St Lachtain's give their reaction after last weekend's Junior Championship victory over Windgap

The Freshford emotions after the game were very different one year on from losing at this exact same stage to Tullogher-Rosbercon.

It was sweet success this time around for St Lachtain’s and manager Steven Farrell knew they needed to be at their best to see off Windgap.

“The goals were massive for us and we knew Windgap were an unbelievable team.

“Ever since we’ve came down we’ve had huge battles with Windgap and I’ve huge respect for them but I couldn’t be more delighted for our bunch of guys as they get hit with so many things and they just bounce back so I’m just delighted for them.”

Last year’s loss was a big motivating factor for Freshford as they didn’t want to sample that feeling for a second year running.

“We mentioned before we out that we didn’t want to face another losing dressing room like last year and we put in a savage effort back then,” Farrell added.

“In fairness to the boys, they were knocking on my door back in January asking can we go again and finish the job we started and it’s all about the players, the management only sets out the ground work for them but they are the ones that put in all the hard work.

“Looking at those lads and the parish on the pitch now, I couldn’t be much happier really.”

Windgap’s first half goal via Emmet Landy initially gave them the edge but the Freshford boss was happy with how his side responded afterwards.

“I only caught the end of the free and it caught us on the hop a bit but at least it happened early as if it had occurred later in the game, we may not have recovered.

“At least we were able to bounce back and reset and they never dropped the heads and they kept plugging away at the scoreboard and got it back level at half-time which was hugely important.”

The goals ultimately won he game for St Lachtain’s but with the likes of Liam Hickey and Alan Rafter scoring off the bench, the county championship winning boss was eager to point out the importance of the squad.

“Goals settle a team but them lads are well able to hurl and that’s what we’ve been trying to stress to them all year since we took over.

“It’s a credit to them and our bench was important as well.

“We’ve had 40 lads training on the pitch every night and that’s what you need and it’s a credit to all of them and they fully deserve this success.”

For centre back Brian Kennedy, it was the icing on the cake of what was a perfect week. Kennedy, who got married the weekend before, was happy to play his part in his club’s return to the intermediate grade two years after relegation.

“It’s been the week of dreams for me really, everything went well last weekend and now this win is after topping everything off so I’m just so happy now.

“We are delighted to go up from junior as we’ve been down here two years now and it’s such a hard grade to get out of so we’re happy with the win as we probably let ourselves down a bit in last year’s final so thank god we hurled well and got through it.”

Kennedy was hugely influential throughout the entire championship campaign for Freshford and admitted that he was partly at fault with his positioning for the Windgap goal.

“I probably wasn’t clued in enough for the goal as I was standing in front of it but mistakes are going to happen and we all know that.

“These things happen and you just forget about it as best as you can and just concentrate on the next ball and that’s been our mantra all year,” Kennedy continued.

The St Lachtain’s playmaker knew if they kept playing their game that chances would arise and so it proved with second half goals for Paddy Killeen and Cathal O’Leary.

“The goals settled us down a bit and the last day we got 27 points without scoring any goal so we didn’t let that affect us and we knew we’d get chances at some stage and fair play to Paddy (Killeen) and Cathal (O’Leary) for getting the goals.

“We’ve a young team and all the lads came in and did a great job coming in.”