I called this a month ago when a few of them came back for training drunk from the Holylands on Paddys Day.
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Sounds like a good team bonding experience.
They must have no respect for management
Imagine being a Down player and having no respect for James McCartan.
Who will they respect so?
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Would Mickey Moran be able to just get the Kilcoo lads to use it as pre season or something
Its a very bad reflection on Kilcoo for a start.
No one comes out of it great. Sad to see. There must be at least a decent division 2 team in there, without doing anything major.
There are 5 Kilcoo lads involved.
Goalscoring Goalkeeper - Bobo Kane
Freetaking Full Back - Ryan McEvoy
Wing half forward - Ceilum Doherty
Centre Forward - Jerome Johnson
Substitute - Anthony Morgan
The Branagan’s dont believe in Inter County which is fine. That only really leaves Shealan Johnson and Miceal Rooney who could/should be playing. Rooney was flying over and back from Liverpool for the club championship so its understandable why he’s not playing.
Kilcoo are the least of the problems in Down.
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What are the problems? General lack of interest?
The Kilcoo lads not trying a leg.
The best thing that could happen Down is for Kilcoo to fade away as a force, which will likely happen anyway given they’ve won the All-Ireland.
Down footballers have always looked to entertain when making the trip to the capital, Iv no doubt they succeeded again last weekend so I don’t see what the issue is here.
The problems really are quite simple - a complete absence of genuinely class talent. Kilcoo are club champions, I’m not sure they have a single player who would start for a Division 1 county. That is one of the reasons why Kilcoo spent a fortune on Mickey Moran and his team. Jerome Johnston and Ryan Mcevoy are fine players but are with Down already. Eugene Brannigan was man of the match in the final, there were times during the year he wasn’t starting for Kilcoo or was being taken off early. Bobo Kane is starting keeper, I don’t think he is the best available but having another Kilcoo name there quietens the endless chat about them McCartan has to listen to.
Mccartans success in 2010 was due to a few talented players who had a brain and could play the game he wanted, Marty Clarke was a huge influence. The players there at the moment are possibly the most brainless squad of players on the island, so it couldn’t be much worse a fit.
Anyway what about it. We have a fine club championship here, and club league started last Thursday. From what I can see numbers at underage level at most clubs are growing, and the clubs themselves are thriving with Irish language and music classes a major part in most of them. The senior squad is a mess, but its only a very small part in the jigsaw.
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Brannigan’s did play county?
What a player. And Benny Coulter not far behind him.
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Two class players, would have walked onto any team in the country and improved them, Down have nothing like that now. Caolan Mooney can look great on his day but is prone to doing some ridiculous things or letting games pass him by. Barry O’Hagan is a fine player too but not a player that will carry a team on his own like Coulter could.
Marty Clarke is in with Poacher now looking after Mayobridge, will be interesting to see how that goes.
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One of my favourite players of the last ten plus years is Donegal’s Karl Lacey. As fine of a back as I have seen.
And yes - Benny Coulter roasted him in an Ulster Championship match back around 2010 I’d say. I never saw anyone do that before or do it since.
I’ve said as much about Laois time and time again. You’re dead right.
I don’t buy this thing about Down not having talent. It’s not that long since they were beating Monaghan in an Ulster semi-final and putting 10 points on Cavan in the first half of an Ulster semi-final.
They just aren’t arsed about being any use and have been allowed to be that way. It’s a culture.
All the same stuff was said about Donegal pre-McGuinness and Derry pre-Rory Gallagher.
One good appointment changes a lot.
Mark Poland was a quality forward back then too as well as Coulter and Marty Clarke. The manner in which Down just came like a bolt from the blue in 2010 was great to see. There’s been very few surprise runs by perceived outsiders since then.
‘Lessons have been learned…’
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