KILCOO are the undisputed kingpins of Down club football, with their latest and 14th senior county title taking them past Burren’s long-standing record at the top of the Mourne county table.
However, unlike Burren, the Ulster Club SFC title is something that has thus far eluded the Magpies but, as Sunday’s quarter-final clash with Cavan Champions Kingscourt Stars looms, manager Paul McIver is looking at delivering a performance.
“We sat down at the start of the year and with it being a time of transition, from new management and new backroom team, and the fact that we had so many people away on county duties, we really have only been focused on one game at a time and one step at a time and wherever we get to, we get to,” said McIver.
“And we are only preparing for what is important and that is putting in performances each time we go out.
“We have introduced a number of minors into the panel this year and those boys have given us a real good freshness and it is great.
“The likes of Miceal Rooney are giving the older lads like Jerome Johnston and Conor Laverty their fill of it and it all bodes well for the future of Kilcoo.”
The south Down club is at the hub of a close-knit community. From the outside looking in, Kilcoo can appear cold, secretive and perhaps suspicious, especially of the media. And these are the ingredients necessary to create a siege mentality.
But that would be lazy synopsis and if you look a little closer you’ll find a club that is proud of its heritage, that believes in putting in the hard yards, planning for the future and leaving no stone unturned in terms of trying to be the best they can be with a talented group of players, who want little else than to play football for their club.
When former Kilcoo manager Jim McCorry left the club to take on the Down senior job last season, it was felt in some quarters that without the Lurgan native, cracks might emerge and the wheels could come off.
But even the slight suggestion of Kilcoo’s fall from grace acted as a catalyst, as talisman Conor Laverty told the crowd when he lifted the Frank O’Hare Cup earlier this month after their final victory over Castlewellan.
“For those of you who keep knocking the team, questioning our players and questioning our management team, my answer is that we are going nowhere,” said Laverty.
Kilcoo’s shot-stopper Stephen Kane agrees with his team-mate.
“Even from the start of year, maybe when lads were away with the Down squad, we had to listen to a lot of chat that hunger wasn’t there but we knew that come championship-time we would produce and thankfully we have done that,” said Kane.
That magnificent drive and undeniable hunger is something that comes from the senior members of the team and this feeds down to the younger players and sets the tone of what is expected.
Indeed, five-time county winners like Anthony Devlin, Sean O’Hanlon and Donal Kane have seen their game-time severely reduced this season as the new breed breaks through. But, as McIver explained, their selfless commitment to the cause helps motivate his team.
“Competition for places has been brilliant, young boys have come in and pushed hard for places,” he said.
“There are a number of boys who have been about the panel and to be fair they owe the club nothing and the club owes them nothing, but it is great for that experience to be able to come off the bench and close out games.
“And they know it is their responsibility to do that, which is great because everybody is buying into what they are supposed to be about.
“That is just typical of the characteristics that you always associate with Kilcoo.”
Like all successful clubs, preparation is key, and in order for any team to play at their optimum on any given day, they need a solid support network.
When Kilcoo enter the changing room, their socks, shorts and jerseys are hung up and every player knows where they are sitting.
Richard McEvoy, Martin Kane and Ryan McEvoy are men tasked with ensuring the players don’t have to worry about matters such as their playing kit.
It may not seem like much, but when a player knows where he will be sitting in a changing room, you can be confident that he is even better prepared for his role on the pitch.
Nothing is left to chance and manager McIver, having won a county title in his first term at the helm with the Magpies, will have his homework done about Kingscourt.
“We have watched a number of DVDs and we saw them in a league game last weekend and I’ll make no bones about it, they are a typical Cavan team,” said McIver.
“They will get a lot of men behind the ball and they have a number of very good players.”
Kilcoo also have very good players and the likes of big midfielder Paul Greenan, the high-octane Johnston brothers, Jerome and Ryan, and tenacious defenders and brothers Niall, Aidan and Daryl Branagan, have all flourished under McIver’s direction this season.
While they play to a recognisable Kilcoo game-plan, they do so with a more attacking licence than in recent seasons. The shackles are off, kick-passing is encouraged and moving the possession accurately with pace is something the team has put hours in on the training ground to improve on.
Players such as Paul Devlin, the lively Conor Laverty and young Miceal Devlin possess the ability to switch the direction of play and with Kilcoo boasting so many confident ball-winners, they can change tactics from a slow and laboured build-up to a powerfully explosive attack.
And Kane was adamant after the county final victory over Castlewellan that he is enjoying playing under the management of McIver.
“Paul has done an excellent job since he has come in and he is a real players’ man,” he said.
“He left no stone unturned to make sure we were in the best of shape coming into the final and his homework is top-class, the way he had us set up, and much of the credit has to go to the management team and the backroom team for helping to get us this far.”
McIver’s backroom team includes former Down minor manager Declan Morgan as trainer and selectors Paddy Murray and Sean Michael Johnston.
Carly McClean and Kerry Laverty take care of statistics and relay them to the manager throughout the match, while Maria Grant and Danny Fettes are the medical team.
Come Sunday, Kilcoo’s long-term goal of winning a first Ulster crown will be put to the back of their minds and delivering a performance at Kingspan Breffni Park will be the main focus.
Should they fall short, it won’t be for the lack of effort, but defeat isn’t really an option for the Magpies.
