Drama at the death with Jerome Johnston the hero for Kilcoo
Jerome Johnston of Kilcoo in action against Hugh Kenny of Kilmacud Crokes during the AIB GAA Football All-Ireland Club SFC final in Croke Park.
Jerome Johnston earned himself iconic status around Kilcoo with a dramatic matchwinning goal in stoppage time of extra-time at Croke Park, securing the AIB All-Ireland club football title they'd craved.
The Down side were beaten after extra-time by Corofin in the last final to be played in early 2020 and similar heartbreak looked like it might be on the cards.
Kilmacud Crokes, chasing a third title to match their 1995 and 2009 wins, led by two points with 80 minutes on the clock and finally appeared to have broken the back of Kilcoo's challenge.
But they couldn't hold on as Kilcoo turned them over high up the pitch, winning back possession and working a move that ended with Ryan Johnston's goal effort deflecting kindly into Johnston's path to hammer home.
It was an emotional win for manager Mickey Moran given his past All-Ireland final defeats while in charge of both Mayo and Slaughtneil.
Afterwards, joint captain Conor Laverty coaxed the notoriously publicity shy Moran up onto the winners' podium to celebrate in front of their fans in the 17,117 strong crowd.
A cagey game between two teams more than happy to punish each other on the break was forecast so it was no surprise to see things pan out that way.
What was surprising was that Kilcoo scored just two first-half points and hit the interval trailing by 0-2 to 0-8.
That was partly down to the initial excellence and efficiency of a well drilled Crokes side that showed all their professionalism when stifling Padraig Pearses and then finishing them off with a flurry of late scores in the All-Ireland semi-final last month.
But some of Kilcoo's difficulties were self imposed and the Ulster champions blew about 1-3 worth of decent scoring opportunities in the first-half.
Veteran attacker Laverty carved out a goal chance in the eighth minute after being picked out by Eugene Branagan but while he escaped the attentions of Dan O'Brien, he couldn't beat Crokes goalkeeper Conor Ferris.
Dylan Ward missed a couple of point opportunities, Paul Devlin cannoned a shot off the post while Hawk-Eye ruled that a close range free from Ryan McEvoy was off target.
Crokes were patient in their attacking play, happy to bide their time and create openings for the likes of Dara Mullin and Shane Horan to split the posts after multiple passes.
Another strategy from Crokes was to pump high ball in on top of Hugh Kenny who, along with Aidan Jones, was a late addition to their lineup.
Mullin pulled one of those high balls out of the air for a 27th minute mark that he converted, helping the Stillorgan men to open up that six-point half-time lead.
Craig Dias, excellent for Crokes, added a point after the restart and suddenly Kilcoo had a mountain to climb. To their credit, they did just that with a superb fight-back throughout the third quarter that climaxed with a bizarre 45th minute goal.
Kilcoo goalkeeper Niall Kane wheeled away in delight after his kick from a '45 deflected in off a Crokes defender.
With Devlin and Laverty also scoring points, Kilcoo trailed by just a point in the 48th minute.
Cian O'Connor, Crokes' supersub in recent months, restored a two-point gap but late Kilcoo scores from Devlin, the equaliser coming in the 60th minute, forced extra-time at 1-7 to 0-10.
It remained deadlocked after 10 minutes of extra-time, Anthony Morgan and O'Connor scoring a point each for their teams.
Crokes finally looked to have moved into a winning position following points from Callum Pearson and O'Connor but Johnston ensured it would be Kilcoo's day with that memorable late intervention.
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