Ronan Kennedy was an emotional figure after he helped Mohill defeat St Mary's Kiltoghert in Sunday's Leitrim GAA Senior Football Championship final.
Kennedy, two decades into his senior club career, kicked 1-3 in a Man of the Match display as Mohill won 2-10 to 0-14, gaining revenge for defeat to the same side in last year's final.
#GAABEO 60+4 nóim@MohillGAA 2-09@MarysKiltoghert 0-14
Scór dochreidthe ó Ronan Kennedy anseo chun Maothail a chuir chun tosaigh in am breise!
Ronan Kennedy sends over an important point to give his side the lead late on!@LeitrimGAA
BEO/LIVE ar @TG4TV pic.twitter.com/pS1Y9fewlm
— Spórt TG4 (@SportTG4) October 8, 2023
"I didn't know that was the final score, to be honest!" Kennedy said in a memorable interview with Shannonside FM's Darren Mulvey.
"It was a topsy-turvy game. It was all over the place. Carrick are a good methodical team and we tried to be methodical ourselves. The second half, we just lost all control there. It was intense stuff and it could have went any way. Just to get over the line is incredible.
"That's my 20th year in a row playing senior championship. I had a couple of summers in America but I still managed to play championship every year. It's the fairytale ending. I could have written it any better.
"I'll sit down now and try and get a breather. I'm going to drop this [trophy] off at the graveyard at me mother's grave and leave it there with her. I know she'd be proud today. It means an awful lot to the family and my father there and my sister and brothers, nieces and nephews. It means so much to everybody involved."
8 October 2023; Man of the Match Ronan Kennedy of Mohill celebrates with his niece Cáit, his brother Ciarán and his niece Siún, right, after victory in the Leitrim GAA Senior Club Football Championship final match between Mohill and St Mary's Kiltoghert at Avant Money Páirc Seán Mac Diarmada in Carrick-on-Shannon, Leitrim. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
Sunday's win sealed Mohill's ninth ever Leitrim senior county football title. Kennedy, who has won five, kicked the winning points in the 2006 and 2015 finals.
"I'm done!" he joked when asked about talk of retirement.
"I'm not even going to play in Connacht! I'm putting on the slippers and going to the couch for the winter.
"It's an incredible feeling. We know the pain. That five wins but I've lost four finals as well. It takes an awful lot to keep coming to the well. It's not easy to keep coming back. Those lads keep coming back.
8 October 2023; Harry Boyle of Mohill, 26, celebrates with team-mates and supporters after victory in in the Leitrim GAA Senior Club Football Championship final match between Mohill and St Mary's Kiltoghert at Avant Money Páirc Seán Mac Diarmada in Carrick-on-Shannon, Leitrim. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
"We were written off a few times this year A couple of teams came up. Na Fianna won the league and it was 'Mohill are gone. Carrick are the coming team'. They may well do in the next couple of years, fair enough, but I think we've earned a bit of respect.
"That's eight finals, four wins in the last seven or eight years. A lot of those lads have four championships and six leagues and a couple of more finals lost as well. They deserve a serious amount of respect for coming back to the well every year."
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