Kilcoo footballer Eugene Branagan with his AIB GAA club footballer of the year award and nephews Pat Branagan, aged 9, left, and Jonjo Branagan, aged 8, during the AIB GAA Club Players’ Awards 2021/22 at Croke Park in Dublin.
By John Harrington
AIB Club Footballer of the Year for 2021/22, Kilcoo’s Eugene Branagan, says he has no ambition to play inter-county football with Down.
The all-action play-maker was hugely influential for Kilcoo throughout their All-Ireland winning run and certainly looks good enough to be a serious player for the Mourne County.
But he has no interest in making that commitment and doesn’t mind admitting either than many of his Kilcoo team-mates currently don’t fancy playing for a Down team they don’t think has a winning mindset.
“No, I just have honestly no ambition to play for Down and I don't mind saying that,” said Branagan.
“I think there’s a core of players (with Down) who don’t know how to win. They haven’t the winning mentality.
“I think that’s why a lot of Kilcoo boys don’t want to be involved – they’re just there but I don’t think they’re there to win. That’s the difference between Kilcoo and the county.
“A few years ago there were more (Kilcoo players) playing but this past few years there’s boys coming back from the county and we feel they would be in a better place if they were training with us.
“At the end of the day for us, it’s all about winning. It’s not about going and getting beaten. That’s no good for us.
“If they’re going and winning, we’re happy if they’re becoming better players. But if we think it’s putting them back, we don’t want them like that!”
Kilcoo's Eugene Branagan in action against Kilmacud Crokes in the 2022 AIB All-Ireland Club SFC Final.
Branagan knows a combination of this attitude towards the county team as well as winning nine of the last 10 Down senior club championships has meant Kilcoo aren’t always the most popular club in Down.
“Oh yeah, I think that really fuels our fire,” he says. “Everyone seems to be on our backs and that’s really what keeps us going, that’s what we love. We feel everyone is against us, but that’s what we want.
“I've never played for a county but I can't see myself getting on with too many of them just from past games and stuff.”
Branagan has revealed that Kilcoo will start the defence of their Down, Ulster, and All-Ireland titles without many of the players that brought them all that glory last season.
A number of elder-statesmen on the panel have retired, while others have decided to go travelling.
“There is five or six has retired including my older brother Aidan, who was our joint captain and Niall McEvoy,” says Branagan.
“Boys who had played football for our seniors for over 20 years.
“Them boys would all have been there in 2009 for the first win. I think they had hung on for so long, they couldn’t do another year.
“Their bodies, there was a lot of them had different operations and things just to try and get them…a lot of them didn’t actually play much game time last year, but to be part of the squad, they were the boys that were leading it and leading trainings.
“The past number of years we are telling players to put their life on hold, no holidays, don’t be going to America to play.
“Now that we have got over the line and won an All-Ireland it’s hard to….there are certain things boys want to do in life. There are some of them going away to America and some of them went away travelling there.
“Once you have won an All-Ireland it’s hard, everyone has their own desires but hopefully…we are back training hard and there’s a lot of young boys really want to push on.
“That’s the main thing. Whatever 30 players we have there, if we put in the hard work, hopefully we will get back to where we want to be.”
Kilcoo joint-captains Conor Laverty, left, and Aidan Branagan lift the Andy Merrigan cup with manager Mickey Moran after the AIB GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Club Championship Final match between Kilcoo, Down, and Kilmacud Crokes, Dublin, at Croke Park in Dublin.
Mickey Moran stepped down as Kilcoo manager after their All-Ireland Final win over Kilmacud Crokes and will be replaced by his two assistant coaches from that campaign, Conleith Gilligan and Richard Thornton.
Branagan admits it came as a shock to him and his team-mates when Moran revealed he was standing aside, but the meeting where he announced his depature was still a really positive experience for everyone who attended.
“It was about a month after we'd won the All-Ireland and there was a lot of talk,” says Branagan.
“I think he'd already told some of the older boys he was going, maybe just the two captains. He had the meeting but the talk was between the players 'Ach, he'll stay.'
“But when he said he was stepping down it was a real gunk. It was just in the hall but it was nice, he spoke well. We had a bit of tea and scones. Mickey liked that every Friday night before a game.
“Once he was leaving we gave him a guard of honour. It was funny because about two and a half months before the All-Ireland we had a bad training session one night. It was probably the only bad training session we had all year. I remember the next session he came in and had a meeting with us.
“He would never speak about winning an All-Ireland, but he was in bad form. He just said he wanted to be the manager of an All-Ireland winning team. But he near broke down. (Conor) Laverty spoke to us after and was saying he was like a man on his death bed who wanted just one last wish. From that training session, we hadn't one bad training session.
“There wasn't a bad minute that went by. We always said that we wanted whatever day he was going up the lane, that he would have an All-Ireland medal in his back pocket.
“That night leaving from the meeting we gave him a guard of honour out and you were delighted. I know he was leaving, but it was as good as the All-Ireland win, him leaving that night. Everyone was just satisfied that we'd done it for him.”
