By Michael Wilson

Copyright derryjournal

The cross border competition pits the junior champions from north and south against each other but Ardmore were underdogs against the Munster kingpins who were seeking to lift the trophy for a second time in their history. With Ardmore No. 1 Kristian O’Hagan pulling off a string of top class saves and no extra-time in the final, Ardmore were minutes away from a penalty shoot-out when Fairview’s Cian McNamara grabbed the goal that meant the trophy would be heading to Limerick. A heartbreaking finale but O’Neill had nothing but praise for the efforts of his IFA Junior Cup champions. “Fairview were a very good side. The standard they were at, I’d put them as a top PIL side or a Championship NIFL side,” explained the Ardmore manager. “We played very well. I couldn’t fault any of our boys. They all got 10 out of 10 for performance and effort. It just wasn’t to be our day, but we gave a top performance against a top team. “Fairview got the goal late on which was a real sucker punch because the final was going straight to penalties. There was no extra-time and our keeper Christian had already made a couple of great saves – he was having the game of his life – so I’d have fancied us had it gone to penalties. If there was a keeper going to make a save it was going to be him. It wasn’t to be but I could not be prouder of the lads.” Ardmore were bidding to become only the second team from the north to lift the trophy after Enniskillen Rangers became the first when they defeated Donegal’s Cockhill Celtic in the 2024 final. “Last year Enniskillen won it and that was the first time ever a team from the north had won it which shows how tough it is,” added O’Neill. “Due to the structuring of football in the south, there’s no real intermediate level, it goes from senior straight to junior really which means there are some very good junior clubs in the south. Their best junior sides would probably be senior or Intermediate up here. “But, no, it was a great experience and the players can hold their heads high. It was a great occasion for the whole of Ardmore. All the families were there, all the kids too, it was just fantastic. “It’s a funny thing to say but it was very enjoyable even though the result didn’t go our way. “I was chatting to the FAI Vice-President and explaining to him that Ardmore was just a small village outside Derry with a population of a couple of hundred and he couldn’t believe that we were playing in an All Ireland final.” O’Neill’s has faced a battle to keep his cup winning squad together since that historic Windsor Park victory back in April. The close season did see the departure of Ryan Cleere whose decisive penalty secured the trophy in Belfast but O’Neill has added former Institute striker Jake Morrow who has already hit the ground running. “We lost two or three players over the summer but there was always going to be interest in a few of the lads after they were on show last season. We had to fight to keep a few of them as well, players people were really interested in. “We’ve signed Jake (Morrow) too and he’s a great player. I played with Jake’s father, Paul who played with Ardmore in the past so there’s a connection there. “But losing players is part of it at this level. Teams from higher up are always watching our best players and there was plenty of interest in players like Jack (Coyle) and a few others like Kristian (O’Hagan) but thankfully they decided to stay. There was a lot of interest in a lot of the players after the season we had last season.” Ardmore will have to put their Presidents’ Cup disappointment behind them quickly however with this weekend seeing their defence of the fonaCAB Craig Stanfield Irish Junior Cup begin with a trip to the seaside to face Bangor side, Castle Juniors. Ardmore have won their opening two games in the league, defeating Strabane and Ballymac Celtic but O’Neill admits this weekend will be something of an trip into the unknown for the Derry men. “They won their league last season but we don’t know a lot about them. There are that many amateur leagues and different levels, it is hard to know the standard but what we do know is they won their league last season so we won’t be taking them lightly. “I’ve been trying to get it into our players’ mentality that no matter who we play this season, they will be playing the Irish Junior champions and will raise their game to play us. “There is a big target on our back and we will have to knuckle down and approach the games in the right way because every match this year will be like a final as everybody will be out to beat the champions. That’s just the nature of sport “I did think at the start of the year that the desire, the motivation might dip a bit because it would be natural, the players did the unthinkable last season but they’ve been really tuned in and focused. “The mentality is the same and I think the work rate and the effort will be the same. Over our first couple of league games, the performances have been brilliant. I’ve been very happy with the performances levels. “Even Saturday, although we lost the game it was massively positive in terms of performance against a really top team. If we play like that all year, I’ll be very happy because the results will look after themselves.