Back to back titles means the world to Mohill says Man of the Match Domhnaill Flynn

Winning back to back Connacht Gold Leitrim SFC titles for the first time in the club’s history means the world to Mohill according to Man of the Match Domhnaill Flynn as he stressed just how close the line between victory and defeat was last Saturday.

One of Mohill’s four penalty takers, Domhnaill picked up the Man of the Match award but while nice, the main aim was to retain the Fenagh Cup: “There could have been probably a couple, it was probably a toss-up but you just try to do your best every day and if you get it, you get it. It's not really a big concern to me - the cup is in Mohill, so that's it.”

Retaining the title was an ambition for this Mohill group: “It means the world because we were never able to do it before. We got to the final a couple of times trying to do it. It was never a big thing that we were trying to win back to back. We're trying to win as many championships as we can.

“But to win it two years in a row really means that we're on top for two years in a row there.  We've been to the last five county finals. We've lost six or seven really good inter-county standard players the last couple of years. Young lads have stepped up, so we have a production line in Mohill and it's not stopping anytime soon.”

That leads Domhnaill to state another ambition for this Mohill team: “We will celebrate it but another thing on our backs is that we've never won a Connacht game. That's something that we're going to target now. We didn’t say anything about it before the game because county finals, you have to win them first. We've never won a Connacht game, so we have to target that as our next ambition.”

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Key throughout the two game saga was Mohill’s resilience in snatching a late equaliser and the Man of the Match believes it is a product of years of experience: “There's resilience built up there over the years. There's a lot of us there, the core of that team has been on the go since 2015. 

“I think it's a lot of our 8th, 9th, maybe 10th, 11th final if you include replays, so there's loads of resilience there. We know not to panic in those situations. You can hit the panic button when you're three or four points down going into the last minute, but there's no need to panic any other time.”

Not a fan of penalty shootouts, Domhnaill revealed his though process during the long walk up to take his penalty: “Someone had to do it. It is a long walk. Just try not to think about it. Just think about your kick and just try and nail it. No point worrying about keepers or who scored what, just nail your own kick, I suppose, is the only way to do it.

“Keith steadied the ship there. We said if lads wanted to step up, let them step up and take it. The confident lads stood up. There were loads of other lads that wanted it there, but penalties, I don't know, I don’t really agree with it but we could have lost it, we could have won it. We back Sean, he's a very good soccer player. 

“When they missed the penalty early on, it gave us a little lift - If we keep scoring here, we're going to win this. It calmed us down a little bit. If it came around again, or if it went to sudden death, it might have been a different story. We had four or five very good penalty takers there, so we were confident.”

Analysing the game, Domhnaill reflected on the back and forth between the team: “I don't know, just the last two weeks it's just been absolutely crazy. Nothing between us, tit for tat. One team will go ahead with a couple of points and then the next team will come back. I thought it was a very evenly matched day again. 

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“I don't know, in extra time, I thought we were throwing it away a little bit with our handling but extra time just takes a life of its own and you just hope to try and get over the line. Ballamore are great, they're a never-say-die team as well. There's been teams down through the years that are like that, the Aughawillans and we have it as well but Ballamore, never-say-die. 

“They probably could have won it there in added time. Paul Moran kicked a savage mark there to equalise it. Look, they have mental resolve as well. They have the willingness to compete, just to compete for every ball. Credit to them as well, they're a great team. I have a couple of very good friends on that team there now so I'm kind of sorry to see them, yeah. but look, someone has to do it.”