Kingscourt Stars 0-05 Kilcoo 3-15
Cavan clubs have been easily dismissed in the first round of the Ulster Club SFC every year since 2009 and that record continued here as Down champions Kilcoo romped to an easy win against Kingscourt Stars at Kingspan Breffni Park.
Kilcoo's attractive brand of counter-attacking football bamboozled the Cavan side, who had played 10 matches to win their 'domestic' championship, and the physically powerful Mourne men could have won by an even greater margin such was their dominance.
The Breffni side opened the scoring through a Barry Reilly free but the Down champions, sporting an all-black strip, quickly took charge.
Daragh O'Hanlon levelled matters before two wonderful points from Jerome Johnston – the second from all of 50 metres on the wing – made it 0-03 to 0-01 14 minutes in.
Kingscourt hit back with a Cian McArdle free and a good point from play by Reilly but they were soon sending out distress signals as they began to spring leaks at the back.
A great point from Conor Laverty from a tight angle nudged the Mourne men back in front again and their lead was doubled when O'Hanlon tacked on a free.
And then the goal that Kilcoo were threatening arrived. The Stars, caught on the counter, were unable to stop the Magpies from raiding at the other end and when Laverty laid off for Paul Devlin, the latter made no mistake from close range.
The Down men, four-in-a-row champions of their own county, were at full tilt by now and added two further points before the break from Laverty and Devlin as they went in holding a comfortable 1-07 to 0-04 lead at the interval.
The bombardment continued in the second half as Kilcoo backed Kingscourt on to the ropes and dazzled them with flurries from all angles. What was essentially the knock-out blow was landed six minutes in when Jerome Johnston pulled on a loose ball 21 metres out and drilled it past stand-in Kingscourt goalkeeper Gavin Sheenan.
That three-pointer made it 2-07 to 0-04 and better was to follow for Paul McIver's side when Laverty jinked his way through for two more points from play to make it 2-09 to 0-04 with 20 long minutes remaining for the hosts.
More misery was heaped on Kingscourt when key defender Padraic Faulkner was dismissed on a straight red card after a heavy challenge and, moments later, Kilcoo broke through for their third goal, Paul Devlin blasting to the net from 15 yards.
Devlin followed up with another point and further scores from O'Hanlon (free), Laverty and Donal Kane saw Kilcoo win pulling up, even though they also lost a man, corner-back Daryl Branagan, for a second yellow card.
The best score of the game arrived in the dying seconds, Darragh O'Hanlon firing over a beauty from 50 metres, but it was all cosmetic by that stage.
The Cavan senior champions have now been beaten in their first Ulster outing for seven successive years and the final quarter of this match was played out in an eerie silence.
Fr Down, though, the outlook couldn't be any different. On the evidence of this performance, Kilcoo will take some stopping this winter.
Kingscourt: Gavin Sheenan, Rory Sheridan, Padraic Faulkner, Shane Gray, Barry Tully, Alan Clarke, Noel McIntyre, Barry Reilly (0-03, 1f), Ciaran Gorman, Philip Tinnelly, Peter Corrigan, Keith McCabe, Cian McArdle (0-02f), Christy McGowan, Ryan Carey
Subs: Philip Smith for McGowan, Kieran Smith for Gorman,Terry Reilly for Tinnelly, Dara Gunne for Carey, JP Reilly for Gray
Kilcoo: Stephen Kane, Niall Branagan, Aidan Branagan, Daryl Branagan, Aaron Branagan, Darragh O'Hanlon (0-05, 2f), JJ McLoughlan, Dominic McEvoy, Aaron Morgan, Ryan Johnston, Paul Devlin (2-02) Martin Devlin, Jerome Johnston (1-02), Paul Greenan, Conor Laverty (0-05)
Subs: Donal Kane (0-01) for Martin Devlin, Felim McGreevy for Aaron Branagan, Sean O'Hanlon for Ryan Johnston
Referee: Barry Cassidy (Derry)
