Cometh the hour, cometh the man. When Clogher Valley needed a hero, up stepped Captain Paul Armstrong as his late long-range penalty sealed a stunning late comeback victory over Ballyclare as they landed the All Ireland Junior title for the first time in their history.

Armstrong admits though that at 11-3 down, and the game well into the final quarter, he had thoughts that it might not be their night.

“I would be telling you a lie if I didn’t!

“I remember asking the referee at one stage how long was left, and he told me nine and half minutes, and we were deep in our own half and we were 11-3 down.

“One of the other guys then asked me how long was left, and I told him, and his face just dropped.

“I know all season that we have been peaking in the last ten minutes and scoring a lot of points, but it was getting tighter than I would like it to be!”

A converted try though had Valley back to within one point and then came Armstrong’s chance to snatch the win for his side. “There was no time clock up on the pitch, which was strange, and I remember after we scored the try the referee said there was five minutes to go and then obviously we took the restart and returned it, so there was a minute or two wasted again before we won the penalty.

“As soon as we were awarded the penalty, I just said to myself, ‘Oh dear, I’m going to have to have a go!’

“As I was waiting for the kicking tee, there were boys lying down everywhere cramping, and my own two calves were cramping, and I was just telling myself to forget about it.

“To be fair, the place went quiet and I just blanked everything out, and thankfully I got a good enough connection although there wasn’t much left in it, to be honest,” he laughed.

Heartbreak

Armstrong was part of the only other Valley side to play in a final which they lost by a single point. And he admits that heartbreak helped to drive him on.

“Looking back at it now, losing the last one by a point, and nearly losing this one by a point, I don’t know how we would have recovered from that.

“I know it was eight years ago but you still think of them things on a Friday night whenever you are not sleeping that well. You definitely don’t want it to go that way again,” he added.

The Captain acknowledged that it wasn’t his side’s greatest performance of the season, but he knows there are times when you just have to grind it out.

“I think at the start, things weren’t sticking, and boys were maybe a wee bit nervous. It definitely was far from our best performance of the season.

“But, you need to be able to dig in. It is something you need in your locker,” he added.

So, what was the feeling when the final whistle went?

“It was just unreal, just to see everybody going wild and the noise and boys not knowing who to hug or where to go.

“It is definitely the biggest thing that I have won, and the most excitement I have seen.”

And the hope is that there will be more to follow, with Clogher still in the running in the league, the Towns’ Cup and the Junior Cup.

“Straight away this week we are back into the league and we need to get the full five points to keep the pressure on Instonians.

“I would love to keep the league alive and it could possibly go down to a last-day showdown to decide who wins it, and hopefully we can progress in the Towns’ Cup while we have the semi-finals of the Junior Cup coming up in April, so there is a lot to play for,” he said.