“We embrace that motto of everybody wants to beat us” says Kilcoo's Ryan McEvoy

Most players would bite your hand off for one, but at just 22 years of age Ryan McEvoy has won five county finals out of the six he’s played in.

The one that got away was against Burren in 2018, but there was no fear of that happening again on Sunday in Pairc Esler, with a brilliant performance from Kilcoo to a man, not least Magpies defender McEvoy.

Do they keep getting sweeter? 

“Oh absolutely. Definitely. As Karl [Lacey, manager] says, you never ever get sick of winning, and we embrace that as much as we can,” said McEvoy. "We want to win every day and we're just so happy that we continue to win.”

McEvoy was modest in his assessment of his own superb performance, when asked if it was the best he’s played in a Kilcoo shirt this year.

“Probably. I don't know. I was happy enough with my own performance, but it's a team performance all over. I thought everybody was outstanding from 1 to 15. And the subs that we used. The players that came on really made a big contribution to the game and thankfully we just got over the line.”

Kilcoo just seem to get better and better through every Down Championship and it seems the pressure of defending their title every year just seems to make them stronger.

“We embrace that motto of everybody wants to beat us. We thrive on it. We really do. We're just really happy to keep winning and keep delivering county titles back to the club.”

And while there’s always pressure it was never more so than this year with the off the field referee debacle adding fuel to fire, with the Black and White Magpies seen by many as the pantomime villains.  

“Whenever you step on the field, your full focus is on your performance and the game, but sometimes it's probably easier said than done. Sometimes you just have to put it to the back of your mind and focus.”

It always helps of course having the massive support from the entire village of Kilcoo who desert their Mourne stronghold to support their players unequivocally. 

"You drive through our village, there's black and white everywhere. There's bunting, flags. We're driving home to and from training and you see people with teleporter buckets putting up, bunting and flags. It means so much for us that they do that for us. It's our job to deliver on the field for them and to give them that happiness that they put in the effort for us and we're putting the effort in for them.”

And while the players do the business for their village, they also deliver for their new manager too.

“Hopefully Karl gives us a bit of a break but whenever Karl says we're back to training, we're back in, there's no questions asked.

“Karl's amazing. Anything that he's asked of us, we do to the letter of the law and anything that we've asked of him, he does it to his full potential. He's one of the nicest lads I've ever met. Everything's done at the best possible rate and everything we do is performance based and we're reaping the rewards of having a top class man.”

Are you enjoying it?

“Every day you put on a Kilcoo jersey, if you're not happy there's something wrong. It's the best club in the world.”

For full match report and more reaction to the Down SFC Final see this week's Newry Reporter - in shops Wednesday October 18!