GAA fairytale giving Ballinagar midfield power-house and family a real sense of community

IN a different era, perhaps even less than a generation ago, Adam Strong would have been rucking and mauling in Spollanstown or some other rugby field instead of going to the clouds to field ball, taking hits, rocking players back on their heels and bursting forward, soloing the ball in one of the GAA's iconic venues last weekend – and bringing such joy to so many people in his own area.

Strong has been one of Ballinagar's true heroes during a never to be forgotten year and his midfield partnership with Morgan Tynan has been absolutely pivotal as they won the Offaly Intermediate Football Championship – and put the icing on a very rich cake by surpassing their wildest dreams when taking the Leinster Club Junior Football Championship title with a fantastic win over Meath's Dunsany in Navan's Pairc Tailteann on Sunday last.

The midfield duo have dovetailed very well. Tynan is known outside the county for his exploits as Offaly came from nowhere to capture the All-Ireland U-20 Football Championship in 2021. A footballer in the pure sense, Tynan's play making ability has been a huge asset to Ballinagar this year and he has also shown real leadership qualities.

Adam Strong does not catch the eye in the same way. A curled point from 40 metres or a pinpoint thirty metres pass in over a forest of players to a waiting team mate would be rare but his importance to Ballinagar is every bit as profound as Tynan's. He does a lot of the grafting, putting in the hard yards that allows Tynan to flourish but he is also a very good footballer. Strong has great physicality and is so solid and consistent. He almost always does the right thing and he has been one of Ballinagar's star players this year.

He gave another super performance in Sunday's very convincing 2-9 to 0-8 win over Dunsany in the Leinster club junior football final. He won hard ball, was tough in a very productive way and had crucial assists as Ballinagar opened up an unassailable 2-6 to 0-1 lead against shell-shocked opponents after 22 minutes. The winners only scored three points after that, all from placed balls, but they were never in danger. Even when Dunsany had spells of dominance in the second half, piled on the pressure, Ballinagar's control on the game remained considerable.

Strong was crucial to this. He stopped players in their tracks, worked his socks off and when Ballinagar needed to win possession to relieve the pressure in case it did reach unbearable levels, he came up with the goods, making some spectacular catches, and was in the top three contenders for man of the match.

The Strong family have made a terrific contribution to this golden era for Ballinagar and it is the road less travelled for them. From a Church of Ireland and farming background, their father Greg Strong comes from a very popular local family in the Cappyroe townland and he and wife Avis reared their children here.

Adam Strong has worked so hard to deal with injuries and stay fit this year. His twin brother Ryan would have been an automatic on the team only for injury while older brother Craig also missed out with injury – Craig Strong has made his contribution to the current run of success and his performance in the Junior Football Championship final win over Kilcormac-Killoughey two years ago was heroic.

Greg Strong was a long time Tullamore Rugby Club stalwart in the 1980s and 1990s, playing at wing forward on their firsts team for a decade plus. Avis is a Kelly from Edenderry and her family were immersed in the local rugby club there. When he was growing up in Cappyroe in the 1960s and 1970s, Greg Strong would have been aware of the existence of Ballinagar GAA Club but Spollanstown was the natural habitat for him. The welcome mat would have been put out by his local GAA Club and the players in the locality would have been delighted to see him coming but it was a different era and the slagging and banter would have been a bit more cutting than young people would contemplate now. For years, a GAA Club was not always that welcoming of a place for people of the Church of Ireland faith but it is different now: the things that mattered to current players' parents and grandparents go over their head – old prejudices and baggage accumulated over a few centuries are fast ebbing away if not gone, for most people, and that is a very good thing.

When their children were young, Greg and Avis made the decision to encourage them to play both football and rugby and see where the road led them. They went to secondary school in Kilkenny College and played rugby at a high level there but they also embraced football and Na Fianna underage club. Adam and Ryan Strong were a very important part of Na Fianna's great run in the second half of the 2010s as they won U-14, U-15 and Minor Football Championship titles. Avis Strong often drove to Kilkenny to bring her sons to Na Fianna training, returning with them that evening and this heart-warming parental devotion has yielded a magnificent dividend for Ballinagar GAA Club.

They both played minor football for Offaly with Adam going on to play U-20 while he featured on the Offaly senior football panel earlier this year. Ballinagar have exceeded all ambitions this year. While they were among the contenders for the intermediate title from the start of the year, their early group form raised questions but they improved with every game in the knockout stages, culminating in a great final win over parish neighbours Raheen. They have continued this improvement into Leinster and the Strong family has been at the epi-centre of it all.

It has allowed them to immerse themselves in the community in Ballinagar, to get to know their neighbours and people in a way that couldn't have been done otherwise. The wider family with Greg and Avis and children have been there every step of the way and locals have been delighted to see them joining in the frequent celebrations in Tom and Jerry's Pub.

Asked after the game about his development to where he is now, Adam Strong explained:

“I wouldn't say a good footballer but look, when I was five years old, my mum made sure I was playing football. She felt we needed a sport like that in our lives and she went to Mick Dunne (goalkeeper when Ballinagar won the JFC in 1988, one of the club's most cherished stalwarts whose business Clonmore Sawmills was nearby) and he was quick to tell the club that there were three young lads looking to play with Ballinagar. I have never looked back since.”

He talked with infectious passion about what football and Ballinagar GAA Club has brought into the lives of the Strong family. As delirious supporters chanted nearby and players were mobbed, he looked like he could shed a tear as he smiled:

“The sense of community you get with football, you would never get anywhere else. It is just amazing really. You can hear that now. The sense of pride in the place, it would nearly bring a tear to your eye.”

Like everyone in Ballinagar, he never anticipated that this would happen and they would now be one game away from an All-Ireland final in Croke Park in January.

“You couldn't write it could you. Such a year. You even think back four or five year ago, the way Ballinagar was, you'd never think something like this could happen. It just shows when you put your shoulder to the wheel and you get a good young team in and put in a good structure and good coaching system, what can happen. I don't think anyone in the club expected this.

“It is just amazing. When you get on a roll and you keep building each week, the faces tell the story.”

With a long reaching web of family ties and all that goes with parish neighbours, there was a huge amount of attention around their intermediate final against Raheen and Strong admitted:

“That was added pressure. That was the most pressure filled game we played. I think once we got over that hurdle. . . Like there was no malice between both teams, we both just wanted to play football at the end of the day. I think that happened on the day. We knew what was on the line and look, they are cheering us on now and we would have done the same.”

Once they won that, they attacked Leinster but with the pressure, no expectations and widespread agreement that they were now in bonus territory.

“There was a major sense of freedom after we won in Offaly. We just felt like anything could happen. Some would say bonus territory but once we got the first win over Ballon, we kind of realised we could go on and win this. We just built on it each week and never looked to the final at all. We finally got there in the end.”