By Michael McMullan

NEWBRIDGE defender Paudi McGrogan insists their main motivation is staying at the top for as long as they can.

The reigning champions face Magherafelt in Sunday’s decider, after their gradual rise up the ladder in the Oakleaf County.

They lost two semi-finals in recent seasons, to Glen and Magherafelt, before getting their hands on the John McLaughlin Cup last season.

“We get asked this question all the time,” McGrogan replied when asked about the club’s consistent progress.

“What we want is for Newbridge to compete at the top, whatever that looks like, whatever we have available, the players on the pitch and the players in the group.

“The Thirds won the other night and things are good at the moment but our goal, as a club, is just to compete at the top for as long as we possibly can.”

McGrogan kicked what proved to be the insurance point in their semi-final win over Sleacht Néill – a game that was subject to an unsuccessful appeal by the losing side.

Speaking minutes after the final whistle, McGrogan spoke of the “pure relief” at booking their spot in the season’s biggest game.

He could only watch from outside the white lines last year after injury kept him out of their historic winning team.

“That’s sport in general, you are going to get injured at times,” he said, about missing out last season.

“It’s great for the club to be back here in a final but, for us, as a group, it’s another game of football and Magherafelt are looking like the team of the championship so far.”

McGrogan, who plays alongside some of the key Rossa players for Derry, pointed to the pace they used to swat Glen aside.

“They blitzed Glen and we have a big task on our hands,” he said.

Newbridge have returned to the final after needing an extra game when Dungiven turned them over in the opening round.

After victories against Swatragh and Loup, Newbridge were forced to dig deep to see off Steelstown in the quarter-final.

With their running game kicking into gear, they were in the driving seat for long periods in the semi-final before Sleacht Néill pulled themselves back into contention.

“Shane McGuigan just kept coming at us,” he said.

“I thought Shane (McGrogan) had done really well on him but he kicked a couple of points to the end just to drag them back into the game,” he said of the frantic finale.

Since last year’s win, they’ve been boosted by Derry minor All-Ireland winners Cathair McBride and Eamon Young coming up from underage. Shea McAteer is back in the fold after injury.

“Everybody watching football at under his level past few years has seen what Eamon Young’s capable of,” McGrogan said of the newcomer who has added 0-11 over the last three games.

“It’s good to bleed him into this group and he’s a massive player for us.

“Hopefully we get another big game out of Eamon, but we don’t want to put the pressure on one player. It’s up to the rest of us to pull him into games and he’ll drag us over the line if he needs to.”