Kilcoo come up short in decider

Kilcoo come up short in decider

30 November 2016

SLAUGHTNEIL completed a unique historic treble of Ulster football, hurling and camogie titles as they denied Kilcoo a first ever provincial club title at Armagh on Sunday.

It was a frantic start with the pace of the game at breakneck speed. The Derry champions had an early 0-3 to 0-1 lead. Shane McGuigan and Paul Bradley among the scorers.

Kilcoo upped the ante and got tore into Slaughtneil at every opportunity. Celium Doherty and Ryan Johnston soon restored parity as the intensity levels increased.

Brendan Rogers powered forward from full back to register again for Slaughtneil, but the Magpies continued to press. Kilcoo had the upper hand at this stage, but two frees from Paul Devlin ped short and he was also guilty of another wide.

Darragh O’Hanlon converted a set piece to draw level, but a gargantuan fisted minor from Brendan Rogers buoyed his team-mates once again.

The sublime Daryl Branagan brought Paul McIver’s troops back on level terms, but in the six minutes before half-time Slaughtneil took charge.

This was really the point at which Kilcoo threw this game away. Chris Bradley thumped over a monstrous long range punt and this was followed by a fisted Chrissy McKaigue point.

Shane McGuigan sent his strike over the bar with Cormac O’Doherty completing the scoring to leave the Down men trailing 0-9 to 0-5.

Kilcoo needed a big response at the start of the second half and they produced exactly that.

Celium Doherty, Darragh O’Hanlon’s free and a nice conversion from Martin Devlin brought the minimum back into it.

The Magpies were flying high at this stage and they really looked like moving into the ascendancy as Slaughtneil struggled to make inroads.

Kilcoo probably should have made more of their dominance as Slaughtneil finally broke their deadlock in the 49th minute with Shane McGuigan doing the needful.

The Derry men began to hog possession as Kilcoo remained camped in their own half.

A two-point lead was still in tow for Mickey Moran’s charges when ‘keeper McMullan got down low to repel Eugene Branagan’s drive. As time petered out a classy Slaughtneil held all the aces.

Paul Bradley’s injury time contribution sealed the deal and the Slaughtneil club’s place in history.

Slaughtneil: A McMullan, F McEldowney, B Rogers (0-2), K McKaigue, P McNeill, C McKaigue (0-1), K Feeney, Patsy Bradley, P Cassidy, Shane McGuigan (0-5, 2f), Paul Bradley (0-2f), M McGrath, C Bradley (0-1), Se McGuigan, C O’Doherty (0-1). 

Subs: R Bradley for M McGrath, G Bradley for Se McGuigan, B Cassidy for C O’Doherty.

Kilcoo: N Kane, E Branagan, D O’Hanlon (0-2f), N Branagan, D Branagan (0-1), Aidan Branagan, Aaron Branagan, J McClean, JJ McLoughlin, C Doherty (0-3), A Morgan, R Johnston (0-1), M Devlin (0-1), P Devlin (0-1f), C Laverty. Subs: F McGreevy for J McClean (BC), D Kane for JJ McLoughlin.

Slaughtneil 0-12

Kilcoo 0-9

ULSTER CLUB SFC FINAL