Derrygonnelly Harps captain Ryan Jones was a proud man as he became the first Derrygonnelly player to lift the New York Cup twice.
And to have won the championship again with two of his brothers, Conall and Garvan, lining out alongside him has delighted the Harps midfielder.
“It’s a very proud moment for myself to win alongside my brothers. We have worked hard but Conall is going away to Australia for a year so it is nice to have won this one before he goes away. In fairness, the Derrygonnelly club is all very close knit. We were all at Mass this morning for Damian McGovern’s year anniversary, the U16s won before us so it is a great day for the club and the parish and we need to cherish it,” he said.
Ryan and Garvan have formed a formidable midfield pairing this season although Ryan explains that Garvan, who has had an exceptional championship campaign, just about made the game due to illness.
“Garvan was on anti-biotics all week and he was in A&E yesterday but he got through a mountain work out there. He has improved throughout the championship and he has pushed on compared to last year. He has really stepped up and hopefully he can keep improving and take it even further.”
Sunday’s game was far from a classic but Jones was pleased that they were able to battle their way to the victory.
“From our own point of view we never really got into our rhythm and that was down to Erne Gaels. They are really hard to breakdown, they are set up well and you can see that they have put a lot of time into their training sessions and their shape. We had to battle hard out there. We were two points down with five or ten minutes to go, and scores were hard come by, but we were able to grind it out and it’s a credit to all the lads.
“These lads know how to win ugly and to go back to back in Fermanagh where it is so competitive is the sign of a good team. It’s a great achievement,” he added.
And Jones is now targeting a run in this year’s Ulster Club against the Derry champions.
“We have a few weeks now to get our heads around it. Last year it was a week after our final so we should be looking to really give it a lash because I think we should be competing at that level, where we are coming up against the best.”
One of the stars on the day for the Harps was forward Paul Ward who kicked four points from play as he picked up his fourth winners medal.
Ward believes that the Harps really had to earn their victory over a talented Erne Gaels outfit.
“We had talked all week about leaving everything on the pitch, no regrets, it is what we have lived by all year. Every man coming off the pitch is shattered. After the goal we were two points down and we had to dig and we had to show the character we have talked about all year. 
“Thankfully boys like Deccy Cassidy and Leigh Jones stood up when we really needed them. Belleek are a fantastic team and we had to really earn that. There wasn’t an easy ball to win or an easy score to kick so we are just pleased to come out on the right end of that.”
Ward found himself in a slightly less familiar half forward position on Sunday but it was a move that worked well for both the player and the team as he landed four points.
“The previous two games I was playing corner forward and the way that defences are now it can be hard. Our two full forwards today, Johnny and Stephen, kept the play wide and sacrificed themselves for us and it is a thankless job. Further out the field you can find those little pockets of space and thankfully I was able to get a few scores,” he said.