Lisnaskea captain Joe McDade lifted another championship title on Saturday evening, a year on from scoring a hat-trick in the Junior final win over Aghadrumsee.

The Emmetts have taken a huge leap in the last 12 months and will find themselves competing with the county’s best in the Senior Championship. A competition which many of their club members will feel they belong.

“The full-time whistle was one of relief if nothing else,” McDade said after victory over Irvinestown.

“We had got ourselves into a serious position with the lead and knew that Irvinestown’s purple patch was coming, it was just about holding on towards the end.”

Two first-half goals built a platform for Lisnaskea to build on with McDade acknowledging Irvinestown were always going to have a spell in the game.

“Halftime team talk was just much the same,” McDade added.

“We found ourselves struggling to get out of the blocks against Tempo in the semi-final, so, it was about trying to start well.

"We knew Irvinestown would target that first ten minutes of the second half so it was about making sure we matched them.”

Lisnaskea withstood a late and inevitable Irvinestown fightback in the closing stages as late points from Gary Maguire, Jarlath Maguire, Barry Goodwin and Mattie McDermott brought the lead down to three points.

“The last ten minutes honestly felt like a game in itself, I thought we defended well and hung on with some massive efforts to stop goals,” continued McDade.

“Seeing a few of the lads make crucial blocks probably did give me that confidence that we could hang on.”

When asked if he believed winning the Intermediate was a possibility 12 months ago, he responded: “I think everyone in the squad knew it would be possible, I’m not sure if anyone expected it but there was a confidence that we had progressed from the last time we were an intermediate team.”

The Emmetts will find themselves in the mix with the likes of Derrygonnelly, Enniskillen Gaels and Erne Gaels next year.

“I’m not sure things could be much better. You obviously don’t win championships every year so the aim in the near future is to maintain senior which is easier said than done.

"You obviously are building towards a good league campaign in the next year or two, it would be good to get back to the top grade in both league and championship.”