‘Mission accomplished’ for Glenswilly’s Caoimhin Marley 

Glenswilly midfielder Caoimhin Marley said his side was happy to be going back up to Division 1 as champions having clinched promotion a couple of weeks ago. 

“Promotion was the main goal at the start of the year,” said Marley, who also picked up ‘man of the match’ in his side’s 1-14 to 0-9 Division 2 league final win over Naomh Columba. 

“But even at that, with so many boys who were up from last year’s minors, we were not so sure. It was more than blending them.

“Thankfully we have managed to do that. The young lads have really stepped up and we have gained promotion and won the league today”.

The win was their twelfth of the campaign with Glenswilly only suffering one loss, to Buncrana a fortnight ago, in Pairc Naomh Columba. 

“It has been a great experience for the young fellas and even for myself. It is hard to beat winning games for getting confidence going and it is nice now to have a bit of form heading into the championship.”

Marley said Glenswilly were not happy at all with their first half performance that saw them go in at the break level with Naomh Columba, at 0-5 each. 

And he told how their manager Padraig Bonner laid it on the line to his players at half-time. 

“Padraig was not a happy man at half-time and no one in the dressing room was happy to be honest. Naomh Columba were the better team in the first half. We gave the ball away more times. 

“They seemed to be more up for the game. Fair play, they really put it up to us in the first half. 

“But we got the bit between our teeth at the start of the second half. We knew we were going to have to show more that we did in the first half.

“Thankfully everybody put the shoulder to the wheel and we scored 1-5 or 1-6 on the bounce and gave ourselves a bit of breathing space.  

“In fairness, Naomh Columba came back at us.The had a couple of goal chances and the missed the penalty as well. So we’re just glad to get our hand raised”.