Ballina make statement ahead of wider challenge

As referee Jerome Henry's whistle punctured the autumnal night to signal full-time on Saturday, Ballina players briefly punched the air and embraced one another – but the mood was oddly muted as county final celebrations go. Full-time felt like it was merely another station on a journey still a few stops away from the destination.

The night was still long back on Moyside that night, but the raucous celebrations were put on ice for now. Niall Heffernan's team has been here before, after all. The club itself has been here 37 times previously. So it's clear there are still miles in the legs as they venture forward into the Connacht championship.

The final had been billed as a potential classic, with the North Mayo rivals facing off in a county final for the first time since 2004 when Ballina Stephenites triumphed and set out on a journey that would lead them to All-Ireland glory. But from the throw-in on Saturday night, the reigning champions appeared sharper, faster, undeniably hungrier. They set the tone of the evening immediately and, within a couple of minutes, the scent of a goal began to linger around MacHale Park.

It had been coming for a few minutes when Knockmore found themselves dispossessed in the middle third. Evan Regan was meanwhile sneaking behind enemy lines undetected like a CIA operative breaching an enemy compound. When the long searching ball was sent in his direction, he was in no man's land between Colm Reape and his first line of defence. But the former Mayo forward still had plenty of work to do as the ball dropped into his arms.

As Knockmore defenders closed in, the safe option would've been to take the point to put his side three points up after nine minutes. Refusing to ignore his instincts though, the former Mayo forward took the option any forward with ambition should feel compelled to take – he looked up and hammered the ball low to Reape's left.

Knockmore gradually began to settle into the rhythm of the game, finally moving their side of the scoreboard after 12 minutes. But it wasn't until Aidan Orme scored the side's third point – their first from play – that a genuine contest between the sides became a faint possibility. After dancing along the end-line, the Knockmore sharpshooter dipped inside his man and neatly floated the ball over the bar from a narrow angle. It was the type of score that can lift a side into life. Alas, it turned out to be their final score of the half.

Knockmore were too passive in possession, waiting for options to develop instead of forcing their personality on the game. And when Ballina pressed forward into dangerous territory, Knockmore conceded frees too easily, allowing Ballina to keep the scoreboard moving in their favour. Reape also struggled at kick-outs as Ballina aggressively pushed up and left little space for Knockmore players to exploit. When Stephenites eventually forced Knockmore to turn over possession, they always looked for the direct long pass first, putting their opponents on the back foot and pinning them deep in their own half. At the interval, the rural club trailed by six points but, in truth, Ballina had been somewhat merciful. It should've been considerably worse.

Knockmore needed a sprightly start to the second-half, an opening that would build belief and halt the confidence Ballina were gathering. But the minutes after the restart offered more of the same, Ballina unflinching in the manner in which they took apart their local rival. They began the half with a series of slick passing and mazy running, weaving in and out of congested spaces, before threading the ball to Conor McStay who clipped another neat point over the bar. It took another few minutes for the next point to arrive but, already, the eventual back-to-back champions were dropping down through the gears with the finish line firmly in sight.

As the game ventured deeper into the evening, the points came easier and yet the hunger never waned. At one point, Regan should've claimed a handy mark that would've pushed his side yet another point ahead. With his appetite for green flags unquenched, he turned on his heels, set off towards goal and sent a rasping shot off the upright. Ballina still recycled possession and came away with a point, but it was evidence of their merciless nature which should stand to them going forward beyond the county Even in the final minutes as Knockmore desperately sought a goal that would ultimately have had little impact on proceedings, David Clarke came up with two defiant plays. As a shot emerged from a flurry of bodies, the Ballina shot-stopper was on hand to parry it away from danger. Moments later, he was bravely leaping above everyone to punch away a threatening diagonal ball into the square. Ballina didn't want to simply win, they wanted to emerge from the contest unbruised, ready for whatever battle would come next.

Because bloodier battles are coming in the distance. In last year's Connacht club championship, Corofin dismantled Ballina Stephenites in the semi-final with a composed and seasoned performance at Pearse Stadium, dragging the Mayo champions down from the high of their first county final victory since the mid-noughties. Both Pádraig Pearses, the Roscommon champions, and Corofin, the Galway champions who overcame Moycullen in their own county final on Sunday afternoon, are lurking in the provincial championship where both clubs have tasted glory in recent years.

Indeed, both clubs have already earned the right to have one eye on the Andy Merrigan Cup. Ballina Stephenites were heavyweights in Mayo, but they're in very different company now and will be required to bring a new level of grit and competence if they are to go further than last year's campaign.

All the inclinations from Saturday night suggest that they have prepared for everything the wild savannah beyond Mayo throws at them.