Sixth title means just as much as the first for Glencar Manor captain Dearbhla Rooney

You might suspect that Glencar Manorhamilton are getting a tiny bit tired of winning the Sweeney Oil Leitrim LGFA SFC crown but not a bit of it according to captain Dearbhla Rooney who says that the sixth title in a row means every bit as much as the first!

“Six in a row, we're just taking it all in,” said Dearbhla after accepting the Cup on behalf of her teammates, adding “We're delighted that we got over the line again. It means just as much to us as it did when we won the first final.”

The challenge St Joseph’s produced was not a surprise to the Manor captain: “It's not our first time meeting St Joseph's and that's what they do, they know how to play us and they know how to stop us playing free-flowing football and they did it today, but we got on top of it in the second half.

“We were level coming into the dressing room at halftime but we expected that, we knew that every time we meet St Joseph’s, it is going to be a battle so we knew we were going to be in for a hard game and we expected no less in the final - they always seem to up it another few gears but we got over the line in the end and we’re delighted.”

A reset at the break led to a match winning scoring burst just after halftime: “Going into the changing room, we knew that we really needed to lift it in the second half, we weren't playing to 50% of what we're capable of and then we came out in the second half.

REPORT: SIX IN A ROW FOR GLENCAR MANORHAMILTON AS DEVANEY LEADS CHAMPS PAST ST JOSEPH'S

“Muireann got that goal in and it settled us and we started playing our own brand of football again in the second half. We just relaxed, settled into it and we were able to lift it, get more comfortable and got more scores on the board. It was a battle right to the finish, I was so relieved when I heard the final whistle.”

One of the key changes was getting on top of the kickout battle: “That was a bit of a problem, kickouts are one of the most important parts of gaelic football but we talked about it at halftime and we nullified the threat and got on top of things and closed that out. It changed the game.”

That relief was warranted with keeper Cammie McPartland saving a penalty that would have got St Joseph’s within two points midway through the second half and Dearbhla admits the save inspired her: “Cammie's save,  it just lifts you so much when I see her putting them saves in.

“She's such a leader -  she stood up when she was needed this year and joined our panel and she put in that save today and it just meant so much to me and the team, it really lifted us and gave us so much more energy to drive on then, so it's so special to have leaders like Cammie on the team.”

Referring to the loss of Ailbhe Clancy, Dearbhla agreed that everyone else lifted their performances to make up for her absence: “What's great about this team is when there's obstacles that come up, they don't use it to hold them back, they use it to drive themselves on.

“They know  this is a challenge and we need to overcome it and everyone picks it up and everyone steps up and we just started playing a different style of football. Ailbhe was a phenomenal player to have on our team and we learned from how she played football and we learned from training with her, so it was fantastic to have her on our panel and that is still with us for the next few years to come. 

“There are always such leaders on our team and that is why I love playing with them. You think you can mark a few people out of it but other people step up on the day and you can always rely on everybody on our panel and it is a lovely team to play with.”

Next up is a Connacht date with the Sligo champions and having David Gaffney is as joint manager is a bonus: “That's another bonus of having David on our team, he's a Sligo man so he knows the Sligo teams and he'll have good insight there and he'll be able to give us some tips so we're looking forward to that but we're just taking in the win today.

“We'll just take every game as it comes, we have Sligo in the first round so we'll look forward to pushing through with that and we'll see how we go from there. There is still more to come but this was the big one - we can relax for a while, take this in and then start concentrating on those games.”