O'Hara loves Mohill ambition as he revealed champions practiced penalties in training

They may have downplayed its significance at times but Eamonn O’Hara admitted last Saturday evening in the gathering dusk in Pairc Sheain Ui Eslin that winning back to back Conancht Gold Leitrim SFC titles was one of the targets set for him when he first took on the Mohill job.

O’Hara, sent to the stands on a red card during extra-time, was speaking after his team achieved just that last Saturday evening, the now back to back champions defeating Ballinamore Sean O’Heslins 4-2 on penalties after the replay ended 0-17 to 1-14 after a pulsating battle that went to extra time.

Recalling the ambition in the Mohill club, Eamonn told the Observer in the aftermath of a dramatic victory: “These boys have made history for their club, they've gone back-to-back - it was something that was said to me when I was interviewed for this job three years ago to go back-to-back. It was bold, I love that type of talk because there's an ambition in the group and I'm just grateful for the lads that stayed with us this year, that they get rewarded with back-to-back titles.”

Naturally, the former Sligo All Star was delighted on a personal level but highlighted the support of his management team: “Listen, I'm delighted for myself, I could be selfish and say it but again, it's not only for me, it's for Mohill as far as I'm concerned. I've had massive help with Gally and Mickey and Baz this year, it's not just me, it's a club effort and everything I needed I got and everything I wanted I got and I'm glad that these fellas got what they got today and that's another county title.”

Eamonn also revealed that Mohill had actually practiced penalties on the Wednesday night before Saturday’s Final: “Funny enough we did. We took penalties on Wednesday night, we were up in Killoe under lights and we decided we were going to spend 10 minutes at the end of training for penalties.

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“You might as well, for the sake of 10 minutes, do it and see who wanted them. We had seven lads that put their hands up and five of them stepped up there today. Jordy was one of them, he had ended up going off so, I have to say, huge character for the group.”

Character is a theme O’Hara regularly brings up and again the Mohill manager highlighted the character within his team: “They have an unbelievable character about them and it's all about making them believe, making them believe, work them, force them into these scenarios, pressure scenarios in training.

“They're never beaten, albeit we gave up the lead, it was just one of those scenarios where I knew we weren't going to get beaten if we kept it tight and I'm just delighted for them because they've worked so hard. With the turnover of players that has happened in Mohill, there was always people saying that we weren't going to do it, it just really, really cemented the group together and they came up good.”

Analysing the match, Eamonn highlighted the improved in performance of some key players: “Fellas that didn't play as well last week were outstanding, Jordy was brilliant, Conor was outstanding, Tadhg did a great job on Wayne McKeon. We needed to tie down some of their key players but Paul Moran had two games back-to-back, absolutely outstanding.

“There are swings and roundabouts in these scenarios but I just have huge, huge credit to the lads  that they just stuck out of them.  We played so well throughout, first half we had a very, very, like we had a good start, we controlled the game for a long period with the bit of a breeze that we had.

“Credit to Ballinamore, they picked off some really, really good scores but it was just from us dropping off. Second half we controlled the game and we had it won. To control the game, kicking into a bit of a breeze, I know it died a little bit, but kicking into the guts of a breeze we did awfully well and it was there, we had it.

“Just a couple of poor mistakes brought it into extra time and then it was a kind of a carbon copy again. I said to the lads you'll only get two points in extra time more often than not. We got one, you know, they killed the clock very, very well and obviously in that second half then, complete control of it. 

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“We were free-wheeling home, two points up, there's always a risk, you concede a goal but David ends up giving away the ball this time and gives them a bag of wind and then it goes to penalties.”

Even with winning the penalty shootout, Eamonn is not a fan of the method to decide Finals: “To be quite honest, it's shite but that's the way it is - it's an awful way to lose a county title but for us it's a lovely way to win.”