Victorious Dunloy manager Anthony McQuillan speaks with Brendan McTaggart amidst the celebrations at Dunsilly

There aren’t many out side of maybe Glenravel who would begrudge this man a winners medal.  Dunloy manager Anthony McQuillan has lived and breathed the big ball in a hurling dominated village and there were fewer wearing a bigger smile than he at the final whistle.  We had a very different conversation two years ago when the Cuchullains were beaten by Moneyglass in the decider and ‘Anto’ said the memory of that defeat was never far from their minds in the build-up to Saturday’s final: “When we say finally over the line, no one understands that more than me.  Two years ago against Moneyglass we left this pitch heartbroken.  In years gone by, Glenavy, Aghagallon and St Brigid’s beat us but that was a different team and not the current squad.  Two years ago hurt and today was about putting that right for the boys.  I’m absolutely thrilled.”

In a first half that Dunloy dominated, the six point interval lead they had was the bare minimum they deserved.  The Cuchullains midfield dominated and their pace from deep meant they had threats all over the pitch.  McQuillan said he knew after the first few plays it was going to be their day: “That was the dream start.  The first two or three balls, we turned them over and broke at pace.  I knew then.  That was the moment I knew we were onto a good thing.  When we start winning the second ball and attacking at pace, we’re trailing defenders out of position and our pacey forwards were running in behind.

“I’ve no idea how we didn’t get a goal today.  Their goal keeper was absolutely unreal.  The first half we were absolutely superb.  We had two goal chances that if we had of taken, it wouldn’t even have glossed the score line.”

In those recent, previous finals, the Cuchullains were never in a similar position. They were in the game and competitive but to have been so dominant and in control was new ground. McQuillan said they hadn’t really prepared for such a scenario when they formulated a half time team talk: “We went in at half time and I turned around to the management team and said ‘we haven’t had that before.’ I was caught on the hop a little, I normally have something positive and negative to say and I was searching for a negative. I just challenged then to do the same again for the next 30 minutes.”

With 11 dual players in the starting 15, the Dunloy men are on a role this championship season.  McQuillan said the prospect of winning trophies at both hurling and football has driven the club on in recent times.  The ‘dual problem’ isn’t seen as much as a problem any further but more a chance to further enhance Dunloy club as a whole, he continued: “It’s starting to work (dual).  No doubt about that.  When I came in four years ago, my main aim was to have everyone playing football for Dunloy.  Not just senior, every age group.  Boys have football training and hurling training, the whole club is now working together trying to progress it forward.  We built an Academy together, we built the 4G together, we’re now working together to make it work.

“This weekend, we had this today, the camogs tomorrow and the hurlers next Sunday.  That’s what dreams are made of, that’s what kids dream about.”

For now, the Intermediate Championship resides in Pearse Park for the first time in 15 years.  Having been part of the panel that secured the trophy in 2007, McQuillan struggled to put it into words the emotion of it all: “This actually does mean the world.  I can’t put it into words. All I wanted to do when I came in to this job was to make this team a Senior team, not an Intermediate team.  This is the championship we had to win to make us a Senior team.  We’ll be playing Division 2 next year, we’ll have boys away on county duty but that’s up to the rest of the lads to progress us forward into Division One senior team.  But next year we’re a fully-fledged Senior dual club and that was the aim.

“I’ll have a few jars for sure but not for everyone.  A few of the lads will have ice-baths, they have a championship to win next Sunday and we’ll need it over the line as well but there’ll be celebrations.  There’s about 20 of us who aren’t dual so we’ll be celebrating this for sure.”