ALL-IRELAND winning midfielder Dylan Ward has returned home from Australia - just days before Kilcoo’s Ulster semi-final date with Scotstown.
The combative 27-year-old headed Down Under in February last year, and hasn’t featured for the Magpies since their 2022 provincial final defeat to Derry champions Glen.
Considering Ward only arrived back in Ireland on Wednesday, it remains to be seen whether he will have any involvement in Saturday’s showdown with Scotstown – a repeat of last year’s Ulster quarter-final.
However, Ward has been playing for the Sinn Fein club in Melbourne, and recently agreed to play Australian Rules Football for Port Melbourne Colts in their 2025 Southern Football League campaign.
“We had a chat to another Irish lad and he just mentioned his name, we caught up, had a meeting and he was a great lad,” Colts assistant coach Ben Burke told Australian website, Code Sports.
“His fitness will be absolutely elite, he’s coming back after his season at the end of Jan so he will be super fit.
“We might run him as a high half-forward through the middle, he’s quick and versatile like a Gaelic footballer is.
“He’s played in the All-Ireland stuff, it’s a good level over there, there’s not a heap of his highlights online but from what I have seen he works really hard.
“I think he’s going to fit in well with our group.”
Ward was a key part of the Kilcoo side that swept to back-to-back Ulster titles before lifting the Andy Merrigan Cup in 2022, with his physical presence and running power around the middle a huge asset that the Magpies have struggled to replace.
Karl Lacey’s men go into Saturday’s game at the BOX-IT Athletic Grounds determined to right the wrong of last year’s last eight defeat to the Monaghan champions.
Kilcoo looked in control that day in Newry, four points ahead going into the final 10 minutes, only for Scotstown to battle back and snatch victory at the death courtesy of a last-gasp Rory Beggan free.
