’Courty up for the challenge

THE Ballinacourty footballers are an experienced bunch who’ve dealt with plenty of heartbreak in recent years.

Sat, 05 Nov, 2011 - 00:00

Michael Moynihan is an associate editor and columnist with the Irish Examiner. He is also a best-selling author and documentary maker.

They enjoyed their county final victory two weeks ago all the more as a result.

“We lost the county final last year to a 63rd-minute point which denied us a draw against Stradbally,” says Ballinacourty chairman Tony Mansfield. “Fair play to Stradbally, but this year we won the final by a point — a final played in a mudbath — so we were the lucky ones. The focus of our lads all year and of manager Mattie Kiely and his selectors was to get back to the county final. We were delighted, we’ve been there or thereabouts for a while. In 2008 we drew with The Nire and they won the replay, and deserved to, but we were down five players for the second game.