'It was a new game' - Ballinora’s James Lordan relishing his football after Oz return

It's a showdown against mid-Cork rivals, Kilmurry next up in the Cork IAFC.

Tue, 07 Oct, 2025 - 13:07

Therese O’Callaghan

James Lordan returned from Australia to pick up where he left off but football had changed, changed a lot.

“I came back at the start of the summer and I got the tail end of the league and managed to get my fitness back up,” he recounts.

“It was a new game. I had to learn the rules and I made many mistakes at the start for dissent but fortunately now I’ve got the hang of it.

“It’s brilliant. It massively opens things up, especially in the forward line. It is creating more goal chances as well because defences are forced to come out.”

Ballinora qualified from the group in second place to Adrigole.

“We probably played our most complete game against the Barrs, won by eight points. The next day was Glanworth, probably didn’t play our best. Up five points two minutes into injury time and gave away a goal and a two-pointer. The last game against Adrigole we were well beaten but thankfully it was enough to get through.

“The Gabriel’s game (quarter-final) was a big win for us. I don’t think many people would have seen it coming to be honest, even though we played them a lot over the last couple of years in the league and there is always very little between us.”

After years of heartbreak, that victory sets them up against Kilmurry.

“There is no real history between us, obviously we would be mid Cork rivals. We would have been Premier intermediate and came down, and they’ve been working their way up.

“I came in 2014/2015. We were relegated twice from Premier intermediate, struggling for wins. The last time we got out of the group was 2020.

“This has been the same group of players together for the last four or five years and we are learning a lot as we are getting more used to playing with each other.

“There is more familiarity, the management team is with us for about three years. Maybe we’ve honed in on the game plan, refined it a bit and also we’ve got a bit of luck this year. We won two games in the group stage last year and didn’t go through. This year we only won one and drew one and got through.

“We are in bonus territory now from where we were in 2020. The last few years have been tough so hopefully this will be a good year.”