Ulster club SFC final: Scotstown (Monaghan) 0-19 Kilcoo (Down) 0-16 (after extra-time)
They were never going to do it the easy way. Scotstown had waited 36 years for another Ulster title so it was no surprise really that they needed an extra half an hour to claim it. After a ding-dong battle against Kilcoo, the Monaghan champions fell over the line, carried there by a masterful display by Rory Beggan.
The Monaghan goalkeeper finished the game with 11 points, kicking into the wind and against it, as well as pulling off a vital save in the second half of normal time. On a night when the elements played havoc with everyone’s sense of control, Beggan was the only one who had a reliable boot. It made all the difference.
The wind set the terms here. Not alone was it the sort of gale that would send a spinnaker scudding across the waves, it was blowing directly down the pitch, making it a shooter’s dream. Kilcoo won the toss and chose to play against it from the start, essentially daring Scotstown to make enough hay in the opening half-hour to see them through the night.
It was a daring play but Kilcoo are long enough on the scene now to know how to dictate these things. As the first half of normal time wore on, they gave Scotstown a lesson in efficiency and possession, regularly holding on to the ball for three and four minutes at a time. They lived by the oldest truism in the game – the wind is no use to a team who can’t get hold of the ball.
RM Block
For Scotstown, it looked a dead loss of a half. They went in at the turnaround 0-6 to 0-1 ahead, which felt like a terrible use of the wind. As Kilcoo starved them of possession, they took potshots for two-pointers that weren’t really on. Had it not been for Beggan’s pinpoint accuracy off the floor, things would have looked even worse for them.
As it was, a couple of points from play by Mattie Maguire and two two-point frees from Beggan were all they had to show for that first period. Kilcoo nicked a point through Eugene Branagan a couple of minutes short of the break and it felt like a goal. You wouldn’t have got one person in the ground to call it a five-point wind at that stage.
But if Kilcoo thought they were going to stroll to their Ulster title, they soon found otherwise. Any bit of standoffishness shown by Scotstown evaporated in the dressingroom. They came out and attacked Kilcoo from the off and actually extended their lead with the first three points after the break.
First Beggan nailed a 45 into the wind and followed it up by pulling off a brilliant save from Jerome Johnston in the next attack. Ryan O’Toole polished off the best team move all night on 36 minutes with a smart point and Kieran Hughes delivered a signature score off the outside of his left boot soon after. With 41 minutes gone, Scotstown led 0-9 to 0-1.
They knew it was soft rock though, destined to be eroded. And so Kilcoo duly nipped and tucked their way back. Paul Devlin hadn’t been a factor at all but although he missed his first free, he was money from dead balls the rest of the way.
Aaron Morgan landed a lovely score, goalkeeper Niall Kane came up and showed himself every inch Beggan’s equal with an injury-time two-pointer. It meant a frantic end to normal time, with wing back Callum Rogers finding an equaliser in the 65th minute.
Extra-time, then. Again Kilcoo won the toss and again they chose to play against the wind. By now though, Conor McCarthy was on for Scotstown and the 2023 All Star showed how much he was missed through injury. He rattled off a point from play and a stunning two-pointer to give Scotstown a four-point cushion at the turnaround, 0-18 to 0-14.
Kilcoo looked out of ideas, in all truth. They took shot after shot in extra-time, trying for two pointers from distance but never steadying themselves to make sure. When Beggan sealed a man-of-the-match display with his 11th point on 78 minutes, that was that.
SCOTSTOWN: Rory Beggan (0-4-3, 4tpf, 2 45s, 1f); Ryan O’Toole (0-0-1), Darren Hughes, Darragh Murphy; Donnchadh Connolly, Damien McArdle, Mattie Maguire (0-0-2); Micheál McCarville, Gavin McPhillips; Max Maguire, Shane Carey, Kieran Hughes (0-0-2); Francis Maguire, Jack McCarron, Nicky Sherlock.
Subs: Conor McCarthy (0-1-1) for F Maguire (49 mins); Killian McKenna for Mattie Maguire (63); Mattie Maguire for McKenna (ft); James Hamill for Carey (blood, 62-63); F Maguire for M Maguire (76).
KILCOO: Niall Kane (0-1-0, tpf); Aaron Branagan, Ryan McEvoy, Niall Branagan; Miceal Rooney, Darryl Branagan, Callum Rogers (0-0-1); Aaron Morgan (0-0-1), Anthony Morgan; Ceilum Doherty, Ryan Johnston, Shealan Johnston; Paul Devlin (0-2-4, 2tpf, 3f), Jerome Johnston, Eugene Branagan (0-0-1).
Subs: Barra McEvoy for E Branagan (51 mins); Jack Devlin for Anthony Morgan, Sean Óg McCusker (0-1-1) for J Johnston (both 57); Anthony Morgan for Rooney (70); E Branagan for D Branagan (74).
Referee: Seán Hurson (Tyrone).
