Kirwan hungry for more after

SINCE their intermediate success of 2008 a major senior trophy has felt a long time coming for Dreadnots, and that made victory all the sweeter for undisputed man-of-the-match Peter Kirwan. ‘IT’S great to finally get one over the line, we’ve lost so many finals over the years,’ he said as the celebrations kicked off in Stabannon. ‘WE were very, very disappointed after the Mary’s defeat a few weeks ago, but to pick ourselves back up and come out and play like that was brilliant.’

In fact, far from knocking confidence, the pain of that semi-final defeat to Mary’s was a big motivator for Dreadnots and Kirwan brushed off suggestions that doubts may have crept in.

‘We didn’t question ourselves. Other people questioned us, but we’ll never question ourselves. We know we’re capable of delivering performances like that and hopefully next year we’ll go one further.’

The corner forward prised Geraldines for a similar response to their quarter-final defeta to eventual county champs Sean O’Mahony’s.

‘Geraldines put up a great fight and we knew they would. They’re out of the championship a few weeks too. I’m friends with a lot of them and I know their heads were down too so for them to pick it back up and perform like that was impressive.’

Saturday’s win won’t satisfy Dreadnot’s hunger, but Kirwan reckons it will silence a few people back in the seaside village.

‘We’re still hearing it from the lads that won it in ‘88, calling us this and that,’ he joked. ‘But we’re even with them now and