Crawley: "Anything can happen on the day"

For the Ballyhaunis RFC squad, they will be going where no one from the club has gone before: an opportunity to play at the Dexcom Stadium for the first time. Well, all but one and even that was not on a day like what is coming on Easter Monday.

The only experience club captain Fintan Crawley has had was a training game with the Connacht Rugby junior squad, as well as a few training sessions. The excitement, as you could imagine, is palpable within the group.

“The lads are looking forward to us. Been a bit of a drag coming up to it with the change of dates and that. We’re well prepared, but there's excitement around the club and with the lads in general,” he told the Western People.

“It's a big day for all the lads. They wouldn't have played in the old Sportsground or the new set up. I've only played there once in a training game myself for the Connacht Juniors. That's the only time I would have played a match there. I've trained there a few times. The lads are excited for that.” 

A big challenge for this Ballyhaunis team will be the artificial surface that the game will be played on. Their final opponents, Ballina, regularly play on astro in Heffernan Park but Ballyhaunis play and train on grass and how they adjust will be key, although weather conditions could also play a factor.

“We haven’t played one game on artificial grass this year. We've all our games on grass and we train on grass. I suppose we’re not prepared in that way for us. We just have to do what we can do. You never know on the Dexcom what kind of day it is. If it’s anything like the Sunday just gone, it could be a wet and windy day.

“The speed of the game is usually much faster on an astro pitch and the bounce of the ball. On a wet day on grass, the ball can stick where on astro it'll bounce and skid along. The game is usually much faster on the artificial grass.” One thing they will have in common with Ballina is silverware. On the same day Ballina won the Cawley Cup, Ballyhaunis claimed the Curley Cup for the very first time.

“It was great for the club to win it, for us to win it, and it was one of our goals for the season. It was great to get that under the belt.

“The Plate would be something that we could have had a good run in. Now I don't know did we expect to get as far as the final, but it was something that was on our radar, to target a run in the Plate.” Ballyhaunis will be going in as big underdogs against a Ballina side that is a division above them. Crawley knows it will be a big ask but believes anything can happen should they bring their best performance of the season.

“Anything can happen on the day. It's 15 men against 15. As I said, we’re preparing well and on the day, we just have to bring our A game and see what we can do.

“This Ballina team were seven from seven in the league and unluckily lost out to Creggs in the semi-final of the league. They'd be very strong, so we won't be taking anything for granted.”