Cuala's AIB All-Ireland SFC football triumph has been described as "surreal" by their captain James Power.
The Dalkey outfit burst into an early lead against Errigal Ciarán in yesterday's final but the Tyrone men made a battle out of it in the second half, closing the gap - which had reached 14 points at one stage - down to three.
With only a few minutes go, Ruairí Canavan had a chance to cut the gap to two points, but he pushed his effort wide and from there, the Dublin champions were able to see out the game.
The victory made them only the second club to have won both senior titles, following on from St Finbarr's of Cork, who added club football triumphs in 1980, 1981 and 1987 to the hurling titles they had won in 1975 and 1978.
The victory was all the more impressive given the fact that Cuala had been playing in the Senior 2 championship in the capital at the start of this decade.
"It's completely surreal," Power told RTÉ Sport after the game.
"Cuala football has been a million miles away from the stage for so many years. We have had a real struggle for the last 15 years, going from intermediate to senior, then back to senior 2 and struggling to come out of it.
"Then Covid came along and there was no promotion. We have taken some amount of hidings over the years.
"It happened fairly quickly this year, but to be here in Croke Park as All-Ireland champions, I can’t really describe it. It’s amazing."
It was the hurlers in Dalkey who really put the club on the map winning back-to-back All-Ireland titles in the last decade.
And while Power took joy from those victories for the club's small ballers, he says he never thought it could happen to him.
"We saw the hurlers do it," Power added. "Had you said to me at that stage the footballers could do it in my career, I would have said very little hope."
"It’s a testament to all the amazing work. It’s a very proud day to be a Cuala club man."
For Peter Duffy, who put in a commanding performance at midfield, the victory was a moment in his career to savour.
"We said after the Dublin final that doing it with all your mates that you've played with since you were six or seven, training with them the whole way up, it's so, so special.
"I can't believe it. There's four 2002 lads - that was my age group - that were on the starting team. It means so much to us.
"Hopefully it inspires younger kids to stay with it and there's a trophy at the end of their road too."
There was one major outside influence on the team, with manager Austin O'Malley, a Mayo native, who had previously been involved at inter-county level as a player with the Green and Red, as well as Wicklow.
And Duffy was clear that Louisburgh native O'Malley left no stone unturned in the squad's pursuit of the ultimate prize.
"He's been great, he put in so much work. He's an hour early to every training session. He has the TV there so we can watch the opposition from other games.
"He deserves everything he gets and hopefully he goes on and we do it again next year!"
Watch Galway v Armagh in the Allianz Football League on Saturday from 4.45pm from 7.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app. Listen to Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
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