AS POST-MATCH INTERVIEWS go, this was a pretty memorable one.
Aaron Branagan after scoring the decisive goal. Morgan Treacy / INPHO
Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO
Down kingpins Kilcoo booked their Ulster club championship final spot yesterday aftter a 1-8 to 0-9 victory over Derrygonnelly of Fermanagh.
Aaron Branagan — one of five brothers on the starting team — scored the crucial second-half goal for Kilcoo and was named AIB Man of the Match after a powerful performance from centre-half back.
While he stole the headlines from the match, he definitely added a few more afterwards in a brilliant interview with RTÉ Sport’s Evanne Ní Chuilinn.
“We tend to leave it late to push it out in games. We know how to dog out games and thankfully we got through it,” he began.
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“It was a brilliant game, very tough. It was well refereed, I thought, very well refereed. That’s the way we like it, nice and tough. We’ll be looking forward to the next game. We know what we have to do.”
Fairly run of the mill, as the focus now switches to Donegal champions Naomh Conaill.
Aaron Branagan of Kilcoo after they reached the Ulster club final.
"That's the way we like it, nice and tough. There's nothing else to do in Kilcoo except play football. You go to Mass, have a few sheep and that's really it. So it means everything." pic.twitter.com/JDvWNHIsOp
“Me scoring goals, that’s a small miracle!” he laughed then on his all-important individual contribution. “You know yourself, goals win games; thankfully it helped us push on over line.”
But it was when Branagan was asked what it means to Kilcoo to be into an Ulster final that he delivered the golden line.
Ah, it’s absolutely everything. I was actually talking to a boy this morning, he said, ‘Well, there’s nothing else to do in Kilcoo but play football. You go to Mass and you have a few sheep, that’s really it.’
“Football is absolutely everything. To get here again is absolutely brilliant.”
So with football meaning that much, and four of his brothers on the team alongside him — Niall, Aidan, Darryl and Eugene — they must talk about it a hell of a lot.
“To be honest we talk more about sheep! Football gets a wee bit of talk as well. Yeah, listen, it’s nice to play with your brothers. It’s brilliant.
Then when somebody’s man scores you blame somebody else. There’s a bit of arguing going home but that’s part and parcel of it.
Branagan also paid tribute to veteran manager Mickey Moran, who arrived to Kilcoo this year after huge success with Derry’s Slaughtneil.
“Mickey’s something else,” he said of Moran, who has also managed five county senior sides. “I always say he’s like the granddad I never had.
“He’s the best. Anything he says, everybody’s attentive. He knows what to do to get us over the line and he calms us down. He’s calm, cool and collected.
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'There's nothing else to do in Kilcoo but play football. You go to Mass and have a few sheep, that's really it'
AS POST-MATCH INTERVIEWS go, this was a pretty memorable one.
Down kingpins Kilcoo booked their Ulster club championship final spot yesterday aftter a 1-8 to 0-9 victory over Derrygonnelly of Fermanagh.
Aaron Branagan — one of five brothers on the starting team — scored the crucial second-half goal for Kilcoo and was named AIB Man of the Match after a powerful performance from centre-half back.
While he stole the headlines from the match, he definitely added a few more afterwards in a brilliant interview with RTÉ Sport’s Evanne Ní Chuilinn.
“We tend to leave it late to push it out in games. We know how to dog out games and thankfully we got through it,” he began.
“It was a brilliant game, very tough. It was well refereed, I thought, very well refereed. That’s the way we like it, nice and tough. We’ll be looking forward to the next game. We know what we have to do.”
Fairly run of the mill, as the focus now switches to Donegal champions Naomh Conaill.
“Me scoring goals, that’s a small miracle!” he laughed then on his all-important individual contribution. “You know yourself, goals win games; thankfully it helped us push on over line.”
But it was when Branagan was asked what it means to Kilcoo to be into an Ulster final that he delivered the golden line.
“Football is absolutely everything. To get here again is absolutely brilliant.”
So with football meaning that much, and four of his brothers on the team alongside him — Niall, Aidan, Darryl and Eugene — they must talk about it a hell of a lot.
“To be honest we talk more about sheep! Football gets a wee bit of talk as well. Yeah, listen, it’s nice to play with your brothers. It’s brilliant.
Branagan also paid tribute to veteran manager Mickey Moran, who arrived to Kilcoo this year after huge success with Derry’s Slaughtneil.
“Mickey’s something else,” he said of Moran, who has also managed five county senior sides. “I always say he’s like the granddad I never had.
“He’s the best. Anything he says, everybody’s attentive. He knows what to do to get us over the line and he calms us down. He’s calm, cool and collected.
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