St Paul’s Ulster Minor Championship semi-final

Termon v Kilcoo

St Stephen’s Day, St Paul’s, 1pm

CONOR Laverty was an interested spectator at Termon’s 6-14 to 0-6 thrashing of Emyvale at the weekend, so he’s well aware that Kilcoo are coming up against a serious outfit in St Stephen’s Day’s Ulster Championship semi-final.

Kilcoo were impressive enough themselves in their own quarter-final win a fortnight ago against Tyrone side Cappagh, limiting their opponents to a single, solitary point in the second-half, but their manager Laverty is expecting a stiffer test against the in-form Donegal champions.

“They beat a very, very strong Silverbridge side and that shows you the quality they have within their team. Limiting Emyvale to six points was some going, they’re very defensive and get a lot of men behind the ball, and scoring 6-14 shows the scoring threat they have as well.”

Playing on St Stephen’s Day is no big deal for this ambitious young Kilcoo side, who are hoping to follow in the footsteps of their senior counterparts who claimed the Seamus McFerran Cup with victory over Naomh Conaill. It’s been an unbelievable season for the club already this year – the list of trophies won runs as long as your arm – but it would be something special if they claimed their first ever Ulster Minor Championship as well.

Laverty can’t wait for Thursday week, and he disagrees that Termon will be hindered by playing their league final on Saturday in Donegal.

“I wouldn’t agree with that as it’s hard to beat playing matches. We’ve arranged to play a game as well and we’ll be going full pelt at it.

“We’re delighted to be in the Ulster competition, we’ll take it one game at a time. We’re a very grounded group of lads and they’ll be preparing for this match to the best of their ability.”

Laverty still saw room for improvement after their 3-6 to 1-4 victory over Cappagh, but they still produced some great passages off play, while Justin Clarke’s opportunist goal from a free-kick showed great initiative.

“There were aspects of our play that we were pleased with, but there were also a lot of areas I feel we need to improve on.”

On Clarke’s goal, he commented: “It’s good for young players to have the ability to feel they can express themselves and play with a bit of freedom.”

Whoever wins the Ulster Minor tournament is certainly going to earn it. There are four top teams left in the competition – 2018 champions Enniskillen Gaels, a star-studded Lavey side, a Termon side which is showing great form, and you can’t discount Kilcoo either, one of the top clubs anywhere in Ireland at the moment.

Laverty commented: “There’s four good teams, we’re just delighted to be in the mix with teams of that quality. We know what we’re going to be up against against Termon they’ve become one of the favourites for the competition.”