AIB Ulster SFC Final: Scotstown defeat Kilcoo after extra-time

AIB Ulster club senior football championship final

Scotstown 0-19 Kilcoo 0-16

By Paul Keane at BOX-IT Athletic Grounds, Armagh

No goals conceded, 11 points scored. Scotstown goalkeeper Rory Beggan couldn't have asked for a more productive, or memorable, evening in Armagh as he powered his club to a dramatic Ulster title triumph.

For the third time in four games, the Monaghan champions were taken to extra time and just like their semi-final win over Newbridge, and their county final against Inniskeen, they came out on top after the additional 20 minutes.

And Beggan played a giant part in the win with seven points in normal time and another four in extra-time as David McCague's men eventually turned the screw.

Beggan and former All-Star Conor McCarthy accounted for all seven of Scotstown's seven points in extra-time.

But they had leaders and heroes all around the field on a landmark evening for the club as a first Ulster title since 1989, and a fifth ever, was clinched.

Remarkably, Scotstown were only actually on level terms with Kilcoo, the 2019 and 2021 champions, once in the entire game - at the end of normal time when they finished 0-12 apiece.

Callum Rogers nailed a 66th minute equaliser for Kilcoo but Beggan put Scotstown ahead with his fourth two-pointer of the game early in extra-time and the men in white stayed in front from then on.

Scotstown will return to duty on the first weekend of January when they play St Brigid's, the Connacht champions, in an All-Ireland semi-final tie.

Much earlier this evening, Scotstown perhaps regretted not making more of the stiff wind when it assisted them in the first-half of normal time.

A 0-6 to 0-1 half-time lead for Scotstown looked good on paper but, in reality, Kilcoo weren't overly disappointed given the strength of that breeze.

Martin Corey's Kilcoo were clearly happy to play a patient game, keeping the ball for long spells and apparently waiting until the second-half to do the bulk of their scoring.

And that game plan worked, to a point. They held a Scotstown team bursting with attacking talent to those six first-half points, and only nine scoring chances.

Only two of the Scotstown scores in the first-half came from play, both from Mattie Maguire.

Scotstown's other scores were two-point frees from Beggan in the ninth and 28th minutes.

Beggan had a third opportunity to nail a long-range score deep into stoppage time but, unlike his two-pointer at the end of the first-half in last summer's All-Ireland quarter-final against Donegal, he couldn't convert.

It wasn't until the 21st minute that Kilcoo actually took a shot at the posts and Shealan Johnston dropped it short. A minute later, they registered their first wide.

They finally scored in the 26th minute, a reward for their increased urgency as Eugene Branagan curled one over from the right.

All told, a five-point deficit was more than manageable for Kilcoo - provided they showed the courage to capitalise on the wind after the restart.

But they failed to take anything from five scoring chances in the first eight minutes of the second-half.

Three of those opportunities ended in wides, another was a Jerome Johnston shot at goal that Beggan blocked and Ryan Johnston also dropped a point attempt short.

Meanwhile, Scotstown were loving life, stretching their lead with a converted 45 from Beggan and a well worked Ryan O'Toole point. Then Kieran Hughes sliced a cracking point off the outside off his left foot, from the left of the arc.

Wind or no wind, with a 0-9 to 0-1 lead and 43 minutes on the clock, Scotstown were in the driving seat.

But they couldn't hold out as a Paul Devlin inspired Kilcoo somehow took the game to extra-time, remarkably drawing level for the very first time in the game in the sixth minute of stoppage time.

They reeled off seven points without response between the 43rd and 51st minutes, free-taker Devlin accounting for all but a point in that period.

And when Scotstown reopened a three-point gap thanks to a third long-range free from Beggan on the hour, 0-12 to 0-9, Kilcoo dug deep again.

Their own goalkeeper, Niall Kane, nailed a two-pointer and then, in virtually the last play of the game, Ryan McEvoy worked the ball to Rogers to flick over the equaliser. It was all the more impressive as Shealan Johnston had been black carded at that stage.

Scotstown had the wind for the first half of extra-time and made better use of it this time, outscoring Kilcoo 0-6 to 0-2 in that first period.

Beggan and the rejuvenated McCarthy, injured for most of the club championship, scored a two-pointer each and split that six points between them, leaving Scotstown 0-18 to 0-14 clear.

Again, the question was would it be enough?

It turned out it was - but just about. And Beggan's 11th point of the game, a relatively routine tap over from a free inside the arc set the seal on a famous win.

Scotstown scorers: Rory Beggan 0-11 (4 tpf, 2 45, 1f), Conor McCarthy 0-3 (1 tp), Mattie Maguire 0-2, Kieran Hughes 0-2, Ryan O'Toole 0-1.

Kilcoo scorers: Paul Devlin 0-8 (2 tpf, 3f), Sean Og McCusker 0-3 (1 tp), Niall Kane 0-2 (tpf), Eugene Branagan 0-1, Aaron Morgan 0-1, Callum Rogers 0-1.

Scotstown: Rory Beggan; Donnchadh Connolly, Damien McArdle, Kieran Hughes; Ryan O'Toole, Darren Hughes, Darragh Murray; Micheal McCarville, Gavin McPhillips; Max Maguire, Shane Carey, Nicky Sherlock; Jack McCarron, Francis Maguire, Mattie Maguire.

Subs: Conor McCarthy for Francis Maguire 49, Killian McKenna for Mattie Maguire 63, Mattie Maguire for McKenna e/t, Francis Maguire for Mattie Maguire 76.

Kilcoo: Niall Kane; Aaron Branagan, Ryan McEvoy, Niall Branagan; Miceal Rooney, Darryl Branagan, Callum Rogers; Aaron Morgan, Anthony Morgan; Ceilum Doherty, Ryan Johnston, Shealan Johnston; Eugene Branagan, Paul Devlin, Jerome Johnston.

Subs: Jack Devlin for Anthony Morgan 46, Sean Og McCusker for Jerome Johnston 46, Barra McEvoy for Eugene Branagan 51, Anthony Morgan for Rooney h/t e/t, Eugene Branagan for Darryl Branagan 76.

Referee: Sean Hurson (Tyrone).