The Wolves coach, who has 14 years of military service behind him, was informed in January that he would miss this key period of the season but initially chose to keep the news from his players to allow them to focus on their football.
“At first you park it. In January, no one thought we would be in this position and it was easy to deal with in that moment,” he said.
“But as the wins kept coming, it started to become more emotive for me. A few weeks before I was due to leave, I had to sit the girls down. I had become more emotional and I wasn’t the same around training.
“As staff, we all decided hiding it probably wasn’t the best thing to do because, after all I’ve been through with the squad, I probably deserved to enjoy our last few weeks together.”
It worked. Wolves, promoted a year ago, clinched the title with three games remaining.
His final home game in April proved a fitting send off as they played a competitive match at Molineux for the first time in 20 years, lifting the league trophy in front of 2,477 fans.
It comes after the club was twice denied league titles in 2019-20 and 2020-21 as successive seasons were declared null and void because of the Covid pandemic – though Wolves were eventually promoted via the Football Association’s “upward movement” initiative last summer.
Now Southern Premier champions Southampton FC – who, like Wolves, suffered a single league defeat all season – stand in their way.
“It is just amazing what the girls have achieved,” said McNamara, who was appointed in 2018. “We set out to stay in the division. That was truly what we wanted to do.
“It doesn’t shock me what we have achieved but it is far beyond what we ever dreamt of.
“Time after time, we got hurt. We had league titles and finals taken away from us, but throughout this season the team has displayed a never-say-die attitude.”