By Ciaran Woods

c.woods@gaeliclife.com

IT took almost two decades, but Kilcoo's introduction of a robust youth system in the early 1990's has led them to the dizzy heights of Down senior champions, with an Ulster club title now fixed in their sights.

Winning the Down title this year bridged a 78 year gap, and their monumental success this season can be traced all the way back to an Under-12 decider way back in 1992.

Fed up with what he saw as underachievement in the club, Jerome Johnson, himself still a senior player at the time, decided in 1990 that it was time for a change. Alongside a few others, he set about energising the club's youth teams.

Castlewellan and Bryansford were the big hitters, the standard-bearers at the time. Numbers were always going to be a problem for Kilcoo, feeding off just one small primary school with only 90 boys and girls.

Two years later and Kilcoo reached the 1992 East Down U12 championship final. It might seem insignificant, but it lit the touchpaper for everything that same core group of players have done since, and Johnson, now a senior selector alongside Jim McCorry, remembers it well.

"The whole parish then was running about nearly as bad as it is now, because it was the first time that Kilcoo had got to a championship final of any sort in almost 70 years. We got beat by Bryansford that day.

"I remember going into the changing rooms afterwards, and the wee boys were all crying. I told them that if they kept working hard, then some day we'd beat those boys."

At Under-14 level things didn't go great for Kilcoo. A combination of injuries to key personnel and plain old bad luck meant they were unable to make an impression, but by the time 1996 came around they were ready to take on all comers.

"At Under-16 level we started in April. It was me, the brother and a fella called Patrick Kane took them, and that year we won the All-County championship.

"I remember it as clear as yesterday. There was a boy from another club who I was working with came to me the next day and told me he couldn't believe what he had seen. That there had been men along the sidelines with Rosary beads praying that we'd win it. That's how big of a deal it was for Kilcoo. That's when it started to turn for us."

That day and that win marked a turning point in the history of Kilcoo. Their efforts had finally been transferred into silverware. Those young players now had something tangible to show for their hard work. They had achieved. Not only that, but they'd taken on all of their more illustrious opponents and came out on top. From now on, they would not be standing back in awe of other clubs. Their journey to the top had begun.

In 1998 they won the minor championship, and with the same bunch of players Kilcoo won the Under-21 championship in both 2000 and 2001. They scooped the senior league title in 2003, and again in 2008, before reaching the promised land of the county senior title in 2009.

That trailblazing team has now set the standard in the club, and subsequent players and sides have slotted in behind them. In 2006 Kilcoo won the All-Ireland division one Feile title, and went on to backbone the Down minor championship winning side this summer. The club also claimed the county Under-16 title earlier this year. Tradition has been well and truly established, and Kilcoo look set to be around for some time to come.

But the current senior side aren't finished yet. With the Down title already in the bag, they announced their arrival on the provincial stage last weekend by disposing of a fancied St Eunan's side. Next up is Loup this Sunday at Casement Park, and the Magpies are aiming for another notable scalp.

They came in well under the radar for last week's quarter-final, but Loup certainly won't be underestimating the task ahead of them. To underline how much Kilcoo have risen in estimations, in the last seven days their odds for the All-Ireland club title have been slashed from 100-1 back to 20-1.

Paul Devlin was the star of the show last weekend, the young attacker helping himself to six points from centre-forward, while his namesake Anthony was also at the centre of many of their best moves. Barry and Donal Kane were workmanlike throughout, while Paul Greenan and Martin McClean came out on top in the midfield battle.

What Jim McCorry has done is moulded a team who are incredibly tight at the back, squeezing the opposition and playing a very compact system, whose style of football is different from the sort of open game normally associated with Down sides. They play at a serious intensity, so much so that even the Ulster players found the going tough in a recent challenge match, which is fuelled by an unquenchable thirst for further success.

They don't panic. They're confident and assured on the ball, and even when they were five points down to Mayobridge with time running out, they stuck to the gameplan instilled in them by McCorry and reaped the rewards. That game provides a graphic illustration of the level of faith the manager has in his players and, more importantly, the players have in him. Their first foray into the Ulster club proved successful with last weekend's four point win, but they want more.

If they can take the scalp of the former All-Ireland champions this Sunday to book their place in an Ulster club final, Kilcoo will have taken another giant stride down the path to greatness and raised the bar yet again for the Kilcoo teams of the future who follow them.