Niall Murphy was euphoric after Coolera-Strandhill made a mockery of the bookies' odds to become the first Sligo club since St Mary’s in 1983 to win a Connacht senior football title.

Describing the 5/1 odds as ‘crazy’, the county star told reporters after his side’s dramatic extra-time victory over Padraig Pearses: “So much nonsense was going on. And journalists out there predicting games and never even watched us play.

“We came here today expecting to win and we’re not one bit surprised. Everyone else is probably surprised, but we’re not.”

Murphy was especially pleased with the character the Sligo underdogs shown in recovering from a five-point deficit in the second half.

“In training we replicate things, when you’re two, three, four down,” he explained.

“We spoke about it in the dressing-room, whatever comes at us is fine. We were prepared for all situations, all scenarios. We’ve had everything thrown at us over the last two years, so there was never going to be any panic.”

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