kildare and even though Benny Coulter might have been lucky with his goal, I think it would have been a very bad injustice if Down hadn't won the game. It was a great game. Hugh Lynch, the Kildare sub, and Benny Coulter scored two of the best points I've ever seen scored in Croke Park. And to be honest, I don't think Down have played their best yet. They made a few mistakes against Kildare - could have taken a few easy points, could have taken at least one other goal chance."

Noel's club Bryansford has a hard-earned heritage of providing players to Down sides. The Burns brothers Eamon and Brian won All-Ireland winners' medals in the '90s, while the present crop includes Kalum King, one of the country's rising centrefield stars, and Conor Maginn, who made an impact off the bench against Kildare.

The Morgan clan have a close association with everything in Bryansford, with Noel's late father Eddie serving the club with distinction before his sad passing in the 1970s. "Along with men like Pat O'Hare and Paddy Kane he was very involved in the foundation of Bryansford," says Noel. "Unfortunately he didn't get the chance to see Down after the '60s but the work that he and everyone else in Bryansford have done down through the years has really paid off."

King and Maginn are flying the flag for the club in 2010, and Noel believes the enforced absence of captain Ambrose Rogers against Kildare helped the former grab the spotlight. "I think Kalum was overshadowed by Ambrose a bit earlier in the year and it took him 15 or 20 minutes against Kildare to really get going, but he stepped it up after that. He's a big man and he showed his strength, and hopefully he can do the same thing in the final."

Looking ahead to the big day, Noel believes Cork's well-documented physical strength throughout the field could actually prove to be their downfall. "Cork were in the final last year and they looked unbeatable all year but they were well beaten by Kerry. They may have learnt a lesson from that but I believe that if Down play as well as I know they can, Cork will have a tough time keeping with them. Cork are a very strong team but in a way, they may even be too big. Down might be that bit more mobile than them in the forwards, just like Kerry were last year with players like the Gooch able to turn on a sixpence.

"I've some good friends from Cork, including Jeremiah Harrington, so it'll be a great occasion. Cork are a good side and they'll be hoping to correct a few wrongs from the last few years. I'm sure it will be a 50-50 tussle. But hopefully we can shade it."

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