10 years ago THERE were a number of senior hurling finals down for decision a decade ago this week. Sleacht Néill were comfortable victors over Banagher in the Derry showdown while Ballygalget sank Portaferry in Down. In Donegal, meanwhile, MacCumhaill’s dethroned Burt. It was the semi-final juncture in Antrim with a composed Loughgiel pulling away […]
By Shaun Casey THERE are only eight teams left in the running for the Frank O’Hare Cup and that number will be halved this weekend after the quarter-final battles. The big four of reigning champions Kilcoo, the team that beat them, Carryduff, Burren and Clonduff are still alive and have been kept apart at this […]
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 […]
By Shaun Casey WHEN Down welcomed Galway to Páirc Esler last summer in the play-off round of the All-Ireland series, Conor Laverty put his best man-marker onto Shane Walsh. That was Ceilum Doherty’s role for the day. A duty that Doherty has found himself taking on quite a lot during Laverty’s tenure in charge of the Mourne […]
I WAS talking to a barrister from Warrenpoint on Monday morning. He watched the Ulster final in his local. He said the whole place was cheering on Scotstown. “You weren’t supporting Kilcoo?” “F*** them.” It was a vast relief for Scotstown after nine previous failed Ulster campaigns. The standard of football was middling on an atrocious […]
SCOTSTOWN breathed a huge sigh of relief as Sean Hurson blew his final whistle on Saturday night in Armagh. Ulster title number five was there at last. The Monaghan champions had the game wrapped up but Kilcoo rallied the troops down the home straight to take the game into extra-time. At that point you felt […]
By Michael McMullan THE window after their championship group stages’ defeat to Corduff were the best three weeks of training Scotstown had all year. That was Darren Hughes’ take in the aftermath of the Oriel giants’ win over Kilcoo to land a fifth Ulster title and a first in 36 years. Scotstown had drawn with […]
By Alan Rodgers A FIRST All-Ireland campaign since losing in the 1989 semi-final now beckons Scotstown’s latest generation of Ulster Club winners after they made history by defeating Kilcoo in a game of rare tension and quality at the BOX-IT Athletic Grounds on Saturday night. It has been a long and winding road for An […]
Ulster Club SFC final Kilcoo v Scotstown Saturday, BOX-IT Athletic Grounds, 6.15pm By Michael McMullan BEFORE a ball was kicked, seven other county champions were handed the task of derailing the final most predicted. Newbridge pulled themselves from the jaws of defeat to come mighty close in a pulsating semi-final decided on a penalty shoot-out. […]
FROM very early doors this season, once the draw was made, talk began to circulate about the possibility of a final showdown between Kilcoo and Scotstown. The history is there between them and when you add in the quality of both teams, then you understand why a lot of the neutrals could see this game […]
