WATCHING Kilcoo in the first half on Sunday took me right back to the Athletic Grounds’ first big game of 2025.
Armagh hosted Tyrone in the league on the first weekend of February.
There were so many similarities, right down to the impact of the coin toss.
That night, Brian Kennedy called it. He chose that Tyrone would play against the strong wind first.
On Sunday, Darryl Branagan won the toss and made the same decision.
In February, Tyrone played 2024 football in the first half. When they were against the wind, their policy was just to keep the ball and try to frustrate Armagh.
That’s exactly how Kilcoo approached Sunday’s first period.
Here’s a stat that won’t surprise you all that much.
The Down champions kicked the ball into the attacking half just four times in the 60 minutes of normal time.
Scotstown’s tally was only seven, of which five were in the second half when they were against the wind.
The really significant difference in the two teams was how they approached playing against the elements.
When David McCague’s team were sat inside at half-time, their promise to themselves was that they would have no regrets.
If they went out on their swords, so be it, but they wouldn’t die of the cold.
They had only 0-6 at half-time but added another 0-6 in the second half, compared to the 0-1 and 0-11 splits Kilcoo had.
Afterwards, McCague left the question sitting out there.
“It would have been interesting to see how the game had gone under the old rules given the amount of analysis, work, planning, reflection we’ve put into it.
“People would maybe have had that impression from last year that the rules might not suit us but the young players came in and added that level of athleticism around the middle third that we were maybe lacking last year and the [new] rules tend to play towards,” said the Scotstown boss.
There is very little to separate the two sides.
If they played 10 times, they’d maybe win five each.
Yet in the year that’s in it, I think Scotstown have a better chance of winning an All-Ireland than Kilcoo would have had.
That is simply down to their ability and willingness to vary their play.
Kilcoo were well aware of that kick-passing threat in the first half and set up accordingly. And in a way, it was impressive from Scotstown that they didn’t take the bait.
It’s one thing to want to kick the ball but it has to be on. Most of the time, it wasn’t, so they didn’t.
But against both Newbridge and particularly Naomh Conaill, it was, and they did.
None of this is at all a criticism of Kilcoo’s style. For one, look at the medals they have.
A fifth Ulster final defeat will sit really badly with them.
You can be critical of their style if you like, but it is what makes sense for them.
From 2-12, they are blessed with absolutely searing pace. Their running game overwhelms almost everyone, all the time.
For a long time people have obsessed over the defensive side of their game and given nowhere near enough credit to how they attack.
No club team in Ireland has been better off a turnover in the last decade.
It would be very difficult for them to change.
For all that is in their arsenal, they do not possess the natural scoring forwards of a Dingle or a St Brigid’s.
They didn’t possess the natural scoring forwards of a Ballyboden or St Finbarr’s or Kilmacud Crokes either, but they beat the three of them.
The game was different though.
Ulster football has always prided itself on behind ahead of the tactical curve.
From Antrim’s handpassing game in the 1940s through Down breaking kickouts in ‘60s, to Tyrone and Armagh in the noughties, Donegal in 2011, the game has largely bent to Ulster’s will for a long time.
But the game has changed now.
The northern province is trying with all its might to wrestle back control.
Donegal and Armagh tried to keep the best bits of the old template and build around them.
In 98% of what Kerry did, they were no different.
Go back and watch the blistering 15-minute spell against Armagh. It was phenomenal, but there was almost no kicking involved. It was a kickout press and a ferociously powerful running game.
Kerry did not kick the ball all the time. Nothing close to it.
But, just like Scotstown, they do it at the right times. They do it when it’s on.
That cannot be fixed overnight though. Unless a player’s first instinct is to want to kick it, they won’t see it even when it is on.
99% of the time, the kick is the wrong option.
But with those 1% of occasions that it’s right, you might win the biggest of games.
And you can’t do that if you don’t see the opportunity.
The core of the issue that Ulster teams – and to a similar extent those in Connacht – have is that what might win you an All-Ireland final might not even get you through the first round of the provincial championship.
If you get a reputation as a kicking team, the opposition will just drop off and defend narrow because that’s what makes sense.
Unless everyone comes out to play, then no-one will.
So everyone runs it. All the time. When you’re so good at running it, that will account for most teams.
However, when you meet a team that can match you running it and has the option of a kick as well, you’re in trouble.
There’s an understandable tentativeness about the idea of throwing the shackles off the way Dingle and Finbarr’s did.
The new Munster champions, St Brigid’s and Ballyboden have all shown their ability and willingness to transfer the ball with the boot when they get the chance.
The Connacht and Munster finals were brilliant, end-to-end games.
The All-Ireland club semi-finals are both potential classics.
Scotstown’s style makes them a great fit.
They’re blessed to have in their ranks a couple of players who just naturally want to look up and kick.
The kick itself might return very little but it has an unseen impact. If a team is wary of it, they’ll sit off further and that opens up two-point opportunities.
David Clifford forced that impact upon Kerry’s opponents even in the rare moments he was doing nothing.
Teams stopped worrying about Donegal kicking it to Murphy because they realised Donegal weren’t kicking it to Murphy. Same with Armagh and Murnin.
Two potentially viable devices that turned out to be hoaxes.
It’s not really about kicking. It’s about the opposition thinking you might kick it.
Expect to see Ulster football turn the corner a bit over the next 12 months on that.
Turf 4 or 5 in early every week, just to keep the opposition honest.
If it doesn’t, there will be no All-Irelands.