“It's a sweet victory. We were the underdogs going into the game and in most people eyes were up against a Naomh Conaill team that had won three championships in a row and were going to be hard to beat.
"But we knew if we worked hard we were in wi
th a right good chance. The boys put in a huge effort right through the field and I suppose the big difference was that we got the scores.
"We did not waste any possession either. The plan was not to kick away possession aimlessly or to go for the score if it was not on. We just kept recycling the ball until the opportunity arose to kick the score. I think that worked well and we hit some very good scores and really that was the difference between us.
"We got the scores and they didn’t because of the pressure they were under any time they had a chance of a score.”
Martin McElhinney
"After being the nearly men for the last three years it is hard to take in and is an unbelievable feeling. It is particularly special as Naomh Conaill had been our bogey team. They had beaten us in the last three semi-finals and I think that was a great motivator going into the game. We did not want to be beaten by them again for a fourth time.
"The plan was to match them for work rate and we knew if we did that we would be in with a chance and that is how it worked out.
"Last year when we played them we were five points up at half-time but they came out in the second half and just kept plugging away and in the end they got the result.
"We were determined that that was not going to happen this time and thankfully the lads put in a huge effort and it paid off.
"While we were three points up at half-time Colm (McFadden) told us to keep playing as we did in the first half and to keep up our work rate and that is how it turned out."
