Irvinestown made it three Minor league and championship doubles in a row on Sunday as they overcame a game Derrygonnelly side in Tempo.

With the tie in the melting pot at 1-07 apiece early in the second half the St Molaise side dug deep to pull away and win by six points as they deservedly retained the title.

A large number of this group of players have been involved in all three wins and this particular age group have enjoyed success at all levels coming through the underage sections.

Manager Shane McDermott acknowledged the achievements of the squad.

“It is a huge milestone,” he said. “They are a talented bunch of lads and they have really shown that, and to top it off and finish it with a third double is momentous.”

McDermott has been with this team since they started out and stresses that they are a brilliant group of players for the management to work with.

“It has been a total pleasure for me, Gerry (Love), Eugene (Swift) and Phil (Hughes) to work with these lads. They are a great bunch and they have worked very hard from a very young age.

“They are a very talented group and they have set the standard in the county,” said McDermott.

And he felt that this year was possibly the sweetest win as they had to show hunger, resilience and character to go along with their undoubted talent to seal the win.

“Absolutely. The league final was tight enough against Derrygonnelly and then in the championship all the way through we have had tight games. Enniskillen put us to the pin of our collar in Irvinestown, we had a tight game against Newtownbutler and then the final it was a draw game in the second half until we finally pulled away. There was some tight challenges and there are a lot of teams coming up a level which is good.

“But these lads work hard all year round and have done for a number of years to get to this level and they really showed great hunger and appetite.

“It is easy to get a few medals in your pocket and think that’s good enough but this bunch want more and more and they have that grit and determination to dig deep and pull out the result when it is needed. And we did that in the final without our captain Oisin Swift who is an huge player for us.”

For most of the players this is their underage days now over but McDermott is in no doubt that they will go on to make the step up to senior football in the years ahead.

“That’s the plan,” he said.

“I know there is 12 of them coming up this year and it is all about giving them a pathway to keep succeeding and working at their trade. They are a good bunch of lads and while there is always some people lost in transition, we will have to try and minimise that, and hopefully they can step up to the next level.”