IRVINE Rugby Club coach Liam Burnell says his players are only now coming back down to earth after etching their names into the history books.
The Marress side triumped 35-32 against Blairgowrie to lift the National Bowl at Scottish rugby's 'Silver Saturday' finals day.
A see-saw match saw the North Ayrshire outfit trail 12-0 early on before clawing back the deficit to 15-7 at half-time.
An outstanding second half display saw Irvine race into a 35-18 lead heading into the closing stages, and despite two late converted tries from their Perthshire opponents, Burnell's men held out to secure the prize - the club's first title in only their second appearance on Silver Saturday.
“The team are just coming back down to earth from what we’ve done," he said.
"I think it took a while for it to sink in.
“We’ve been to Murrayfield before and for a few of the boys there was the worry of 'is it this time lucky or will it be a step too far again' – especially with what we’ve come through.
“To be able to cap all that off was the stuff of dreams, really.”
Irvine went into the final at the Hive Stadium, in the shadow of Murrayfield, off the back of a remarkable run of form, having won 15 straight league and cup games.
But wind back the clock to the start of this season, when Irvine made a stuttering start to life in West Division 3 after tumbling down the leagues in the previous two campaigns, and it's not a result many would have seen coming.
But the turnaround in fortunes can be directly linked to Liam's arrival at the club in the early autumn of 2023.
"I was aware of the history of the club and that there had been a bit of a decline," he said.
“Like lots of teams, we had fallen on hard times, and we had successive relegations.
“I came to the club when they were virtually sitting bottom of the league. They'd played three games and lost three games.
“I chatted to the president and we had discussions about what tweaks we could make.
“We’ve got a special band of players there, it was just making them realise that they could play and they were good enough.”
The progress made since then has been nothing short of remarkable, with many players confident of a comeback on Saturday despite their slow start to the final.
Liam continued: “We got to a point a few weeks ago where winning was just such a habit for us. The boys were brimming with confidence. We parked all that negativity of the start of the season behind us.
“Although there were nerves on Saturday, there was plenty of belief from the boys.
“We’ve had some tough games this year, but we’ve learned that even in the really tough times we were good enough.
“Going into Saturday we had recent memories of those games, and it was just a matter of belief from the boys.
“Even though we went behind early on, they never really felt they were in trouble.
“It was just a culmination of a lot of hard work that came together in those 80 minutes.”
The season could get better yet for Irvine, who currently sit atop the West Region Division Three having completed their fixtures for the season.
Promotion into West Two for 2024-25 has already been confirmed, and they still have an outside chance of the title - though they need a favour from Lochaber against Irvine's only remaining championship challengers, Birkmyre.
Victory with a try bonus point would hand the title to Birkmyre, but any other result will mean a double triumph for Burnell's men.
West 2 will present a big challenge for Irvine next season - but the coach says he's content for the moment to reflect on a hugely memorable campaign.
"We’ve got enough time to think of next season when it comes," he said.
“I really wanted the players and the fanbase, considering all they have been through and all the challenges they face, to enjoy the day.
“We have got a great core of players now. Knowing we should be keeping that core nucleus of the team, I definitely think we will consolidate really well.
“When that mound gets rocking at Irvine there aren’t many teams who can stop us.”
Irvine's Bowl winning side
Starters: 15 Calum Ridout, 14 John ‘Mark’ Storm, 13 Neil McMillan, 12 John Carson, 11 Brodie Mentiolay, 10 Christopher Hobson, 9 Sam Auld, 1 Jonathan Webster, 2 Ben Auld, 3 Logan Ferguson, 4 Sandy Thomson, 5 John Hutton, 6 Iain Speirs, 7 James Wilson, 8 Ruchin Filander. (C)
Replacements: 17. Aaron Robertson, 16. Raymond Festorazzi,18. Alan Nugent, 19. Cameron Scott, 20. Scott Kerr, 21. David Logan, 22. Martin ‘David’ Baird.
Tries came courtesy of Ruchin Filand, Mark Storm, Logan Ferguson, Jonathan Webster and James Wilson, while Christopher Hobson converted all five Irvine tries.
Logan Ferguson won the man-of-the-match accolade.
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