'These Fanad United players are the backbone of our community' - Arthur Lynch

Fanad United manager Arthur Lynch pointed to the players as the main reason for the club's success with their team winning back-to-back Premier Division league titles on Sunday following their 3-0 win over Swilly Rovers. 

Playing in Traigh-a-Loch, the home side only needed one point to put their stamp on the league for another season, but with two more games to play within a week, it was crucial for Lynch’s team to secure their deserved glory as quickly as possible. 

And with three first-half goals from Eoin Logue, before Edward O’Reilly finished the game off with a brace, by the 45th minute everybody was convinced that the Brian McCormack league would be staying in Fanad for another season, which is something Fanad boss Lynch couldn’t disagree with. 

“I think the boys showed what they were made of against Swilly, they had the game pretty much wrapped up at half time, I think we were very disciplined, and they gave their all, in conditions that weren’t really favourable to either side, but that’s irrelevant now, today was all about given a good performance, getting a win and retaining the league title,” Lynch said. 

But when it came to analysing the reasons for Fanad’s recent success, Lynch wasn’t looking any further than to the players on the field celebrating. 

“It’s important to say that these players have been exceptional all year, like they really gave their all from start to finish and I think our stats show that. We won the most games, conceded the least number of goals, and had the fewest draws or defeats. 

“I think a lot of these players can often get overlooked for certain teams, and that’s fine, that’s someone else's opinion, but as far as I’m concerned, I’m delighted these lads play for this club, and if there’s one team that they are good enough to play for, that’s us. 

“We’re privileged to have these lads playing for us, they’re the easiest group to get on with, they worked tooth and nail all year, and they’re a credit to our community.” 

Lynch further highlights the community spirit and togetherness that the players have brought to the area, referring to the Fanad squad as the ‘backbone of the community’. 

“I listened to the Late Late Show on Friday night, and they spoke about the great community in the GAA, which is amazing to be fair, but this here is every bit as good, these boys are a solid group, and they are the backbone to our community,” the Fanad boss said. 

“As I said, people are entitled to their opinion about who they think is a good player, but in my opinion, I think people know what my opinion is on this team. We finished top of the league with two games to go, and we won the league back-to-back, so you can’t argue with that, and it was the players who made all that happen. 

“We won’t forget days like this. We had dark days as a club in the past, like all clubs will in their history, but it’s about how you bounce back as a club, and we did that over the last number of years.”