Junior Final victory will drive St Mary's on says Man of the Match Brian McKenna

It says much for the mindset in the St Mary’s Kiltoghert camp that winning last Saturday’s Vistamed Junior A Championship crown is seen not so much as an end in itself but rather an important stepping stone for the development of the club’s young players.

Man of the Match Brian McKenna  captured the mindset in the St Mary’s camp as he referenced the Senior team’s loss to Mohill just a week before: “It is mighty to get the win, we lost last week and we had the heads down for the week but we were coming in here today to do something.

“That was just to get the team up to intermediate, to drive us on for the next few years. We have boys coming up from Minor and they’ll drive us on because we really have to be at Intermediate for players to improve and drive on.”

McKenna & St Mary's break Glenfarne Kilty hearts with injury time winner

ST MARY'S KILTOGHERT 0-11 GLENFARNE KILTYCLOGHER 0-10

Apart from one or two veterans, this St Mary’s side is full of young players but Brian highlights the importance of the older lads: “There are maybe 10 under 20s on that team but the older boys really helped us so much, the experience of the lads. 

“We have Brian O’Donnell there, Caolan O’Grady, they always drive us on. They've been there since day one and we’re so delighted to be up in Intermediate and it is going to drive us on so much.”

St Mary's break Glenfarne Kilty hearts as huge crowd enjoys tight Vistamed Junior A Final - GALLERY

St Mary’s Kiltoghert were celebrating in Drumkeerin on Saturday evening as their second string team dashed the hopes of Glenfarne Kiltyclogher to win the 2023 Vistamed Leitrim Junior A Championship title on a 0-11 to 0-10 scoreline. Observer photographer Willie Donnellan was there with his camera to capture pics of the celebrations and the big crowd who thronged into Pairc Naomh Brid ….. see who you can spot!

Brian  agreed that losing last year’s Junior Final and the sting of losing the Senior decider this year was a motivating factor: “We won the Senior last year but didn’t win the Junior, this year we didn’t win the Senior but we wanted to win something so we’re all really happy with this.”