By Shaun Casey

GAINING promotion to Division Two was the target at the start of the season and Clann na Banna manager Paddy Feeney is delighted his side completed that goal with a win over Newry Shamrocks in the final round.

Next season, Clann na Banna will play Division Two football for the first time since 2018, but with promotion now secured, it’s all about the championship and Feeney’s men will turn their sights on that pretty quickly.

They reached the Intermediate Championship decider last season but just came up short against Drumgath. “We missed out on promotion by a point last year and then obviously lost the championship final,” Feeney recalled.

“We sat down at the start of the year and promotion was very much our goal. It wasn’t easy, it was hard work trying to get everyone out just with injuries and that and players being away and not available.

“To be fair to the lads that came in, they did a job and I’m glad it’s over and that they’ve got their rewards because Division Two is where they need to be playing their football and it’s a stepping stone. They’re good enough and it’s been a few years in the making.”

Division Three was fiercely competitive. Annaclone captured the league crown, finishing two-points ahead of Clann na Banna. Feeney’s men were two-points clear of Liatroim, with Darragh Cross just two-points shy of them.

“It was tight the whole way through. We had a four-point gap going into the last two games and then we dropped points against Darragh Cross and if we’d won that, then that would have been promotion secured.

“Liatroim beat Annaclone by 15-points, meaning if Shamrocks beat us in the last game of the season, we could have potentially missed out, so we knew we had to concentrate on ourselves and get a performance.”

It’s all about championship now and Clann na Banna open their account against Saval next Thursday evening, who clung onto their Division Two status in the final round of the league.

“After the game on Friday night, we celebrated but we were back to training on Monday night,” Feeney added. “To replicate what we did last year, we’re under no illusions, it’s going to be very hard to get to the championship final again.

“Especially going up against a Saval team that probably fancy themselves to do well in the championship, it’s going to be extremely tough and that’s our focus now.”