Next up for Donaghmoyne is the short trip to Inniskeen for the challenge of Desertmartin in Ulster, with the Derry champions Grattan Park bound on November 7.

In 2021, Liam McDonald won man of the match, as Donaghmoyne claimed Monaghan’s intermediate crown in just his second season of senior football.

On Sunday, he and his side toppled the favourites to win the same crown. Storm Boelo huffed and puffed. Ballybay did too.

When Colm Lennon curled his second superb score, Ballybay were just three down. 25 minutes to play, the wind in their sails in every sense.

But the big moments from that point on belonged to the men in red. Firstly, Matthew Ennis’ brilliant defending to deny Chris McGuinness a goal. Niall Keenan’s fisted score soon followed. The sensible option and a cool head.

When Monaghan’s Dessie Ward was blown for steps, Declan Courtney’s reaction spoke volumes. You sensed at that stage they knew they had seized the day.

A goal chance for Shane McGuinness went awry, and while sub Drew Wylie’s turnover on the intermediate championship’s top scorer Davy Garland kickstarted a revival, Fontenoys held out.

Ronan McDonald set the ball on the tee late on, Keenan demanded it. His hands were like magnets in a sea of maroon.

The gravity of that moment was not lost on the younger McDonald, who made his senior Monaghan debut in 2026:

“I’m happy out. It’s my second one now, so hopefully it’s the last one and we stay in senior. As good as these days are, hopefully it’ll be the last one we have.

“The wind and momentum, it was all going against us. I was actually out this near side, we had numbers, but I saw Ronan lining up the far side, and when I looked up and saw it was Future (Niall Keenan) I was happy enough.

“It probably didn’t matter how many Ballybay men were going up with him, he was the only man coming down with it.”

A free from Monaghan’s Garland had Donaghmoyne 0-9 to 1-2 ahead at the break, and their physical, front foot defending saw Ballybay fail to register a single two-pointer, even with the strong breeze in the second half.

“We were happy. We probably missed a couple of chances, a few short. We took probably a bit of learning from Ballybay, Ballybay had four short and I think we got a two-pointer and two ones from it”, McDonald said of the opening 30.

“Even if, in the second half, we weren’t getting shots off, we had possession. It was killing and eating into the time. Once they did get shots off with the wind, they didn’t have to work too close to goals to get them off. It was just a lot harder to defend.

“I think it was our plan to play against the breeze so I think we lost it (the toss). We lost it against Emyvale (in the semi-final) too and ended up the same way, so happy out.”

Next up for Donaghmoyne is the short trip to Inniskeen for the challenge of Desertmartin in Ulster, with the Derry champions Grattan Park bound on November 7.

Current boss Paddy Martin was also at the helm back in 2016, when his side won the county title and went on to the Ulster IFC final, where Pomeroy defeated them 2-16 to 0-10.

McDonald was full of praise for his manager, as they reset their focus beyond the Oriel County:

“Paddy, I think, doesn’t get half the credit he deserves. He listens to players, he takes whatever advice or what we see on the field, he’ll twist it whatever way he needs to and it’s obviously paid off for us this year, so far.”