BEAMISH Cup winners Drinagh Rangers celebrated their treble-winning success with supporters and family members long after the final whistle had shrilled in Munster FA’s Turner’s Cross last Sunday.

JJ Collins is one of Drinagh’s longest serving players. Winning a fifth Beamish Cup medal was a special moment for the veteran defender.

‘This is massive,’ Collins told The Southern Star. 

‘Ardfield are a very good team. They are very good from set pieces as well. That’s what we tried to do, limit their set pieces.

‘We got lucky on the first goal. There was a good build up and a good cross into the box before it went in. Robbie McQueen’s free kick was excellent. There was no goalkeeper saving that.

‘That gave us a cushion for the second half. We created more chances but didn’t take them. They got one chance late on and took it. There were five or six minutes where we were hanging on. Another day we could have ended up drawing but that’s the way it goes.’

After a lifetime dedicated to his local club, JJ Collins and fellow veteran Barry O’Driscoll were delighted to bask in the glow of another cup success.

‘Myself and Barry are very lucky. I come down a couple of nights a week from Cork for training. Everything is set up for us. Rob (O’Regan) and Rob Oldham are excellent with us. Our facilities are the best in Cork,’ the Drinagh defender added.

‘When Ardfield beat us in last year’s Beamish Cup semi-final in Skibbereen, a lot of us thought we were completely finished. That’s the truth. Then Rob put a team together during the summer, we got a few new additions, new young fellas, and that gave us back our hunger.’

Man of the Match Steven Crowley played a starring role in Rangers’ back four. Two-nil up, a 90th minute Ardfield goal meant Crowley and his team-mates experienced a nervy finale.

Drinagh Rangers' Barry O'Driscoll (H) is challenged by Ardfield's Caolan Hayes. (Photo: Paddy Feen)

‘Today’s win was massive,’ Crowley admitted. 

‘We are reaping the rewards of years gone by when we weren’t winning trophies like we used to. We started from a low ebb at the start of the season.

‘It was Robert O’Regan who rallied us. The amount of training that he put in and that we put in. We worked unbelievably hard and definitely deserve this moment.

‘Ardfield piled the pressure on us there near the end but we kind of expected that anyway. They are a great side and there is nothing bad you can say about them, a super team. We were always going to be under pressure. It was disappointing to concede a goal so late. We really rallied there towards the end though and got the result.’

Leading by example, Drinagh Rangers captain Robbie McQueen made his presence felt on the big occasion.

A goal up, McQueen curled in a superb free kick to double his side’s lead and, despite conceding late on, help ensure his side ran out deserving Beamish Cup winners.

‘We knew at half-time, even though we were 2-0 up, that Ardfield weren’t going to die,’ McQueen commented.

‘They are a very good team, very fit. We knew they’d come out with everything they had and they did. To be fair, even when we went 2-0 up they didn’t die off at all. They got that goal late on. The lads just kind of stuck to the game plan and we held on after that.’

Rangers didn’t get off to the best start with Ardfield dominating possession and territory. Yet Robbie McQueen and his team-mates used the experience of winning this season’s Premier Division and Parkway Hotel-Maybury Coaches Cup trophies to hold off their opponents’ late rally.

‘Playing on such a great surface here at Turner’s Cross helped us big time,’ the Drinagh captain added.

‘We want to play good football, or at least we always try anyway. Things just kind of went our way after a slow start in the first half.

‘We didn’t create many chances but we took two of them and that was the difference. You have to be clinical in cup finals and we were today. We have been for most of the season.’