Newington ace Gary Warwick admits it was the best day of his career as he hoisted the Steel Cup high into the air in front of friends, family, fiancée Adele and his wee son Parker.
The silky winger, so influential in the Ton’s brilliant start to the season, had to settle for a supporting role in the final, however, after 20-year-old rookie Aodhan Gillen, promoted from the youth ranks over the summer, grabbed the only goal of the game at a windswept Seaview as Paul Hamilton’s men dominated a young and inexperienced Linfield Swifts.
The Christmas showpiece was to be the swan song of Wee Blues chief Davy Dorrian, who announced he was stepping down as manager immediately after the game, although his mind had already been made up weeks in advance.
It was the third meeting in the last four finals of the two sides, with Newington winning the last instalment of the trilogy having lost last time out to the Swifts back in the Christmas of 2019.
And for Warwick, these moments are particularly poignant after his brush with death some five years ago when he was
attacked and left for dead in Belfast city centre. He was told back then that his head injuries were so severe, he might never be able to play again.
But you can’t keep a good man down and to be able not just to lace up the boots again, but to savour days like these, means the world to the 31-year-old.
“This would be the highlight,” said Warwick, known as Gazza.
“This and whenever I won the Championship with Ards, but that was whenever I had my head injury, so this is one I really got to enjoy and be a part of.
“So this is probably the biggest one, yeah.
“This one feels sweeter, especially with having a young family and the child there, this is something I can look back on in years to come.
“I felt we were deserved winners, we ran all over them the second half.
“Now, this is the start of it and we need to kick on. We’re sitting in a healthy position in the league, it’s tight, we just need to keep consistent, keep doing what we’re doing and hopefully come the end of the season, we can win the league as well.”
