Derrygonnelly forward, Gary McKenna, knows how much the club’s latest triumph means to the whole community.

The club and wider community were plunged into grief following the tragic death of Peter Jones.

McKenna said the squad was acutely aware of that difficult period for the Jones family, as well as the family of Damian McGovern, who died in a workplace accident in 2015 before the Harps were due to play Roslea in the Senior decider.

“That was a seriously hard period for the family, for the club,” said McKenna, who has now won five Senior Championship medals with the Harps.

“So, to be able to give that back today was unbelievable. And, as well, Damian McGovern – we’ll never forget him at this time of year.

“It kind of hits home to all of us. All of them influenced us at some level at Underage, and we all played for them and we were glad to get another one for them.”

As well as the loss of such influential club men, the disappointment of 2020 was also a huge motivator for the players.

“It was massive. I think on the day, last year, we were disappointed with the fact we didn’t turn up. It was quite hard to watch back but Ederney completely deserved it last year.

“But look, that completely reset our minds. We were buzzing for it this year and we were really, really hungry.

“And it kind of hurt us all winter so we were mad to get back at it this year, to be honest.”

Hard work

That hunger and hard work to get back to the top was mentioned in the speech made by Ryan Jones, and McKenna knows that the hard work put in all year was evident throughout a tough Championship which saw them play two replays, one of which went to extra time.

“We’ve been training from the start of the year; we’ve been training like dogs all year, so we were well fit.

“We could have done without the replays, but that’s the way it goes. We looked fresh today, and it was all in the tank.”

And that was needed against a Gaels side who put it up to Derrygonnelly early on.

“We knew they would come flying out of the gates, which they did.

“But we knew if we could ride that wave, we would definitely come to the fore and get a purple patch and that is what we did.”

McKenna paid tribute to the Gaels and feels they will be a force to be reckoned with in the coming years, adding: “They are a young team and in a few years they will be unstoppable. They are very, very good.”

The turning point in the game was Derrygonnelly’s penalty when McKenna was fouled by James Ferguson.

Looking at it, McKenna said: “They were a quite good in defence, but there was that wee opening and Aidy put it in to me.

“I knew that he was coming behind me and I knew that if I got my hands on the ball I could get turning him or he’ll nail me.

“But we got the penalty anyway and that is all that matters.”

It effectively killed the Gaels challenge as Derrygonnelly ran out nine point winners to set up a meeting with Dromore.

But that was for another day as McKenna and his teammates celebrate another successful year in Fermanagh.

He concluded: “We probably won’t think about it for the next few days.

“But we will regroup later in the week and we’ll look forward to that.”