Duignan and Ballinamere have learned hard lessons on the way to the top
A BAD defeat by Birr in the Senior Hurling Championship quarter-final two years ago was one of the big turning points for Ballinamere as they transitioned into a major force to be reckoned with.
Promoted to the top flight after winning the Senior “B” Hurling Championship in 2018, Ballinamere made steady progress each year. Some of them may have felt like baby steps but they were on an upward trajectory the whole time. Making the quarter-finals was all part of the process but the scale of their 3-17 to 0-11 loss to Birr raised all sorts of questions – ones that forced deep self examination and a look at their mentality as well as their hurling.
Ballinamere were blown away by Shinrone in the second half of the semi-final last year, losing 1-19 to 0-16, but there were stages in that game when they looked like they would make it and they were at least competitive. Against Birr, Ballinamere had their tails handed to them with ribbons on them but they took it all in the right way and it was the last time they have suffered a defeat of that nature.
Now preparing for the Senior Hurling Championship final against Kilcormac-Killoughey, one of their star men Brian Duignan admitted last week:
“We were fierce naive coming into Senior A. We thought it was just going to be a walk in the park. Not that we were thinking that we were going to go on and win it, but we thought we would beat four or five of the established teams there and have a good chance of getting to a semi-final. Belmont gave us a rude awakening in our very first Senior A match, they beat us comprehensively and since then it has been steady progress. Every year we have stepped up that little bit further. We didn't get through the group for a couple of years then we lost a quarter final, lost a semi-final so to finally win a semi-final that was the step we needed. There is only one more to go but we'll have to see how we go on Sunday.”
Duignan and his fellow Durrow men, Ross Ravenhill and Ciaran Burke have been joined at the hips since childhood. Burke played in the intermediate win in 2017 while Duignan, Ravenhill and Kevin McDermott all made their debuts in 2018.
Duignan, Ravenhill and Burke soon made the Offaly senior hurling team, followed by Mark Troy, Sam Bourke and now the two Dan's, Bourke and Ravenhill. The presence of so many excellent hurlers has resulted in Ballinamere operating under a microscope of pressure that is out of sync with their history but Duignan hasn't found this hard.
“No, I don't think so. When we go out ourselves every day, obviously you want to perform to your best. Because we are representing Offaly as well people are saying you should be performing but we wouldn't be really overly thinking it. I think it helps a lot this this year that when we were under pressure against Rynagh's, I wasn't playing my best, a couple of other lads probably weren't at their best, lads who weren't involved with Offaly were stepping up. It wouldn't have happened in the years before. Aaron Maher and John Murphy probably had two of their best games for Ballinamere and it's the lads like that that are stepping up now that are taking the pressure off everyone else, that's more important. I can go out and have the best game of my life and it mightn't be enough but if everyone is chipping in and giving a small bit to it then it's better for the collective.”
It has been another non-stop year for Duignan and a few of his colleagues. He was in great form as Offaly won the JoeMcDonagh Cup, resulting in selection on that team of the year. He reflected:
“We got our few days away after that (the Joe McDonagh Cup final win over Laois) to be fair and Niall (Rigney, Ballinamere manager) was good to us and gave us a few days off but we can't complain, this is where we want to be playing matches every week, week in week out and as long as it keeps going we're happy to be involved.”
Despite that, Duignan was among the Ballinamere players that looked jaded when they drew with Birr in the first round of the championship a couple of weeks later.
He agreed:
“It was definitely a flat display by a good few of us that day. I'd say a few of us were tired, I definitely was anyway, and I didn't have much energy. It was probably the break and coming back from holidays and we didn't really do much hard training between coming back and the first round. It's just hard with the hurling and football but we definitely were flat. That being said Birr played well that day too. We didn't play our best but they played well and they made it very tough for us and we were lucky to get away with a draw that day.”
Since then Ballinamere have done everything asked of them, winning all their games.
“We knew after the Birr game, again like I said we didn't play our best, so we wanted a reaction in the next few games and our focus was on just making sure we do what we can do in controlling our own game and playing as well as we can and then we got into a good rhythm and we started getting over the line in the rest of our group games.”
Topping the group and going direct into the semi-finals was important as it gave them breathing space and a time to recharge.
“It's probably different for me as I wasn't playing too much football, but for the lads like Ciaran Burke, Ross Ravenhill, Kevin McDermott and Jack Fogarty, who were playing 60 minutes every week, having that five week break was just the chance for them. We took a full week off after the last round of the hurling, we did no gym, no training, not even setting a foot in the field, hurling and football, and I think it crowned us for the rest of the year. I know the football didn't go the way we wanted it to in the quarter final but we stayed up, then obviously we beat St Rynagh's in the semi-final and it was all thanks to that break that we got because we were just so tired after the whole year, we needed that week off.”
Duignan is one of several Ballinamere hurlers who are Durrow members and he spoke about the importance of being fair to their club and football.
“I said before that I was coming back to play football. I didn't play too much football. You are trying to play both and I would have missed a few sessions for the football and at the end of the day there were lads there who were training all year for football and just playing football and they were the ones that were getting picked. I did my best, I played maybe 10 minutes most days and I did my best any time I came on. Unfortunately again, the quarter final didn't go our way as we were coming up against probably one of the best football teams in Offaly over the last three or four years.”
He was happy that Durrow secured senior status in the relegation play offs.
“Staying up is important. I'm not sure what way it is going to go if there is going to be relegation, there probably won't be, but it's important you don't want to be dragged into a relegation final, it's another week of training that you probably don't need, especially when you are going into a hurling semi-final.”
Ballinamere's best performance of the year was against Shinrone in the group and after losing to them in the semi-final last year, that was important.
“Mentally it was important because of what happened the year before and the semi-final against Shinrone, we probably went in not disrespecting them, we didn't go in thinking we were going to walk it but we did think we had a very good chance and they absolutely destroyed us. They made it a very physical match and they bullied us that day but we came out in the group this year and said we had to make amends for last year. I don't think the scoreline probably reflects how close a match – they are a better team than that, we got a bit of a run on them with a couple of goals but it was important to get over the line anyway at all that day.”
To beat Kilcormac-Killoughey, Ballinamere will need an awful lot to go right.
“Every county final you need some element of luck. Something at some stage of a match is going to have to break for you and it's going to have to go right for you to get over the line. No county final is ever easy won, so we're going to go out, play our game plan, what we planned to do and hopefully get the rub of the green as well.”
Duignan had been sick in the build up to the semi-final win over St Rynagh's. When he missed a second half penalty, most Ballinamere supporters feared the worse but they got the last seven points for a great win. What were your thoughts when that penalty flew wide?
“Being sick or not being sick, at the end of the day a penalty when you are standing over it you have to be hitting the target. That's something for me to learn. Lads were saying I was going for the top corner, I wasn't going for the top corner, but I probably just hit a bit too well and it went out but afterwards, the same as missing a free or missing a shot from play, you just forget about it. At the time I was probably thinking 'Oh God we're three points down with 10 minutes to go' and then I thought ten minutes with three points in hurling is nothing. A few of the Rynagh's lads probably let me know about it as well and that is fair enough as I'm sure if Aidan Treacy missed a penalty in the first half plenty of lads would have said it to him as well, that's just the way the game is. I kind of said to myself in the last few minutes, I better kick on here and try and do something.”
Ballinamere's finish was serious stuff, a coming of age moment in ways.
“We didn't think seven points in a row was going to be something that would happen, that Rynagh's wouldn't score, but we had said that the last 10 minutes we were planning on using our legs and it obviously worked. You see Jack Fogarty coming up in the last few minutes, Daniel Bourke starting to run a few balls, Aaron (Maher) still had loads of energy out there and lads really started running at them. It was the difference in the end. And a lot of those Rynagh's lads do have a lot of miles on the clock but they still hurled a very good game. They missed a couple of chances and they were well in the game. The same as the county final, in semi-finals you have to get luck as well and it fell our way on the day.”
He has played a lot of hurling with Kilcormac-Killoughey players for Offaly and knows them well and how good a team they are:
“They are. They have an awful lot of lads with county experience and even the lads that aren't inter county any more, a lot of them would have played underage or would have played senior at some stage. They are all top class hurlers. The same as anyone, if you get to a county final you have to have a good fifteen or good 20 even with lads on the bench, so obviously they are a very good team and have played fierce well this year. It's a county final, they're going out to win, we're going out to win so we're just hoping it will work out for us.”
K-K are red hot favourites but Ballinamere had more players on the Offaly senior hurling team this year.
“I suppose it's hard to ignore the facts at the end of the day. They are after winning all their matches by a fairly big scoreline. I don't think they have had any matches where it has been too close. So if you are looking in from the outside it is only fair to say they are favourites and that is just the way it is, that's just the way it is in any sport. I wouldn't say it annoys us, we are just focussed on ourselves, we wouldn't worry about what the bookies have to say or anyone else has to say and we will just go out and try to play our own game.”
While Ballinamere are young enough to come again, Duignan agreed that this is not written in stone.
“No, it took us six years playing senior hurling to get here and I suppose there are plenty of people around the country who have got to a county final and thought this is great, it's going to happen every year and it might never happen again or it might be another six years. So we are just enjoying the build up, we're just going to enjoy the fact that we are still here and we're still getting to go training and having craic at training with the lads because at the end of the day that's what it is all about.”
Breaking down barriers and winning the first in anything is always very difficult.
“It's not easy anyway. It's an awful slog in years when you aren't going well and you are playing bad hurling, you're just not clicking but again I will go back to the fact that it's the club lads here who have really driven it on. We're driving ourselves on, the county lads, as individuals but the club lads are lifting their standards 100%, way more than they ever have, even the gym work, the nutrition and doing that bit extra that probably wouldn't have been the case, and that's just the way it is in a lot of clubs but they have taken on that bit more professionalism and that's the reason why we are there at the end of the day, these lads have really pushed on.”
The performances of Kevin McDermott in the group and Aaron Maher in the semi-final are perfect examples of club hurlers driving things on.
“There are so many lads that would have been really good underage hurlers for us and it probably just took a couple of extra years, I wouldn't say to make the breakthrough, but that real step up where they are top class senior players and it does take a long time because it's a physical game. It is the likes of Kev and the likes of Aaron Maher and even John Murphy, he played at a very high level, he was on the Offaly team that won the Christy Ring and he scored six points from play or whatever in the final. He's after really stepping on again and even the fact that we have a bench now. You can look at two or three lads to come in every day, you know they are going to come in and they are not going to weaken the team, which is probably something we haven't ever had before.”
Duignan, Ciaran Burke and Ross Ravenhill were the start of the change for Ballinamere but the quick progression after them of Mark Troy, Sam and Dan Bourke and Dan Ravenhill was also crucial.
“The four younger lads, Mark and Sam and Daniel and Dan, they are after driving standards again. Mark Troy is an exceptional goalie, I don't think anyone is going to take that off him. He is probably hard done by not to get one of the Joe Mc All Stars this year as he had a great year this year playing senior for Offaly. The other three lads, their dedication, their gym work, their nutrition and the things they do outside is absolutely mad. It made myself and Ross and Burky, we had five years done playing senior for Offaly, it made us think we have to lift it here or these lads are going to pass us out and them coming into the team has really driven everything as well to be fair.”
He is enjoying the whole build up but also knows they have to stay distant from it.
“When you are part of the group and in the bubble you are trying to stay away from it all, but obviously there is a bit of stuff going on in the background, organising bits and pieces, but you try to stay out of it as much as possible. It is great for the community, it brings everyone together. Like any community we probably have our fair share of things that have happened over years and this is the time that everyone looks to, it's a big occasion for the club and hopefully it goes well for everyone.”
The fact that so many playrs have played in big inter county finals is a help to them.
“The two under 20 All-Irelands is a bit more pressure, playing in a full Semple Stadium, playing in a full Nowlan Park, that's huge, and I know the younger lads are just going to take it in their stride, it's not going to affect them whatsoever, and that's fair enough. Ourselves, it's the same as, it's another match. You can build it up all you want, but if you start looking at it as an occasion rather than a game, you're only going to bypass the game. We'll just focus on going out and try to do what we do before every match and do your proper warm up and just concentrate on the game and not get ahead of ourselves with the occasion.”
Duignan admitted that he does get nervous before games.
“Yeah, it is healthy to be nervous before a game. If you are not nervous before a game then you don't really realise the setting or the occasion that you are in but it is all nervous energy. If you channel that into a good warm up and getting yourself going you are alright, don't let the nerves take you over.”
With the county hurlers they have, there has to be a chance but he acknowledged the need to hit the ground with fierce intensity.
“Every county final you have a chance, no matter who you are playing, it is a county final at the end of the day and none of them are easy won, so we're going to go out with the belief that we can win but you are going to have to bring massive intensity and you are going to have to do massive workrate against Kilcormac/Killoughey because that's what they are going to bring to you. We are going to have to go out and work hard, play good hurling and we're going to have to get a bit of luck but there's nothing stopping us winning I suppose.”
With so many great hurlers playing, it is a great pairing for Offaly hurling. He smiled:
“As a neutral looking in you're probably looking at a good final and it's something different as well. We've never been there and I know Kilcormac have been in a good few the last few years but we've never been there, so it is something different to look at. There's good hurlers on show, as in any county final there are good hurlers on show, but it all depends on the day, it could be a good match, it could be a bad match, I don't know.”