Derrylin manager Mickey Cadden was full of praise for his players as they dug deep to secure an extra time victory over St. Paul’s Lurgan in Crossmaglen on Sunday.

Cadden had felt that his side had the ability to progress to the last four if they produced a good performance on the day, and he got that and much more from his players as they set up a semi-final showdown against Monaghan champions Inniskeen.

“We had watched St. Paul’s in the Armagh final and going up to that game I didn’t know what to expect but coming away from it I thought we had a very good chance if we could perform on the day. I knew it would take a big performance for us to get through but I didn’t expect the performance we got. Not only did they perform for 80 minutes but to have played with the intensity we played against such a big physical side, it was unreal,” he said.

Things looked to be going against Derrylin as they lost three key players to black cards before the end of normal time but Cadden says the younger players in the squad showed great character as Aaron McGoldrick fired over a late, late point to level before they went on to seal the win in extra time.

“Aaron’s point came from a short kick out that was worked up the field by a load of young boys before he kicked it over the bar. It was an unbelievable effort against the breeze and it was a vital score as time was very nearly up and it took us into extra time.” He added: “We had our centre half, our centre three quarters and our full forward all sitting on the bench going into extra time all due to black cards but the rest of the boys just dug in. The young boys really stood up to be counted. They wanted to finish it that day and that’s what they did.” The decisive score in extra time then arrived from captain Louis Leonard who was ice cool as he slotted home a penalty to give his side breathing space and he is a player that Cadden can’t speak highly enough of.

“Louis has been superb this year. He was unsettled earlier in the year when we kept moving him about but since we have put him at wing half back he has been phenomenal. He has a wonderful attitude, he’s the captain and he has been fantastic.” Indeed, Cadden can’t believe how far this squad of players have come over the course of the season.

“Words fail me to describe how far this squad has come. To go from the second worst team in Fermanagh to now competing in the top four in Ulster in our championship at the minute is unbelievable,” he commented.

Sunday’s win though was quickly put to bed with the players back out training on Tuesday night and Cadden stresses that while he anticipates a tough test, the target now is to make it past Inniskeen and into the final.

“You’re in Ulster now and nothing is going to be simple. But we will go out with the aim of pushing on to the next round. We’re not going to get ahead of ourselves, we’ll be back in training and we’ll work hard this week to get ready for what will be a big challenge. There’s no doubt that we will be the underdogs again but that suits us fine. We’re playing football in November and what we have said is that anything from here is a bonus.”