How Ballygiblin found fun on historic route to Croke Park

What was lacking in previous campaigns was a sense of togetherness. Team spirit, there was none.

With Ballygiblin heading to Croke Park to play Mooncoin in the All-Ireland Junior Club hurling final, supporters at the local national school with connections to members of the team held a colours day. Included are principal Mary Collins, whose two sons Michael and Jack are on the team, along with staff members Marie Mullins, sister of James Mullins, and Rita Roche, a cousin of Ryan and Kieran Donegan. Picture: Dan Linehan

You could count on one hand the number of players who showed up to the first couple of Ballygiblin training sessions last May.

Covid, as no one needs reminding, meant collective training was off-limits until early May, but when the all-clear was finally given for club players to return, there wasn’t exactly a stampede at the gates of the Ballygiblin field.

Its sister club, Mitchelstown, was preparing for the delayed Cork Intermediate A football final at the time and so that’s where the focus was among the dual players who line out for both teams.

Still, though, only five and six showing up to each training session didn’t say much for Ballygiblin’s chances in the Avondhu Junior championship.

“It was the same five or six the whole time,” recalls half-back Michael Lewis. “It was the likes of Diarmuid Noonan, who is always there. My brother — he only came back playing this year, but he was ever-present, as well.

“It didn’t look like we were going anywhere. It looked like we wouldn’t even get out of our group in North Cork.”

Eight months on, the small little club nestled close to the Cork-Tipperary-Limerick border stands one hour from All-Ireland glory. And were they to overcome Kilkenny’s Mooncoin at Croke Park this afternoon, it would mean a fourth piece of championship silverware in as many months, following on from their Avondhu, Cork, and Munster successes.

So, what changed?

It’s a question Lewis needs no time at all to consider.

Although only 24, the junior doctor has a good number of seasons under his belt with Ballygiblin.

What was lacking in previous campaigns, he says, was a sense of togetherness. Team spirit, there was none. Ballygiblin was a team of individuals, rather than a group of lads hurling for one another.

Following a championship win, you’d have no more than four or five going back to the local pub together. Everyone else would walk out the dressing-room door and go their separate ways until the panel reconvened for Tuesday training.

“There has been a bit of fun in it this season, even from the very start when there was only a few people going training. I remember a challenge game back in Lismire against Lixnaw — Ronan [Dwane] was great for getting us loads of games — and there was just a bit of craic on the sideline at half-time. We didn’t have that togetherness in previous years, even though we always had great players.

Celebrations for Ballygiblin after their win against neighbours Skeheenarinky in the Munster final. Picture: Larry Cummins

“A lot of people joke that it was the setting up of a group chat on Snapchat that made our year. There’s a few characters in it who certainly bring the fun.

“The big difference this year is the feeling of a team. From the oldest player to the youngest, everyone is willing to play for each other. There’s been a change of culture. We always had the talent, but we weren’t willing to play for each other, in a way.”

Listening to a recent Paul O’Connell interview where he spoke about former Munster captain Mick Galwey making sure all players socialised together after a game, Lewis found deep resonance with the sense of camaraderie fostered by their own skipper Fionn Herlihy.

“Everyone goes out after matches together, everyone is friends. It’s essential to have fun together.”

Ballygiblin’s unexpected run, the aforementioned spot of socialising after each win, and the long hours of a junior doctor have made for a busy past couple of months for Lewis.

His intern year is broken down into four three-month rotations, the latest of which sees him stationed in the Neurology Department at Mercy University Hospital, Cork. And as luck would have it, his roster on this All-Ireland final week has been 12-hour night shifts (9pm-9am) Sunday through to Thursday.

Not ideal preparation, as he says himself.

“I tried desperately to swap out of it, but there was no one available to swap. I have only recently started in the Mercy, I was on my psychiatry rotation before that in St Stephen’s Glanmire where the hours were much more forgiving.”

Celebrations after the cup presentation to Ballygiblin after winning the Munster final. Picture: Larry Cummins

Being based in Cork city means he hasn’t been fully exposed to the wave of excitement that has taken hold of the parish in the run-up to today’s game. But for the majority of his teammates who live locally, there’s been no one shying away from the build-up.

Enjoy this time, has been the message from management.

“We have all said it that we’ll never be here again, not as players. Mark [Keane] and Darragh [Flynn] might be there in the future with Cork, but the likes of myself, we won’t be there again. We just have to make the most of it, enjoy the day, look around and appreciate what we have done this season, and then just give it our all.

“To win would be the cherry on the cake of an unbelievable year. An incredible journey that no one could have predicted. Everybody in Mitchelstown has got behind the team. Before, it would have been the diehards who live out in Ballygiblin that would be supporting the team and going to every game. But now, there’s a new generation going to the games and hopefully it will give a bit of life to the club going forward.”