2020 has been a different year for everybody, and none more so than Fermanagh forward Joanne Doonan.

The Kinawley player started the year in Australia having joined up with Carlton in the AWFL and such was the impact she made that by February she was making her debut.

However, with growing coronavirus fears, Joanne flew home towards the end of March and since returning home has gone on to lift a county title with Kinawley and now an All Ireland title with Fermanagh following Saturday’s victory over Wicklow in Parnell Park.

Doonan says that while the experience in Australia was great, there is nothing like winning with friends at the game you love.

“Australia was brilliant but I think that anyone out there in Australia would say the same, it is not the same as playing Gaelic, that is your first sport, your first love and there is something special winning with the girls you have been playing with for years. It is just a fantastic feeling,” said a delighted Doonan.

Having flown home from Australia, Doonan’s focus was on trying to get Fermanagh out of Junior football and up to the next level.

“I think it kind of hit home that on paper we were one of the six lowest teams in the country, and that’s not where we wanted to be.

“For most of us when we first played county we were an Intermediate team so it was frustrating to still be down there and I knew it would benefit the girls a lot to get back up to Intermediate again so that was the goal. We learnt a lot from last year and most of the panel stayed on and we wanted to push on and we got there on Saturday,” she added.

Having lost last year’s final to Louth though Doonan acknowledges that the Junior Championship is a difficult one to get out of.

“In Junior there is so many teams who are all at the same level and it is very hard to actually get out of it but thankfully we have got out again and we will now be looking to stay up.

“The team that we have, it is still very young, and a lot of the girls are already talking about next year so if we just keep good team retention and keep driving on I think we have a good future ahead of us.

“We’re genuinely delighted that we can compete again at Intermediate and I have no doubt either with the squad we have we can hold our own” said Joanne.

Doonan, who chipped over two points on Saturday as well as being involved in both Fermanagh goals, says that they were quietly confident going into the meeting with Wicklow despite having lost by four points to them in their opening group game in the competition.

“Wicklow had maybe shown us what they had in the first game and we knew ourselves that we were nowhere near our full potential that day.

“We have had a lot of changes from that first day and maybe they would not have been expecting that and I think it was evident that first 15 minutes when we came out of the blocks flying.

“The start settled us down and we had talked in the changing rooms beforehand about having belief and we had the belief on Saturday and that showed,” she said.

And Fermanagh showed great composure after Wicklow hit back to level in the period after half time.

“At half time we had said that if they got a purple patch that we would just have to keep our cool and not let the heads drop.

“We just had to stay focussed and trust the process. It was just a fantastic team performance, it really was.”

Indeed, it was a win that was built on hard work all over the pitch as Fermanagh never let Wicklow have time on the ball to cut them open as they had done to Antrim in the semi-final.

“In the lead up we focussed on not letting them create as many goal chances and not leaving ourselves open and I think it worked perfectly. Even when they were coming out of defence they never had it easy, there was always pressure on them and we put pressure when they were taking a kick.

“Girls were just willing to put in the hard work and defensively we were fantastic in forcing turnovers and winning back the ball,” she stated.

Doonan admits there was a heart in the mouth moment late on as Wicklow went for a goal from a free kick but Fermanagh scrambled the ball away.

“It was a really good free on her behalf but thank God Smurf was able to get her hands on the ball. With so many back you do be scared that it will end up in the net but Smurf is very composed and confident in there.

“You just knew it was going to be our day,” she concluded.