VENGEANCE isn’t on Kilcoo’s mind as they prepare for Sunday’s Down Senior Championship semi-final against Warrenpoint.
The Pairc Esler clash is a re-run of the round two game which ended in a controversial one-point win for the seasiders after red-mist descended at the final whistle which came after 31 minutes of the second half – no allowance was made for the two-minute water break - with the Magpies pushing for an equaliser.
Kilcoo’s frustrations boiled over at the finish but despite the loss, last year’s Down and Ulster champions and All-Ireland finalists, bounced back in the Qualifiers and progressed to the last four by beating Rostrevor last weekend. Coach Paul Devlin says Kilcoo’s focus is on producing an improved performance second time around.
“A lot of the people in the county might think that Kilcoo will be back to avenge the defeat and that we’re a wounded animal,” he said.
“But we’re not concentrating on that, we just need a better performance from the boys.
“Whilst we did get effort and application and a lot of good things in the last game, we had a lot of things that didn’t go the way we would like them to go and there were a lot of parts of our performance that needed improvement. We’ve started to get there and it’s a semi-final, it’s a game to be won and if it’s a point that’s all we need. All we’re thinking about is getting back into the county final.”
Burren halted Kilcoo’s bid for an unprecedented seven in-a-row in the 2018 final but the Magpies regained their title last year. Devlin has no doubt that Mickey Moran’s side will deliver when it matters on Sunday evening in Newry.
“These Kilcoo boys don’t have to be motivated for the bigger games and that’s not being disrespectful to anybody we may have played in earlier rounds,” he said.
“These boys know when they need to deliver and, to this point, they have delivered in the big games. We feel that, the bigger and more formidable the opposition, the more focus we’ll get from them.”
