By Michael McMullan

THE Sunday training session before their semi-final win over Sleacht Néill set the tone for Newbridge’s latest Derry championship success.

That’s how joint-manager Gary Hetherington saw the ramping up of their preparations and how the players kept asking for more in training.

The reigning champions were beaten in the first round of the championship by Dungiven before bouncing back. Wins over Loup, Swatragh and Steelstown shot them into the last four. Then came Sleacht Néill, and the appeal drama that accompanied it, before edging a high-quality final with Magherafelt on Sunday.

“What set the tone for me was the Sunday before we played Sleacht Néill,” said Hetherington, who manages the team with Kevin Brady.

“We played a 45-minute game, among ourselves, 15 v 15. Since I arrived it was the best I’ve seen. It was immense. It was just the intensity and the quality; they just keep turning up.”

It carried into last week. Thursday sessions tend to last an hour. Days before their showdown with Magherafelt, their in-house game at training stretched the session another 20 minutes.

“We blew it up and they were crying, looking for five more minutes,” Hetherington added, pointing to their key ingredient.

“It’s that drive,” he said. “They want to be coached and they want to learn.

“I spoke to a fella before I took the job and he just said they’re the most coachable group you’ll ever come across and he’s not wrong.

“That’s the environment we wanted to create when myself and Kevin came in there.

“It was brilliant before we arrived and we just tweaked a few things and pushed a few men a wee bit harder.

“We asked a few more questions of boys and they just kept coming back looking more.

“The amount of times that we have blown training sessions up and it’s a crying match. They want more.

“That’s incredible, they really are an incredible group. There are incredible people that run that club, I can’t speak highly enough of them.”

Sunday’s win saw Newbridge keep their hands on the John McLaughlin Cup in the club’s 100th year. It was a 12th title in all, one behind Ballinderry in the roll of honour. For Hetherington, 2024 was brilliant. As for Sunday, it was sweeter again.

“Nobody gave us a chance this year,” he said. “We knew that people were saying we won it too early (in 2024), that it was a fluke and we shouldn’t have beat Glen.

“We heard all that from outside the club, that’s why it’s a wee bit sweeter this year.”

“We knew what was coming,” he said of Magherafelt’s challenge.

“We had really prepared for what was coming and we nullified it really well.

“As much as people are talking about our attack, I was immensely proud of the way we defended.”