DERRY IFC: Belief is the key for captain Tiddles

Relief. That’s how Glenullin captain Brian Mullan summed up his side’s dramatic end to Sunday’s win over Drumsurn.

“Why not Daniel O’Kane?” Mullan asked about his side’s unlikely hero with the ‘Glen’s 65th minute winner.

“Everybody else got their chances and thank God for him,” said Mullan, who glided across Celtic Park like someone half his age.

“It was a great sense of relief as much as anything,” he said. “We won it (senior title) in ’07 and I played with a team that was used to winning, it came second nature to us.

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The corner back was the unlikely hero for Glenullin on Sunday.

“This team has been in the doldrums for a while and this time last year we were lucky we weren’t relegated to the junior section, but through the league changes that didn’t transpire.”

Some 12 months after losing an intermediate relegation play-off, on the same pitch, to Slaughtmanus, it was a totally different emotion.

In came Paddy Bradley as manager, outlined as “the big one” by Mullan of the changes. It was also the backroom team and how everyone rowed in behind the cause. He also hailed the teenagers on the scene as a breath of fresh air.

“They gave me and the older boys a spike,” Mullan stressed. “Those boys gave it a bit of an oomph and there are more coming next year. This is not a team on its last kick, this team is only beginning, that’s what I would say.”

Speaking casually after a league game a few seasons ago, Mullan hinted at his lot being involved in a bit of reserve football, but Paddy Bradley made him captain at the start of the season.

Glenullin celebrate the title on Sunday. Pic by Mary K Burke.

“Paddy made up my mind,” Mullan said of his decision to throw the dice once again for another full walk to the well, challenging his manager of “30 other men” he could’ve picked as skipper.

“His answer was that I was the captain and after that it was shoulder to the wheel but it was all well worth it.”

On Sunday’s game, Mullan said Glenullin were content enough at trailing by two points at the break and spoke of Drumsurn getting away on them early on.

Going down the stretch, the game was like two heavyweights trying to land the knockout blow with extra-time looming.

“They maybe missed chances and we missed chances to score. Look, thankfully we were the ones to get the score. Maybe on another day Drumsurn would’ve got it, but finals are all about small margins.

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The midfielder said the side knew Drumsurn would be a hard team to beat.

“We weren’t too worried about going in two down (at half-time). They started off like a house on fire. We have experience and we needed to settled down and get boys on the ball.

“We didn’t panic too much…you get one score; you get two scores and we started ticking over and grew into the game and it settled us into the entirely of the game.

“It made us believe that if we wanted it, it was our game and thankfully it didn’t continue after the first ten minutes.”