PREVIEW: Mayo club ahead of All-Ireland Intermediate final

The men who’ll go to battle in Sunday’s All-Ireland Intermediate final, know what it’s like to see their club win an All-Ireland final.

The current Crossmolina and Ballinderry teams were mere boys (or not yet born) when they watched their clubs win All-Ireland senior titles back in the early noughties.

Crossmolina’s Tom Nallen became the first Mayo man to lift the Andy Merrigan Cup in 2001. He was followed the year after by Ballinderry’s Adrian McGuckin.

Both finalists have enjoyed mixed fortunes since then, as evidenced by their descent to the intermediate ranks.

Much like Crossmolina, Ballinderry’s road to Croker has been rocky. They won their county final after a replay and dispatched Cavan’s Arva by the bare minimum to win their first-ever intermediate provincial title.

At the weekend, the thirteen-time Derry senior champions beat an Austin Stacks team without Kerry senior Joe O’Connor to make their first All-Ireland final in almost 22 years. They did so with some difficulty, coming from three points down to dismiss the Kerry men by four.

The McKinless brothers are among their key men. Gareth is a regular centre-back for Derry, Ben is an ex-county Minor goalie while Daniel, an ex-Derry forward, contributed two vital points from the bench against ’Stacks.

Other men to watch out for include Derry U-20 Niall O’Donnell and veteran Ryan Bell - another former Derry footballer - and Conor O’Neill, who shot three points from play in the All-Ireland semi-final.

Since they began their road Croker, Jarlath Bell’s team haven’t tasted defeat once.

Crossmolina do know that taste, however. It came wrapped in a second-round defeat to Moy Davitts in a game that won’t be topped for sheer drama for a long, long time.

COUNTY STANDARD

DESPITE boasting two county players in Jordan Flynn and Conor Loftus, two wicked club forwards in James Maheady and Fionán Duffy, an excellent ball-playing full-back in Kevin Mulhern and the rocket-powered Coggins brothers, Crossmolina sailed close to the wind throughout Mayo and Connacht.

They got out of the group with wins over Louisburgh and Lahardane. They then travelled south to Cong for the quarter-finals, where they unconvincingly beat The Neale in arguably the worst game of this year’s county intermediate club championship.

In the semi-finals, they needed extra time to beat a fine Ballinrobe team whose inaccuracy on the day was tantamount to self-harm.

There were not one, but two more Moy Davitts-shaped hurdles to clear before they finally clinched the Sweeney Cup.

Wins over a poor St Michael’s side in the semi-final preceded a solid but unspectacular Connacht final showing against Elphin.

The common denominator in every game? The lack of a full 60-minute performance.

A few games stand out in this regard. In the first of three championship meetings with Moy Davitts, they gave up a nine-point lead to lose by five.

Against The Neale, it took them nineteen minutes to register a score. In the drawn county final, they failed to score from play from the 35th minute onwards. In Dr Hyde Park, they went a full half hour without scoring against Elphin.

However, those who doubted their ability to manage a game were proven wrong by the way they dominated Caragh in the All-Ireland semi-final from start to finish.

Jordan Flynn had the game of his life. Conor Loftus wasn’t far off him. With Flynn’s season-long midfield partner Darragh Syron racing to recover from injury, the Mayo duo must bring their ‘A’ game to Croker if Crossmolina are to master the middle eight. Not to mention their vast experience of GAA HQ.

“I think sometimes I’m probably guilty of trying to get myself too up for it. You don’t really need to get yourself up for these sorts of games,” Conor Loftus told The Mayo News when asked about his pre-All-Ireland final preparations.

His advice to his teammates treading the hallowed soil for the first time?

“I’d say the same thing, just go out and enjoy it. Don’t be overwhelmed or anything by the occasion or all that. At the end of the day, you spend your whole life playing in your back garden, pretending you’re in Croke Park, so when you get up there you have to try and play like it’s your backyard, so just go out and enjoy it.”

FIXTURE:

ALL-IRELAND INTERMEDIATE CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

CROSSMOLINA V BALLINDERRY

SUNDAY, JANUARY 12, CROKE PARK AT 4.30PM