Enniskillen Rangers manager Michael Kerr has described his team’s victory in the all-Ireland Presidents’ Cup final as a “phenomenal” achievement.

Rangers became the first-ever team from Northern Ireland to win the trophy, with goals from Jake Browne and Joel Byrne seeing off the challenge of Cockhill Celtic at Ferney Park. 

“It is an unbelievable feeling and everyone at the club is really delighted,” said Kerr. 

“For myself, the players and the club to be able to say that we are all-Ireland champions is phenomenal.  

"Everybody is absolutely buzzing and so delighted to actually win it.  There were over 600 teams in it at the start and we are top of the pile.

"It’s really good for us, and really good for the Fermanagh and Western league as a whole. For us to be the first club from the North to win it is something we can be very proud of.” 

The Presidents’ Cup pitches together the winners of the IFA Junior Cup and the winners of the corresponding FAI Junior competition, and prior to Saturday it had always been the FAI side that had brought home the trophy.

Rangers themselves had two attempts at winning the title in the past, losing 2-1 to Wexford side North End United in 2018 and going down 3-0 to St Michaels’ from Tipperary in 2019.  

This year it was the FAI team that once again looked favourites for the cup, and Kerr knew his side would have to be at their best. 

“They have won every single game of football in the last year in their league and won their Junior Cup after coming back down from Intermediate football, so it was a massive task for us,” he acknowledged.  

“We went in as underdogs, and then take into consideration that we were without Joel Peden, Conor Rippey, Eoin McManus, Ciaran Smith and Ronan Beatty, and Mark Cutler only came on with a few seconds left.   

"Five out of that six played every game of the Junior Cup bar Conor who missed the final game with his cruciate. That was the nucleus of my team, so we knew it was a huge task ahead of us.

"We knew how well Cockhill had been going and that is why we changed our game plan.” 

Kerr devised a plan to restrict Cockhill’s attacking threat and use his own side’s pace in attack to hit them on the counter, and he was delighted with how his players implemented his instructions.  

“I sent the boys out with a game plan and every one of them to a man stuck to it really, really well,” he said.  

“Our game plan was to let them have the ball and give up possession, and that worked. They never once had an opportunity to break us down and go one one-on-one.

"They never once opened us up, whereas when we attacked we had that bit of a threat.  We were defensive and rigid.

"We set a narrow deep line and tried to hit them on the counter attack because with Jordy (McClure), Stuart Rainey and Joel (Byrne) we know we have a lot of pace and we tried to utilise that.  

"It worked really well.  We defended well and we must have won ninety per cent of the second balls.” 

“We went in as big underdogs but we proved we weren’t just there to make up the numbers. We are a really good side with really good players, and we one hundred per cent deserved to win it.”