Karl Lacey blames poor decisions for Kilcoo's Ulster title exit

Kilcoo boss Karl Lacey believes his side's failure to secure a third Ulster title stemmed more from a series of poor decisions — both in possession and out of it — than from Darryl Branagan’s second-half red card.

The Kilcoo joint-captain was sent off after an elbow caught Odhran Robinson, leaving the Magpies down to 14 players for the final quarter of the game.

Despite briefly regaining the lead after Branagan’s dismissal, Kilcoo faltered, lacking the composure they had displayed in their dominant 11-point victory over Scotstown in the semi-final.

“Obviously, I’m very disappointed,” Lacey admitted. “When we look back on our own performance, we probably didn’t do enough with the ball in the first half.

“We found it very difficult to get our hands on the ball. They kept possession for long periods. At half-time, we reassessed things and still thought we were in a good position.

“But we just didn’t do enough with the ball, plain and simple. We weren’t sharp enough in attack, and we lacked composure going forward.

“There were too many fumbles, too many handling errors, too many forced passes, and a lot of poor decision-making in key areas. Scoring 10 points and conceding 1-8 — against a team like Errigal Ciaran — we should have been good enough to win the game. But we didn’t hurt them the other way.”

Addressing the red card, Lacey said: “The lads reacted very well. They responded strongly after the goal in the first half and again after the sending-off.

“Obviously, it’s tough to play with 14 men against a full side. We were doing very well on their kickouts initially, gaining possession, but once we lost a man, that changed. We stopped winning their kickouts, and that put us under more pressure.

“In the end, it came down to how we used the ball, and we just weren’t clinical enough.”