Morgan Fuels Down Senior Club Championship final: Kilcoo v Burren
KILCOO are expecting a titanic battle when they face Burren in Sunday’s Down Senior Club Championship final in Pairc Esler, at 3pm.
The St Mary’s side have the legacy of Burren’s famous six in a row Down Club Championships winning team of the 1980s to defend and manager Paddy O’Rourke has his team in peak condition for what promises to be an explosive encounter.
Kilcoo can equal that record on Sunday and the Magpies are ready as this was the final they envisaged from the start of the campaign as Kilcoo manager Paul McIver said: “I suppose it has been a collision course with us and Burren all year and we have been looking forward to it.”
The St Mary’s side have bulked up since O’Rourke’s appointment last November and they have added power and a steely attitude to what was already an agile and enterprising football team.
And Kilcoo selector Paddy Murray said his side are preparing for a Burren reaction when the teams go toe-to-toe in Newry.
“From outside looking in I expect Burren to be in pain, they are well decorated Senior Championship winning club in Down and while we may think about winning five, they have had to think about not winning it for five years,” said Murray.
“If there is anything in them they will be hurting because they have to go home and listen to men with Championship medals in their pockets, about picking themselves up again. And there is only so much players can listen to that - so they have to react.
“We expect to see a wounded animal to come out and hit us with everything they have. They know everything about us and they have covered every single base and in no way are they looking to Ulster and either are we. They need to get over the next hurdle and we need to get over the next hurdle and that adds to the excitement and maybe the drama of it.
“Having watched Burren they have improved a hell of a lot on last year and when you look at the players individually they have got stronger in every position and it was always going to be a massive battle and will be our toughest test to date.”
Both sides go into Sunday’s game with a clean bill of health and Kilcoo’s Ryan Johnston is expected to feature after missing the semi-final win over RGU Downpatrick due to a dead leg.
Burren assistant manager Steven McDonnell has been pleased with his teams run so far with wins over Glenn, Mayobridge and Saval but the Killeavy native feels that his side have left plenty of room to improve on.
“We have to improve and that’s what we expect to do because we are coming up against a team who were beaten last year in the Ulster Club Final and they are one of the top two or three teams in Ulster so we have to up our game massively if we are to get a result,” said McDonnell,
“But this is what it is about, you want to challenge yourself as a coach or manager and it has been a challenging year, as it hasn’t always been plain sailing but certainly we are starting to find our feet at the right time.
“Hopefully we can continue to improve as a team and as a management team overall.”
