It was the day the one and only Ultán Kelm walked tall when it really mattered.

He has been Belleek’s most outstanding player for the past half a dozen years and his raw power and pace, and skill have tested many county defences.

Kelm has a most unusual way of soloing the ball as he does not wait for it to drop on the boot- instead, he makes the solo and takes off when the ball is in the air the exact same way that his gifted uncle Liam Kelm did and he had savage pace and skill as well.

Ultán hit 0-05 and his two brothers Oisin and Aogan landed a point each in a memorable victory for Erne Gaels.

When asked what this win meant to him, he said: “It is just so hard to put into words.

“The last three weeks have been hard to get your head around. 

“That is just phenomenal there and I am just lost for words”

Kelm added: “I have been dreaming about something like this since I was a cub and when the final whistle went it was just pure euphoria, honest to God.”

On the terrible start where Brian Mullin went off injured, Shane Rooney is black-carded and the Gaels go five points behind, he said: “I am just so proud of all of these boys and we were relegated in 2020 and we won the Intermediate title in 2021 and the league in 2022 and we have been in the last three finals on the trot.

“That just shows our resilience and courage, and I don’t think our character can be questioned after we came back to win this one after losing the last two on the trot.

“We have had bad starts in county finals before and we knew that could happen so we said to ourselves, down tools and focus on the next ball and we had leaders to step up all over the field when we needed them.

“We all stepped up when we were needed.”

Erne Gaels simply refused to panic in the face of adversity all season.

“Since Declan Bonner came in at the start, he has always been stressing the next ball is most important and not dwell on things that we have no control over.

“Everything else is irrelevant and we have been trained to focus on the next ball.

“That has come through in our play and you saw that out there tonight.”

“But this win means just absolutely everything.”