Manager Paddy O'Rourke was full of praise for former Armagh sharpshooter Steven McDonnell after Burren denied Kilcoo an unprecedented seven-in-a-row of Down SFC titles yesterday.

The 1991 All-Ireland winning captain hailed McDonnell, who he brought in as a selector this year, for instilling confidence in the Burren forwards.

"I managed him, and he was the sort of player who had a lot of belief in his own ability, and all we were looking for was him to transfer some of that belief into the Donal O'Hares of this world," O'Rourke said.

"I think you can see that's starting to happen. He just carries an awful belief in his own ability.

"He spends a lot of time with our forwards, and we've scored a lot all year. A lot of that must go down to him."

O'Rourke also praised Donal O'Hare who accounted for 2-5 of the winners' tally.

"He has come back from a fairly serious injury to be where he is today and at one stage we didn't think we would have him for the championship at all. So we got the response that we asked for and Donal led from the front wiht his work-rate."

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