By Peter McGrath jnr
THIS Saturday evening, Kilcoo will take on Scotstown as they bid to win a third Ulster Club title. The Magpies have gone three weeks without a competitive game after Scotstown’s semi-final with Newbridge was pushed back by a week, but Martin Corey’s men won’t let that distract them. The extra week may be of benefit to Aaron Branagan as he battles for fitness.
Kilcoo seem to have saved their best form of the season for the winter period. They’ve achieved a consistent level of performance from the County final through their Ulster campaign to date, which was lacking for most of the Down championship, and that is an ominous sign for a Scotstown side who were blown away by Kilcoo last year. In the 2024 semi-final, Kilcoo ran in five goals as they demolished the Monaghan champions 5-10 to 0-14. The hurt from that defeat, particularly the manner of it, will have been eating at Scotstown ever since and they will be intent on giving a much better account of themselves this time round.
Scotstown’s qualification for the final was dramatic to say the least. Their original semi-final fixture was abandoned at half-time due to heavy rain in Omagh and, in the refixture, despite leading Newbridge by ten points early in the second half and then by nine with 15 minutes to go, they were pushed to extra time and then penalties before Darren Hughes’ successful spot kick secured passage to the decider.
The Scotstown team is packed with recognisable names and faces. From Rory Beggan in goal to Ryan O’Toole and Shane Carey down the spine of the defence, Kieran Hughes and Jack McCarron upfield and others like Darren Hughes, Conor McCarthy and Micheal McCarville dotted around, on paper they’ve plenty of firepower. They had eight different scorers in their win over Newbridge with the full forward line of Tommy Mallon, Jack McCarron and Mattie Maguire contributing a total of 1-7.
Kilcoo’s defence is hard to break down however. Even a late Erne Gaels goal in the semi-final didn’t do much to take the shine off Kilcoo’s victory, and a defence that included Tiernan Fettes, Ryan McEvoy, Niall Branagan and Callum Rogers was at the heart of that. The teak-tough nature of their tackling and all-round defensive solidity provided the platform for their explosive attacking players to flourish.
How Scotstown go about the task of trying to put out so many individual attacking fires will be fascinating. From Ceilum Doherty to Paul Devlin, Eugene Branagan to the three Johnstons, Anthony Morgan surging from midfield, Miceal Rooney marauding from deep, and the younger element coming off the bench such as Jack Devlin and Barra McEvoy, Kilcoo have scoring threat in abundance.
The abiding memory of the clash between the teams in 2024 was the sheer ease with which Kilcoo repeatedly tore through the heart of the Scotstown defence to plunder goal after goal—a marked change from the quarter final the year before when Scotstown had overturned Kilcoo by a point. While they are familiar with each other, this is the first time they’ve met in a final.
Remarkably, 2017 was the last time there was an Ulster Club final that didn’t feature either Kilcoo or Scotstown. Kilcoo lost finals in 2022 and 2024 having won in 2019 and 2021 while Scotstown were beaten in the showcase in 2018 after extra-time and then again in 2023. There was no 2020 competition due to Covid.
The pedigree is there. The stage is set. Now it will come down to who can deliver when the ball is thrown in. Kilcoo have proven themselves so capable of doing what is needed, when it is needed, on enough occasions in the past to suggest they can repeat that trick again and earn themselves the right to, once again, call themselves Kings of Ulster.
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