Fermanagh Ladies manager, CJ McGourty, was a peripheral figure as his side celebrated their ulster Junior Championship triumph on the Augher pitch last Saturday afternoon.

The Antrim star was happy to take it all in with his family as his players and management team mingled, hugged and laughed following their 6-14 to 0-10 win over Derry.

And when asked to put into words the victory, McGrouty was quick to praise his players and management team.

Speaking about his players he said: "I thought the girls were excellent. All credit to them.

"I keep saying to them five per cent is down to probably us [the management] and the committee, and 95 per cent is down to them.

"I thought they were excellent when they stepped over the line today."

McGourty knew in the lead-up to the game that his side were in a good place. 

"I said to girls all week there is no guarantee we come here today and win it. You have to earn it.

"Their attitude was spot on all week. There was no complacency. We know Derry and what they can do.

"They probably showed a wee bit of what they can do in the second half.

"But in fairness their attitude coming in today everything was spot on and that's probably why we got that good first half."

And as well as the players, McGourty had special mention to the people around him. 

"The girls are in some nick they have to take a lot of credit but so has Kane [Connor].

"He's done an outstanding job. Conor [McGovern] with video work, Sean [McCartney]with the logistics. It's all part of a team. As manager, I have to look after it but see them boys around me I couldn’t have asked for better.

"I've touched lucky. The girls buy into what Kane or Conor ask them to do. That’s why we have got the result."

That result was built on a huge hunger and desire to put Derry under pressure at every opportunity.

Fermanagh pushed high and forced several turnovers in Derry's defence, some of which yielded goals.

On the high press, McGourty explained: "We probably took a bit of chance. We said we will press them high up the field. I just thought we trust our defenders big time.

"If we didn’t have great defenders like that we wouldn’t be able to press high."

The win is all part of the journey for McGourty and his squad in his first year in charge.

And he feels they are in a better place than they were following their dramatic league semi-final loss to Carlow.

"I said it would take time. We are six weeks further down the road.

"There are still improvements but I definitely think we are further down the road."

And for McGourty the performance showed him just that: "We came here to win the match. We probably knew we were slight favourites but I don’t think we expected that performance from them. I thought it was outstanding."