Ballina need a performance as well as a win to boost their bid for a title shot
The hope rather than the expectation is that Ballina Stephenites may find a bit of space – mentally as well as psychically – to express themselves now that the weight of bridging a 16-year gap since they last won a county title has been lifted off their shoulders, writes John Melvin.
That opportunity will present itself this evening (Saturday) at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park in Castlebar when they face London champions Fulham Irish in the Connacht club senior championship quarterfinal (throw-in 6 p.m.).
The winners of that clash will face the Galway champions, Corofin, in the semi-final.
The Tsunami of criticism following this year’s county senior final was justified to a large degree but the result was always going to be more important than the performance.
Had Breaffy emerged as victors to claim their first county title in the history of the club, I have no doubt that they would not give a damn how it was achieved so long as the Moclair Cup came to visit them.
Instead it returned to Ballina, and rightly so, even though it was a game of fine margins which just about tilted in favour of the Stephenites in one of the lowest scoring finals in the history of GAA in Mayo (it finished 0-6 to 0-4).
Naturally there were ecstatic scenes at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park when the cup was presented and the team and their followers were entitled to a night or two, or even three, of celebrations, but I have no doubt manager Neill Heffernan will be telling his troops that there is work to be done – a lot of work.
A Connacht title is now the focus for a club that has won just three provincial titles to date but they are one of just two Mayo clubs who have brought the Andy Merrigan Cup back from Croke Park, Crossmolina being the only other one from the county to have won a senior All-Ireland title.
Heffernan’s first job will be to get the feet firmly back on the ground but that shouldn’t be a problem if they deicide to review the video of the county final, a game which never really took off and which was well below the expectations supporters had from their teams and indeed the expectations the team had for themselves.
No team goes out to play negative football but they do go out to win and unfortunately lining the busses across the defences is now part and parcel of the ‘modern’ day football.
Both Jim McGuinness and Mickey Harte do have a lot to answer for.
PLATFORM
The clash against the London champions Fulham Irish might provide an ideal platform for the Mayo champions to rectify the negative vibes which overshadowed their victory as this is a game they will not just be expected to win, but to do so with a performance to give a clearer indication of where they are in the queue in terms of delivering at least a provincial title.
However, equally important will be the quality of the performance and the two-week break may well provide valuable time for both Mikey Murray and Dylan Thornton in particular to recover further from injuries they have been carrying since the quarterfinal of the Mayo championship.
Ironically, when Ballina won their last county title prior to this year, back in 2007, they went on to beat the defending champions, St. Brigids’s of Roscommon, a team later managed by current Mayo senior manager Kevin McStay, assisted by Liam McHale, who led them to an All-Ireland club title in 2012.
Having won the 2007 title, Ballina met Nemo Rangers in the All-Ireland semi-final where they made their exit.
Whether this current team will retrace those steps is very much up for debate but it is very clear that Heffernan has been striving to strike the balance between the old and the new wine, and it was interesting that Ger Cafferkey, representing the older brigade, and the new kid on the block, Luke Feeney, played significant roles in getting them over the line them against Breaffy in the county final.
Undoubtedly there is still a lot of untapped potential in this Ballina team but for one reason or another they have yet to catch fire in this year's championship.
The cast is there in defence: Sam Callinan, considered a quality defender at county level, in addition to Padraig O’Hora, who stokes the fire in the engine room, Liam Golden, David Tighe, Ciaran Boland and of course goalkeeper David Clarke, who was a member of that 2007 team.
Frank Irwin and Dylan Thornton are two mobile midfield players who have yet to reach the heights many believe they are capable of, and then there is Evan Regan, who has been the main contributor to the scoreboard, ending up as the top scorer in the Mayo championship with a final tally of 1-30.
Hefferan will be demanding and will need greater contributions from the rest of the attack if Ballina hope to make a provincial decider, but again there are players there well capable of delivering on a given day, including Conor McStay, Jack Irwin, Niall Feeney, Mark Birrane, Mikey Murray and Ciaran Treacy.
They meet a a Fulham Irish who won’t be short on experience as they were crowned London champions for the third time in six years, winning their fourth senior title – a fair achievement for a club that was established just 17 years ago.
They won’t be coming to Mayo to view the magnificent scenery but I expect Ballina to get by this preliminary round obstacle with a bit to spare now that they have found some freedom after 16 years of waiting.