Johnston delighted to get over the line as Kilcoo make history
By Peter McGrath Jnr
KILCOO’S Jerome Johnston is well used to winning county titles but it doesn’t make them any less special. This one will have been particularly sweet for all Magpies though.
Having written so much history over the last decade and a half, they’ve now landed themselves in the annals of Down GAA once again, as the first club to ever win seven consecutive senior titles.
After the final whistle, Johnston acknowledged that feat. He said: “It’s good to get over the line – I’d say it’s more relief because, as much as you try to put it to the side, there’s a lot of chat about going for the seven in a row, so it’s definitely good to get over the line.”
Kilcoo were the better side on Sunday evening, but Johnston was quick to point out the strength of the opponent they had been tasked with overcoming.
The Kilcoo man reflected, “Carryduff are a brilliant side. They’d been going well all year and got that massive result against Burren, which they deserved, so Carryduff had every right to be going into the game as hot favourites.
“But we’ve been here before, we knew if we could get ourselves right, focus on ourselves and get the best out of ourselves, then we wouldn’t be far away.”
Ultimately, Carryduff may have underperformed but, Kilcoo’s game plan worked to perfection. Their hunger around breaks was palpable, they defended the area around and inside their arc with numbers, intensity and discipline. They executed everything their management had asked of them.
Their reward for that is a trip to play the winners of the Tyrone Championship – a final that will take place this weekend.
Jerome Johnston said that, while Kilcoo will know they have another massive battle in store, the main focus for them will be working to improve their own game and get their own house in order.
“The Tyrone champions is the game you have straight away in Ulster, which is a massive game. We’re not looking any further than that. I’d say we will enjoy tonight and tomorrow and then we will turn our eye towards that, but our main focus has to be on ourselves and continuing to build on this performance as a group.”
Before concluding, Jerome was keen to impress the role the younger element of the squad has played this year.
One of Kilcoo’s great strengths is how they renew their playing ranks and build experience and, while they did return to experience from the start for this particular battle, the contribution made by so many hasn’t gone unnoticed.
Jerome stated: “I think the youth element has been massive. This year a lot of them have got a lot of championship minutes under their belts and stands them in good stead for the games ahead.
“I think there’s five or six championship debutants this year and, while some people maybe said “yous aren’t performing well this year”, some of those lads have had great performances and they’ve backed those up with other good performances either starting or coming on, and that is helping keep Kilcoo in a good place going forward.”
Kilcoo are certainly in a good place and they are most certainly moving forward as well.
As they embark on another Ulster club campaign, the role of their leaders, men like Jerome Johnston, will be of huge importance.
In a year when there are so many new winners in various counties and, consequently, sides into the provincial draw with very little or no experience of that, the Magpies will plan to use their vast know-how to their advantage moving forward.
