The Down champions were stung by the manner of their loss to Errigal Ciaran in last season’s Ulster Club final and they were determined to take out their hurt on newly-crowned Tyrone champions Loughmacrory
When a team is as accustomed to winning as Kilcoo, the pain from defeats linger long into the winter.
Last December’s Ulster Club SFC was the preverbal game of inches and the Magpies had their hopes of regaining the Seamus McFerran Cup dashed by a last-gasp wonder score from Errigal Ciaran’s Peter Óg McCartan.
As fate would have it, Kilcoo’s return to the Ulster stage saw them pitted against the 2025 Tyrone champions, only this time they’d face newly-crowned champions Loughmacrory.
“We were looking at this fixture last year after getting beat in the Athletic Grounds. Again it was the Tyrone champions,” said Paul Devlin.
“We wanted to put that right and to get the Tyrone champions on their home patch and do ourselves justice – it was good to get over the line.
We were thinking coming into this that we’d be facing the champions, and they’re here on merit. You have to respect the team you’re playing against – they’ve quality players.
“But we had to focus on ourselves. We identified the players we wanted to target and worked on how we were going to attack them.”
Kilcoo’s experience at this stage of the season told on a wet and windy night in Omagh as the Down champions eased to a five-point win.
“In the second half especially, we got a wee bit more control and stretched the lead. That forced them to come more at us, which suited us,” added Devlin.
“Experience counts for something in those moments. The young lads are only in their first Ulster Championship – it’s a big step up, and the physicality is huge. Experience has to count for something in these big games.”
Kilcoo were uncharacteristically poor in front of the posts in the first half and they left the door ajar for Loughmacrory.
However, they were much more efficient in the second half with their defence also holding Eoin McElholm and Ruairi McCullagh to just three points, two from open play.
“We have to take positives out of that. We finished strong with a couple of scores, which is good,” said Devlin.
“These new rules mean that even with a lead of five or six points, the game’s not over. One two-pointer or goal changes the whole complex of the game.
“The momentum swung their way at one stage, and it was hard to get the ball. The last 10 minutes they got a lot of possession, but they probably weren’t as efficient as they wanted to be. They could’ve got back into the game, but we have to look at ourselves.
“We did miss a lot of easy chances and carried the ball into forced turnovers, it’s not like us. In the first half we were really steady, especially going uphill against that breeze.
“In the second half we got a foothold in the game, kicked a couple of two-pointers, and that started to chip away a bit more. We’ll take it, especially after last year.”
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