Devenish manager Malachy Cullen believes that victory in the SFL Division One final on Saturday night over Ederney will help make up in some way for the championship final loss to Derrygonnelly.
The Garrison men have bounced back well from that defeat as they overcame Erne Gaels in the league semi-final before edging out Ederney in an exciting and tightly contested final at Brewster Park to secure the league crown in this their centenary year.
“The county final is still disappointing for us and you might not get another chance to get to a final for a few years but this helps make up for that a bit and it gets everybody back positive again. 
“It finishes the year on a high and for everybody involved with the team and the management we are just delighted for the club as a whole that there is something there at the end of the year when they are celebrating 100 years,” said Cullen.
It looked as if they could be heading for more disappointment as Ederney enjoyed the better of things in the first half to go in at the break with a three point advantage. 
A committed and determined second half performance though eventually saw Devenish clinch the win with Barry Mulrone’s late point the match winner.
“We told the players in the changing room at half time that they had 30 minutes of the season left and while they had worked hard in the first half we weren’t really winning the dirty ball and that was something we needed to rectify. 
“In the second half the older boys like Terry, Barry and Anthony led by example and they mopped up everything,” he added.
Within two minutes of the restart Devenish were back on level terms as JJ O’Brien hit the back of the Ederney net and Cullen was in no doubt about the importance of that goal.
“It was the score that cemented for us that we could go on to compete to win the game. When you are chasing a goal, the longer the game goes on you are inclined to panic and make more mistakes but instead the goal came early in the second half and we were right back in the contest. 
“It was a great pass by Terry and to be fair to JJ he stayed calm and put it away very well,” said the Devenish manager.
At the other end of the pitch the Garrison side’s rearguard also got to grips with an Ederney full forward line that had caused them numerous problems in the first half.
“I thought that Anthony (McGuinness) and Barry (Mulrone) dovetailed well in the second half and I thought John McNulty and Martin Doherty were also very good,” he said.
However, with the sides level deep into injury time and a draw looking a strong possibility it required a superb Barry Mulrone point to get Devenish over the line.
“Barry had one or two efforts just before that so he knew he had the range and he had the bravery to stand up and have a go. 
“I’m delighted for him because after the county final Barry said to himself that he didn’t have an influence on that game and he wanted to try and get back to influencing games and I thought in the last two games he was exceptional,” said Cullen.