St Michael’s joint-manager Cathal Sweeney was delighted with the application of his players after they secured the play-off win they craved against Naomh Pádraig, Uisce Chaoin on Saturday.
The Creeslough/Dunfanaghy side dug deep to beat Gaoth Dobhair by one point the previous week and relegate the Magheragallon men in the process.
There may have been some fears that they wouldn’t find the same intensity levels six days later but that wasn’t the case.
They overwhelmed Muff in the first half and ran out convincing winners.
“First and foremost, and we spoke about it during the week, it was important that we came up here and did everything to get the result and keep the club in Division 1,” said Sweeney, who manages the team along with Raymond McLaughlin.
“There are a lot of people who have put hard work into the club to get us there and we have been there now a good few years and it was important that we made sure we kept them there.
“Even for our younger generation coming through next year, it’s important that they can look forward to Division 1 football.
“Overall, it’s massive for the club and our supporters and massive for the youth as well.
“We’re just delighted that we got over the line and got Division 1 football secured for another year.”
St Michael’s used the wind expertly in the first half and posted 19 points thanks to some top class shooting.
“We were delighted and there’s no point in saying anything else.
“Credit to the players, they came out all guns blazing and when they were getting those opportunities, we were clinical.
“In fairness, we were with the breeze and we knew we had to build up a big lead because it was nice goals that we were kicking into there.
“They were clinical and built up that lead and we were able to get on top of their kick-out as well which secured primary possession for us.
“The likes of Daniel McLaughlin had a big first 15 or 20 minutes for us and was able to tag on a couple of two-pointers.
“It was an overall performance in that first half and we were happy at half-time.
“We knew in the second half, it was going to be a turnaround.
“We knew Muff would come out hard and they weren’t going to lie down and that’s what they
did.
“In the end up, they got it back to six or seven points so they did make us work for it.”
St Michael’s will have Michael Langan and Carlos O’Reilly back for the championship and that will bolster their squad ahead of SFC matches with Gaoth Dobhair (away) and Ardara (home).
“Michael Langan will be back in for Championship and that gives you a wild boost.
“We will see what the bodies are like now in the changing room – I know we picked up a couple of niggles.
“It’s just a matter now of ironing out a lot of things over the next three weeks and upping the standards and tempo again.
“This is league and championship is championship and it’s a completely different ball game for that first game in three weeks’ time.”