Ballymac second half surge prompted by calm half-time reminder

Ballymacelligott manager Ian Blake said a reminder about those they'd recently lost — Luke Silles and Jimmy Breen — helped his side comeback from two points down at the break to beat Clogher in the All-Ireland Club JFC final

Ballymacelligott are the 12th Kerry team to win the All-Ireland junior title. Pic: ©INPHO/James Lawlor

A calm reminder of who they were doing for was the gist of the dressing room half-time talk that preceded Ballymacelligott’s outstanding second-half display.

Manager Ian Blake asked the group to reproduce what they had shown in the opening five minutes but spoke of their team-mate Luke Silles who died following a swimming accident in May.

The teenager was remembered on the club's jerseys and Aidan Breen’s father, Jimmy, who passed away in October 2024, was also spoken of at the interval as Blake looked to rally the troops who went in two points down.

“A bit of destiny there maybe. I don't like to keep on about it but we spoke about ones that we'd lost during the year like Luke and Aidan Breen's father passed away. There was no roaring or shouting, it was all very simple and I think they came out in the second half and they showed what they can do.

“We were happy enough going in at half-time, only two points down, but there was a very strong breeze there, and we started very well.

“We probably left them back into the game, so we just had a chat, we said, just do what we've done in the first five minutes, if we can just bring that to the second half. Just bring that bit of intensity up a bit. They were getting a lot of easy kick-outs, short kick-outs off, so we said we can close down on that a small bit, that was where they were getting their platform, so I think we done that anyway.” 

Blake reported captain Daire Keane is unlikely to play again until the summer because of his foot injury. “He'll probably be out now for three or four months, but sure he won’t mind after today.”

Full-back Daniel O’Shea also faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines after he was forced to withdraw in the first half. “He dislocated his elbow,” reported Blake. “It was hanging off, it would have to be hanging off for him to come off. Like, he wouldn't come off.”

Midfielder Darragh Broderick was also in serious pain after a first-half collision with Barry McKenna but endured. “Yeah, he got a big bang there,” said Blake. “I thought he was taken out of it that time actually, to be honest.

“Now, the referee (Seamus Mulhare), I thought he was excellent, he reffed it very well, but he came in at half-time, we moved him centre-forward, we brought Mairtín (McKivergan) to the middle, which I think worked as well, because Mairtín got more into the game as well, so it's kind of six of one and a half of the other.” 

Blake was glad of the quick turnaround from the Grangenolvin game.

“I find that the group of players we have, and I'm not saying they don't be focused, but they focus better when it's every week. They know they have a task. They had the work done, so it wasn’t that you had to train or anything. It was all about getting the heads right.”