Tubber bring it all back home
BALLINTUBBER soared to the summit of their dreams on Sunday in claiming their first county senior title. It was a victory that bedecked their centenary celebrations, and a fitting send-off by his team to manager James Horan as he ventures into new pastures.
There is still a bit to do in preparing them for the Connacht championship, but his tenure in guiding his team ever so steadily up the championship ladder these past few years has been a narrative of grim determination, and no little managerial ability.
In joining the pantheon of senior champions, the Abbey men reflected the confidence Horan had instilled in them, and the club has now taken on a new standing in Mayo football . . . a club that can compete successfully in the highest company.
It will not worry Ballintubber one iota today that the standard of the final never lived up to expectations. In hindsight, it was never going to satisfy the purists. Neighbouring rivals rarely do.
Footballers who have more or less grown up together and played together in other competitions were too conscious of the strengths and weaknesses of one another’s game not to have weighed up how to deal with them.
The difference between them was that Ballintubber got it right. This was not the first match in which their tactics walled off their opponents. In using corner forward Michael Nestor as a sweeper in defence they outfoxed Shrule/Glencorrib in the semi-final, and on Sunday the Mitchels had no answer to a similar strategy.
They got behind every forward movement Castlebar made, closed them down, allowed them no time to choose a shot, forced them to part with the ball hastily, and too often inaccurately, and inevitably chipped away their confidence.
Neutrals will not want to remember it for any distinctive passages of play, or scoring feat. It was football neither for the purist nor faint-hearted. But for Ballintubber it fulfilled everything they had wished for.
They were fired up in a way that left the Mitchels looking nervous and ponderous on occasions, a far cry from the performance that brushed aside the challenge of Garrymore in a league promotion match the previous week.
But then Garrymore were no Ballintubber. Emitting passion and confidence the Abbeymen were out to prove that they were in no way inferior, and led by one of the most astute players in Mayo football today, they dominated this county final from start to finish.
His experience had inured Alan Dillon against the missed opportunity of an opening score from an easy free. The game of another player on such an important occasion might have crumbled from such a miss.
Not Dillon. The Mayo star went on to produce another specimen performance of leadership and quality football. He was wound up for this one in particular, more elusive than ever. He orchestrated so much of Ballintubber’s game that he stood out clearly as man of the match.
Of course Dillon was as good as the support he got, and there was always someone available for him, someone straying loose to receive his pass or his prompt. Everywhere there was willing support for him and Castlebar were unable to curtail his romp.
At midfield Jason Gibbons and Danny Geraghty had a distinct edge on Shane Fitzmaurice and Darragh Sloyan.
High fielding was not a feature of either duo because in general they chose to break down the ball. But the strength of Gibbons was a big asset, and helped Ballintubber to win most of the breaks, in the first half in particular.
Even though they had won most possession and created more scoring chances it was a full thirteen minutes before Dillon got their opener . . . a point from a free. Ten minutes earlier Neil Douglas had shot Castlebar ahead.
In between, full-back Alan Feeney had come to Castlebar’s rescue with a couple of daring interceptions.
The poignancy of the occasion was not lost on one of the biggest county final attendances for years. And stoically Tom Cunniffe and Richard and Alan Feeney performed as if inspired by the memory of Ger and Donal.
Their father would have been proud of the Feeneys’ performances in particular. They carried the brunt of Ballintubber’s pressure and together with Eoin Reilly stood up well to the wiles of Cillian O’Connor and Alan Plunkett.
But the highest defensive honours go to Ballintubber. The Mitchels had pinned much of their scoring hopes on chances created by Barry Moran. James Horan’s meticulous plan denied the Castlebar full forward, however, even a glimpse of the goalmouth.
With full-back Cathal Hallinan foiling the big man spectacularly from behind, and Michael Nestor placed strategically in front, Moran, squeezed between them, cut no real ice.
Defensive stalwart Gary Loftus was delegated to police Neil Douglas, and left little space to the corner forward. Still, Douglas was the only Castlebar forward with a glimmer of scoring ability.
Try as they did, nothing the others employed could prise open a defensive unit clammed tight by the Earleys, John Feeney, Ruaidhri O’Connor and sub Declan Larkin.
Against such a defensive screen scores were like gold dust. But as Castlebar attacked in force in the final quarter, they became more vulnerable in defence and when Ballintubber broke fast from midfield, Cillian O’Connor and Alan Plunkett were able to eke out the winning scores.
Castlebar will have been sorely disappointed with their inability to break down the Ballintubber defence. They had hoped to close a gap of seventeen years, and looked good enough until they came face to ace with the intensity of Ballintubber’s blanket defence.
Peter Ford has taken them a long way over the past few years. He has shaped self-belief in a young squad. The experience will have hardened them. But they need Ford to stick with them one more year. Only with him at the helm will they accomplish their ambition.
International Rules a flop
I’M no fan of the International Rules. For years the Australians brutalised the joint venture between their association and the GAA to such a degree that the whole project had become nothing more than an exercise in the baser instincts of their character.
What should have been a blend of the cream of their respective national games degenerated into spectacles of violence that soured the vast majority of those who had wished for an acceptable international flavour to Gaelic football.
Australia’s strongarm tactics became the stuff of legend. If their skills did not win out, their aggression did. Employing every ounce of their undoubted greater physique they dished out punishment that no rules could cover . . . and sniggered about it afterwards.
Having lost all respect for this hybrid game, last Saturday’s return visit of the Aussies did little to reawaken my interest.
The violent tendencies have been subdued and their football is the better for it.
But the standard of football by the Irish was below anything they have ever produced. They tried catching and failed, they tried rugby passes and failed, and they tried soccer touches and failed miserably.
They are pushing the boundaries a bit far if the respective authorities expect the quality of Saturday’s performance to become an acceptable norm. It was crazy stuff. Schoolboys would provide better entertainment. I see no future in those meetings and the public should not be asked to fork out hard-earned money for the likes of Saturday’s flop.
Just a thought …
A good wish for Tourmakeady as they step into Connacht competition for their match with St James at McHale Park on Sunday. If they recapture the spirit that motivated their county final victory they should advance to the final.
