The character shown by his side was the most pleasing thing of the performance insists Newtown Manager Darren Chapman after his side edged out Aghadrumsee to land the Junior title on Sunday at Brewster Park.

When the sides met at the semi-final stage a few weeks ago, the First Fermanaghs were second best in the hunger stakes as they fell to defeat. But they showed no shortage of desire to turn that result around on Sunday.

“That’s the thing I’m most pleased about – we matched them physically and the appetite was there today that wasn’t there the last time we came up against them,” said Chapman.

“We never really got any flow going but in terms of the physicality stakes, I think we just shaded it in the end and I’m very pleased about that because on days when things don’t go according to plan, and it’s a dirty old day in October, it takes a certain degree of character to dig out results and we did that today.”

And Chapman was also happy with how his side answered any setbacks on the day.

“We were disappointed with the goals we conceded. The two goals were very soft, but we responded straight away with points off the back of those and kept ourselves in front.”

Chapman felt it was some of the side’s younger stars that played lead roles in seeing them to victory.

“I thought a lot of younger fellas really stood up in the last 15 minutes. Sean Conlon was immense in midfield – he kept us on the front foot whenever we were under pressure.

“Diarmaid King was superb inside and we probably didn’t get enough ball into him, and then the old hands in the last five or ten minutes; James Connolly sat back and was mopping up a few balls, Paul O’Brien cleared one off the line,” he added.

And there is plenty more young talent to come over the next few years, with the Newtown Manager believing that this win was vital in that regards.

‘A lot of quality’

“Everybody knows we are in transition and that we have a lot of quality coming through at underage level, so it was important for us to set the tone for them coming through and for them to understand what it is like to wear a Newtown jersey and what that means.

“We’ve created another page in our history and I’m very happy to have got it over the line,” he said.

That is Newtown now up to compete at Intermediate level next season, and there will also be a push for promotion to Division One.

“We’ve five or six lads coming back from injury; and a couple of new lads coming in from the Minors next year, so we will have a stronger squad again and getting up to Intermediate level is important.

‘A big focus’

“Also, promotion to Division One will be a big focus for us next year,” he said.

However, this season is not yet over and Chapman’s focus is already on having a run in Ulster.

“This is just the goal achieved for us and we’ll enjoy tonight, but we have a game against the Antrim champions in two weeks’ time and I can promise you now that I will be doing everything in my power to ensure that we win that game,” he added.