Eamo will get to the church on time now!

SENIOR football!

It’s a phrase Declan Byrne must have thought he’d never hear, but it’s a reality for St Mochta’s next season and he’s relishing the prospect already.

‘That sounds amazing. Sean O’Mahony’s won the Intermediate a few years ago and kicked on and we’re lucky enough to have a crew of young lads here and we have a minor team in a county final next weekend so we’ll get another influx from that team.

‘I want to play senior football and I’m sure all the lads are chomping at the bit now too.’

But for now the Villagers will enjoy basking in the sweet afterglow of Seamus Flood glory.

‘It’s everything we’ve dreamed of. I think everyone wrote us off after losing the first game to the Fechin’s. We knew we’d be up against it today, Bevan Duffy driving through the middle, his brother too and then we lost our fella and most people in the ground probably said that’s it, the Mochs are beat. But all year we’ve showed that battling spirit and that character and that’s what brought us through again.

‘I’m not one to get emotional, the lads think I’m made of stone, but it’s 37 years of blood, sweat and tears but it just didn’t happen for us.

‘But we’ve dug deep and fair play to Fechin’s today, I’d say for the neutral that was a fantastic advert for Louth football. It was real game of football, tit-for-tat and they pushed us the whole way.

‘I’ve great mates on the team, Bevan Duffy is a pure gentleman and he’s a fantastic footballer and he was bringing them back into it, catching ball left, right and centre.

‘We kept plugging away and we hit them on the break three or four times near the end.

‘We’re lucky we have the legs, it’s the young lads who have come in this year and they’re been a breath of fresh air.

‘They’re given us a kick up the ass and look at Eamonn O’Neill up and down the pitch kicking scores. You live for theses days.’

One sobering aspect of the day was his brother Ciaran’s injury with initial fears that he’d suffered a broken leg.

‘I saw his leg and it’s not good. It’s not what you want for him, back home and on such a big occasion. He came in and kicked a score straight away. He’s my brother and at least we’re bringing the cup down to see him tomorrow.

Next up is a Leinster showdown against their 2009 provincial conquerors Longwood, but the Saints have a more pressing engagement this weekend.

‘We’ll send Eamonn O’Neill off next week and enjoy that first. This is the Holy Grail and we got it thank God.’ AS St Mochta’s slowly turn their attentions to the Leinster Club Championship, Eamonn O’Neill’s next big challenge will be to turf his teammates out of Eamo’s Bar in time for his wedding on Saturday.

With a bumper crowd packed into the Grove the GAA must have been secretly hoping for a replay, but the dynamic midfielder would have been dreading one as the natural date for a re-match would have been this coming Saturday, setting up a direct clash with his big day.

And to make matters worse he kicked a brilliant equaliser in the seventh minute of stoppage team.

But there was still time for Stephen McCooey and Ciaran McMahon to add further points to secure a dramatic Mochta’s victory.

‘My girlfriend said before the game, what happens if it’s a draw and I said well the wedding could be under pressure!’ he joked afterwards. ‘She said whatever you do make sure it’s not a draw so I was glad I could do my bit at the end. It was a bit like the Collon game, I didn’t have my best game, but glad I could chip in with a point to help us win it.

‘It’s just brilliant and I’m kind of stuck for words. It’s brilliant for the committee, the management, Seamus McGahon is an absolute legend of the club and I’m delighted we could win it for him.

‘There were so many twists and turns and ups and downs. The first-half we took off flying and the Fechin’s got back into it, typical of us and them over the last nine or 10 years.’

It was a lengthy stoppage to tend to the returning Ciaran Byrne that led too all the injury-time and O’Neill wished his teammate well.

‘Hopefully Casey recovers okay, we did that for him too. It was a bad way for a break in play to come, but maybe it came at the right time because the Fechin’s were beginning to get on top of us. It maybe gave us a few minutes to draw breath and figure out where we were going and Ciaran Quinn and Seamus McGahon came in and had a chat with us.

‘But when you’ve lads like Philip Englishby and Decky Byrne and you think you’re down and out they drag you out of a hole. We have leaders all over the pitch. Darren McMahon our captain was unbelievable too. They win balls they shouldn’t win and it lifts the whole team.’

With the countdown now on to Saturday, Eamonn said he’ll have a welcome guest at the top table.

‘I’ll enjoy tonight and tomorrow and hopefully Eamo’s Bar will be busy. We’re tight for numbers for the wedding but I’ll squeeze Seamus Flood in somewhere.’ Eoghan Duffy is the meat in a Andrew English and Stephen McCooey sandwich.