Ciaran Elliott's first-half goal helped Dunloy establish a lead they would not relinquish at Ballycastle, despite a late goal from Cushendall's Neil McManus.

The victory also avenged Dunloy's defeat by their familiar rivals in the 2024 decider.

"Relieved. To think 2022, four years is a long time for our club; there's massive expectations," Elliott told BBC Sport NI.

"We sort of start every year thinking we're going to win championships, but it doesn't really work like that.

"[There's a] massive sense of relief, but a real sense of pride in terms of how the boys dug it out. It wasn't pretty at times, but we dug it out and got over the line eventually."

Elliott praised his side's response after a frantic opening, with Dunloy taking control during a dominant spell midway through the first half.

"The first ten minutes was helter-skelter stuff, as a championship [final] is," he said.

"Then we dominated for a good ten minutes, we got a bit of a push on and went six or seven up.

"We were very content at half-time. We felt our work rate was excellent, our use of the ball, all the things we were looking for."

Despite McManus finding the net late on, Elliott insisted he remained confident his side would see out the victory.

"I never actually felt we looked like losing the match, if I'm being honest," he added.

"We always kept that five, six points ahead. If they got a point, we went back up the field and got a point.

"You're never comfortable until the whistle goes, but in the last ten minutes, we showed a great deal of composure on the ball."

Dunloy now turn their attention to an Ulster semi-final against Down champions Portaferry on 15 November.

"The boys will enjoy themselves tonight. We haven't even thought about Portaferry, to be brutally honest," Elliott said.

"But we'll be ready to go in two weeks."