By Michael Devlin

If Gaelic football is a gift to be passed on, Conor Laverty is determined that the youth of Kilcoo will have the same privilege of accepting it as he did.

The 34-year-old forward has significant work commitments as Trinity College’s GAA Development Officer, a role that involves a three-hour daily commute from the Co. Down village to Dublin and back.

However, it does not deter him from carrying out his role as Kilcoo’s Coaching Officer, where he takes the club's under-6 and under-8 groups, and manages the Magpies’ minor team.

“There’s a number of lads who are playing that go out and do a bit of coaching, and I suppose first and foremost, it’s always good to give back into your club, and go back and do a bit of coaching with underage players.

“Someone did it for us, and only for the good work men have done in our club we wouldn’t be where we are today. It’s just right that all senior players should be going back and coaching at underage level.

“As a player you love having that challenge of going out onto the field. There’s nothing that beats playing, and that buzz when you’re in the build up to a game and during the game. But it is good to go back to the under-6s and under-8s and do a bit of coaching.

“A lot of people don’t like coaching, but I genuinely do enjoy coaching the younger boys, and if you can give something back to the club, that’s what it’s all about.”

Next year he will be involved in Monaghan backroom team as Seamus McEnaney returns to the Farney fold, but while Laverty’s impressive coaching CV is bolstering, the former Down star is still very much a key component of a Kilcoo side seeking to get their hands on a maiden AIB Ulster Club Senior Football title.

Beaten finalists in 2012 and 2016, this Sunday they’ll have another crack at it as they take on Donegal champions Naomh Conaill in Omagh. They’ve lorded over Down club football in the past decade, winning eight county championships since 2009, but still haven’t been able to clinch that elusive provincial glory.

Installing Mickey Moran - the architect of Slaughtneil’s recent Ulster club triumphs - as manager at the beginning of the season was a real signal of intent from the club, and so far they are on course to deliver a much sought-after Seamus McFerran Cup.

“As a club and as a squad we were delighted to have someone of Mickey’s experience,” says Laverty. “He has probably brought us to a new level, and we are just delighted to have someone of his calibre involved with us.

“His man management skills are fantastic. He’s just an honest man and he expects that of his team. His manner as well, he is an absolute gentleman. He has installed great belief in us as players. He believes in us and he expects us to go out onto the field and carry out the game-plan he has set out for us.”

You can trace Kilcoo’s recent slew of Down senior championship wins back to an All-Ireland Under-14 Feile triumph in 2006, and the three successive Down minor titles that followed from 2009 to 2011.

Laverty got the coaching bug early, guiding the club’s Under-12s to a county title while he was still an U-16 player, but he reiterates his praise for the men around the club who first laid the foundations for the club's success over the past decade.

“There was a serious amount of work that went on from good men within the club, there’s too many to start naming them as I’d miss some out. They took the bull by the horns and put in good coaching structures back then, and we started winning underage titles. Thankfully the good work that those men did is coming through.

“Even when Kilcoo were in Division Two and Division Three, we still had that love for it, football meant everything and it’s still the same today. Those men had that same passion the players have now.

“For our club, winning Ulster would be a nice recognition of the hard work that has gone in over this last ten years. As a squad and as players though, we are just looking at the next game.

"It’s a challenge, and it’s going to take a massive effort to get over the line. We are just hoping we can do ourselves justice on the day.”