Balla face battle to avoid drop once more
Lee Keegan and Westport are among the favourites to win the Moclair Cup in 2024
Balla’s Senior Championship season has followed a similar course since winning the Intermediate Championship in 2020. Each year, they have required victory in the relegation playoffs to stay at Senior level and out of the nine group games they have played in that time, they have yet to win one.
It does not sound pretty, it does not sound heroic but they are still here, still playing senior football and that is more that can be said for the teams below them playing Intermediate and Junior football.
Their key player for the last few seasons has been Gary McHale, who hit 2-17 in last season’s Championship, the joint-third highest scorer at Senior last year. Ryan Fadden also hit 0-7 in a difficult season for Balla, which began with defeat to neighbours Mayo Gaels.
They will looking for more out of experienced players such as Conor Walsh, Ger and Matthew Flanagan and Val Roughneen this year as they look to break their Senior slump.
Westport ended the 2023 campaign, which they entered as county champions, in frustrating fashion losing a war of attrition against Breaffy in the quarter-finals. They had breezed through the group stages scoring a whopping 3-50 in three games and maybe complacency just set in at that point against a determined Breaffy team.
They come into the 2024 Championship on a high of winning Division 1 in stunning fashion, beating Castlebar by 11 points in a one-sided final, a final they marched to unbeaten.
They have classy forwards in abundance; Pat Lambert, Mark and Colm Moran, Killian Kilkelly and Alan Kennedy to name but a few. Lee Keegan is still going strong in the backline and is surrounded by talented players back there like Rory Brickenden, Eoghan McLaughlin, Brian McDermott and Luke Tunney.
Balla will be looking towards round 3 and their clash with Mayo Gaels. For this game, and the game against Ballina, it will be all about damage limitation for Balla.
Verdict: Westport
