Four decades of service
December 31, 2001
Forty years after he first donned the Ballinabrackey jersey, Tommy O'Connor remains as involved in the club as ever. We spoke to Tommy about his lifelong association with the Offaly-border outfit as well as his hopes for the future.
Even after all these years, Tommy O'Connor remains at the forefront of Ballinabrackey GAA.
Now into his third year as chairman, O'Connor has been a stalwart of the south county club for the past 40 years. During that time, Ballinabrackey has endured some lean spells but there has also been some good times as well. The junior championship successes of 1972, '77 and '85 are obvious highlights.
"We've had our ups and downs but the main thing is that we have always managed to remain upbeat," O'Connor says.
"Ballinabrackey is a small club and it's not every year that we have success. It's 16 years since we last won a junior championship and that is a long time to be waiting. But hopefully, the long wait will end soon," he adds.
O'Connor first donned a Ballinabrackey jersey in the early 1960s and was still going strong into the early 1990s. He was just 16 when he lined out at half back against Drumconrath in the junior championship final of 1963. Ballinabrackey were defeated by a solitary point and it would be another nine years before Tommy and several of his team-mates would atone for that disappointment.
He recalls 1967 as being an exciting time for the club: "We had Peter Moore playing midfield for Meath in the All-Ireland final and he remains the only Ballinabrackey man to have won an All-Ireland senior medal. Peter was chairman of the club at the time and I was vice-chairman."
In 1972, Ballinabrackey captured the junior championship with victory over Dunsany at Trim. Peter Moore captained the team while O'Connor lined out at centre half back.
The victory made up for years of disappointment which had seen Ballinabrackey threaten to make a breakthrough at intermediate level before dropping back to the junior ranks.
"After the 1963 final, we were promoted to intermediate along with Drumconrath. In '64, we reached the intermediate championship quarter-final where we lost to what was an emerging Walterstown team at the time. Had we won that, you wouldn't know what might have happened.
"We were eventually relegated back to junior in '68 and it took us a while to find our bearings. There was a lot of frustration before we finally beat Dunsany in the junior final of '72," he explains.
Ballinabrackey remained an intermediate club for four years before being relegated back to the junior grade in 1976. The following year, however, they were junior champions again, defeating Skyrne in the final. The final was something of a personal triumph for O'Connor as not only did he captain the side, he also scored 1-1 from the full forward position.
Within a few seasons, though, the green and golds were back in the junior ranks. They qualified for the final again in 1985 and were successful against Moynalty. O'Connor didn't start in that final but he picked up a third winners' medal nevertheless.
Tommy, who also served as treasurer for a number of years, was 46 when he brought the curtain down on his playing career in the early 1990s. Around that time, Ballinabrackey were competing well in the intermediate championship but their greatest achievements were in the league.
"We reached the Division 1 league final and were unlucky to lose it to Kilmainhamwood," he recalls.
"The club was going really well at the time and we were beating strong senior teams like Skyrne and Dunderry. But then in 1993 came the split with Clonmore Harps. We lost a lot of players and the club is still only recovering from that setback."
Under the management of Aidan Coffey, Ballinabrackey lost the quarter-final of this year's junior championship to Wolfe Tones. The final score of 1-11 to 0-9 did not do justice to Ballinabrackey's efforts as they had trailed by just a point with two minutes of normal time remaining.
The green and golds left themselves with a lot of work to do after trailing by 0-4 to 0-9 at the interval. One of those Ballinabrackey points should really have been a goal as Mick Carroll blazed over from no more than five metres out.
Ballinabrackey's task became even more difficult nine minutes after the resumption when they were reduced to 14 players. But they battled manfully and points from Carroll (three frees) and Darren Bannon brought them to within a point of the opposition.
Wolfe Tones, however, had the final say with Kevin McKeever's late goal effectively ending the Ballinabrackey challenge. The Kilberry-based outfit tagged on a point for good measure in injury-time.
While obviously disappointed by the defeat, Tommy O'Connor wasn't too downbeat about the performance.
"It was disappointing to lose, especially after we reached the previous year's semi-final, a game which we lost narrowly to St. Ultan's. But I was proud of the way we battled in the second half with 14 men. The lads never gave up and that has to be a good sign."
The Ballinabrackey junior 'B' team had their championship interests ended following a play-off defeat to St. Ultan's but there was success at underage level with the under 12s overcoming Athboy by 3-10 to 2-6 in the Division 4 'B' final.
The building boom, which has benefited the underage structures of so many other clubs in the county, has escaped Ballinabrackey to a large degree but O'Connor is confident that the future will still be a bright one.
"We're in a healthy enough state at the moment," he says.
"A lot of work has been put in with the underage and it's encouraging to see those teams having success. Our main objective for next year is obviously to win the junior championship.
"It seems a long time ago since we last won it but I think we are getting closer to achieving that goal. We have a good crop of 19 and 20 year-olds in the club at the moment and I'm convinced they have what it takes to backbone a successful team over the next few years," he concludes.
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