Ballina break on through
Padraig O’Hora has won a raft of titles with Ballina Stephenites at underage level, all the way through to minor, but the Moclair Cup had eluded him over and over again.
So when the final whistle sounded on Sunday evening, it was no surprise to see a bellowing expression of triumph on his face for a victory long-awaited. With his arms outstretched in the glory of it all, the man they call Swanny looked as though he might just take flight.
“I’m over the moon, I really am,” he told the at full time. “We won everything underage at 14, 16, minors, we were very successful. Me, Evan (Regan) and the lads, we were with the ’93 crew.
“We were good and we won a lot but we came and inherited a senior team that wasn’t in a great place. People might forget that we fought relegation a number of times. We were bottom of the barrel with this team and to come full circle and finally be competing for the Moclair Cup, I’m just honoured and privileged to be part of this team.
“As much as Ballina is the most credited club in Mayo and have won so much, us as a team had won nothing since minor, so it is huge one for us.” The game did not go the way he thought it might, Padraig thought it would be much higher scoring than the 0-6 to 0-4 scoreline at full-time.
“I really thought we’d put scores, maybe fifteen points. I would have liked to have seen that happen but you know yourself. You can make all the plans in the world, you can come up with the most intricate plans and then on the day, that just doesn’t happen and you have to adapt and you have to win.
“It did turn into a very cagey affair, very sloppy with a lot of mistakes on both sides. At the end of the day, it is all about winning and we were fortunate to do that.” He said that last year’s final defeat to Westport stood to them in this game.
“I felt coming into the game we were in a better position because we did lose last year. Not so much that we lost, more so that we were in a county final last year. I think a lot of our team hadn’t been under that kind of scrutiny and pressure before.
“I felt like the lads were coming into today in a better position than last year. As a collective, I think we’re in a better place.”
O’Hora said he believes that this Ballina Stephenites team has huge potential and he is looking forward to continuing the journey they are currently on.
“We’re looking forward to seeing what else we can do with this team, in a Connacht championship, in 2024 and 2025. This is a team with huge potential and I want to see us do a lot more.
“We have a wealth of talent coming through the club and I’m delighted to see them stepping up now as, dare I say it, one of the older players in the club now.
“I think anybody that comes out of Mayo is in a good position when you play strong, good footballing teams like Westport, Castlebar, Breaffy and if you come out of that, you get a sense of belief that you can do a lot more.
“But I’m not looking past the next week, I’m looking forward to meeting the boys on Wednesday at training again and then on Friday again and getting back at it. I love this group, I really do, I love club football. I’m delighted that we’re still on the road.”
