Kilcoo the team to beat as Down SFC starts

By Shaun Casey

IT’S championship time in the Mourne County and like every other season for well over a decade now, Kilcoo are once again the team to beat.

Can anyone stop them? Time will tell, but there are a few contenders that wouldn’t mind taking their scalp and look to have the quality to push them all the way.

The reigning champions, chasing eight in a row, face Drumgath in the opening round (Sunday), who have just been promoted from Division Three in the league.

Kilcoo have only strengthened since last season, when they lost the Ulster Club final to Scotstown after extra time, having added both Seanie Johnston and Ciaran McKeever to their management team.

There will be a familiar face in the Drumgath dugout as they are managed by former Kilcoo and Down wing back Darragh O’Hanlon, so he’ll have a brilliant insight into the Magpies.

Carryduff reached the decider last year and are under new management themselves, with Danny McConnell and Enda Gormley taking over from Finnan Moriarty.

They face a tricky assignment in the first round against Barry Dillon’s up and coming Mayobridge outfit (Saturday), although Carryduff did hammer them in a recent league clash.

Carryduff will likely be without star forward James Guinness, who suffered a second ACL injury during Down training back at the start of the season.

Clonduff pushed Kilcoo all the way in last year’s semi-final, losing out by the minimum of margins in the end, and they are many people’s front runners to contest the Kilcoo crown.

Gearoid Adams is back in charge, and they take on Rostrevor in round one (Friday). Tom Franklin’s Rostrevor men head into the championship campaign with momentum and confidence having claimed the Division Two league title.

Burren qualified for back-to-back county finals in 2023 and 2024 and are the last club to get their hands on the Frank O’Hare Cup outside of Kilcoo, but that was back in 2018.

They take on Ballyholland (Monday) and Burren, with Collie Holmes still in charge, will hope to have Danny Magill back in the fold as he missed the entire inter-county season due to an ACL injury sustained this time last season.

Glenn have consistently reached the latter stages of the championship over the past three seasons and get everything up and running on Thursday night against Mark Copeland’s Bryansford, who survived the drop to intermediate last year.

Loughinisland, who pushed Kilcoo all the way in last year’s quarter-final, meet Castlewellan on Saturday, Saul face Bredagh on Sunday while 2026 Intermediate winners Saval take on Warrenpoint on Sunday as well.