Kilcoo strong in defence but more to give up front

​Kilcoo made it past the first Ulster Senior Football Championship hurdle this year with a clinical performance against Tyrone’s Loughmacrory in Omagh and this Saturday they take on the Fermanagh Champions Erne Gaels in the semi-final.

While the game is closer to home in Armagh, it’s a venue where the Magpies haven’t had much luck, including last year’s defeat in the final to Errigal Ciaran.

"We’ve played six times there and lost four,” said Kilcoo’s Paul Devlin after their quarter-final victory.

But don’t be fooled. Like it or loathe it, the venue won’t make any difference to the Magpies’ quest to reach their seventh Ulster Championship final.

And even though they had just won, Devlin and his clubmates weren’t planning on too much celebrating but were focussed on what worked well and where improvements needed to be made.

“I thought Ryan McEvoy and Niall Branagan have been exceptional there, and even Dabbs [Darryl Branagan] got me out of defence, and we were just really on it defensively,” he felt.

“I think there's more in us whenever we're going forward, because it's not like us to only create one goal chance, and maybe that is something we can work on.”

The couple of week’s off before this semi-final would certainly be a welcome one for Kilcoo. Conditions were tough in the quarter and the ground was heavy. Inevitably there would be tired bodies after such a physical game but early on Aaron Branagan was subbed off which came as a surprise.

“He must have picked up a nick, and he wasn't maybe 100 percent, so he just said he'd pull out,” explained Devlin.

"But it was nice the fact that he had done that instead of just ruining himself maybe for the next round, so hopefully we’ll be with a full squad for the next game.”

One player who is increasingly making his mark in the panel is Paul’s younger cousin Jack who has a different style to the elder Devlin.

"He’s very measured, isn't he? He's very calm, and then he gets the ball and I’m thinking, urgency lad. But he seems very calm, composed and safe on the ball. He gets the ball, and he's going to make the right decision,” said Paul of his cousin.

As a veteran himself, Paul may not be getting any younger but you’d never know that from the terrific season he’s been having and while he agrees that the new rules certainly suit him as a player, the lethal Kilcoo kicker believes keeping in shape is more important than ever these days.

“I don't like to miss training. I always feel whenever you get into your latter years, you have to look after your body every time, and every night there's something I'm doing, stretching or ice bathing or rubs and stuff like that and I'm out of house every night of the week as such. It's just to make sure that I'm available for selection and doing what best I can do, to do offer to Kilcoo.

Whatever my role is and how long I last in there, I don't know, but I just want to do what's best for the team and give it all I have, that's what it is to me, because these days don't come round every day now for me.”