Kilcoo could be dangerous but Corofin to make record books
Inside Track with John McIntyre
IF Kilcoo don’t freeze on their first visit to Croke Park on Sunday, they potentially represent the most dangerous opponents Corofin will have faced over the past three years. The mobile Down champions are on a roll and having defeating Ballyboden of Dublin in the All-Ireland semi-final will head to GAA headquarters full of confidence.
Under the guidance of the astute and widely-travelled Mickey Moran, they finally cracked the code when capturing a maiden Ulster title at the eighth time of asking last December by overcoming Naomh Connail of Donegal (2-11 to 2-9) at Healy Park, Omagh. It was liberation day for the club having lost two previous finals and coming up short in five other provincial campaigns.
Against that background, it was easy to understand the wild celebrations of a group of players who have dominated Down football over the past decade. A major burden had been lifted off the team’s shoulders, but they were in no mood to stop there as evidenced by their terrific counter-attacking display when toppling the Dublin champions last Saturday week.
Timely goals from Ryan Johnson and Daryl Branagan were critical to Kilcoo’s win (2-8 to 0-11), a success which was rounded off in rousing style by a terrific point from raiding defender Ryan McEvoy. With the experienced Conor Laverty pulling most of their attacking strings and blessed with pace all over the field, the first-time Ulster champions will surely approach their big Corofin test with a ‘nothing to lose’ attitude.
Of course, it remains to be seen how they will cope with all the pre-final spotlight and there’s a chance that they could be intimidated by the occasion, but knowing their back story it’s more likely that Kilcoo will be inspired by a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Despite all the failures in Ulster, Kilcoo never gave up and kept coming back for more. There’s resilience in their ranks as well.
Though virtually every neutral in the country will be behind them, the Down men certainly won’t have faced a team of Corofin’s quality and experience before. The reigning All-Ireland champions are on an extraordinary 35-match unbeaten run and though a few of their key players are pushing on, their reputation is now such that some opponents are nearly resigned to defeat before playing them.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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