1985

Fresh from their success of promotion to Division Two at the end of 1984, the new season began enthusiastically with busy training sessions and challenge matches against local teams. Meanwhile, the committee were continually organizing fundraising events for the on-going development of the new pitch, starting off in February with ‘A Night at the Races’ in Bryansford Social Club followed by a dance.

The Senior League fixtures kicked off with a match against Teconnaught played in Annacloy at the beginning of March. As one local newspaper reported “Two very disgruntled sets of players trudged off the field after forty minutes of play at the Teconnaught pitch, the reason being that referee Jimmy Flynn decided to abandon the game due to bad weather conditions.

In spite of pleas from both teams to finish the game, the St. John’s official refused to change his mind, although it appears that the conditions in Annacloy were no worse than at a number of other venues where the full sixty minutes were played.” The match, while it lasted, was a hard fought sporting encounter during which both sets of forwards had difficulty in adapting to the conditions. The score at the end of forty minutes was 0-4 each, Kilcoo’s scores were shared by James and Dan Morgan. The game was replayed on Sunday 17 March. Kilcoo started with great guts and deternination. However, Teconnaught played as if their lives depended on the result of this match. Kilcoo was awarded a penalty from which Dan Morgan scored, but further scores from Morgan failed to secure a victory for Kilcoo. Most impressive for ‘The Owen Roes’ were Barney McEvoy, Colm Morgan and Kevin Kane.The final score was Teconnaught 1-9, Kilcoo 1-5.

By mid May Kilcoo had secured two victories, beating Ballymartin by 3-10 to 0-6 and Downpatrick by 2-9 to 1-10.

The Reserves played their first Championship match on 21 April and easily accounted for Castlewellan IIs with a score of 2-12 to Castlewellan’s 0-6.

Kilcoo looked the part with Damien Travers and the Johnston brothers running riot.

Other scorers included Mickey Devlin, Joey Travers and Colm Devlin. Substitute Gerry Laverty, who had recently transferred from St. John’s, also got on the score sheet.

The success of the Reserve team continued into May when they beat Warrenpoint in the League by 4-5 to 1-9.

The Senior Championship programme began on 30 May 1985 with a game against Teconnaught in Ballykinler. This time the League result was reversed with Kilcoo winning by 1-6 to 0-7. Early in the second quarter of this match the Kilcoo full forward blocked a sideline kick, passed the ball speedily to Kevin Kane, who scored a fine goal on the run from all of thirty metres. Teconnaught never recovered from this setback and thus Kilcoo had a fine win. This was poor preparation for the next round against Longstone on 4 July, when both Seniors and Juniors alike were beaten, the Senior score reading Longstone 3-7 to Kilcoo 3-3 and the Junior scoreboard Longstone 1-6 to Kilcoo 1-5. At this stage in the League the Senior team needed to string together a few consistent victories to stay out of the relegation zone.

This they achieved in encounters against St. John’s with a score of Kilcoo 0-11 to St. John’s 0-8 and against Warrenpoint with a score of 1-8 to 0-6. At the end of October they grabbed a lifeline at Fontenoy Park in their final match against Liatroim. With the advantage of Declan Mussen, back after a long lay off, Kilcoo played some superb football with outstanding contributions from Kevin Kane, Dan Morgan and Sean Devlin. A Kevin Kane/Dan Morgan combination led to the scoring of a goal which put Kilcoo into the lead at the half time interval. Two more points from Dan Morgan and one from Mick Devlin in the second half secured the Kilcoo victory. This away victory ensured that Kilcoo would be playing Second Division football in the next season as they finished up in the middle of the League tables.

The achievements of the club were celebrated at the annual Dinner Dance which was held in the Osborne Hotel in Warrenpoint early in January 1986.

Club Chairman Danny Murray welcomed two hundred members and friends to the re-union. The special guests were Paddy McFlynn, a former President of the G.A.A.and the County Treasurer Billy Byrne. In their speeches they complimented the club on their achievements and said they looked forward to seeing Kilcoo playing on their new playing field on the Dublin Road in the approaching Spring of 1986. The Club President, Father Denvir concurred with these remarks and paid tribute to the club for their efforts within the Parish and for their help with Parochial matters at a time when the club themselves were so heavily committed.

Before announcing the club awards the chairman complimented the management of the Senior team, Owen McEvoy and Dan Morgan and their players on having completed a second full season without having had a single player sent off.

Awards were then presented as follows:

U-12 player: Jimmy Devlin,

U-14 player: Brian Devlin,

U-16 player: Michael McClean,

Minor player: Colm Devlin,

Reserve player: Damien Travers,

Senior player: Sean Fitzpatrick,

Hurling player: Peter Morgan,

Supporter of the year: Pat Joe Travers,

Sportsman of the year: Barney McEvoy,

Clubman of the year: Sean Mackin (Club Treasurer)

Awards were also presented for the best sponsor cards returned following the club’s recent sponsored walk. These went to Brian Devlin, Gary Murray and Vincent Devlin. A further presentation was made by Vice Chairman Dan Morgan, on behalf of the committee and players, to Danny Murray for twenty five years unbroken service to the club. His service on the committee began in 1960 and since then he had held a number of offices such as Secretary and Vice-Chairman, culminating in the office of Chairman. He received an inscribed silver tray and Mrs. Murray was presented with a bouquet of flowers. On this happy note the presentations ended and the remainder of the night was enjoyed by all.