KILCOO will need more than they produced in Saturday’s 11-point semi-final win against Erne Gaels to reclaim the Ulster crown, says joint-manager Martin Corey.
Goals from Paul Devlin, Eugene Branagan, Shealan Johnston and Ceilum Doherty were the highlights of a workmanlike performance from the seven in-a-row Down champions on Saturday evening but Corey expects better in the decider against the winners of Sunday’s Newbridge-Scotstown semi-final.
“They’re two very good teams, two top teams so regardless of who we’re playing in the final, it’s going to be a different level, it’s going to be up again,” said Corey after his side beat Erne Gaels by 11-points.
“We’ll get the bodies back on the field again on Monday night and focus on ourselves and then we’ll look at who we’re playing next week.”
Saturday was Kilcoo’s sixth Ulster semi-final in-a-row but they have ‘only’ two provincial titles to their credit and lost their last two appearances in the Ulster club showpiece.
“It’s alright winning semi-finals, you need to be winning finals,” said Corey.
“We’ll have to do a lot of preparation to get ready for whoever we’re playing because we’re going to need a bigger performance than we had tonight to beat them.”
With a 14-point chasm between the sides in the closing stages, Corey was able to use his bench which included emerging youngsters like Jack Devlin alongside All-Ireland club-winning veteran and Down senior manager Conor Laverty.
“’Lav’ is very good,” said Corey.
“He doesn’t seem to be slowing down and I don’t know what his secret is – you’d need to ask him. He’s a goer, he’s still going strong and he’s great to have around the set-up, as are all the players.
“He brings the same as everybody else brings, there’s no special players in Kilcoo. They all bring what they can bring – the work ethic and their honesty. Every player does that and he just brings it, same as everybody else.”
Aaron Branagan missed the semi-final after pulling a hamstring in the quarter-final against Loughmacrory and Corey says it will go “down to the wire” as he races to be fit for the final.
With 13 Down titles in 14 years, four Ulster finals in five years and an All-Ireland title in 2022 as well as an appearance in the 2020 decider behind them, Kilcoo have remained among the elite clubs in the country for season after season. Corey finds it hard to “put a finger on” their remarkable consistency.
“You have to sit back and realise that you do have a good quality of players there,” he said.
“They have been soldiering for a long time. I think it’s very difficult to put your finger on what it is exactly but there’s something there. We got over today, the next game will be different.
“Some people would argue that there is a bit of complacency there but knowing how to see out games is a big thing and a lot of these boys have been playing with each other for 15 years so they know each other so well.
“That brings the knowhow, they know where they’re going to be in that dying moment, it’s a chemistry that you build over time.”
In his first season with the Magpies, Corey inherited a side that has been forged in the fire of the club furnace year after year. Following in the footsteps of previous managers in Jim McCorry, Brian McIver, Mickey Moran, Conleith Gilligan and Richard Thornton and Karl Lacey, Corey says he and co-manager Joe McMahon concentrate on preparing the team as well as possible for every game.
“For us it’s just about trainings and building for the next game,” he said.
“All we do is just go after trainings and make them the best we can make them in the lead-up to the next game. We don’t worry who we’re playing, or what it is, or finals – you need to play the same way to beat anybody regardless of what level of the competition you’re at.”
