Mayo GAA club celebrates first championship home match on new pitch surface

WHEN Ambhrán na bhfíann echoed over the pitch and the cherished notes dissipated into the surrounding hills, fifteen fine men in green and white were standing still. They were all too aware of the special occasion they were part of. 

Ballycroy haven't had a home championship match at their own venue in three years.
“The surface was developed. It was ongoing for about a year, year and a half to two years. Weather didn't really help us when we were doing it,” explains Kevin Ginty, chairman and centre-forward of the Ballycroy GAA team.

“But luckily, the gods were shining down on us last year. We got a break in the weather. And we finally got it over the line. We got a big push from people in the community to help us get it done.”

In fact, Ballycroy have been in existence since 1889, but they never had a proper pitch of their own.

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For decades home matches were basically played on open fields. Championship home matches in recent years were staged in Bangor Erris, with the much appreciated support by Kiltane GAA. 

But things are changing in Ballycroy now. The club is taking control of its future as the current venue right next to the parish church is being developed impressively and the new grass surface, worked out perfectly for the championship:
“First, we were lucky, back in September, where we got that window to seed the pitch,” says James Grealis, secretary of Ballycroy GAA: “And it took a lot of effort. Then we hit a drought early in the year which wasn’t good, but thankfully, Ireland being Ireland, the rain wasn’t long away.”

It was a community effort. Players and the club officers are essentially the same in a rural area like Ballycroy, as chairman Ginty knows:
“I've been playing all my life - 36 years of age - time to be stepping back maybe, but we're tight for numbers. The way our club is, you keep going as long as you can to keep the club going.”

The same goes for secretary James Grealis who is still playing himself. 

A small rural community, on the fringes of the nation, where emigration always hit the hardest. Ballycroy is a parish like so many in the West of Ireland, but it's a place like no other either.

They have the National Park Visitor Centre, spectacular beauty, one of the most poetic landscapes nestled between the mountains and the sea. 

And the GAA club is the glue that holds the community together - just about, as Stephen Grealis, half-forward on Sundays and Radio Midwest reporter otherwise, testifies:
“In a parish like this, if you're not playing football, there are very limited opportunities, to actually meet and socialise with people. When I started as a 17-year-old with the team, you're meeting lads in their late thirties, there's no other situation where you would meet those people.”

And some players come back and boost numbers, like goalkeeper Noel O'Boyle who came back after years in Australia.

It is a player's club after all. Ahead of this championship match against Bonniconlon, the players themselves lined the pitch, put up the flags and at half-time, tea, coffee and snacks are served for no charge, but with a visible donation box on the table. The scoreboard is updated by hand with paper prints. 

This Sunday, there is a huge crowd lined up on the terrace. The pitch is placed in a little dip, supporters looking downwards, it can be a cauldron here. But not this time, the opponents from Bonniconlon were simply too strong.

One of the favourites to win the Junior Championship, the guests from the other end of the North Mayo dispatched Ballycroy on a scoreline of 2-21 to 0-9. 

As disappointed as the men in green and white were, they were all proud to represent their community on this historic day.

A stepping stone has been made with the new surface on the pitch. It's worth the effort that the people of Ballycroy put in. To keep their club, their hopes and dreams alive.