Ballina Town ready to take the final step
Fergal Forde, who won the 2013 Super League as manager, returns to the Ballina Town hotseat.
Three second place finishes in a row prove just how unfortunate this Ballina Town squad been to exist at the same time as a generational Ballyheane team in 2021 and 2022 and then at the same time as the Castlebar Celtic juggernaut that is threatening to rule the roost again this season.
Alan Henry led them to the Mayo Super Cup in his only season in charge, boasting the best attack and conceding just one more goal than the team with the best defence. A couple of narrow defeats to Celtic, K/K and Westport and a draw away to the champions stood in the way of a first title since 2018.
This year, new manager Fergal Forde has added Jamie Moyles, Ciaran Gaughan, Conor Quinn and Mark Duffy while John Durkan and Ryan Moran, who are signed with the clubs B team may feature in the Super League. They may stutter from the start with Raff Cretaro and Benny Lavelle still sidelined but the likes of Dylan McKee and Jamie Cawley could keep them firing until then.
Ballina Town defender Chris Moore is hoping key additions to the squad will be the difference in helping the club regain the league title this year, .
It’s been a frustrating time for the Belleek men as they finished second for the third season in a row, but Moore is hoping additions like Mark Duffy, Ciaran Gaughan, Jamie Moyles and Conor Quinn can take them to the next level.
“A small squad kind of caught up with us. We pushed Castlebar as good as we could. It was nice to win the Cup. I think we weren't far off Castlebar last year, so hopefully we improve on it this year,” said Moore.
On their day, they can put up it up to Celtic, as evidenced by their brilliant Super Cup semi-final win over the Hoops in Celtic Park in one of the highest quality games in the Mayo League last year.
“The lads were brilliant that day, everyone. It just shows that you do need the squad to win the Super League. That day we were just on form, they were off it a little bit and we took advantage.” Moore is excited by the impact Forde has had early on and believes they can go one step further.
“Fergal's been brilliant since he came in. He's got a lot of young players come in. There's a good mixture, old, young. Has a plan that he's set out. We're gonna stick at that and hopefully get through the season.
“I think we can (win it) this year. I think we have a few injuries but we have a few new young lads that have come in. There's a lot of competition now for positions which we haven't had in the last couple of years. We had Mark Duffy in goal the last day to push Emmet. There's going to be a battle so hopefully we'll be grand. We can go one step further and win it this year.” Town will start their Super League campaign the weekend of March 10 due to a Connacht Cup tie away to Maree/Oranmore.
