Finding their feet
November 30, 2009What a far cry it was from that day at Pairc Tailteann six years earlier when goalkeeper Ray McKeown fired over a late '45' to earn his side a dramatic victory over Navan O'Mahonys in the intermediate final and a return to the senior ranks. But it was a short stay among the big boys of Meath football which was terminated by Kilmainhamwood in the relegation decider a year later.
The highlights of Ballivor's five seasons back in the intermediate grade were quarter-final appearances which brought losses to Duleek in 2004 and Syddan in 2005, but the danger signs were clearly there in 2007 when they beat Ratoath by a point in the relegation play-off to preserve their status in the middle grade. That win merely delayed the inevitable and the drop came on that finger-numbing day at Martry last winter when Oldcastle got the better of them in the relegation showdown.
Push the clock forward five months and the global warming message would have been significantly easier to argue. Athboy basked in April sunshine, chattering teeth were replaced by sweaty brows and Ballivor commenced their championship rehabilitation with an opening round JFC match against Kilmainham.
Paddy Doyle was again the Ballivor coach for the 2009 campaign and also in their qualification group were Ballinabrackey, as well as three second string teams, Dunboyne, Wolfe Tones and Gaeil Colmcille. The potential to make an immediate impact was clearly there, but that first assignment against Kilmainham was always going to represent a serious test.
The 2006 runners-up blitzed Ballivor in the early stages and were 1-4 to the good before their opponents had time to settle. But they gradually warmed to the challenge and the Kells parish team failed to get another score in the opening half as their lead was cut to four points at 1-4 to 0-3.
Ballivor gave themselves hope by notching a brace of second half goals, but Kilmainham possessed greater scoring potential and were ahead by 2-10 to 2-8 at the final whistle. It was an early setback to Ballivor's hopes of reaching the knockout stages, but the performance possesses sufficient promise to suggest that they could still realistically set their sights on the business end of the championship race.
Wolfe Tones' second string is never to be underestimated and it took a big effort for Ballivor to defeat them by 0-10 to 0-8 in the second round at Athboy and give their qualification bid a push in the right direction. A third successive championship visit to Athboy brought another win when Gaeil Colmcille were overcome comfortably on a 4-10 to 1-11 score line and Doyle's men were starting to look good for a quarter-final spot.
A third successive championship victory came in the fourth round thanks to a clearcut 2-15 to 2-8 success over Dunboyne, but the real crunch game in the section lay in waiting. When Ballivor and Ballinabrackey headed to Longwood they knew how important their meeting was, with the winners earning a place in the last eight.
And it was Ballivor who responded best to the pressure situation when winning by the narrowest of margins (2-9 to 1-11), while the defeat meant Ballinabrackey had missed out on qualification. But it was a very close thing.
Former goalkeeper McKeown, who lined out at full-forward in the last three championship games after Conor Martin returned to stand between the posts, scored a goal from a first half penalty and Adam Gannon also found the net in this period to help Ballivor into a 2-3 to 0-5 interval lead. However, Ballinabrackey had no intention of lying down and accepting defeat and came storming back in fine style, drawing level at 1-10 to 2-7.
With the excitement intensifying, Ballivor edged to the front again with points from Clayton Keegan and Thomas Raleigh and they were more than relieved to hear the final whistle as they hung onto a one-point advantage. McKeown top scored with 1-3 and their first goal of a quarter-final place had been realised as they finished tied at the top of group B with Kilmainham on eight points after both had won four of their five games and lost one. Ballinabrackey and Wolfe Tones finished behind them on six points, both having been beaten twice.
However, that was as good as it got for Ballivor and their first sojourn back in the Junior Championship was ended when Moylagh defeated them at Simonstown in late September. This time they were on the receiving end of a heartbreaking minimum margin defeat as the men from the north-west of the county won a low-scoring contest by 0-7 to 0-6.
A poor tally of six points was never likely to be good enough, yet Ballivor only just fell short of earning a ticket to the semi-finals. There was very little between the teams in the first half, at the end of which Ballivor led by 0-5 to 0-4, and they were still a point to the good as the match entered the closing stages.
When a response was required Moylagh found it as they pounced late to earn a dramatic win. Left half-back Thomas O'Reilly drew the sides level with his second point of the contest and there was more to come as Justin O'Reilly's fourth score of the hour edged them to the front and left the Ballivor players extremely disappointed.
Joe McLoughlin was the Ballivor captain this year. He was a member of the victorious panel when senior status was achieved with that sensational intermediate final win over Navan O'Mahonys in 2002. He was just 17 back then, heading out on that great adventure that is an adult playing career with your local club, and he is now a key figure as they attempt to climb back up through the ranks.
"It was a good year in a way, but we were disappointed with the way it ended in the quarter-final against Moylagh," Joe said as he reflected on 2009. "It was a low-scoring game and they got the last two points to win it. But they deserved to win. They missed a lot of chances too."
After slipping down from senior to junior in recent years, following the high of winning the intermediate title seven years ago, this year represented something of a fresh beginning for Ballivor, a chance to steady the ship, start winning some games on a consistent basis and build confidence in the panel.
"This year was like a new start for us," Joe added. "We lost our first championship game against Kilmainham in Athboy. They were well ahead, but we came back well to draw level. They won by two points in the end. We got moving well after that and won four championship games and we were also winning games in the league.
"Things were going well. The last group game against Ballinabrackey was a big one, with the winners going through. To beat them by a point was a great win for us. Confidence grew in the team when we were winning, but we weren't happy with how it ended. But it was still a year of progress. We had a lot of new lads this year, a lot of young players."
With a year of experience behind them in the junior grade and with the winning habit restored, it's now a case of looking to the future for Ballivor who will set their sights on steady progress in both the championship and league during 2010 and beyond. From that glorious day at Pairc Tailteann in 2002 when a team coached by former Seneschalstown player Pat Carey frustrated O'Mahonys' attempts to jump back up to the senior ranks, they have endured tough times.
The contrast couldn't have been any greater in the latter stages of 2008. O'Mahonys won the Senior Championship in style and Ballivor were relegated down to the junior ranks. But the structures are being put in place to guide them to better times and this year's progressive campaign represented a step in the right direction and a turning of the corner.
Joe McLoughlin is enthusiastic about the future and speaking to 'Royal County' in early autumn, only a few days after the disappointment of exiting the championship at the last eight stage, he was fully focused on the 2010 campaign.
"We are looking forward to next year," he said. "The plan is to go well in the championship and to get out of Division 4 in the league. We weren't too far away from that this year. If we had beaten Clann na nGael we could have got into the final, but that's the way it goes. We need to get into Division 3 to make progress." Tweet
