KILCOO were unable to get past a stubborn Slaughtneil at Pairc Esler on Sunday.
Their cause wasn’t helped by red cards to Dylan Ward and Eugene Branagan, but Slaughtneil’s Paul McNeill also saw red in a tetchy encounter that was jam-packed with incident from start to finish in front of almost 5,000 spectators.
Kilcoo were desperately unlucky not to have won this clash. Slaughtneil’s Brendan Rogers tipped a shot from substitute JJ McLaughlin over the bar in added time and a late Darren O’Hanlon penalty was saved.
The Down champions opened the scoring with a marvellous point from Paul Devlin, but this was quickly cancelled out by a Chris Bradley free.
Points from Devlin and Ceilum Doherty edged Kilcoo into a 0-3 to 0-1 lead, but they were down to 14 men by this stage after Ward was sent off.
Shane McGuigan and Devlin swapped scores, but Slaughtneil finished the half stronger, despite the dismissal of Paul McNeill, and scores from Padraig Cassidy, McGuigan, Brendan Rodgers, Chris Bradley and Cormac Doherty sent the Derry side into the break with a 0-7 to 0-4 lead.
Martin Devlin plundered the first score of the second half, but Kilcoo stole a match when Patsy Bradley finished a long ball from Rodgers to the net and give his side a 1-7 to 0-5 lead.
Paul Devlin reduced the leeway with a point for Kilcoo, but their hopes received another blow when Eugene Branagan was also red-carded.
Meehaul McGrath pointed Slaughtneil into a five-point lead before O’Hanlon and Paul Devlin left a kick of a ball between the sides with a point apiece.
No sooner had Kilcoo fought their way back into the game when Shane McGuigan lofted Slaughtneil back into a five-point lead. O’Hanlon and JJ McLaughlin again kept Kilcoo in contention, but the Magpies just couldn’t find the net as Slaughtneil hung on for victory.
Kilcoo boss Paul McIver accepted that Slaughtneil had been the better team on the day. “We had chances, but from where I was I just felt that Slaughtneil looked very controlled,” he said.
“I genuinely didn’t think that we had chances to win the game. We were getting back into the game, and the boys played the shirts off their backs, but that’s just the way it is.”
There is no doubt that the red cards picked up by Ward and Eugene Branagan unsettled Kilcoo, but McIver was offering no excuses.
“I don’t know, we’ll have to sit down with Dylan, it’s not like him, Dylan’s never got sent off for us. Maybe it’s just one of those things. I think his was a swing back as a reaction to something that had happened previous.
“This is senior championship Ulster club football — you have to take the rough and tumble.
“Someday we’ll get the luck going our way and we’ll get over the line ourselves, but we just have to keep going and going and going. As it is, it’s Slaughtneil who keep doing that. They’ll take some stopping.”
Kilcoo: S Kane, N Branagan, D O’Hanlon, N McEvoy, D Ward, Aidan Branagan, D Branagan, F McGreevy, A Morgan, E Branagan, P Devlin, C Laverty, J Johnston, C Doherty, J McClean. Subs: M Devlin (0-1) for McEvoy, JJ McLaughlin (0-1) for McGreevy, D Kane for J Johnston (56)
Slaughtneil: A McMullan, P McNeill, B Rogers (0-1), K McKaigue, F McEldowney, C McKaigue, K Feeney, Patsy Bradley (1-0), P Cassidy (0-1), Shane McGuigan (0-4 frees), R Bradley, M McGrath (0-1), C O’Doherty (0-1), Se McGuigan (0-1), C Bradley (0-2 frees). Substitutes: B Cassidy for O’Doherty, G Bradley for McGrath, C McAllister for R Bradley.