Ballinrobe are back in the top flight again
Mike Finnerty
IN case Ballinrobe Town needed any reminding about the task confronting them in this year’s Super League, they have pinned the fixtures for the upcoming season to the back of their dressing-room door.
Their manager, Martin McDonald, has written each one out painstakingly, every line a constant reminder that there are no easy games in the top flight. Ballinrobe Town may be fresh faces at this level, but they will also be seen as fresh meat by most of the big guns.
The first four games will tell them all they need to know about life in the Super League. They begin with a trip to Ballina Town next Sunday, then entertain Erris, before travelling to Ballyheane in the third round. But the visit of Gavin Dykes and Castlebar Celtic on Saturday, April 19 is the one that leaps off the page.
Preparations for Ballinrobe Town’s return to the upper echelons of Mayo soccer have been in full flight for six weeks now. Last Tuesday evening saw McDonald put his squad through their paces under floodlights on the training pitch in the Green. The countdown is on.
“A good year for us would be finishing second,” laughed the 30 year old manager when asked about the task ahead. “Or first! We want to be competitive. We know the games we have to perform well in and so does everybody else. There will be shocks along the way. We’re not going to be happy with losing 14-0 to Castlebar Celtic and trying to beat Claremorris 1-0. We’ll give it a crack in every game.”
That has always been Ballinrobe Town’s way. The club has built itself up steadily in recent years, building dressing-rooms and developing their underage structure. However, its flagship team don’t do average. When they were good last season they were very good, sprinting to the top of the Premier Division. But when they were bad...
“Next year was supposed to be the Super League season and we thought we’d be building a team this year,” explained Martin McDonald. “But we over-achieved a little at the beginning of last season. We fought hard, got a couple of good wins and we grew in confidence.
“Then, towards the end, we picked up a lot of injuries. JP O’Gorman [the team’s top scorer] broke his ankle and that meant we lost our main threat. He scored 13 goals in 13 games last year and we had no real cover for him. We just scraped up in the end.
“We got kicked off the park in a couple of those final games,” he recalled. “I think it was cockiness mainly that caught us, lads started thinking they were better than they were. We had our feet on the ground at the beginning of the year and worked hard.
“We didn’t do that towards the end. If that happens this season, and indiscipline creeps in, we could be in serious trouble. Our game has to be based around hard work.”
And that is where the likes of Maurice Walsh comes in. The veteran midfielder (who says he’s too old to be talking about his age) was Ballinrobe’s Player of the Year last season. Along with the aforementioned JP O’Gorman, Walsh was the driving force behind the promotion run and also raged against the machine when the slump in form hit hard.
The Bank of Ireland official is delighted to be back in the Super League but admitted that he had hoped that Ballinrobe Town would have returned as Premier Division champions.
“I found it very disappointing that we didn’t win the title,” he conceded. “I think people got overconfident and we lost a league we should have won.
“This is going to be a tough season for us but we’ve got a few good young fellas coming through and if they stick with it we might be okay. To compete we need those young lads to be there all the time; they have pace and ability.
“I think, like the Premiership, there’s two different leagues within the Super League. Westport, Ballina and Castlebar are on one level, the likes of Manulla and Ballyheane will always be safe, and then you have everybody else.”
For now, Ballinrobe find themselves on relegation shortlists. But that is only a matter of opinion and Martin McDonald has heard it all before. He intends to carry on regardless.
“I think we have a reputation out there as being a pub team but I don’t think it’s deserved. Some people might think that but let them keep thinking it.
“The worst case scenario for us would be if indiscipline creeps in and lads don’t turn up. The club is number one anyway though, whether we do well in the Super League or not.”
