Eamonn O’Hara knows what it takes to win a Sligo Senior Football Championship title. In his playing days O’Hara  was part of eight successful Tourlestrane teams, but Sunday’s success as a joint manager alongside former inter-county colleague Gerry McGowan was ‘special’ too.

“Winning one for your club is special no matter where you are standing,” O’Hara admits. “Even if you are in the stand it is still special. For the club to be successful, that is what we all strive for.

“Our club this year has been going very, very well. We've won a lot of underage stuff which is just rewards for all of the hard work. It is a timeline, we are lucky to have it, who is to say what will happen next year or in the years to come.”

Tourlestrane delivered a gutsy display to dethrone St. Mary’s, who had started well netting an early goal courtesy of Kyle Cawley.

O’Hara, though, wasn’t anywhere near hitting the panic button.  “Credit to Mary's, we knew they had it in them, we said if we could keep them to 2-5, that is what our plan was to try to keep them to that level,” O’Hara remarked.

“We felt we could score a little bit more than that, we made it hard for them. They didn't probably take advantage of the wind in the first half, we kept snuffing them out. It was a great goal, we didn't expect anything less, but our lads weren't rattled by it.

“We chipped off two or three points straight after that, it was just the way the lads responded, I was very pleased with.

“We got in at half-time, lads just felt they were doing well. There were a few things that we needed to tweak, we knew they would probably put in two big men on the edge of the square. We just dropped Adrian (McIntyre) into the pocket and it worked.”

Having been involved with underage Sligo teams and Mayo side Ballaghdereen, O’Hara was thrilled to guide his own club to glory.

“It is hard to put into words when you are managing your club,” O’Hara commented. “I was managing Ballaghdereen last year and there is a different feeling about it when it is your home team.

“We won County Finals with Tourlestrane down through the years, but you've a different perspective when you are on the field, you can take a bit of control of what is actually happening. When you are a manager you feel you are so far away even if you are kicking every ball. Gerry and myself all year we were trying to tell ourselves to step out of the way, to be a little bit more calm.

“A County Final takes a life of its own, you get caught up in small and different things, but at the same time to be winning and in control of the game, it was a very good feeling.” Now Tourlestrane will be hoping to make an impact in the Connacht Senior Football Championship away to whoever prevails in Mayo on October 30.