Classy Kilcoo cruise through to last four

Classy Kilcoo cruise through to last four

12 September 2018

KILCOO flexed their considerable muscle to send Downpatrick spiralling out of the SFC quarter-finals at St Patrick’s Park, Newcastle, on Saturday night.

Apart from a promising opening 15 minutes from Downpatrick, it really was all Kilcoo and two goals in eight minutes at the start of the second half put this tie to bed.

The influential Paul Devlin gave Kilcoo a third minute lead before Conor McGrady cancelled that score with a point for Downpatrick. Devlin and Marty Robinson swapped scores, but it was Downpatrick who took an unlikely lead when Garrett Trainor, who was proving to be an effective target man at full forward when the ball did get into him, plucked the ball out of the air, turned and pointed the Hoops into a 0-3 to 0-2 lead after 14 minutes.

Alas, this was to be their last score of the half as Kilcoo brought their A game to the party.

Unanswered points from Doherty and Paul Devlin (0-3) eased the Magpies into a 0-6 to 0-3 lead by the break.

Conor McGrady and Doherty exchanged points at the start of the second half before Doherty swooped to send Kilcoo into a 1-7 to 0-4 lead with a clinical strike that caught Downpatrick flat-footed.

Magee and Doherty swapped points before the former left five points in it with another converted free, but Kilcoo were lying in wait and with 42 minutes gone Ryan Johnston finished a mesmeric run with an explosive finish to put his side 2-8 to 0-6 clear.  

Kilcoo were now in the zone and points from Jerome Johnston, Paul Devlin (0-3), Marty Devlin and Doherty put the issue beyond Downpatrick, 2-14 to 0-6. 

The Hoops, to their credit, never gave up and points from Owen McEvoy, Magee (0-2) and Rory Quinn put a bit of respectability on the final score.  

Kilcoo: N Kane, Patrick Devlin, Aidan Branagan, N Branagan, M Rooney, D Branagan, Aaron Branagan, J McClean, Paul Devlin (0-8, 5f), Cillian Laverty, C Doherty (1-4, 2f), J Johnston (0-1), M Devlin (0-1), J J McLaughlin, Conor Laverty. Subs: R Johnston (1-0) for Cillian Laverty, E Branagan for Rooney, R McEvoy for J Johnston, S O’Hanlon for P Devlin, F McGreevy for McClean, G McEvoy for Devlin. 

Downpatrick: J Deeny, N McShane, A Doherty, R Murphy, C Boyd, G Collins, J Bell, P Turley, J Collins, J Branagan, C McGrady (0-2, 1f) S Bell, M Robinson (0-1), G Trainor (0-1), M Magee (0-4, 3f). Subs: T Loudon for Boyd, D Braniff for Robinson, C Doherty for Branagan, R Quinn (0-1) for S Bell, O McEvoy (0-1) for McGrady.

Kilcoo 2-14

Downpatrick 0-10

MORGAN FUELS SFC