Ballyhaise self-imploded in the IFC but club chairman Noel Gilmartin is hopeful that there is enough talent in the ranks to rebound sooner rather than later

If Ballyhaise's implosion in this year's IFC took a lot of people around the county by surprise then it left Ballyhaise chairman Noel Gilmartin positively shell-shocked.
A lot of pundits would argue that the intermediate championship in Cavan is the most testing and unnerving of competitions.
Well, in 2011, the green and gold brigade found the IFC an abbatoir for their hopes of getting back among the 'big' boys of Cavan football.

Forty is infancy for a top level GAA administrator, even in club circles, but Leitrim native Noel could be excused for feeling that he's been in the hot seat at Ballyhaise for years now rather than just a single season after the happenings at Breffni Park.
That gaels in Ballyhaise are still feeling sore from the rabbit punch inflicted by Crosserlough in the IFC brooks no debate.
To his credit, Chairman Gilmartin doesn't begin to try and stitch a silver lining on what was a rain-filled, black (and amber) cloud.

"The Crosserlough result was very disappointing but showed a big improvement in our results in the championship over the last few years," Noel acknowledges.
"Nobody could have foreseen what happened against Crosserlough; that we'd concede four goals in ten minutes, gifting them two.
"It sounds like a lame excuse but I don't think we would have lost had we been a lot more on our game in those ten minutes.
"It was an unbelievable turnaround, losing those goals, because we had played against a strong wind in the first half and we were only one point behind at half-time and then when we won the throw-in and went down the field, we found ourselves on level terms but then they went up the field and all hell broke lose in our backline.

"We went something like 11 points behind and then brought it back to seven but there was no way back unfortunately."
Noel's recollections are so vivid and incisive that one suspects they're almost in need of a quick dip in iced water, even now months on.
The sinking of Ballyhaise's flagship team in such a devastating manner book-ended a series of 'what-might-have-beens' for the club at senior level.
Too many observers, Ballyhaise have been one of the greatest underperformers in Cavan football. In 2011, many punters lost their shirts on them.

Ballyhaise ought - on paper - to have pinched the intermediate title in 2011.
But they were the fancied team on many other occasions too and, as we all know, titles are never won on paper.
Remember 2008? They were again the favourites to lift the IFC title but went under in the final to neighbours Redhills.
While Redhills appear to have gone from strength to strength since '08, we are still looking to make the breakthrough but I suppose 2012 is another year and we'll have another crack at it.

This year, yet again, Ballyhaise looked on track to do the business in the blue riband competition, especially after comfortably putting Drumgoon to the sword in Cootehill in their final group game. Indeed seeing Drumgoon go on and take the title has only added to the sense of disappointment. The team had signalled its undoubted talent in the ACFL too. Indeed the results gleaned against the four would-be SFC semi-finalists smacked of a team capable of competing for the top prize in Cavan.
Their league form saw Ballyhaise draw with Cavan Gaels and Castlerahan. They beat Belturbet and only lost out to Ballinagh by a couple of points.

"The more you analyse the year, the more painful the final outcome in the championship is," Noel explains.
"Everyone in the club was happy with the commitment of the players and the effort put in by the team-management - nothing was left behind."
Hope springs eternal though in Ballyhaise. Noel and co. know that the club has a team teeming with talent at its disposals. Perhaps make that teams.
A raft of underage titles have been won in the last decade. For instance, the club's under 21s captured the division two championship in '09 and '10.

Before the under 21s struck gold, a minor league title was scooped. Those close by Flaggon Meadow and the village and those further afield will tell you that it'll take another three or four years before that burgeoning crop of young players reach their peak in senior ranks.
On a more positive note, the fact that Ballyhaise rowed their own canoe rather than ploughed their shares into an amalgamation says much for the innate talent and ambition within club ranks.

Great work continues with all the underage teams within the club and i would like to thank all the coaches involved.
Off the field I would like this opportunity to thank all those volunteers who helped with fundraising, fellow club officers, ground maintenance and a special word of thanks for our new sponsor Anthony & Fiona Brady & family.
It has to be said too that at the time of going to print, Ballyhaise were still in the running for a number of titles. Having largely remained unscathed from the ravages of emigration, Ballyhaise are relatively spoiled for numbers and in the likes of outgoing team-manager Ray Cullivan and selectors Fr. Michael Router and Adrian Delaney, the club couldn't have gotten a much more experienced think-tank.

There's no hint of sour grapes in chatting to the outgoing Ballyhaise chairman. No excuses are proffered for the failure of the seniors.
However, just as things didn't fall into place for the club, Noel reckons that things may not ideally structured, competition-wise in Cavan.
"I'm not a fan of the way the championship is run in its present form, on a group basis
"Personally, I would be in favour of running off the championships in a knock-out fashion, but there is a commission looking at the current championship system and I'm sure that will form many a debate over the winter months".

A native of Ballinaglera in county Leitrim and a winner of JFC and IFC with the local club, Noel says he has found his niche in his adopted club in the sense that an administrative rather than a coaching role is what best suits him for now anyway.
Formerly Vice-Chairman of Ballyhaise, the now Castletara resident insists the green and gold brigade he leads has a lot going for itself and he is more hopeful than doleful as he looks to the future.

Father of four young children under 6, Luke, Ruby, Leon and Pearl, Noel enjoys working alongside "the hard core" who are consistently at the heart of everything that is positive and dynamic about Ballyhaise GFC.
Having played with Ballyhaise for a couple of years upon his arrival in Breffni-land, Noel is very au fait with the atmosphere of revivalist zeal that colours all things Gaelic football in Cavan.

Interestingly though, he reckons that his own county of Leitrim is arguably even more passionate about the country's most popular sport:
"I think Gaelic football is even higher up the list of priorities for the people of Leitrim than Cavan," he avers.
"Although there's no comparison between the counties in terms of their respective roll of honour, I think the passion for football in Leitrim is even more intense than I've seen in Cavan."
And what of the comparative standards vis-a-vis Gaelic football at club level?

"I'm not sure who would win in a straight shoot-out between, for instance, the intermediate champions from each county but, overall, while there would be five good intermediate clubs in Leitrim, there's probably 7-8 good ones in Cavan but maybe that comes down to the numbers game and due to numbers of clubs in each county.
"Either way, Gaelic football is undoubtedly the number one game in both counties and I can't see that changing in the short or medium term." Tweet

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