‘We’re hoping this is a catalyst for the club’ was the response from Frank McBrearty as Kildrum Tigers lifted the Glencar Inn Saturday Division One Title on a rainy Saturday afternoon.
Goals from Keelan Gillen and Gavin McGee sealed the deal while McBrearty was on the scoresheet too, and labelled his own strike as one that ‘easily could have ended up in the Foyle.’
On lifting his first league title and Kildrum’s fifth in the Saturday League, McBrearty said the following: “It’s a big buzz for the club. We have been pushing in second for a number of years, and won a couple of Voodoo Venue Cups in that time, but it’s great to get that league.
“We’ve got this now, and the club as a whole are still in the hunt for more silverware. There’s the Voodoo, and the Sunday side are in the Ulster Cup Final and they’ve got a shot in the Brian McCormick Cup too, so hopefully we can add more silverware.”
Oldtown Celtic had lifted this trophy for the last four seasons in a row, and McBrearty knew that going into this encounter, that nervousness would almost certainly kick in.
“We’ve been so close and had some disappointment in the past,” he started.
“We lost out a couple of years back with a penalty in the last minute, so there’s always going to be nerves.
“Oldtown Celtic may not have been at their strongest today, but they’ve won this league four years on the bounce so they know what it takes.
“They didn’t lay down, and we had to go out there and do a job.
“That first goal today really helped us to settle the nerves, because there’s no getting away from the fact that we were nervous. We talked about this game all week, and thankfully, we got over the line.
“You’re only as good as your last game, so right now, no one in that dressing room is focused on past defeats, they’re champions of this league.”
Frank McBrearty has spent time with both the Saturday and Sunday sides this season, and despite the relatively small squad, they’ve advanced on many fronts and McBrearty noted that the coaches don’t get enough credit.
“I’ve played more on the Saturday team this season,” he stated.
“There are a lot of good young players there that can make a step up, and there’s lads with experience too.
“This is a small knit squad, with 24 or 25 players between the Saturday and Sunday team, and we have to thank the coaching staff, and everybody is in this together.”
There was a collision late on in the game between Keelan Gillen and Oldtown Celtic goalkeeper Thomas McLaughlin, and McBrearty hopes to see him again in a few weeks time.
“He got a bad slap,” he said.
“He went into a big man in Keelan Gillen, and I wouldn’t like to take a bang off him myself.
“Hopefully, he’ll be alright and we might meet them boys again in the Voodoo Venue Cup if all goes well in our semi-finals.”