AIB Ulster Club SFC quarter-final
Kilcoo (Down) 0-15 Crosserlough (Cavan) 1-10
KILCOO boss Karl Lacey insists that Saturday night’s thrilling win over Crosserlough will stand to his side as they aim to progress in the Ulster Club Championship.
The Cavan champions forced the Magpies to come out of their shell earlier than usual after James Smith smashed home a goal in the third minute.
Crosserlough had everything thrown at them. Three black cards (Oran Rehill 17, Kieran Smith 30+2′, Dara McVeety 56′) and a late, late red card to the goalscorer, which seemed a case of mistaken identity by referee Barry Cassidy, and still they kept coming back but Kilcoo possessed that bit more craft, experience or put simply, they had Conor Laverty to come off the bench.
The sides were locked (Kilcoo 0-09, Crosserlough 1-06), when Laverty came off the bench on 40 minutes and his first action was to dink a weighted cross-field pass to Paul Devlin who called a mark and then steered his side in front.
“For us, it always comes back to training, Conor has been playing really well and it is just the competitor in him, he is that Kilcoo through and through and if there was anybody that was going to seize the game it was Conor Laverty, he came in at the right time and he made a real difference,” said Kilcoo manager Karl Lacey.
“Just his intelligence is a big one at that stage and being able to play the right balls, draw the right frees and just that wee pass into PD, that nice, weighted pass like that, it was just clever.
“It is up to everybody else now, Conor has put his hand up and he has put us under pressure over the next two weeks and, hopefully, he can bring a few others with him, we just need to put the head down and work harder again.”
Ryan Johnston made his first appearance since limping off with an ankle injury in the second round of the Down series and he opened Kilcoo’s account before Brandon Boylan’s converted free restored Crosserlough’s three-point lead and when Callum Rogers hit back with a drop-goal like point, it was only seconds later when Cavan star Dara McVeety slotted over.
Scores went tit-for-tat at a frantic pace with Jerome Johnston, Ryan McEvoy and Devlin coming up with big scores, while Crosserlough goalkeeper Shane McManus ghosted upfield unmarked and coolly slotted over the bar, only 30 metres from goal.
Two points in as many minutes from Jerome Johnston, who was having a wonderful battle with Boylan, and Paul Devlin gave Kilcoo a firm footing back into the game.
Devlin converted with the last kick of the half to give the Down men a precious lead for the first time (0-08 to 1-04).
Darryl Branagan extended Kilcoo’s lead but there was no racing away to victory as Emmett Boylan, Rehill, James Smith and Kieran Smith posted big scores for the Cavan champions.
Fly keeper Shane McManus effectively cancelled out their black-card disadvantage.
However, Kilcoo’s Paul Devlin was in razor-sharp form he dug out a stunning score from play and then continued to tag on frees and Laverty fired over a wonderful point.
It was end-to-end thrilling football, Devlin’s sixth point gave the Magpies the lead with 59 minutes played and in the five additional minutes, he grabbed the insurance point.
Lacey was relieved to have got over the line, it was the test they needed, given how they marched through the Down Club Championship.
“We knew it was going to be like that, a tough game, they weren’t going to come here to lie down.
“So, we are relieved to get over the line really, last year I suppose was a learning, we didn’t really get tested by Derrygonnelly and then got caught the next day.
“I think that will stand to us, that is a test of character tonight,” said Lacey.
“They are a good side, the play a nice brand of attacking football, they are a big physical side, we dealt with it well.
“Things didn’t go right, there was errors, there was sloppiness, there was wee decisions, there was 50/50 balls that just… it is luck at the end of the day and tonight everything was going against us, but we pulled through and we are just glad to be into a semi-final.
“They are well set up and their goal, it was a cross into the box, that could have went anywhere unfortunately for us in went into our net and it gave them that energy, it gave them that little ticket into the game, so they released it is game on here.
“As I say, we adapted to that, we clawed our way back into and we got a point up before half-time, so we were happy getting the boys back in at that stage of the game in that position.
“We are glad that we have met a team like that, they gave us a really good game and we have come out the other side of it.”
Kilcoo N Kane; N Branagan, R McEvoy (0-2, 0-1 free), C Rogers (0-1); M Rooney, D Branagan, E Branagan; A Morgan, R Johnston (0-2); M Hynes, A Morgan, S Johnston; C Doherty, J Johnston (0-2), P Devlin (0-7, 0-6 frees)
Subs C Laverty (0-1) for E Branagan (40′), J Devlin for M Hynes (42′), C Rooney for J Johnston (60+4)
Crosserlough S McManus (0-1); J Cooke, P O’Reilly, F Lovett; C Boylan, C Rehill, K Smith (0-1); J Smith (1-1), P Smith (0-1); O Rehill (0-1 mark), D McVeety (0-2), H Boylan; B Boylan (0-1 free), E Boylan (0-1), M Costello (0-1)
Subs E Cusack for B Boylan (49′), S Smith for E Boylan (52′)
Referee Barry Cassidy (Derry)
