Boss dedicates win to late mother

The Waterside out-fit defeated Oakleaf Celtic 2-0 in Saturday’s final and an emotional Martin paid tribute to his mother, who when he reformed the club in 2006 gave him £100 to help him on his way.

“My mother was always supportive of me and I know she was looking down on us on Saturday and I dedicate this win to her,” stated Martin.

“The first person I went to after the final whistle was my daughter Stef, she goes to all the matches and she’s just great. She even gets onto me whenever I’m not doing things right, like maybe not encouraging the players and stuff like that.”

The former Drumahoe player also knew how much winning the cup meant to the club.

“As everyone knows finals are only about winning and I’m delighted for everyone contacted with the club.

“It was a big day for Drumahoe and there was a lot of former players who despite the weather came out to watch the game, boys who played for the club 20 years ago.

Martin was also over the moon that his side managed to pick up a piece of silverware, despite their tough season, which particularly in the Premiership meant they were relegated.

“I have been there on both sides of the coin in terms of winning and losing cup finals, but to me winning any cup is more about relief than joy and excitement, I probably take it too seriously some times, but I’m delighted for all my players and it was good that I managed to get everybody on.

“Even our captain Ryan Devine who’s on one leg, but he was adamant that he was going to play some part despite his hamstring injury.”

Like every manager at the this time of the year, Martin is already planning ahead for next year and hopes their O’Bryan Cup glory is just the start of things.

“Hopefully winning the cup will mean I can attract a couple of players, all the boys this season have put in a tremendous effort and despite our league form not being good the boys heads didn’t drop and they kept going, which hopefully next season will benefit them.

“I just thought we looked solid at the back all day and we never looked like conceding, we limited them to long range shots and in the end I thought we deserved to win it.”