Devenish manager Malachy Cullen admits that there was sheer relief as they made it back to the senior championship final for the first time in 19 years.

A string of semi-final defeats have come in the period in between and the Garrison men looked nervous in the latter stages as they looked to cling on to their slender lead against Tempo. Cling on they did though to seal their place in the final against either Derrygonnelly or Roslea.

“It was pure relief at the end of the game from our perspective to finally get the win and get through to the final. Some of these lads have lost seven senior championship semi-finals so it was a relief to get over the line,” he said.

Cullen acknowledged that it was far from a vintage performance and that Tempo probably didn’t deserve to lose the game but as with all semi-finals, the only thing that mattered was winning.

“At the end of the day the performance doesn’t matter, it was all about winning the game. Yes, we would love to have produced a big performance but I think there was a lot of nerves from our point of view. Probably over the game as a whole a draw would have been a fair result but we will take the win.”

It is a big year in Devenish’s history with the club celebrating their Centenary and lifting the New York Cup would be the perfect way to wrap up the celebrations.

“It is a great time for the club with the Centenary celebrations and to win it would end the year brilliantly but for us the focus is simply on preparing for the game and the final is something for the club to look forward to.”

And Cullen accepts that Devenish will be the underdogs regardless of whoever comes through the other semi-final.

“Those two sides have virtually owned the championship in recent years so whoever wins that game will be favourites. The pressure is off us and we can have a go and enjoy the occasion,” he added.