Are Breaffy timing their run to perfection?

A week after Breaffy’s first senior county final defeat in 2013, the club bounced back to win the minor ‘A’ county final. It was an effective antidote to the heartbreak. Not only was the club finally rising to the top of the Mayo club football tree, the conveyor belt was running on overdrive.

There was clearly a smorgasbord of promising talent emerging that would leave the club in good order going forward. Breaffy manager Sean Deane acknowledged as much following his minor side’s victory over Claremorris, pointing to the “nucleus of fine players” making their way through the ranks at the West Mayo club and the impact they were likely to have at senior level.

“The future is very bright for Breaffy GAA club, there's no question or doubt about that,” the recent Mayo under-17 boss said.

But the club had more than just a smorgasbord of unencumbered youth on its side. Aidan and Seamus O’Shea were just about to enter their peak years and would likely give their club the guts of a decade of fuel in the midfield engine room. Conor O’Shea had to be happy with a place on the bench for that decider, but the youngest O’Shea brother was already exhibiting all the potential of his older brothers.

Allied with the fact that the club had two key players on that year’s All-Ireland-winning minor team, Michael Hall and Liam Irwin, along with one of the best young goalkeepers in the country between the posts, Robbie Hennelly, it was difficult to make an argument against Deane’s remarks. And as the year progressed, it became clear that there was no shame in losing to Castlebar Mitchels in a county decider. A few months after the side overcame Breaffy to lift the Moclair Cup, they were taking to the field on St Patrick’s Day for the All-Ireland club final in Croke Park.

Back at home, Breaffy weren’t going anywhere. A county title seemed pretty much inevitable. You have to lose one to win one, the old clichéd adage goes. The West Mayo club had taken the first step.

Well, a decade has passed and the wait continues.

The club is better placed than most to cope with many of the obstacles clubs around the country are facing. Their close proximity to Mayo’s largest urban centre means the community hasn’t been thrust into the challenges of rural depopulation to the same extent as other area. Over the last two decades, the local school has ballooned in size and that was always going to have a knock-on impact on the club across the road.

In fairness to the club, the sun was shining and they made hay. They’ve enjoyed an embarrassment of riches over the last decade for a club that doesn’t have a rich history of senior club football that extends back for decades. They only won the Mayo intermediate championship in 2004, after all.

Back in that final against Ballaghaderreen, few had expected the club who had just won the junior title a year previously to make the leap into senior football. But led by a teak-tough man-of-the-match performance from Konrad Coghill, Breaffy’s current manager, the reigning junior champions stunned the East Mayo side and began mulling over their prospects against the very best sides in Mayo club football.

Thanks to some phenomenal work at underage level, the club finally reached their first senior county final just short of a decade later. The could smell the Holy Grail.

Four final defeats later, they’ve become the Mayo of Mayo club football – which is of course no bad reputation to have. While the Mayo side of the last decade ultimately fell short of an All-Ireland title, they also became bastions of consistency. And Breaffy cannot be accused of inconsistency in their quest to win Mayo club football’s biggest prize.

Before this year’s championship began, there wouldn’t have been too many observers of Mayo club football who would’ve put Breaffy in the mix as legitimate contenders. In fact, few would’ve considered them a real threat before their quarter-final ambush of last year’s champions. But the same would’ve been said about them back in 2004 – and that campaign turned out quite well for the club.

The manner in which Breaffy bounced back from a slow start against Ballina Stephenites in the first round of the championship is also quite informative. The side has enough experience to know how a championship works – teams who start quickly can often be found blowing hard when the competition heats up, falling away like sprinters in a marathon. So, Breaffy could very well be timing their run to perfection. And with Aidan O’Shea following up his sensational season in a Mayo jersey with equally formidable form in the club jersey, it will take an immensely impressive team to draw the curtain on the West Mayo club’s season.

Last weekend, the club celebrated their 70th anniversary in their clubhouse. The community gathered and reminisced about the journey the club has been on since it was founded in 1953. But while previous heartbreaks ensured nobody will have been getting carried away just yet, everyone knows that the best way of celebrating the legacy of the club will be returning to the clubhouse in a couple of weeks’ time as champions.

Time is ticking. For all the buzz surrounding Breaffy following their quarter-final success, there’s also a tangible sense that this is the last shot for a golden generation of players. The age profile of Castlebar Mitchels and Ballina Stephenites suggests that the Moclair Cup will be spending a lot of time in both towns over the coming decade. If Breaffy are to claim the title that’s eluded them thus far, they’ll need to take advantage of any lack of experience in their rivals before those players eventually ripen.

And they’ll need to build upon their performance in Islandeady, as impressive as it was. They can no longer stay hidden in the rushes. By the time the semi-finals swing around, everyone knows where you are and what you're about.

And yet Breaffy still have the chance to script the perfect apotheosis to their story. All the ingredients are there – experience, form, passion, talent.

The pen is slotted snugly between their own fingers.