AIB Ulster Club SFC final: Kilcoo 2-11 Naomh Conaill 2-9
IN 1988, Mickey Moran coached Omagh to a league and championship double in Tyrone. They couldn’t stop Burren from winning Ulster that year.
31 years on, the venerable retired schoolteacher was back in the dugout at Healy Park, the scene of so many of his recent triumphs, guiding Kilcoo as they brought the Seamus Mac Ferran Cup back to Down for the first time in those three decades since.
No-one could have argued. A two-point margin suggests a close game but while it was dramatic and never quite clear-cut, Kilcoo were by far the better side.
When they drew the blue shirts out and weaved a beautiful first goal for Aidan Branagan, it propelled them into a 1-8 to 0-4 lead after 28 minutes.
The Glenties were lacking their usual defensive structure, so often carved down the middle of the goal, an area they’ve protected like the crown jewels all autumn.
They were being outgunned at midfield and their key attacking threats were under 24-hour surveillance.
At that point, it was hard to see any type of game unfolding. Yet by half-time, the gap was down to a single point as the Donegal champions finally found some joy off the long ball.
It was a tactic they’d used in Donegal but kept under relative wraps in Ulster. Kilcoo had readied themselves for it, though perhaps not for the relentlessness with which it was applied.
Ryan McEvoy played at full-back for height, with Niall McEvoy sitting right in front of him. And while it brought Glenties a Eunan Doherty point that might have been a goal early on, that was it for 29 minutes.
Then Kieran Gallagher kept in a wayward shot from Ethan O’Donnell and it fell for Charles McGuiness to step around Martin McCourt and draw an instant reply to Branagan’s goal.
Aaron, Daryl, Aidan, Eugene and Niall Branagan. Five brothers all starting and starring on an Ulster Club winning team. Remarkable and unique tale from Kilcoo's triumph #GAA pic.twitter.com/xAjaSj3I5H
— Cahair O'Kane (@CahairOKane1) December 1, 2019
With the half-time whistle imminent, Eoghan McGettigan lobbed one from the wing into McGuinness’ basket case. His impudent, brilliant back-heel was kept out by McCourt but the ball squirmed in front of Jeaic McKelvey, who managed to find the roof of the net.
It was a remarkable end to a half that had given us very little of what we expected.
Kilcoo were outstanding. Their plans paid great dividend. They broke everything at midfield and swept up the breaks. They were ready for the high ball, as best they could be with a handful of vertical deficiencies.
But really the big difference was in how they used the ball when they had it. It was cleaner and crisper than at any time this year. The way they used the kick on the counter-attack was pivotal, and that owed so much to Conor Laverty.
The intelligence and sharpness of his movement was too much for Kevin McGettigan, who got nowhere near the level of cover he’d have been used to.
It was all beautiful, dinked ball that was a forward’s dream. And of Kilcoo’s 2-11, Laverty had a direct hand in 2-6.
All afternoon he had runners piling off him. Branagans Daryl and Eugene were the primaries in that respect, with the former picking up man of the match for scoring 1-2 and setting up the second goal for an outstanding display.
Eugene hit two first half points during a 17-minute run in which they outscored Glenties by 1-7 to 0-1. Ryan Johnston was also central in that period, thriving in a role where he came from very deep and tormented the blue shirts with his pace.
Kilcoo had played all the football and yet when they gathered in a huddle in the middle of the field at half-time, they looked shell-shocked. Their seven point lead had been wiped out and they effectively had to go and win it again.
But no matter. They’ve spoken about the calming influence that Mickey Moran has had on them, and it seemed apparent in the third quarter as they slipped straight back into gear.
The Down champions landed the first two points before Daryl Branagan popped a ball out of the corner and kept steaming along the endline before taking the return. He rounded Stephen McGrath and buried past the two defenders on the line. Kilcoo’s lead was back out to six
Yet with two minutes to play, they’d find it cut back to one again, having failed to score for 23 minutes thereafter.
Naomh Conaill had tightened the ship with the introduction of Marty Boyle, whose shield in front of Laverty was far less transparent than what had been there in the first half.
The Glenties have been famed for their stubborn refusal to be put out of their misery all autumn, so why would yesterday have been any different?
The agricultural, let-her-in method that had brought late first half success ultimately proved a fairly limited attacking plan on the whole. Their inside forward line seldom moved off the edge of the small square all day.
But as Kilcoo started to drop off that little bit deeper, Naomh Conaill started to work it a bit better from deeper. They quickly cut the gap to three with long-range efforts from Brendan McDyer and Ciaran Thompson, and had Eunan Doherty pointed off the snatched kickout they would have been well back in it.
It took them until Anthony Thompson hooked over a beauty on 58 minutes to finally get the gap back to one, but Kilcoo came straight down the park and worked it for Daryl Branagan to cap his day with a wonderfully measured effort from the wrong side.
Injury-time was frantic and fractured, with Glenties dropping balls in and the black shirts finding any way they could to keep it out of the net. It never got too crazy, with Conor Laverty coming back to just supplement the effort by the adding the composure that has marked out his captaincy.
Minutes later, he and Aidan Branagan were up the steps to close the book on their odyssey.
Kilcoo, champions of Ulster. Overdue and deserved.
MATCH STATS
Kilcoo: M McCourt; Aaron Branagan, N Branagan; R McEvoy (0-1 free) N McEvoy; Aaron Morgan, E Branagan (0-2), D Branagan (1-2); Aidan Branagan (1-0), D Ward; P Devlin (0-2, 0-1 free), R Johnston (0-2); J Johnston (0-1), C Laverty (0-1)
Subs: J Clarke for E Branagan (57)
Black card: R McEvoy (64) replaced by F McGreevy
Yellow cards: N McEvoy (3), Aidan Branagan (44), D Ward (61)
Naomh Conaill: S McGrath; AJ Gallagher, K McGettigan; A Thompson (0-1); E Waide, U Doherty, J McKelvey (1-0), E O’Donnell (0-2); L McLoone, C Thompson (0-3 frees); B McDyer (0-1), E McGettigan, E Doherty (0-1); C McGuinness (1-1), K Gallagher
Subs: M Boyle for AJ Gallagher (HT), D Molloy for McDyer (50), N Byrne for Gallagher (56), K Gallagher for E Doherty (60)
Black card: A Thompson (65) no replacement
Yellow cards: E McGettigan (4), C McGuinness (43)
Referee: S Hurson (Tyrone)
Attendance: 4,785
