Today, I got up at about 10:30, ate sausages and toast, and drank tea.

Then I went to mass with Cáit and Leo. Fr McGirr made reference to our match last week. After mass I skipped off home, gathered the rest and we went to the beach for a puck around.

Had there a good wee yarn with Mairtin McKinney, erstwhile colleague at the University, all round good guy. He regularly runs the beach despite a longstanding dodgy knee. Maith thú a Mhairtin.

After pucking the beach we headed to Watertop Farm. It was shut so we went to Cushendun. Angela and myself were there once years ago and we fed Johann the tethered goat Digestive biscuits. Johann became famous for being slaughtered in the industry induced panic over foot and mouth in 2001.

What threat a single goat in the middle of Cushendun posed to the meat trade baffled me then and still does. He lives on in the form of a lovely bronze statue at the front of the old pictuersque Cushendun Hotel (is it shut or open?).

It’s amazing what you can do in Cushendun for an hour and half or so. Two swans elegantly glided hither and thither across the small harbour. The children were asking me if the sea beyond there is the Sea of Moyle, recalling the Children of Lír. I could see how the location could prompt such a story. I wasn’t sure.

On the way home we stopped in Ballycastle for a while and had ice cream. There in the Park is a sweeping sculpture representing the Children of Lír Flying over the Sea of Moyle. Poetic, lyrical. Further talk from the children of the beautiful poignant story. It is a lovely setting.

After that we drove home and had slow cooked pork for dinner. A tired Gráinne called to watch the match highlights.

A wholly mundane day, doing little of substance.

And it was magic.

To myself, Saturday 3 March. The night before. When the self doubt starts.

It eats me up I can feel the gnawing in my stomach making me want to puke. Fight or flight I suppose, having started down this road, riding this roller coaster you can’t get off. I feel strapped in. I wouldn’t rather be at home but I would.

If you never try you’ll never know and in truth, you need to know. It really comes back to those nights and days in places like Lavey when we realized, yes, we can. We can. Hand it over to the players. It’s in their hands now.

No doubt about it Ardrahan are the best team we’ve played – they asked more questions of our players than anyone else has and full credit to them for that.

To come from behind and win against quality opposition makes this all the sweeter. I’d say the neutrals and maybe a few of our own supporters thought we were dead and buried at half time.

But we didn’t – the players themselves knew they could do better and it was a matter of reminding them at half time that the qualities that won one All Ireland were still available to them to win another.They hadn’t turned into bad players over 30 minutes and they needed to be reminded of that.

It was a matter of belief and a bit of self confidence and a few wee adjustments. The impetus came from the girls themselves, they are serious competitors. They weren’t giving this up without a fight.

The way they set about reeling in the deficit was a real joy to watch. Then when we were ahead, to defend two penalties. You couldn’t script that! Gráinne saved a couple in Kilmacud Sevens 7s a few years ago so I knew it wasn’t cut and dried that they would score.

All the team were magnificent, Gráinne deserved player of the match, Méabh, Jane Carey and Kelly Maybin too were brilliant. I would single out also Megan’s two points which were awesome scores just when they were needed.

It’s a good day for Ulster anytime you win in Croke Park. These girls deserve all the credit. Ulster Camogie is alive and well – and we’re happy to fly the flag for that no matter what anyone says. Back to back titles in Croke Park. You can’t argue with that no matter who you are.

Last year in Croke Park I watched Méabh lift the Agnes O’Farrelly Cup from the entrance to the Hogan Stand tunnel. It was an image I had formed in my mind’s eye time and again ahead of the match. That and the imagining of her speaking the immortal lines spoken by so many All Ireland winning captains before her. ‘Ta athas an domhain an corn seo a glacadh. . .’.

Seared into my mind since then as part of the vista of celebrations was the image also of my mother in law Patsy Casey to the left. As Méabh’s granny and godmother the winning had a particular resonance for her – she was an immensely proud grandmother and loved the fact her grandsons represented Derry with distinction in football and her granddaughters Gráinne and Méabh played for the county camogie team.

The night before last year’s final she had attended the McKenna Cup Final in Armagh en route to Dublin. Indeed, one of her proudest photographs was a picture taken after Eoghan Rua won their first Derry senior Football Championship in 2010. In the picture with Patsy and the John McLaughlin Cup are Barry, Sean Leo, Ciaran, Colm, Niall and Hugh, six grandsons who were part of the winning panel.

Angela and myself and the children stayed with Patsy over Halloween weekend last year. It was like all the visits to Patsy’s house, convivial, plenty of chat and some wine to ease the conversation along. During the weekend we watched on DVD part of the Ulster Camogie Final we had just won. Patsy enjoyed watching the girls, delighting in their skill, speed and sheer beauty.

Just over a week later, she had passed away, after having endured a battle that weakened her body but never her indomitable spirit.

And so it was that we returned to Croke Park yesterday, again triumphing against what seemed after 30 minutes to be unsurmountable odds. At the finale as Méabh and Gráinne lifted the Cup, my eye glanced across to where the familiar loved figure had stood to one side last year.

Benevolent, beaming with satisfaction and pride. There was no-one where Patsy had stood, but in her absence I felt a tangible huge presence, soaring overhead and sweeping and swirling through my emotions. It made the occasion utterly poignant, but I know that even more than last time, she was with us, smiling on as she watched not one granddaughter, but two lift the Agnes O’Farrelly Cup.

Ádh Mór Patsy, agus go raibh mile mile maith agat.