Hard work, sacrifice and sheer determination have been the ingredients of success for newly-crowned Premier Division champions Dandy Town.

While the Hornets' nest remains abuzz following last week's triumph over Somerset Eagles which finally settled one of the closest title races in recent memory, Town can now take it to the max and collect the coveted double with a win over league runners-up Devonshire Cougars in Sunday's FA Cup final at the National Sports Centre.

Elated over his team's recent accomplishment, coach Devar Boyles, 33, said the seeds of glory had long been sewn . . . five months prior to the start of the season to be exact.

In only two full seasons at the helm, Boyles has carved out a niche for himself , guiding Hornets to the Friendship Trophy crown last season and the club's first league championship in three seasons last week.

“We started out as early as May (2003) where we had a series of meetings to find out who was leaving and staying and to discuss some of the things I was interested in doing with the returning group,” Boyles recalled. “Bringing in a big pool of players and staggering the training sessions with new players and the returning players and talking about developing a common language so that we could all move forward.”

The first objective, said Boyles, was to set realistic goals.

“When we first drew it (plan) up at the beginning of the year, we talked about obtaining a certain amount of points necessary to win the league,” he explained. “We talked about setting goals and achieving those goals.”

He added: “My hat goes off to the players and I don't think anyone else in Bermuda trains like us consistently. It (championship) is very rewarding and sometimes it doesn't always work out that the team that puts in the most effort gets the big prize. But in this particular case things worked out.”

Describing an early exit from the traditional pre-season Martonmere Cup competition as a ‘blessing in disguise”, Boyles still managed to find a diamond in the rough, namely among his younger crop of players.

“What dictates everything to me is the performance,” he noted. “The first game where Somerset Eagles gave us a whitewash (3-0), I was concerned about the result but I saw enough things that encouraged me in the pattern of play.

“In that particular game we were missing four senior players (Carlos Smith, Lionel Furbert, Seyoum Tuzo and Kingsley Mundy) and so I knew we would get stronger. I wasn't overly concerned but again the performance was OK. I really liked what I saw that day and the average age of the team on that occasion was only 23. There were enough positive things on which to build.”

One thing Boyles never envisioned was the elevation of Khano Smith to near cult status at Dandy Town. It was Smith' s potent early season form which laid the groundwork for Town's championship run.

“Khano really carried the team in the first half of the season,” added Boyles . “Having Khano on form obviously took a lot of pressure off Carlos (Smith) being the legitimate returning scoring threat.”

Boyles said the club's senior players had to pull the slack and lead by example.

“I told our senior players if you are experienced then show it by making less mistakes,” he said. “So when the younger players make those mistakes you are not compounding their mistakes by making mistakes with them. We only have five senior players and so their roles were critical . . . they had to lead from the front.”

Hornets, however, almost let it all slip away heading down the final stretch, suffering a first defeat of the season at home against Southampton Rangers to set the stage for a dramatic finish.

Boyles took part of the blame for the hiccup against Rangers.

“Things which I had seen building up . . . it was never a good time to talk about them. And with only two games remaining, I chose the wrong moment to address them with dire consequences,” he conceded. “Now looking back in hindsight, that definitely wasn't a wise decision on my part.”

But never did Boyles lose faith in his players' ability to pick up the pieces and resume their march towards the title.

“Following the loss (against Rangers) I knew the reaction was going to be right, it had been all year,” he said. “After we lose we have a point to prove to ourselves and the next opponents we face. We were always going to be dangerous irrespective of who it was. It just so happened to be Somerset Eagles.”

The former Town midfielder said every player on the team had acquitted themselves admirably over the course of the season. But given his successes over the past two seasons, Boyles remains at the helm of the team on a “year-to-year” basis.

“At the moment I have a rolling contract in the sense that at the end of the season the club evaluate me and then we come to a decision which best suits everybody,” he explained. “But it's always encouraging to end the season with some silverware.”