Ballinascarthy prove size isn’t everything
While it was the winning of the county Féile Peil title at B level in April, and subsequent performances at the national finals, which helped win the prize, the past week has also been very fruitful.
Overcoming Newcestown in the Rebel Óg West semi-final, last Sunday saw them beat Bantry Blues by 4-15 to 2-2 to add more silverware. Stephen O’Leary, chairman of the underage section (known as Pedlars’ Cross) believes the club’s small size is something it uses to its advantage.
“Nearly every player plays both codes, which is a help,” he said “We’re so small in numbers, we can’t afford to have two separate panels. Everybody’s needed in a small club, maybe in a bigger town the less-good fellas mightn’t stay with it.
“We can keep them and then some players develop later whereas they might have fallen away if the numbers hadn’t been tight.
“We cohabit very well with the rugby and soccer, in fact we almost encourage players to play them over the winter and then come back fresh and fit.”
Hosted by Charlestown in Mayo for the Féile, Bal’ topped a group featuring Dunmore MacHales (Galway), Ederney of Fermanagh and the hosts to reach the quarter-finals, where Louth’s Ardee ended their campaign.
For captain Ciarán O’Neill, the belief shown can be traced back to the county final win over Aghinagh, when Ciarán Nyhan scored an injury-time goal for a one-point win.
“We were taking it game by game,” he said. “When we got to the semi-final and the final then we knew we had a good chance. Even in the final, when we were losing and the time was nearly up, we didn’t give up, we said that we had to keep fighting to the very end.
The success has been continued domestically since then, and O’Neill points to the team spirit developed while staying together in Mayo.
“We bonded really well when we went away, got to know each other better, and I think that has helped us on the field since then.”
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