Ballymore hold their own
27 May 2005
Ballymore achieved what they set out to achieve at the start of last year
by retaining their senior status. Having survived their first year back
in the top flight, they will be setting their sights higher in the coming
season as midfielder Derek Molloy explains.
Given the recent trend of inter-mediate champions failing to survive
more than one season at senior level, Ballymore have reason to be satisfied
with how last season panned out.
After capturing the intermediate title in 2003, many had predicted a quick
return to the intermediate ranks for Ballymore just as in 1999 when they
were relegated after just one year in the top flight. And while their
fate was in the balance for much of the season, the green and golds avoided
the dreaded drop by virtue of a 1-5 to 0-3 victory over Moate All-Whites
in a typically tense relegation play-off in mid-October.
“Staying up was the year’s highlight,” acknowledges
Ballymore midfielder Derek Molloy.
“A lot of people were expecting us to go straight back down but
we didn’t want that to happen again and got the win we needed against
Moate to stay up. It would have been a disaster if we were relegated again.
It’s bad enough for it to happen once, never mind a second time.
“If we had gone down last year, it would have had serious repercussions for the team. A lot of lads would have found it very difficult to motivate themselves for another intermediate championship campaign. Being relegated for a second time would have knocked the heart out of them,” he adds.
While stressing that Ballymore hadn’t planned for a relegation
play-off, Molloy admits that it was never too far from the players’
minds.
“We didn’t go out with the intention of being involved in
a relegation dogfight,” he says.
“Our intention was to get a couple of wins and leave ourselves clear
of trouble. But it didn’t work out like that and when the results
weren’t going our way, I always had it in the back of my mind that
it could come down to a relegation play-off.
“Everyone expected Moate to beat us but we were extremely focused
and produced our best performance of the year to beat them.”
Managed once again by Joe Mulvihill (who also doubled up as Longford under 21 manager), Ballymore almost marked their return to the senior ranks with a shock victory over Flanagan Cup holders The Downs. A poor first half produced just three scores as Ballymore trailed by 0-1 to 0-2 at the interval. After living dangerously in the opening 30 minutes, the 2003 intermediate champions drew level on the restart with a brace of frees from Louis Meares before two more unanswered points from Bobby McDermott and Meares put them two clear.
The Downs restored parity in the 46th minute courtesy of two points from James Conroy, but they were rocked back on their heels a minute later when Derek Molloy, Anthony Kearney and Patrick Lynch combined to carve an opening for corner forward Derek Cuffe who drilled the ball low to the net.
With Ballymore leading by 1-5 to 0-5, a sensational result looked to
be on the cards but they were not to score again as The Downs hit an unanswered
1-5 in the closing stages to record a hugely flattering 1-10 to 1-5 victory.
Following the resumption of championship action in August, Ballymore suffered
a 0-4 to 0-14 defeat to Athlone at Tang. The green and golds could have
few complaints about the outcome as Athlone were superior in virtually
every department. With Joe Fallon and Neil Dolan in fine scoring form,
Athlone had established a 0-8 to 0-2 lead by half-time and it didn’t
get any better for Ballymore in the second half as the Shannonsiders powered
to an emphatic victory.
A week later at Tyrrellspass, Ballymore came within seconds of securing their first win of the campaign against St. Loman’s. Joe Mulvihill’s side were leading by 0-7 to 0-6 when St. Loman’s corner back Dermot Brady popped up in his own full forward line to score a dramatic equalizer. The drama didn’t end there as Ballymore centre back Denis Eivers appeared to be fouled about 40 metres from the St. Loman’s goal deep in injury-time, but the incident wasn’t spotted by referee Peter Daly and the green and golds had to settle for a share of the spoils.
The sides were level on 0-5 apiece at the interval and in a low-scoring
second half, Derek Molloy’s 55th minute point looked set to decide
the issue until Brady came to Loman’s rescue.
Ballymore’s survival hopes were dealt a further setback when they
were walloped 1-2 to 1-11 by Coralstown/Kinnegad in their fourth outing.
The losers were facing an uphill battle from as early as the second minute
when Mark Gorman beat Ciaran McCormack to give Coralstown/Kinnegad a dream
start.
At half-time, Ballymore trailed by 0-1 to 1-6 and fell further in arrears shortly after the resumption. Dermot Farrell got in for a Ballymore goal in the closing stages, but it made little difference to the end result.
Ballymore’s place in the relegation play-off was confirmed when they suffered another heavy defeat to Castledaly in their final group match. The green and golds might have made a game of it had Louis Meares’ 10th minute shot found the net. Instead, Castledaly replied with a goal from Alan Kelly and went on to lead by 2-6 to 0-2 at the break thanks to a second goal from Paul Kelly.
Paddy Martin opened the second half scoring for Ballymore, but it proved
to be a false dawn as Castledaly hit back with a flurry of scores to run
out comfortable winners by 2-14 to 0-4.
Everything now hinged on the play-off with Moate All-Whites which took
place at Cusack Park on October 16. Moate, with their great tradition,
entered the contest as firm favourites but Ballymore hadn’t read
the script and, after a tough battle, emerged as five-point winners.
Despite playing against the wind in the first half, Ballymore took the game to their illustrious neighbours and never looked back after Anthony Kearney scored the only goal in the 22nd minute. That score helped the green and golds to a 1-3 to 0-2 lead at the interval and they made sure of victory in the second half with further scores from Kearney and Molloy.
“We were well fired up for that game. Moate had no answer to our hunger and desire to win,” recalls Molloy, who is called ’Ching’ by his team-mates.
While Ballymore consolidated their senior status, they were unable to
avoid demotion to Division 3 of the All-County League. Relegation became
a reality after they managed just one win - against Ballynacargy - over
the course of the campaign.
After last season’s close call, Molloy is anxious that Ballymore
fare better in the group stages of this year’s championship under
their new manager Gearoid Fay.
“We need to be more ambitious this year,” the 26-year-old
says.
“We were happy to stay up senior last year but I don’t think
that will satisfy us this year. Gearoid Fay has taken over as manager
from Joe Mulvihill, having previously being involved with his native Granard
and St. Mel’s College teams in Longford.
“I’ll be disappointed if we don’t win a couple of championship matches - the St. Mary’s and St. Malachy’s games are definitely winnable. Another goal of ours is to get promoted from Division 3. We’re the only senior club playing our league football at that level and we need to get back up to Division 2 as quickly as possible,” he concludes.
The Ballymore team which defeated Moate All-Whites to retain their senior status was: Ciaran McCormack; Barry McDermott, Damien Scally, Francis Eivers; Vinnie Cox, Darragh Rooney, Shane Rooney; Derek Molloy, Paddy Martin; Louis Meares, Dermot Farrell, Michael Slevin; Anthony Kearney, Lima Gilligan, Paddy Lynch. Subs used: Derek Cuffe, Stephen Reilly and Niall Finerty.