Fighting finish
December 31, 2003
Looking back, it's hard not to see the irony in it all. Besides, September is the month of change. And just as the leaves fluttered to the ground this September, Ballivor's footballers tumbled out of the top flight. Damn September. Damn irony.
Of course it all seemed rosy last autumn. After three years of coming within a whisker of senior football, Ballivor finally made the step up with a dramatic intermediate final victory over Navan O'Mahony's.
There were very few clubs in the county that begrudged them their success. Ballivor had relentlessly knocked and knocked at the door, and sooner or later it would have to open. Hopes were high prior to this year's senior championship.
It wasn't about winning the Keegan Cup in 2003, it was about consolidating their senior status and finding their feet among the elite. Find their feet they did, but it's hard not to feel that they did so all too late.
They finished bottom of Group B on two points, only one point behind both Gaeil Colmcille and Ballinlough. As a club, they have had to work hard for a slice of luck in recent times, and this year was little different.
Had Ballinlough not been awarded a dubious free in the dying seconds against Gaeil Colmcille, they too would have finished up on only two points.
If Ballivor had tagged on just one more point against eventual Keegan Cup champions Blackhall Gaels then they would have earned an invaluable point that could well have salvaged their senior status.
Or what if Ballivor had started the championship the way they finished? Beating Seneschalstown, and running both Blackhall and Skryne close. Of course it's all coincidental now, but Ballivor weren't that far away from retaining senior football this year, they just didn't have any luck.
It was their capitulation in the opening four games of the championship that will hurt the most over the winter. Inept performances against Dunderry and Simonstown saw them suffer two opening round defeats.
But it was their next two games that will really rankle. They were hugely disappointing against Ballinlough and Gaeil Colmcille. They didn't play with the fighting spirit that had seen them win promotion. In fact they played like a team that had already accepted their own destiny.
Four games, four defeats - it was looking precarious. And then it happened. Ballivor started to believe again, and set about amending the damage already inflicted. They started to show flashes of the team that had won the intermediate championship and for those final three games they played their hearts out. Had they shown the same passion against Ballinlough or Gaeil Colmcille, you'd put your money on them to have survived.
Their championship campaign started out against Dunderry in mid-April. They only managed five scores in their first senior outing, and lost heavily, 2-3 to 1-14.
"We got off to a bad start in the championship and we were really up against it from then on. There is a big difference between senior and intermediate championship football, but we were short a number of players all year," says captain Fergus McMahon.
"We had a few injuries, fellas suspended and fellas emigrating so it was always going to be difficult. Our main aim was to stay up this year."
Eventual finalists Simonstown were next up at the end of the month, with the Colm O'Rourke trained side coming out on top, 3-10 to 1-5. May was a huge month for the club, with games against fellow strugglers Ballinlough and Gaeil Colmcille. Ballinlough beat them by six points, 1-12 to 1-6, as did Kells 1-9 to 0-6. The defeats were a real double whammy.
"We just couldn't get a settled team all year and the games against Ballinlough and Kells were the most disappointing," admits McMahon.
"We had started badly in the championship but still felt that we could get something out of those two games. Jody Devine almost beat us on his own in the Ballinlough game, while we didn't perform against Kells. We were in real trouble then."
The signs of improvement were evident against a strong Blackhall side though, and Ballivor were unlucky to lose by a single point, 0-7 to 0-8.
"That was one of the strongest teams we had all year and we actually should have beaten them. We had enough chances but we just couldn't put them away and it came back to cost us dearly. A draw or a win there and the whole thing might have turned out differently."
Their only victory of the campaign came against Seneschalstown, in the aftermath of which Graham Geraghty was hit with a 48-week ban.
"We had nearly everybody back for that game and the win gave us a real chance of survival. We got the goals at the right time, and maybe they were lucky goals but sometimes you need a bit of luck.
"The win got everybody going again and we had a good few training sessions before the Skryne game. They were the form team of the championship at the time, but we knew our survival was in our own hands."
On the weekend of August 9th and 10th, both Ballinlough and Gaeil Colmcille lost their final games in the group. It all meant that if Ballivor could beat Skryne on Tuesday the 12th, they would avoid relegation. However, Skryne won by four points, 1-12 to 1-8.
And so it came to pass that Ballivor would face Kilmainhamwood in a relegation play-off on September 6th. Ah yes, damn September. The game was played in Kells. Kilmainhamwood won by a goal, and Ballivor's senior status came to an end, 1-8 to 0-8.
"We were hopeful enough before the Kilmainhamwood game and started off okay. They got a man sent off early on but we didn't make our extra player count. We still led at the break though and I have to say we were confident at half-time.
"We went out knowing we could beat them and remain senior for next year. But they got the crucial goal and we lost by three points in the end. It was bitterly disappointing," says the 25-year-old dual star.
Their league campaign in Division 2A was also unsatisfactory, chalking up double the amount of defeats as victories. But it is not all doom and gloom around Ballivor way.
"We know we are not that far away from a lot of the teams in the senior championship. If we had our full panel and if we got everybody training then I think we would have stayed up this year.
"Personally, it was very disappointing because I was team captain. There probably needs to be a different approach next year and hopefully we can bounce straight back up again.
"The most disappointing thing of all is that it took us so long to win promotion to senior football that we didn't do ourselves justice when we were there. It's like we got to the top of the hill and let it all slip again. We just didn't have the same attitude as we did when we were trying to win the intermediate championship."
On a personal level, 2003 was a good year for the talented McMahon, as he won an All-Ireland title with the Meath junior footballers. McMahon, who also played senior hurling with Meath, has been on the junior football panel since 1997.
He has played every year apart from 2001 - when he was in America - and his perseverance was rewarded when the Royals beat Galway in this year's decider in Cusack Park, Mullingar.
"I suppose it took a bit of the hurt out of being relegated. It was a great experience and that Meath side is probably the best football team I have played with. There were some tremendous footballers on it and it was fantastic to win an All-Ireland."
Ballivor will look to their All-Ireland winner for inspiration once again in 2004, and they can take heart from Navan O'Mahony's intermediate championship triumph this year. Not only did Ballivor beat them in last year's decider, but Navan's victory proves that it is possible for relegated teams to bounce back up.
Navan may not have done it in their first year, but Ballivor are more than capable of achieving that particular goal. They haven't become a bad team overnight. Prior to this year, they were the side everybody had to beat if they wanted to win the intermediate championship. If the players can rediscover their hunger and desire, that is still likely to be the case in 2004.
They will have learned a lot from their brief stay in the top flight, and when they return to senior football you can rest assured that Ballivor will come out of the blocks flying. The bad start was their main downfall this year. They realise that now.
The mini revival towards the end of the group stages gave hope, but then August faded and September dawned. Kilmainhamwood arrived, and left again. The leaves fell. Ballivor fell. Damn September. Damn irony.
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