Paul Devlin and Kilcoo happy to display their provincial consistency
Paul Devlin scores Kilcoo's first goal in their AIB Ulster club SFC semi-final win over Erne Gaels Belleek. Photo by Oliver McVeigh/Sportsfile
By Paul Keane
You could say there are two Kilcoos; the pre and post-2018 versions.
Preparing now for a fifth AIB Ulster club football final in the last six seasons, Kilcoo have become a byword for consistency since winning the first of seven consecutive Down SFC titles in 2019.
Sure, they lost Ulster finals in 2022 and 2024 but they also picked up two wins in 2019 and 2021, as well as an All-Ireland win in early 2022. And just putting themselves in a position to potentially win provincial and national titles, season after season, is a remarkable achievement in itself.
Last Saturday's Ulster semi-final win over Erne Gaels of Fermanagh was the club's 16th game in the province since 2019. Only three times in that period have they lost, and twice of those were by a single point.
They failed to win the 2018 Down championship which, looking back now, is a clear turning point in the club's provincial fortunes.
Kilcoo's Paul Devlin chases down Kilmacud Crokes' Andrew McGowan during the 2022 AIB All-Ireland club SFC final. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
Because before then, they'd played 16 times in the province, between 2009 and 2017, and won just eight times. They reached two finals in that period and lost both.
So what's the difference now, what's changed to make the Down club such a giant of the Ulster club football scene in the last seven years and a team to set your watch by?
"It's probably the transition of players who have come through and the hunger of the older players who are still thriving and who love playing Ulster football," said experienced Kilcoo forward Paul Devlin, who possesses 14 county medals.
"I look back on the years when you played Crossmaglen and Ballinderry and all those big teams and when I watched them I thought, 'What do they have?' What they had was that winning mentality.
"And look, maybe you do lose finals, but it doesn't change that winning mentality because you're still getting there to the finals, you're still winning games to get there and you're just coming up against the best."
Kilcoo's latest final will be against the winners of Scotstown and Newbridge. Those two teams will replay their provincial semi-final next Sunday in Armagh, shoving the final back by six days to Saturday, December 13.
Kilcoo will be primed and ready to go, whatever the date. Their experience is priceless and they opened up with some terrific football in the second-half of last weekend's clash with Erne Gaels, running out 4-12 to 1-10 winners.
In all, the final will be the club's 33rd game in Ulster, since first entering the competition in 2009.
Devlin is among a number of players who featured in the club's first Ulster final in 2012 who are still operating. So is Conor Laverty, the current Down manager, who came on again for Kilcoo on Sunday.
"At the same time, we also have a lot of young boys coming and the best thing about them is that they're new to the game and new to Ulster competition - they've no fear," said Devlin. "Young ones bring no fear and they thrive on that. Sean Og McCusker, Barra McEvoy and Lorcan Ward came on against Erne Gaels and they went at it whereas maybe an elder statesman would have been thinking more about it.
"These young boys just go at it and it's nice to have that blend, that wee bit of experience with that wee bit of youth."
Paul Devlin gets to grips with Errigal Ciaran's Peter Harte in the 2024 AIB Ulster club SFC final. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
For the younger players, it will simply be an opportunity to win a first Ulster title. McCusker, McEvoy and Ward didn't feature at all in last year's final defeat to Errigal Ciaran, a game that took Devlin a while to get over.
"It was sore," acknowledged the forward of the 0-10 to 1-8 defeat to the Tyrone champions. "Errigal Ciaran were worthy of their win but we had control of the game and we just lost it as a team. I wouldn't point at any individual - Kilcoo lost the game. We took it on the chin and the only thing you can do about it then is try to get back there as quickly as possible, give yourself an opportunity to rectify it and we've done that. But we have an opportunity, that's all we have. We're there on merit but we have a lot to improve on."
Devlin felt Kilcoo were more 'professional' than inspirational against Erne Gaels.
"We played in patches and they kept themselves in the game with a couple of two-pointers in the first-half," he said. "We got a foothold in the third quarter and then we pushed on a bit."
