Seventh heaven for Devlin and Kilcoo

By Shaun Casey

NO team in Down had ever achieved seven successive senior championship titles but that all changed on Sunday when Kilcoo, led by the experienced Paul Devlin, overcame Carryduff to retain their dominance in the Mourne County.

Devlin gave a man of the match performance, and his early penalty set the tone. Devlin kicked 1-3 on the day and earned an incredible 14th county title. To put some more context on that achievement, the Magpies have 22 titles to their name.

Kilcoo were on course to complete their seven in a row charge back in 2018 but fell at the final hurdle against Burren. They made no mistake on Sunday and etched their name in history.

“Nobody can take that away from us for now,” said Devlin. “It’s nice that we’ve done this, something that has never been done before. It’s the one thing that sets us apart from the rest which is nice.

“You have to enjoy it and every young player coming on the bench there made a big impact.  You just want to show them the way – that listen, this is what Kilcoo’s about, this is our identity, this is what we love doing and they’re relishing it.

“The young boys coming off there showed aggression. We have a stronger squad at the minute than we probably had this past five years which is great.”

Carryduff did make a late revival, with an Eoin Donnelly goal and a two-pointer from John McGeough bringing them back to within touching distance, but Martin Corey’s side held on to win by four in the end.

“It feels really, really good just to get over the line,” Devlin continued. “There were doubts that maybe the new rules could affect how you play and maybe players do or don’t suit it.

“With the conditions that the winter football brings, it’s not really a fast game with the terms of the ground being heavy, but we just have to deal with itlike every team.”

He continued: “There are new teams stepping forward all over the country and it’s nice to see that Kilcoo can adapt to that. We’re embracing the new rules and it makes comebacks more possible, so you can’t just rest on your laurels, you really have to go attack the game.

“We were sitting comfortably (at half time), we weren’t out of our comfort zone. We looked around and said there’s more in us here. and to be fair, the boys in the second half from the get-go really took it to them.”