1991

Kilcoo kept up the pressure on the League leaders after a convincing win over Drumaness. This was a day when all six Kilcoo forwards got their names on the score sheet, and they had an excellent scoring first half to go in leading by 1-9 to 0-4. Although Drumaness kept up the pressure in the second half they found scores hard to come by with a great ‘Magpies’ defence and at the final whistle Kilcoo led by 1-12 to 0-9. Next came a fine victory over Glenn, away, by 1-9 to 0-4 and then it was on to meet Rostrevor at home, where Kilcoo proved superior. Although Rostrevor, with the wind, led by 0-3 to a single Jerome Johnston point at half time Kilcoo inspired by the determined play of Donal Rogan, Collie Devlin, Sean Devlin and Dan Morgan dominated the second half and they came away winning by a low score 0-5 to 0-3. At this time the Underage competitions were in full swing. Such was the interest in the club that some lads played in as many as three matches at different age levels. After Easter the U-12s were narrowly defeated by Castlewellan, but there were good performances from Emmett Devlin, Anthony Devlin, Damien Grant, Darren Morgan and Marc Branagan. The U-16s had a magnificent win over Ballykinlar by 3-9 to 2-5. Best for Kilcoo were Mark Ward, Mark Morgan, Damien McGreevy, Peter Kelly, Barry Morgan and Oliver Devlin. The U-14s travelled to St Johns and had an unbelievable ten goals to spare. Scorers were Shane O’Hare (2-5), Mike Grant (3-0), Paddy Murray (1-4), Malachy Ward (2-0), Mark Morgan (2-1), Sean Michael Devlin (1-2), and Colm Devlin (1-1), but, unfortunately they, then, had a narrow defeat to Tyconnaught. Kilcoo Seconds had their first game against Bright at a breezy Owen Roe Park, where they had a fine win by 1-8 to 0-6. Kilcoo scorers were Liam McEvoy, Brendan O’Hare, Frank O’Higgins, Barney McEvoy and Danny Maginn. Best for Kilcoo were Seamus O’Hanlon and Gerry O’Hare. In the Reserve game away to Dundrum Kilcoo turned possession into goals and came away with a 3-8 to 1-6 victory.

At this stage the League table read:

In early May Ballymartin avenged their home defeat of the first Senior match of the season with a single point victory at Kilcoo. Although matters were even at half time Ballymartin then pulled ahead. The home side were unlucky when a Noel Doherty penalty was saved. In the Reserve Championship in late May Kilcoo were defeated by two points by Dundrum. This game was a credit to both teams and had everything from a missed penalty to a shot rebounding off the bar in the closing minutes. Kilcoo’s Seamus O’Hanlon saved an early Dundrum penalty, and, with this inspiration, Kilcoo notched up a couple of points before the penalty save was avenged. In the second half, against the run of play Kilcoo scored a goal. The game went into injury time finely balanced on a knife edge, but, although, Kilcoo piled on the pressure in a desperate bid for an equalizer a super save from the Dundrum goalie and with the help of the crossbar Dundrum grabbed the confidence to get the winning points. In the first round of the Intermediate Championship in Rostrevor, against Atticall, Kilcoo came away winners by 1-9 to 1-5. League and Championship matches were now disrupted with the continuing success of Down in the Ulster Championship but, in late July, Kilcoo were successful in the Annsborough Sevens where they beat the home side in the first round.

In the first semi final, the most exciting game of the Tournament St. Johns put it up to Kilcoo and had gone into a four point lead when a late goal and point by the dashing Jerome Johnston put the game into extra time. After sustained St. John’s pressure Noel Doherty burst out of defence to score a crucial goal, which put Kilcoo into the final against Liatroim, where Kilcoo came away winners by 1-1 to 0-3. In the Drumaness Tournament Kilcoo reached the final only to be beaten by Downpatrick.

In the Gary Murray Memorial Tournament in Hilltown the Kilcoo boys beat Burren and Liatroim on their way to the final, where they were beaten by Bryansford. Team members were Declan Mackin, Paddy Morgan, Emmett Devlin, Kevin Morgan, Noel Devlin, Brian O’Hanlon, Anthony Devlin, Tony Greenan, John Morgan, Darren Morgan, Patrick Kane, Mark Fitzpatrick, Damien Grant, Michael Travers, Marc Branagan. The continued success of Down in the All-Ireland Championship caused the Down Secretary to re-structure all club fixtures until after the final. However Kilcoo Reserves did travel to Loughinisland for the play-off, against St. Johns in the Reserve League but the game was a draw.

Kilcoo Annual Sports did go ahead on Sunday 1 September in the build up to the big day in Croke Park. The seven-a-side Competition on this day was won by Bryansford. So thousands of Kilcoo supporters took the road to Dublin to cheer on their heroes.

After all the All-Ireland victory celebrations Sam Maguire made an appearance in Kilcoo on Saturday 14 October for the annual Gary Cunningham Memorial Competition, accompanied by Down team star Mickey Linden. Kilcoo were defeated in the final of this competition by Clonduff.