Derrygonnelly Harps continued to rewrite their history books on Saturday night as they brushed aside the challenge of Teemore to add the league title to the championship title they won a couple of weeks ago.
Last year it was all about the club achieving their first league and championship double, this year it was about back to back championship titles - something the club had never managed to achieve - and now they have recorded their first double, double as they cemented their place as the current dominant force in the county.
“We’re absolutely delighted to have achieved the double, double. It’s great for the club and it’s also great for the players involved that we have been able to push on and hopefully we can continue on in the future,” said manager Martin Greene.
This was a game that was to all intent and purpose over by half time as Derrygonnelly blew away the Shamrocks challenge in the first half, going in leading 2-06 to 0-00.
And Greene says that it was an aim for the Harps to try and make a fast start to the contest.
“We’ve had a couple of tough games against Belleek in the championship final and the league semi-final in recent weeks while Teemore have only had one game in the last five or six weeks so we thought if we got out quickly in those first 15 or 20 minutes we would possibly be that bit sharper and have that bit more intensity, and that proved the way. Fair play to Teemore they came back strong in the second half and they won the second half but we had that great 20 minute or so spell at the start of the game when we were on top in most sectors and that gave us the platform to go on and win,” he commented.
Greene feels that his side have plenty to improve on after their second half performance but he feels that it was understandable that the intensity levels dropped and he stresses that the only thing that matters at the end is the result.
“You are never happy and we will have to improve on that but in saying that it was maybe understandable. We went in 12 points up and the guys probably didn’t go out with the same intensity over the first ten or 15 minutes in the second half. Overall, we were happy though. When the final whistle goes all you want is to be winning,” he added.
Next up for the Harps is a huge test against Slaughtneil in Celtic Park in the Ulster Club. The Derry side defeated Derrygonnelly last year at the same stage but Greene believes that they will be better prepared for the challenge this time around.
“The Ulster Club is a massive challenge, it is a step up again. Last year we went in and we weren’t prepared right and we got a bit of a tanking so this year we have to prepare right. We know that Slaughtneil are very, very strong opponents, they were Ulster champions two years ago but hopefully we will get our homework done a bit better this year. We’re under no illusions about the size of the task but we are going up there to give a good account of ourselves and try to be the best we can be.”