It’s time for Ballincollig to deliver on final stage, declares coach O’Brien

At the outset of every Cork football championship, Ballincollig are pinpointed as dark horses.

Blessed with talent across the age-spectrum, they appear to have all the ingredients required, but, for one reason or another, have found it difficult to realise their potential.

This year’s semi-final appearance, where they beat Nemo Rangers, was their first since 1999, a loss to UCC. Manager Michael O’Brien was on the team and played until 2008 so he was well-acquainted with the scene at the start of the current campaign.

“When it mattered most, we didn’t deliver and that’s the simple fact of it,” he says. “We’ve always had huge potential, but it was never delivered. It hasn’t been delivered yet either until we win a county medal.

“Belief is one of the keys this year, getting them to buy into what we want to do. Every player, to a man, has stood up and been counted this year. In all the games where we were underdogs, we were confident if we did perform we would win.”

Wins against St Finbarr’s, Carbery, Muskerry and Nemo have brought Ballincollig to Sunday’s final against Carbery Rangers in Páirc Uí Chaoimh (3.45pm). O’Brien highlights the impact of early-season trip to Kerry.

“At the start of the year we went down to the Gaeltacht for the Paidí Ó Sé tournament and we won that,” he says. “It wasn’t even about winning, it was more about team-bonding. It showed in the final against Kenmare, after playing two matches the day before and enjoying Páidí Ó Sé’s pub that night, that we went out and won. We had good fun that weekend and that was the start.

“Then, in the first round against St Finbarr’s, we were under the cosh a bit in the first half and we lacked a bit of patience in front of goal. The second-half performance showed a lot of character as we might have lost that game in previous years. That showed that the players knew there was something different happening.”

O’Brien’s only other managerial experience was with the club’s minor hurlers. Success there gave him a taste for management and, once he got the green light from his wife Aisling, he was happy to take the top job.

“We won the Premier 2 county in 2012 with the minors, we beat Fr O’Neill’s in the final and that was great from where that team was. We started at minor A and we ended up playing Premier 1 in the third year. It certainly wasn’t a difficult decision to make to take the senior role. I was approached last December and I wanted to do it.

In recent times, meetings between Ballincollig and Carbery Rangers have generally gone the way of the Rosscarbery club. While accepting that a big challenge awaits, he doesn’t feel that the pressure is on his side’s opponents.

“I think there’s going to be pressure on both teams,” he says. “It’s new for both, there’ll be huge hype in Ballincollig and Rosscarbery, so it’s going to be about who can deal with that pressure best.

“They’ve been knocking on the door, losing three semi-finals, we know that it’ll be a big battle so we’ll be ready for it.”