The winners receive the John McLaughlin Cup and qualify to represent Derry in the Ulster Senior Club Football Championship.

As well as the four-in-a-row, Bellaghy have also won three consecutive titles on two other separate occasions.

In 2009 a "backdoor" system was introduced - The cup for the winners of the Derry Senior Football Championship is named after John McLaughlin, a former leading official in Derry GAA.

He was for a long time chairman of the North Derry Board and he was elected chairman of the County Board in about 1943 or 1944 in succession to Paddy Larkin, a post he held until his death in 1961.

The County Board decided to purchase a new cup and present it to the winners of the Senior Championship in the following year.