Cavan players celebrate with the cup.

'Ecstatic, no words can describe it. It’s unreal.'

Paul Fitzpatrick

“Ecstatic, no words can describe it. It’s unreal.”

That was the reaction of Cavan U14 ladies captain Christine Charters after her side toppled the mighty Dublin to win Cavan’s second-ever All-Ireland U14 ladies A crown.

“Mick said before the game that winners never quit and quitters never win so I suppose that was running through all our minds there towards the end when they went up and got the two goals. Definitely, we kept at it and we never gave up,” said the centre half-back.

“We’re not the fastest back-line but, oh God, there are some tacklers there! Ava McCaul turned in an unreal performance. I’m so proud of all the girls for putting in the effort they did.

“We came together back in October, there were trials then and they narrowed it down two months after that. We have been together since that.”

Cavan ladies manager Mick Flynn, meanwhile, was calmness personified. Yesterday’s win was just the latest in a long string of success for Flynn, including the U16 All-Ireland Colleges title with Loreto College just a couple of months ago.

“We just keep trying to do our best , it’s as simple as that, and if it’s good enough, it’s good enough and if it’s not, it’s not. I don’t think enough people realise that, not enough people actually do their best,” he said.

“You saw it today when Dublin came back, Dublin came back and drew level and what did we do? That’s character.”

See this week’s print issue for full report and reaction.