It all came down to the last couple of plays as Errigal Ciaran charged over the line to claim a first Ulster title in 22 years, but Kilcoo boss Karl Lacey traced his side’s demise much further back.
Uncharacteristic errors and shortcomings in ball retention hampered the Magpies’ efforts to get into full flight at the Box-It Athletic Grounds.
The former Donegal star felt the Down champions left too much on the field and carried painful regrets to the dressing room afterwards, having given away too much possession and failed to do enough with the ball when they had it.
“Obviously we’re very disappointed. Looking back on our own performance, we probably didn’t do enough with the ball in the first half,” he said.
“We found it very difficult to get our hands on the ball. They kept the ball for large periods of time.
“At half-time we re-assessed, we thought we were in a good place, but second half, the sending off, it’s not finger-pointing at anybody, we just didn’t do enough with the ball.
“We had a lot of fumbles, a lot of handling errors, a lot of forced passes, a lot of poor decisions in key areas.”
But having conceded just nine scores, Lacey felt that on another day, his side would emerge victorious.
“Conceding 1-8 against a team like Errigal Ciaran should be good enough to win the game, but we just didn’t hurt them the other way.”
The dismissal of Kilcoo defender Daryl Branagan was a serious setback for the Down champions, and forced them to change direction in terms of their tactical approach.
“The boys reacted very well after the goal in the first half, and then after the sending off they reacted very well,” said Lacey.
“But it’s obviously very difficult against fifteen men when you’re down a man.
“We were doing very well on their kick-outs, we were getting possession off their kick-outs, but then we lost that obviously, after losing a man, so that didn’t help us either.”
And the late turnover which led to Errigal’s equalising point was, in Lacey’s opinion, another avoidable error.
“That was a common theme throughout the game – bad decision-making under pressure. It was at a crucial stage, and to give the ball away cheaply at this level, you are going to be punished.”
