Kilcoo’s Lacey Dismisses Concerns About Team’s Semi-Final Performance

Kilcoo manager Karl Lacey asserts that his players will not be distracted by suggestions that the narrow margin of Errigal Ciaran’s semi-final success could benefit the Tyrone champions. Lacey expressed no apprehension that his team might have peaked prematurely or revealed their tactics during their dominant semi-final victory over Scotstown, as they prepare for Sunday’s Ulster Club Football Final against Errigal Ciaran. Last year, a Scotstown side, featuring numerous past and present Monaghan county stars, defeated Kilcoo by a single point in the Ulster quarter-final. Consequently, few had anticipated the 2022 All-Ireland champions’ decisive 5-10 to 0-14 win two weeks ago. In contrast, Errigal Ciaran required an outstanding individual effort from Ruairi Canavan to secure a tight 0-14 to 1-10 semi-final win against a Clann Eireann team that appeared to be gaining control before Tiernan Kelly’s sending off in the 40th minute. While historical trends indicate that many unconvincing semi-final wins are followed by final triumphs, former Donegal All-Star Lacey does not subscribe to such media speculation. “It’s probably irrelevant to us as a group. As a player you hide yourself away from all that,” Lacey told BBC Sport NI. “I’m not just saying that. It is reality. Players don’t need management to put their feet back on the ground. They do that themselves. After the final whistle, we regrouped. We got our huddle, we had our stretch. We had our wee talk. “By the time the boys got home, that game was blanked and they were looking forward to the next one and ready to go again. That’s just the reality of it.” Kilcoo scored their five goals against Scotstown despite the absence of their regular free-taker, Paul Devlin, due to a calf injury. Lacey stated that Devlin has been “doing everything he can to be and we’ll give him every opportunity for him to be fit and ready for the final”. The Kilcoo boss does not believe that the specific sight of Scotstown jerseys motivated his team to deliver their five-goal display two weeks ago, following their unexpected defeat to the Monaghan champions 12 months prior. “It wasn’t about the Scotstown thing. It was parked. It was more about our performance and how we performed going down the home straight that night.” He added, “It’s something we reflected on at the end of the year and going into this year, we looked to try to put those things right and we’ve worked hard on those things. “That was probably the most pleasing thing that we were able to go into that game and deliver some of those things that we’ve worked on really hard this year.” In the provincial semi-final against Clann Eireann, the Canavan brothers, Ruairi (left) and Darragh (right), scored 0-9 and 0-2 respectively, with their cousin Thomas also notching 0-2. Odhran Robinson was Errigal Ciaran’s only other scorer. However, with Kilcoo now preparing to face an Errigal Ciaran side spearheaded by the in-form Canavan brothers, Ruairi and Darragh, Lacey insists that his players “re-set fairly quick.” He further stated, “Our heads are down again and we know our preparation has to be really, really high going into this final against Errigal Ciaran who are a well-coached, well-drilled, high experience with some really good individual players. Our preparations need to be the best.” With a degree of understatement, Lacey described the Canavan brothers as “very good individual players but also good team plyers who are able to bring other players into it as well”. Nonetheless, Errigal Ciaran’s semi-final victory was largely a showcase for the Canavans, as Ruairi scored a sensational nine points, while Darragh and cousin Thomas both contributed 0-2, with Odhran Robinson being the only other scorer for the Tyrone champions.