Football

Kilcoo star Martin Devlin sees work to do before Ulster campaign

Martin Devlin scored four points for Kilcoo in last Sunday's Down final
Martin Devlin scored four points for Kilcoo in last Sunday's Down final Martin Devlin scored four points for Kilcoo in last Sunday's Down final

MOST teams would consider winning a county final by 11 points as a cause for wild celebrations. But perhaps a bigger picture emerges if it’s the club’s fifth in-a-row.

For Kilcoo, the bigger picture is the Ulster Senior Club Championship and Martin Devlin, who scored four points as the Magpies cruised past Clonduff in last Sunday’s final at Páirc Esler, says the Magpies have a lot to work on ahead of their provincial opener against the Monaghan champions, Clontibret or Scotstown.

“I know we were 13 ahead at half-time, but I thought we should have been a lot more in front with the chances we had,” said Devlin.

“We’ll be training this week and we’ll work on that - I thought the finishing let us down in the first-half.”

Devlin’s attitude exemplifies the standards the Down champions have set for themselves. He said manager Paul McIver had a few choice words for the players at half-time last Sunday: “In the last 15 minutes, we dropped our standards and we weren’t happy.

“The manager wasn’t happy with us at half-time either, so there’s a lot for us to improve on. You’d think that winning by 11 points is good, but we know ourselves that there’s a lot to work on.”

Kilcoo last met Monaghan opposition in the Ulster club championships back in October 2014, when Farney county top dogs Clontibret pulled off a surprise win thanks to a last minute goal from Dessie Mone.

“Ulster is very tough,” said Devlin.

“We know Clontibret and Scotstown are both great teams, so it’ll be a difficult task. We’ll get a night or two to celebrate, but we’ll be back at training as soon as we can because we really want to push on for Ulster this year.”

Devlin wasn’t among the scorers that day and as an experienced campaigner - last Sunday was his fifth Down title - he’ll want to put that right on October 16: “I don’t really count the first two because I wasn’t playing, but I’ve three in-a-row starting, so I’m happy enough,” he said.

He added: “It was good to get four points, especially getting a couple early on when they weren’t that easy to come by.”