'Baltinglass have great history but that’s all it is’

Jason Kennedy is a man keen to make up for lost time and, more to the point with the AIB Leinster club football championship in mind, lost opportunities.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, his club, Baltinglass, simply couldn’t be beaten in the Wicklow championship, and went on to win the All-Ireland outright in 1990.

Those days are long gone though and on the one occasion since 1994 that Baltinglass did add to their county haul, in 2007, they were unable to take their place in the Leinster championship.

Their final went to a replay that year so St Vincent’s, who won the provincial and All-Ireland titles, got a free pass.

Baltinglass finally return to the provincial scene as Wicklow champions this Sunday, after a 22-year absence, with a tie against Louth’s Sean O’Mahonys.

“We were beaten in three county finals before we eventually got it over the line this year so it’s been a long time coming, a lot of heartache and hard luck stories and moral victories in between,” said midfielder Kennedy. “It’s just fantastic to have got Baltinglass over the line and back to where we think the club should be.

“I suppose people probably dwell on the club’s history. Baltinglass has a very decorated history, winning the club All-Ireland in 1990. For a town that’s relatively small, it was a fantastic achievement.

“It’s funny, talking to the supporters after this year’s final I was saying I was too young to remember Baltinglass actually being successful. I always just remember going to matches and seeing us losing or whatever, and I suppose that’s the reality for people my age.

“So we have a great history but, it’s just that — history. It’s important to have a bit of success now in the present day.”

Kennedy admitted it was disappointing to miss out on facing the Dublin champions back in 2007 when they last qualified for Leinster.

“Yeah, we didn’t get to play it because of a fixtures backlog in the county championship,” he said.

Of Kevin O’Brien, the star player of Baltinglass throughout that glory period and more recently a selector alongside Mick O’Dwyer with the county team, Kennedy said: “He’s not involved with us but he is doing lots of work with the juveniles and is involved with various age groups. It’s funny, anywhere you go in Ireland, people always know Kevin O’Brien.”

First-time Louth senior champions Sean O’Mahonys will provide novel opposition for Baltinglass in Aughrim this Sunday. “They won the Leinster intermediate championship in 2014,” noted Kennedy. “They have the experience of doing that, albeit at intermediate. I would see that as a slight advantage for them because none of our team have been involved in a Leinster club competition. It’s a bit of a journey into the unknown.”