Name: Benny Coulter
Age: 28
Ht: 6 ft
Weight:  13 stone
Club: Mayobridge
County: Down
 Position: Forward
Honours: 8 Down Championships, 5 Down leagues, all underage league and Championships from 12 through to Minor’s, 1 Ulster and all-Ireland Minor Championship with Down (1999), 1 Down, Ulster and all Ireland vocational schools, 3 railway cups and represented Ireland 10 times.
 

Who were your role models as a kid?

Mickey Linden, Tom O’ Hare

 

Down is synonymous for its football. Have you played all your life?

Yes, I started when I was six and I’m still playing so that’s 22 years and counting.

 

You have almost been an automatic selection for the Compromise Rules series being selected in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2008; surely a great honour to be selected so regularly by such great managers but to represent your country must be amazing?

 Yes it is easily the best honour of my career along with the eight club Championships I won with Mayobridge. To get to play along with the best footballers on the island of Ireland is simply brilliant and the trip to Australia was fantastic, after all the football was over.

 

You made your senior debut in 1999 after winning Ulster and All Ireland minor championship medals, for such a young age how did you cope with the pressures of senior football and the step up required?

 I coped ok as there was about four or five of that minor team on that senior panel. It was good to have them there and off course Mickey Linden was still there so he helped me settle in ok and I haven’t looked back since.

 

 

You look sharp so far this year, have you been doing extra training over the winter months to keep in shape?

 Yes. I know now that I only have a couple of years left so I really am focused at doing all I can to try and keep at the top for as long as I can. Yes it’s getting harder every year but I hope I can play until I’m 30 at inter-county level at the very least.

 

 

Was the league final defeat to Armagh in HQ hard to take, especially after beating them in Newry a few weeks beforehand?

 To be honest it was pretty easy to move on as the older you get the more you know that the Championship is the one that counts, maybe years ago if it had of happened it would have taken me weeks to get over but at this stage of my carer I can move on and focus on what really matters.

 

 You face Donegal on the 30th of May in Ballybofey, how is preparations going for this match and what are your expectations this year with Down?

 Preparations are going well at the minute. We are training very hard over the next two weeks.  We aim to go out and give it all, every game we play in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

8 June 2008; Down's Benny Coulter celebrates after scoring his side's first goal. GAA Football Ulster Senior Championship Quarter-Final, Tyrone v Down, Healy Park, Omagh, Co. Tyrone

James McCartan played for many years with distinction up front for Down, does James’s experience rub off on you?

 

 

 

 

 

 Yes James is great and he has a very good knowledge of the game, especially up front as he had plenty of years experience scoring points for county and club. As far as James goes as a manager, you just have to look at his record as he has done well wherever he has gone to manage.

 

 Who was the person who most influenced you as a footballer in your career to date?

 I would say family first and foremost.  I would also acknowledge the Mayobridge underage management teams who have mentored and nurtured me through the years coming up from under 10 through to the Minor’s. Also when Paddy O’ Rourke took over the management of Down he not only changed me as a footballer but he also changed me as a person for the better

 

 Who has been your most difficult opponent to date and why?

Far too many to mention them all although Armagh’s Andy Mallon and I always have great battles.

 
Given the opportunity, what is the one thing you would change in the GAA?

 I would open up Croke Park to everybody.  All county’s and clubs all over the island, not just the Dubs!

 

 Finally Benny, a big year ahead of you on and off the field, do you have any other interests outside of the GAA?

 Well other than Liverpool football club whom I follow and support I have a young child who I try to spend every spare minute with. Every minute I spend with him is just an amazing time in itself.